NEWS + A Special Thank You to Metallica :)

Hey, how you doing? I have many news to share this month, and exciting guitar lessons for y'all! March 2023 News Howdy guitar friend, How are you doing? Well, this has certainly been an interesting start to the year... the nasty cold I had returned after just one week of productivity, but I managed to shed it again just in time for a well-deserved break in the mountains, which refilled my batteries! It's still lingering, but I'm able to work and train... just feel unusually tired. Got quite a few fun new projects in the oven which keeps things interesting, and we're almost through a big bunch of heavy development work - you won't have noticed much (except where things didn't quite work as expected!) but the site should be more stable and we're solidifying the foundations so we can build higher! Oh, and you might have noticed the JustinGuitar "20 Years" logo above and in some social media posts. :) We're celebrating two decades this year! Yep, that wows me too, I first registered JustinGuitar.com back on the 1st of August 2003! Anyway - let's check out what's on the menu for this month! March Highlights - Practical Music Theory: lots of exciting news! - New song lessons and Tabs improvements. - Beginner Grade 3: new lessons & practice routines. - What's the BPM of that song? :) - Made In The... '70s for me! - Acoustic Jam Week: bonjour, hi! - Life Stuff... (kinda depressing but necessary!) Thanks to Metallica, I learned Music Theory. And my journey inspired me to create one of my favorite courses at JustinGuitar: the Practical Music Theory Course! This program is a fantastic tool for all of you looking forward to better understanding your guitar and how to make music out of it. When I was in my early teens and excited about guitars, I hated the Music Theory we learned at school. Luckily one day, a high school music teacher gave me a Major Scale Pattern to learn on guitar… and that changed my life. Watch my video talking about that [here]( (thank you, Metallica!) Decades later, here I am - teaching you Music Theory how I wish I had learned: using practical examples and making it as simple as possible. :) Theory doesn't have to be scary, overwhelming, or more complicated than needed! So join my course if you haven't already: plenty of incredible stuff is waiting for you there, and lots more are coming! [Special Feature: Interactive Quizzes]( Yey, we now have interactive quizzes available at the last module of each grade (up to Grade 5), and the feedback about it has been awesome! :) You can test your knowledge and get the results in real-time, with recommendations about what lesson to review for the questions you didn't get right. Awesome! [Grade 1 Workbook is Now Available!]( More new, great stuff for you: workbooks with the classic tests are on the make, and they'll help you study and review everything you're learning with my Theory Course. :) For now, only Grade 1 is available but keep an eye out: we plan to release the other workbooks as soon as we can! [Harmonic Analysis Video Lessons!]( I've got brand-new Theory lessons coming for you! I'm working on our [Grade 5 - Harmonic Analysis Module]( which explores the function of the notes we play in a lead guitar context. I have released some lessons there already, and lots more coming soon. II'll email my PMT students about the new releases. [Start Learning]( [Take It Easy [Lead Solo] - Eagles]( This is a superb solo to learn! Aside from being a beautiful piece of music, it's wonderfully constructed, meaning it's perfect for learning to improvise using chord tones. We'll learn how to play it but also go through why the licks work, how they work, and how to incorporate them into your improvising. [Plush - Stone Temple Pilots]( Acoustic or electric guitar? Plush is clearly an electric song, but I posted a [clip of me playing it on electric]( and everyone was up in arms! 😅 The electric and acoustic parts are almost identical, but ok, here's my acoustic arrangement and lesson for it! [Sweet Virginia - The Rolling Stones]( Wow, what a tune - great for working on shuffle strumming and linking open chords with fills. You'll need your capo! I've seen a lot of versions using E, A, D, and B chords, but the fills only work with a capo and open chords. The capo can help us make fantastic music! [Shotgun - George Ezra]( Beginners can play this song with a capo on Fret 5 and the chords C, FMaj7, Am, and G. You can also play it without a capo, but then you'll need the F Chord! We'll learn both options and explore some embellishments and the strumming pattern. [Boyfriends - Harry Styles]( This beautiful song has something for everyone – beginners can go for strumming and open chords, while intermediates can try their hand at the lovely 6:8 fingerstyle guitar. :) We'll start with the intro, verses, and bridge chords, then the picking and embellishments. Chords/lyrics + tabs for all my song lessons are available with [JustinGuitarTabs](. :) [New at JustinGuitarTabs!]( You asked for it, so here it is: you can now choose the font size for your chords and lyrics available with JustinGuitarTabs and many more Display options. Your preferences are now saved across devices, but you can easily reset them anytime! Enjoy. :) [View All Songs]( Do you have a favorite JustinGuitar product or subscription? Please [send me]( a testimonial. :) Grade 3 students - We're almost there! :) [Grade 3]( goes up to Module 22, and it's almost entirely available for free at JustinGuitar.com now! :) I'm still missing a few lessons in the last 3 modules, but I'm scripting them and should record them very soon. [Introduction to Vibrato Techniques]( This lesson is a huge moment in your guitar journey; adding Vibrato to chords and lead guitar makes your playing sound more pro - if you do it properly! [Easy Barre Chords For Beginners]( Don't let barre chords scare you! Getting a feel for them before reaching the Intermediate stages is valid, and this lesson helps you with that. Also available now are your Suggested Practice Routines for Modules [20]( [21]( and [22](. Check them out! [Check Out Grade 3!]( Help me to release more free lessons by contributing to JustinGuitar! [Learn more](. [What's the BPM of that song?]( Did you know a free tool on the website allows you to calculate the BPM for any song you want? It's super easy to use: tap along with your chosen song's beat, and my [Tap Tempo Tool]( will give you the BPM. Simple, fun, and free. :) This fun collection is great for a gift, and that's why you get 25% off when buying two! :) This weekend only: get 25% off buying two products from my "Made In The..." collection. I'm a guitarist made in the '70s, by the way. What about you? And your partner? Your kids? :) Wear this t-shirt (or hoodie!) with them and make a fun statement while supporting JustinGuitar! It's definitely a conversation starter. :) Seriously - thank you to all Merch buyers. You help me keep growing the website and spreading the joy of music! Cheers. :) [Explore My Products]( Bonjour, Hi! :) After years of running the Acoustic Jam Week Workshop in Italy, I'm heading to Canada for the 2023 edition! :) Previous students already filled out the workshop, as they have priority booking. However, watch for the remaining slots... I'll email the [Waiting List]( if one opens up! Bye to the Old Forum! :) The [old JustinGuitarCommunity]( will be archived in a few hours, but it will always be in our hearts! You might still be able to say goodbye to the old one, but soon that link will redirect to our current Community! I'm glad you all enjoy the [new JustinGuitarCommunity]( platform, which is much more integrated into the website... 💙 A quick note to thank everyone active on the JustinGuitarCommunity since the early years, with a special and heartfelt appreciation to Lieven, Richard, and David, our incredible moderators. Thank you! [Join the Community]( Life Stuff... Well, it's sure been an interesting start to the year! Last month I reported having a hard time with a gnarly cold… it went away, and I had a super productive week, but then it came back! So I had another week feeling crappy… right before I had a week ski holiday in Italy! Luckily, I recovered just in time for a reenergizing holiday in the mountains. We were in La Thuile (close to Courmayeur), and I thought it was a great family resort. Pretty little small town with friendly people and great skiing. I've only been skiing 4 times before but really enjoy it. I took some private lessons and (again) found amusement in how hard it is to actually do what an instructor tells you to do! Being a student is hard, eh? :) By the end of the week, I managed the tricky red run that was 10k long and goes from the peak all the way back to the valley. It was really challenging but beautiful too! There were many places in the Alps with no snow this year… and there's been rain and snow in LA… what is going on? It was only 10 years ago that everyone started to be aware of the changing climate and assumed that things would start getting bad in a few generations' time - but it seems it's all changing faster than anyone expected. I'm not preaching here, I drive an SUV (it is a hybrid!) and I fly around the world for work and holidays… but some global change has to start soon, right? Or we'll all be living in Dune suits while half the planet disappears underwater. I had hoped that the pandemic might have shifted the perspectives of those in power, but it doesn't look like it has, and I wondered why… And then, this week, I stumbled on a 10-year-old documentary about the global money system called 97% Owned. As I was watching it, I thought that it couldn't be right… I started researching and reading more about it, and yep - the entire system is not designed for the good of people. Until that changes, I doubt that much else will… unless the banks decide to actually do something that keeps our planet habitable. Looks like it's free on YouTube to watch if you want to make your own opinions - for sure, some of the suggestions seemed simplistic, and the production quality is lacking - but there are some real moments of clarity in there too! One that shook me was about house price inflation… homeowners feel better when the value of a property goes up, but that's bad for future generations… and it further prevents normal people from having a chance at home ownership and makes it easier for the wealthy. Because private banks create money by lending, of course, it's encouraged by them! Oh, and [the news that Exxon knew about the effects fossil fuels would have on the climate]( (with astonishing accuracy!) but chose to blatantly lie about it to protect their business interests… that story was only in the media for a day and then disappeared. Business as usual. Bjeez, sorry. That was a bit of a downer. I do try to keep things in a positive space, but researching the money thing has made me feel quite helpless, and that positive global change is going to be a very hard thing to achieve. But at least we can play guitar and escape all that, right? I've been taking an afternoon a week off to get back to being creative! I put a lot of pressure on myself to keep my teaching output consistent, but I sometimes forget that without time being creative, my idea pool dries up… and so already, after just two 'creative sessions,' I'm back feeling fuelled with ideas and drive! 🙂 OK, I better get back to filming before I leave you all too depressed to do any practice! 📺 What I'm watching... [97% Owned]( - This is quite shocking - I do wish that someone would make an updated version, post-pandemic - and also perhaps simplify the concepts even more so that it's very clear how it doesn't work! [Matilda]( - So this was one that my daughter has on repeat, and so I watched it kind of accidentally, but it's really great! The new one is based on the musical... was able to watch it on Netflix in Italy but not in the UK, silly! 📚 What I'm reading... [Building A Second Brain by Tiago Forte]( - only a quarter of the way through, but loads of really interesting stuff already! I'm already a compulsive check list maker and use to do lists all day - but this is next level stuff. Super for taking productivity to that next level! 🎶 What I'm listening to... [Accomplice Series 3 - Tommy Emmanuel and Mike Dawes]( - So so cool to see one of my good friends making an album with the GOAT and my all-time guitar hero! It's really amazing guitar work, of course, but also just beautiful music! [Every Kingdom by Ben Howard]( - I just rediscovered this record from 2011 - some lovely guitar, great songs, and super production! [Fall Of Man by Sophie Lloyd]( - Great to see Sophie knocking out a great new tune too! Very cool riffs in 6:4 and a super production! [Explore JustinGuitar]( Copyright © 2023 Justin Guitar Ltd, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up on my web site justinguitar.com, hope you enjoy my newsletters! Our mailing address is: Justin Guitar Ltd PO Box 695Farnham, Surrey GU9 1NB United Kingdom [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. [Mailchimp Email Marketing](