Hey everyone, Taking a page (or 5 more likely) from @Brad Simon 's book here to evaluate my journey last year. It will be a huge chunk of text, so feel free to ignore it ;-) I am mostly posting this for myself and maybe there is some helpful feedback or there is something that someone else can learn something from this. Thanks! Ivo My Guitar Journey in 2025 The Good ---- **Overall** The best thing is: I have most certainly improved! While I really think I am still a bit away from what I would personally call an Intermediate Guitar Player, I do not feel I am really a beginner anymore. Above all, I feel more confident. There is still no chance in hell I would play in front of people, but if my partner walks in the room I won't stop out of shame. **My playing** Purely looking back at some earlier recordings for the VIP community -- I wish I had made more! --, I am less 'stiff'. It actually sounds like music every once in a while. I pick up new songs and techniques faster than I did at the start of the year. Also, I played pretty much every day for 20+ minutes on average. Sometimes even 2+ hours in a row. So finding time is not a challenge. **Technique** Me and barre chords have been a bit of a love/hate relationship for the year. At first Bm was my easy go-to, then it was F and Bm was just the worst and now I am at a point where I hit them well more than 90% of the time. And, being less stiff (dare I say 'musical' in playing) helps hide some of the potential flaws, giving you time to adjust. Sure, it is not perfect, but it is perfectly listenable. Most of the time. Playing scales / solos is slowly getting there too, my fingers feel less and less like weird hotdogs with a mind of their own and more "nimble". Playing (improvising?) pentatonic scales to a backing track at 70-80 BPM is going pretty decent. **Scales & Fretboard Knowledge** It feels way less intimidating to look at the neck. I am starting to "see" spots (like the root notes / octaves) and I think I understand CAGED properly.

Please post here for feedback or direct answers from me. All of it is recorded live and I'll link your feedback/answers in a comment directed to you. For Premium/VIP Members: - Post your video/audio/question in a comment on this thread. - In your comment please state what area of help you're after, the more specific the better. - All posts will be responded by me during our call - Feel free to join the live call to ask additional questions or say hi :) For Free Members: - I will only respond if there's time after Premium/VIP members feedback is finished - Post your video/audio/question in a comment on this thread. - In your comment please state what area of help you're after, the more specific the better. - I will go through posts based on user's level (highest to lowest) - You will not have access to the live call but you'll be able to watch the replay To Upgrade to Premium/VIP membership Click Here For More Info on our Premium/VIP membership Click Here

Thank you so much to everyone that gave me feedback on the coaching program recently and I've tweaked some stuff to make everyone's experience here better moving forward. Changes now live: - Community is no longer Freemium > 3 paid tiers Standard/Premium/VIP - All members have been upgraded to standard even if they joined for free. You will be removed if you're inactive for 200+ days - Affiliates are back, if someone joins using your invite link you will collect a 30% commission for any transaction they make in our community - Premium membership is back to my original starting offer of $299/year (removed monthly option) you also get a 1-on-1 Coaching call when you join. - You can win your premium membership if you complete a practice challenge I've made for y'all (Click for more info) - No longer advertising the community, we're going to let it grow slowly with the right people finding us over the next few years What I'm focusing on: - Playing more music and building up my skills - Doing fun challenges for myself (John Mayer challenge first) - Streaming longer and more nerdy learning rather than performance Super keen to see if anyone can crush the practice challenge, looking forward to seeing y'all next week in the streams!

We had an awesome chat today on a lot of artist type questions. Brad is building his roadmap to start his original artist career, Osman is working on his content and Kaleb is about to start teaching part time!! We discussed: - Defining your goals as an independent artist - Importance of live shows and audience interaction - Creating stories that will draw people to your brand and music - Platform do's and dont's for building on social - Minimum content I used to bring in new students to fill out my teaching roster PS Live Performance Course is coming soon with info on equipment and techniques I use to engage crowds and get more bookings. Hope this brings you value! Looking forward to next week!

Hi everyone — I'm excited to share the following. This community has played a key role in keeping me moving forward musically since I joined about 1.5 years ago. That period coincided with a meaningful shift for me: moving from music being something I was deeply passionate about but not fully focused on, to becoming a professional part-time solo gigging musician. More importantly, it changed how I see myself — I now see myself as a musician. After 35 years of mostly “bedroom” playing and singing, this marks a real milestone for me. Over the past few months, I’ve been focusing on what comes next and what I want from music long-term. The answer is clear. I’m focusing on original music — writing it, performing it live, and building a sustainable indie artist path over time. (I already shared the early fruits of this shift with my first original song in a separate thread.) I wrote the attached document for myself, as a way to gain clarity and create personal accountability. It also serves as a practical “how-to” guide for the path I’m trying to build. It’s been developing over these same months and is now complete, and I’m sharing it here in case it resonates with anyone. Thanks to everyone — especially @Luan Krasniqi — for helping me reach this current milestone. PS. I printed this out and bound it. I then presented it to my wife. She read it and had some questions. We had a good discussion. She gave me her blessing. Full steam ahead.