Jens has just achieved Grade 8. What an incredible milestone! 👏🎸 What makes this achievement so inspiring is that it isn’t just about guitar playing. It’s about commitment, patience, consistency and the willingness to keep learning and growing. Jens, you did the work. You showed up, practised, persevered and earned every bit of this success. I may have guided the journey, but you walked the path. Thank you for allowing me to be part of it, and thank you for inspiring me too. You’re a wonderful reminder that with dedication and curiosity, we can always continue learning, improving and enjoying music. Now it’s time to keep exploring, creating and making music. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with next, especially those original ideas using the Lydian mode! 😎🔥 Congratulations again, Jens! Keep rocking!

Hi everyone! Just a quick update to let you know that you can now book 1-to-1 private guitar lessons directly through Beyond the Fretboard. I’ve put together a dedicated Lesson Hub with everything in one place, including booking information, lesson options, policies, resources, and more. 🎁 As a bonus, every 1-to-1 student also receives Premium Membership, giving you full access to all courses, resources and community events. If you’re interested in taking your playing further with personalised guidance, you’ll find everything in the Classroom. 🎸

Yesterday, one of my students asked me about guitar cleaning products and I realised this is something we don’t talk about enough. Thanks to Matt for bringing up the topic! Keeping your guitar clean isn’t just about appearance. It affects the sound too. Especially during these hot summer days, sweat can build up quickly on the instrument. Over time, this can dull the strings, make the guitar feel less comfortable to play, and in some cases even affect the finish of the instrument. Have you ever changed your strings and immediately felt that your guitar sounded more alive, brighter, and more responsive? Well, you don’t always need to replace them straight away. Regular cleaning can dramatically extend the life of your strings and help preserve that fresh, lively sound. If I had to recommend just three essential maintenance products for every guitarist, they would be: 🎸 1. String Cleaner (the most important one!) This is probably the product I use the most. Giving your strings a quick clean every now and then helps them last longer, feel smoother, and retain their tone for much longer. 🎸 2. Guitar Polish Perfect for finished surfaces such as the body, neck, and headstock. It keeps the instrument looking great and helps remove sweat and fingerprints. 🎸 3. Fretboard Conditioner For unfinished wood fretboards such as rosewood or ebony. Conditioning the fretboard occasionally prevents it from drying out and keeps it feeling smooth under your fingers. I know that in reality we don’t always have time for a proper 5-minute cleaning session after playing. Life happens! My suggestion is to always keep at least a dry cloth in your guitar case. Even without any products, a quick wipe can make a big difference. And if you’re only going to clean one thing, make it the strings. Try to pass the cloth underneath them as well, as that’s where most of the sweat and dirt tend to accumulate. Even a quick maintenance session from time to time can easily add extra life to your strings and keep your instrument feeling and sounding its best.

To celebrate the completion of Improvising with Modes & Loops – For Ambient & Shoegaze Guitar, I’d like to share one of the visual resources from the course with the whole community. This Dorian Modal Palette explores Dorian not simply as a scale, but as an emotional environment — a space somewhere between darkness and hope, often associated with spacious melodies, earthy grooves, and atmospheric improvisation. Personally, I often hear Dorian as a warm, grooving and psychedelic sound world, evoking desert landscapes, hypnotic repetition and late-night modal explorations. How do you hear Dorian? I’d love to know what images, emotions or musical landscapes this mode evokes for you. Happy exploring 🎸🌌

https://www.skool.com/beyond-the-fretboard-9561/classroom/b22ccda7?md=9874ceed55e844e1b7f714888044b5dd After many weeks of filming, editing, writing, refining, and plenty of experimenting with loops, drones, and soundscapes, Improvising with Modes & Loops – For Ambient & Shoegaze Guitar is now fully available inside Beyond the Fretboard. Inside you’ll find: ✅ 7 modal explorations ✅ 7 loop jam demonstrations ✅ 7 companion backing tracks ✅ 7 modal palette visual guides Together, these elements form a complete creative system rather than simply a collection of lessons. The course explores modes not as scale patterns to memorise, but as emotional environments to inhabit and shape through looping, atmosphere, texture and improvisation. Thank you to everyone who has joined the community so far. I hope these lessons inspire you to discover new sounds, new musical landscapes, and new ways of approaching the guitar. Happy exploring. 🎸🌌