My Musical Goals for 2019

2019 is going to be my "year of the guitar". I worked through most of Justin Sandercoe's beginner lessons in 2018, and I look forward to starting his intermediate lessons.

I got my first electric guitar 25 years ago, but until mid 2017 I was only able to play some riffs and butcher one or two solos. There were years where I barely touched my guitar. Then, about mid 2017 I decided I wanted to really learn to play and contacted local guitar teacher Miguel Mega. He opened my eyes to music theory and inspired me to learn more. When he moved countries some months later I switched to use JustinGuitar.com, near the beginning of 2018.

One of the best things I got from Justin was to learn not only what to practice, but how to practice. Having completed most of his beginner course I'm now able to play along to the original recording for 10+ songs well enough to have a lot of fun.

For my birthday in April 2018 I upgraded my guitar amp to a Yamaha THR 10, to make it easier to practice. Part of this was because my old amp (a Fender Frontman 25 DSP) was impossible to set to a usable volume settings. The only ones I could find was not audible and WAY too loud. It was also too big and ugly for the living room. On the other hand, the THR works even on batteries, and fits on a shelf when not in use. It even has USB connection so I can record straight to GarageBand.

As a reward for my progress in 2018, I traded in four low to medium end guitars¹ and my old amp for a really good guitar in the final days of 2018, hoping it would help me keep momentum going in 2019. The main drawback of the new guitar is that it weighs as much as the other four put together, and is too precious to me to take travelling. So, I'm now also in the market for a cheap & light travel guitar, and have my eyes on a Hofner Shorty.

Getting back to my musical goals for 2019, Justin recommends sharing your goals so your friends can keep you honest, and this is my attempt at that. He recommends one-year long-term goals, 6 months medium term goals–to make sure you're on track for the long-term ones–and monthly short-term goals. I actually set some up three months ago, but they were too long-term² to work for me, and I am confident this will work better.

Without further ado, here are my goals for 2019:

1. Jam with other people at least six times
2. Start and complete Justin's "Green" grade
3. Record myself playing once a month to track progress
4. Learn 10 new songs
5. Stretch goal: complete Justin's "Blue" grade
6. Stretch goal/treat: start building a pedal board

To make sure I'm on track to complete those by the end of 2019, I aim to complete the following by the start of July:

1. Save up for and buy a travel guitar for taking on work trips, holidays, and potentially to local Jam sessions if it's good enough
2. Jam with other people (maybe at work trips?) at least twice
3. Finish Justin's beginner/consolidation modules
4. Complete two modules of Justin's "Green" grade
5. Learn 5 new songs
6. Become more proficient using my looper pedal
7. Research how to record myself on video

Finally, here are my goals for January:

1. Practice for and complete Justin's Ear Training Grade 3 Quickfire Test and improve on my 75% score from last time
2. Enquire at the local music shop about local people amenable to jamming / playing together
3. Finish Justin's beginner consolidation modules that I'm currently working on
4. Retire my current set list ³ and pick some new songs to practice
5. Record myself playing AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long"

So, that's a bit about my progress and my musical goals for 2019. I'm hoping to come back to this again this year to provide updates, but my blogging frequency record isn't exactly stellar, so whether I manage remains to be read!