So long 2020 - what's up 2021?

Wellllll...thanks to C19 we'll have similar things to deal with in 2021 as we all faced in 2020.

Musically though, I think it's useful to have a look back at 2020 - because I had intentions/goals made at the start of lockdown in March.

I wanted to polish up a jazz progression that I didn't quite have smooth.
Learn something 'fancy' (It turned out to be Bach - Toccata and Fugue.
Get stuck into CAGED and make it part of my guitar vocabulary
Gearwise, I gave the pimpocaster one last hurrah.

What actually happened was not quite as intended. but I'm not disappointed.

I kinda polished the jazz thing, but it's still not remotely smooth. It's three chords that are kickin' my ass still, but I've made some progress. My fingers can actually fret them now. Just not quickly enough.

After learning about the first 20s and giving up, I can say the Bach thing is HARD, properly challenging. I now have a begrudging admiration for classical guitarists. They're still massive masochists, but talented and disciplined ones.

I did make some progress w/CAGED. Enough to use it when jammin & composing. The major scale system is now familiar to me fingers, the minor scale not as much (yet). Though, if you are looking to level up your skills, DO look into CAGED learning and bash your head against it - really is a game changer - and a topic that has quite some depth to it.

Probably the thing I am happiest with, I have to thank myself and @domhatch for. I worked mostly on finger 'posture' and general physical conditioning. Because when I was hacking away initially at CAGED, Jazz thing and the Bach thing it was clear what my fretting hand was habitually getting up to wasn't helping me at all.

So I've been developing classical guitarist habits - you know the technique you guitar teachers show you and that you totally ignore =D. Y'know - Thumb is squarely behind the neck supporting the beautifully arched fingers that are fretting accurately behind the fret(s) with the very tip of the finger contacting the string.

What has helped immensely is doing exercises away from the guitar/bass. Back, shoulders, forearms strengthening & stretching and thanks to @domhatch I dusted off my digi-flex and used it regularly. That's a Grrreat tool for your fretting hand, can't recommend it enough. It doesn't replace time on guitar - but you can really develop finger 'posture' with it. Also useful as a warm up tool.

And the pimpocaster - After 7 years , I really enjoyed it in 2020. It's the classical guitar I never knew I always wanted.

What's the intent for 2021?

More of the same I think, more CAGED, more finger 'posture' correction. Really would like to stuck into a some jams to test out the work I managed to work on - but we'll see about that, things are a bit topsy-turvy still.

...and find some frikking ball-end high tension classical strings for the pimpocaster

You got some 2021 goals, achieve any 2020 goals?

guidothepimmp So my mission is to become more melodic.. and not so boxy, if that makes any sense

It does...I think! More vocal-esque and less guitar-y sounding lines I'm thinking?

2020 came up with 2 new instruments to learn playing, my bagpipe and my electric guitar. I had no specific goal since I didn't know how difficult it would be
Looking back I guess I can be content with my progress after 1 year bagpiping and about half a year e-guitar jamming. Of course I'm still stuck in the basics and making progress will probably slow down when it's getting more and more tricky

Apart from that there were some cool musical outputs during the last year, some in collaboration with other hobby musicians or e.g. the GT challenges. I didn't expect that at all after joining some online communities and creating my YouTube channel, since the primary intention was to document my progress and get help from experienced musicians.

2021 I'm going to keep on learning and making further progress with my instruments. I also want to improve my playing with the pick. Now that I'm forced to use picks with my e-guitar I can also try it with my acoustics. And I want to learn some scales on the guitar to pick some melodies. Playing only chords is getting boring over the years

My musical goals this year are mostly vocal. I started taking singing lessons with a classical teacher during lockdown and he thinks I have the potential to become a full operatic tenor. Right now I have a performable A and am warming up to a high D. By the end of the year I'd like to be performing a B... or possibly even a C (although that may be a touch ambitious). Beyond that I'm working on my general vocal technique, trying to get everything more relaxed and effortless.
I have also started up a little barbershop quartet, which I'm hoping will have its first performance in April or May and am hoping to get a decent role in a musical... although both of those are very lockdown dependent.

Guitar wise I don't have big plans beyond play occasionally and try not to loose too much of what I've built up over the last few years. I am also planning to pass on some impulse buy gear... but I guess that's the subject for another thread.

V8 Like a bolt from the blue! I forgot all about this... Pleased I could be of some small assistance; like, really small

2021 for me is mostly about the CAGED system as well as Reaper. I'm going to be stuck like glue to two YT channels:

1. Paul Davids, who really knows his stuff, is magic at turning it inside out and making it understandable and usable
2. Kenny Gioia's 'Reaper Mania.' It takes a little digging sometimes, but no one I've come across on The Chewbs has a better grip on getting the simplicity and complexity of Reaper across simultaneously.

By the end of the year, I'd really like to have one or two of my songs down. With decent progressions and a vague understanding of why what I'm playing over them sounds good.

And thanks to @V8 and his timely reminder, I'm going to get myself one of those Digi-Flex thingies for myself!

All the best e'bodies, let's make '21 everything '20 wasn't.
dh|

Lockdown is tough for a bass player- I've really missed being able to lock in with a drummer in the same room.
During the hard lockdown I started learning Vic Wooten's arrangement of Amazing Grace and can kind of get through the first half or so -
(it gets increasingly impossible from 1:10 onwards). I'd like to get this piece worked out better. I like that although it uses flashy techniques, it still grooves really hard

Given that it's not clear when I'll be playing with a band again, I'm keen to work more on electric guitar, and my new Tele is hanging on the wall in my home office. I need to find a decent plan for learning electric rhythm playing- which probably means getting away from cowboy chords and playing voicings up the neck. Any suggestions for resources?

I had massive goals for 2020. Learn to sing, get better at guitar and bass, and some other stuff I can't remember.

2020 knocked those ideas down FAST! Part of me is even scared to have goals this year.

But if I were to have goals, they'd be:

• Get back into lessons with my old (and awesome) teacher, @Satriani (Meir Taitz)
• Learn some songs from beginning to end. I've literally never done this other than learning the chords. But not even the proper fills or picking patterns or anything. I've just about never finished a song that I wanted to learn.
• Have some fun with some peeps. Nothing has been more fun for me lately than the Garage Days jams. Last one I attended was 2019 so hopefully we can revive those and get something going in Joburg as well.

That's it for me. I'll be pretty happy with the above. My overarching goal? Survive! It's been a tough time around the world. (Physical, mental and emotional) Survival is a worthy goal