New Year Tips & Meet The Team!

Between Xmas and New Year is a great time to examine your goals and work out where you would like to be this time next year and plot how to get there! Happy New Year!! This is just a quick email today to wish you a wonderful new year, introduce my team, and also give you some tips to help you realize your musical dreams in the year ahead! I hope this email finds you safe and well, what a crazy year it's been. I'd been very lucky and been in lower tier as far as restrictions go, but from Boxing Day we're in pretty much full lockdown, no pub dinners or going to the gym for a while now I suspect. Luckily I can still work at the studio and nearly all the team work remotely and are able to keep things moving along. For the first time, I'm making a proper plan for the year and working on a lesson schedule (and website developments) - hoping to get a ton of new lessons and courses out this year and I'm super excited about it! Some really fun and interesting new projects in the works too! One year ago I did almost everything on my own and had just a couple of part-time assistants but over this year the JustinGuitar team has grown to 13 people helping me with this project... only a couple full time (Ben and Laryne, but that might grow this year too!) but I'm super grateful for the support I get from the whole team. I wanted to introduce some of them to you, or actually, they'll introduce themselves! I also think it's cool that you get to know the people you might be in contact with if you're hanging out on the website! • I'm sure many of you noticed the step up in my social media - thanks mostly to Laryne! • Ben and Mike are working super hard coding the new website that was designed by Cas and Babs! • Natalie taking over customer service emails has been a huge help and means people get help sooner! • Lieven and Richard have been a lot more active on the website discussions as well as the forum, helping people on their way! • Carlo is busy preparing the Italy workshops for 2021, they are gonna be awesome. • Adam G is about to get crazy busy doing the rough cut edits for the megaton of new videos on the way! • There's a whole team at Musopia working on the new beginner app which will be rolling out soon! • Adam B looks after all the other apps and we've got some fun plans ahead too! It's a very exciting time for me because this coming year I will be able to focus on my strengths - writing content and making lessons - which should mean I will be able to produce a stack more content for y'all... Wanna make the most of your practice time next year and nail down all your goals? In this video, I share my top 5 tips for making this coming year your most productive and fun ever! The video is a re-cycle from a couple of years ago but it's just as relevant now as it was then! :) Coming Up in 2021!! There really are a ton of exciting projects that will be coming at you in 2021... here's a taste :) Intermediate Course The big project up next for me is to finish planning the Intermediate lessons. I have a sketch done, but it needs a lot of detail. I hope to get them rolling out in February. I'm rejigging the structure, and I think it's going to be a massive improvement on the current lessons. Still debating Nitsuj's involvement! Beginner Songs Many of the old beginner lessons are very old, and I know I can do better, so I will be re-filming most of those in the first chunk of next year! Awesome Songs I'm also planning to get back to doing more complex songs and songs that match the Intermediate lessons - barre chords and riffs! We're also working on a new request board where I will do the most requested song every 2 weeks, so you can help choose the content in a very transparent way! App Update The Beginner app has a huge update coming soon, much-improved sounds, and will align with the beginner course I released this year. Very exciting. Sheet Music In a couple of months, we will be rolling out sheet music for (almost) every song on the website!! Beginner chord charts and tabs for more complex songs. It'll be a paid subscription cos I have to pay the rights holders, but this is a very exciting new project! Workshops (Italy and PSV) Was very disappointing to cancel the workshops this year, but we have some amazing ones coming up for 2021. My usual Acoustic Campfire week and the band jam with Pete Whittard, but also some amazing special guests, including Josh Smith, Jim Campilongo, Ariel Posen, Joey Landreth, and more! The pic above is where we dine each night in Montegridolfo! It's mega! Podcast I've been getting into podcasts myself and am determined to get my own re-launched this year! I have some recorded already and will be a mix of interview things, food for thought, and conversations with other people in the education sector! Final thoughts... As I'm typing this we have the new Disney movie on, called Soul. I think it's pretty incredible and it approaches some pretty complex areas with a lovely perspective. I love that the main character hangs so much on realizing a dream, but when he gets there, he's still left with the same problems he always had. Seems to me that it's common to search for the thing that will solve every worry we ever had, but the reality of life is that challenges help give life purpose. The obstacle is the way, the Stoics say. A video game with no challenge wouldn't be a whole lot of fun for long... obviously, if the challenges are too tough or overwhelming then that ain't much fun either. Guess that's the balance we all seek. I'm not a religious guy at all, but there's a lot of wisdom in the Serenity prayer which I think we could all use to help with perspective in these trying times. --------------------------------------------------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. --------------------------------------------------------------- And the Lego pic? Well, in my downtime this holiday I've been spending time building this thing! My daughter loves the film and recognizes the car which is fun... looking at the response to a recent social post it seems I'm not the only over 40 into plastic bricks :) Vivi is demanding my attention and is getting grumpy about me working so I should get back to play ;) Wishing you all a fantastic 2021, filled with love, laughter and guitar! J x Copyright © 2020 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](