Hello Everyone,

I'm a new joiner from the UK, I've been playing guitar for about forty something years (sob), I had a few lessons at school when I was about 12, gave it up, bought an electric guitar (but not an amp) as a teenager, a "Sanox Sound Creator" and a copy of 'Back to Basics With Billy Bragg', I still have the book though sadly I sold the guitar.

My guitars these days are a 1987 Aria Pro II XR I bought back in 1989 (really great guitar), an Aria Electro/Accoustic from the 90's, a Peavy JF1ex, a Telecaster I built from a kit (actually I dumped most of the kit so I could fit parts like a bone nut, locking tuners, roller string trees etc) and a SSH Super Strat from parts, including a £30 Amazon unfinished body that I skinned with auto filler and sprayed Vauxhall Burgundy. Both of those have ToneRider pickups, highly recommended for sound and price! I also have a wall hanger Strat my wife bought me for our anniversary with the pickguard signed by Jeff Lynne.

Rig wise I've collected a fair amount of stuff over the years, a Carlsbro Wasp, Peavey Audition 110, a relatively early Marshall MG15, a couple of Hotone Nanos and a Joyo Zombie II with an Orange 1x8 which is my only valve (hybrid) amp. However my go to rig now is a Valeton GP-5 multi effect and amp/cab simulator I was given to review into a DJ-Tech Cube 50 PA, £39 from eBay, replaced the internal lead acid battery and it's a great sounding, loud, option with a mic input and cordless option, it genuinely sounds as good as a high end modeling amp, but on the really cheap. I use an M-Vave Chocolate Plus four stomp button midi controller to make the GP-5 more 'performance friendly'.

So, I've been playing a long time, but I'm self taught and not particularly good. I basically learned from sheet music books in the 80's & 90's but I was awful at practising regularly, I was an okay rhythm guitarist but that was it, then a few years ago I got my left hand busted up really badly in a motorcycle accident. After they put it back together with a few bits of Mechano and I did a few months of physio I wanted to do something to keep the mobility in my hand, and I figured either I try to get decently good now or just forget it. I've been using Rocksmith for a few years now and I do like it, but I've basically ended up able to sight read a proprietary notation and I'm plateaued. But I'm still using it as keeping my almost 2000 day streak going is a good incentive to practice!

So, now I'm here. I've gone through the fundimentals courses to identify anything I've just missed, forgotten or learned wrong over the years and it's been interesting and helpful. My real interest is rock, but I'm starting with the Blues Course, partly because it's the origin of rock, but mostly because playing rock is cool, but being able to play the Blues well, is hella cool...