August Update
The guitar has carried generations of incredible songs. Songs that deserve to be played, not just left sitting on an “oldies” playlist. But those songs only stay alive if we keep learning them, playing them, and passing them along.
Sticking With The Classics
Summer is in full swing here, which means the kids are home, and there’s ALWAYS some kind of noise happening in every corner of the house. We play a ton of music at home – namely, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Motown, Stevie Wonder, Queen, The Rolling Stones…
We stick with the “classics” for a reason. Quite frankly, in my opinion, it’s great music. My wife, who is a high school teacher, spends her days with teens who are listening to some of the strangest stuff – these “artists” might as well have names like: MC AutoTune, Lil Battery Low, DJ Algorithm 🤣😜… to me, it sounds rather uninspired. Anyway, obviously I am kidding (about the names), but it feels so far removed from the guitar music my folks and I grew up with.
I just feel like kids these days are showing up with laptops, making their little robot sounds. That stuff has its place. But let’s be honest: it doesn’t exactly rock or showcase the kind of musicianship the great guitarists of yesteryear had.
And maybe I’m getting old, but I don’t want guitar music to disappear.
The guitar has carried generations of incredible songs. Songs that deserve to be played, not just left sitting on an “oldies” playlist. But those songs only stay alive if we keep learning them, playing them, and passing them along.
That’s why most of my lessons focus on classic tunes.
So this month, let’s do our part and learn a song that keeps guitar alive, relevant… impactful.
What song would you choose to pass along to the next generation?
Membership Updates
This month, members picked up a couple new play-alongs and a new practice worksheet.
New Play-Alongs
New Worksheet
🎸 Join the Academy Here →
🌟 Student Spotlight: Sheldon Glatt
Meet Sheldon — a retired veteran who returned to guitar decades later and discovered that persistence eventually makes everything click.
Watch Sheldon tell his story, from setting guitar aside to playing with local musicians →
Sheldon lives on Long Island with his wife. Sheldon is retired, a grandfather, and a veteran, and at an age when a lot of people slow down, he chose to start something new.
His first try at guitar was decades ago. His nephew was learning, and once his nephew moved on, Sheldon picked up that same guitar and gave it a go. A passion was sparked, but work and family didn’t leave much room for it, so he set it aside.
A year and a half ago, Sheldon joined a beginner guitar course at his local community college. The course was packed with information, but he felt he wasn’t learning guitar. What actually got him playing again wasn’t a class at all. He was listening to country music one afternoon, and his wife pointed out that his right hand was strumming along in the air without him realizing it. Sheldon was becoming a guitarist.
He found James on YouTube, tried the free lessons, and signed up for GoodGuitarist in May of 2025. Almost immediately he was committed because he “learned more in the first two or three weeks than in the whole ten-week college course.”
A year in, Sheldon has a repertoire of around ten songs and practices an hour or two a day, every day except weekends, and loses himself in it.
Sheldon calls himself a perfectionist, which he says cuts both ways. He spent close to eight months practicing the stretch between his ring and middle fingers for the C chord, made harder by an old hand injury from his time in the service. When it finally clicked, it taught him something bigger than the chord itself: the frustrating stretch before something clicks is just part of how learning works.
That same mindset shows up in the rest of his life. Sheldon became an EMT at 54 and served for six years, including during Hurricane Sandy, wading through waist-high water to carry people out of flooded homes. He still bikes 25 miles a week and hits the gym three or four times a week. His family sometimes worries he’s doing too much, but he doesn’t see it that way.
Sheldon now plays with a group of local musicians at his library on the first and last Thursday of every month and is getting into Scottish and Celtic tunes after a trip to Halifax years ago. His advice to anyone starting out: don’t get frustrated, keep practicing, and one day it clicks.
Thank you to Sheldon for sharing your story and time with us.
Inspired by Sheldon’s story?
→ Explore the GoodGuitarist Academy
→ Already a member? Share your story here — you could be our next featured student.
What I’ve Been Teaching Lately
Here’s a look at the lessons that went out this month, broken down by song lessons and non-song lessons.
Song Lessons
Non-Song Lessons
- The Smartest Way to Learn Your First 15 Guitar Songs
- The 2-Finger Trick That Makes Chord Switching Twice as Easy
- 5 Common Fingerpicking Mistakes (And How to Fix Each One)
- The Shape That Unlocks Every Key
Coming Up Next
Here’s a look at what I’ll be working on next:
- A 5-minute daily routine for faster chord switching
- 5 common mistakes of lead playing
- 3 Levels: Strumming With No Pick
- Redemption Song
- You Raise Me Up
- I’m Only Sleeping
That’s all for now!
– James
