This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.
Good morning! I hope you all had a great Christmas, and that you’re going to have a great New Year. I’m back with the final #CoffeeAndKlon of 2019, and today, I want to talk about the upcoming week.
This is the time of year when people traditionally write two kinds of posts: “best of” and “new year resolutions”. If that’s your jam, they’ve already got it covered. I want to do something different. Something more relevant to me, and hopefully to you.
“Best of” just isn’t me, and I don’t think it reflects what it’s like to be a home player. Most of my gear isn’t new. Most of it wasn’t released in 2019. And most of the gear in guitar shops wasn’t released in 2019 either.
I’m much more interested in writing up what I’m actually using, and why. What’s changed over the 12 months? What has stayed the same? An annual review to chart my progress (if any!) from year to year.
Not just as a diary (although I think that’s important), but also as reflection. Sometimes, the simple act of writing down the immediate past can inspire the immediate future.
Starting tomorrow, there’ll be a new “2019 Review” up on HomeToneBlog.com every day. I’ll try and remember to tweet the links here too, but no promises that I’ll be reliable at that 🙂
- Monday, I’ll post about the amps that I’m using as pedal platforms at home. 2019 has seen us home players get some great amps for using pedals at home.
- Tuesday, I’ll talk about guitars. This year, I’ve had to reconsider what I thought I knew about cheap guitars. I hope this blog post will help you to do the same.
- Wednesday, let’s talk about pedals. My approach to pedals changed completely during 2019. I want to share that with you.
- Thursday, the topic is the gear that I gig with. After a very long break away from it, I’m back playing live again. The gear that I use live isn’t what I use at home for fun.
- Friday, I want to talk about my experiences of buying gear in 2019. For us in the UK, Brexit has already had a significant impact – and it will only grow in 2020. I’ve got some advice on that for you, if you’re interested.
- On Saturday, I’m going to finish the annual review by talking about the guitar and gear community. My feelings and opinions on that have changed over the course of 2019, and I want to document that. And I want to share with you who I look to for advice and learning too.
That’s an exhausting list of blog posts that I need to finish writing – but it isn’t an exhaustive list. If there’s time, I’ll try and throw in a couple more about home studio gear and 2020 resolutions. If.
Are you writing up any 2019 annual review-type posts for guitars and gear? Leave a link to them. I’d love to read them.
Finally, thank you to everyone who has read my ramblings about playing guitar for fun in 2019, and thank you to everyone who has left a like or a comment.
Here’s to whatever is to come in 2020.