Reflections on one year of AGF

[Earwitness]

I am now a one-year member of the forum, and wanted to commemorate that.

1. I have spent about 1000 hours practicing and playing the guitar over the past year, far far more than ever before, and probably as much as the prior 15 years combined. I kept a journal of all my practice, that is about 25 pages long.
2. I LOVE my Allison Honduran Mahogany/German Spruce dreadnought that I bought just over a year ago. I wish I could have one of you top-flight players to record it for public display, because I think it's the finest guitar anywhere, but I cannot really do it justice.
3. I have learned SO MUCH on AGF:
a. I learned that I was not at all an intermediate player, as I had thought, but a mid-level beginner, after so many years of dabbling. I might be a low-level intermediate now.
b. I now know more about woods, brands, luthiers, bracing, intonation, humidity, finishes, etc. than almost any guitar store employee of the shops I go into.
c. Thanks to RickSlo/Ljguitar/TobyWalker/JonPR and all the other patient professionals on here, I have become so much more focused on practice that works, and on slowing down to actually master something instead of the scattered playing I used to do.
4. I have money set aside for another very nice guitar, and scour the classifieds on AGF every day (twice) for what it's going to be. Some of the guitars that go past are incredible: that Charis right now with the two bevels, that Ryan Nightingale that sold recently, that McAllister Brazilian out in Albuquerque, and cool rare luthier things like that Gallagher that didn't sell, or the RK that's for sale now--I can't wait for my NGD this year because it's going to be great!
5. Thanks to AGF, I have a John Pearse armrest, a BlueChip pick, a VPick (that I won!), a Toby Walker DVD, an Apogee Mic, an account with SoundCloud, a homemade sponge humidifier, and some friends in my town to play music with.
6. I really appreciate the tone of this forum. It's hard to be smart, passionate, and nice, all three at the same time, and I think this group is all three.

Thanks for sharing a great year of guitar with me!

[Earwitness]

Since I was too green last year to do a NGD post, here is my guitar, one year later....

[JohnW63]

Well done.

I need to stop goofing around and really LEARN something. I guess I need a bigger boot to the head than you needed.

[billder99]

Nice post Travis,congrats on your AGF-Bday... I like it here too... that Alison sure is a beauty. Stay with it, progress comes in surges amid slumps.

BD

[Davis Webb]

I took a long journey here. Learned more than I thought I ever could from the internet on this subject. Bought guitars, sold guitars. Too many. GAS is an infectious disease.