Guitar Serious Fun

Transcript included below…

I’m coming to you today with a bit of an announcement and update, as we continue forward.

When I began creating this blog and podcast two years ago, I wasn’t sure exactly how far I would take it, but I’m very pleased to celebrate the fact that for two solid years, I’ve been able to release an episode every single week, with today being episode 105.I have colleagues who are podcasters who sometimes take a few weeks off, but thanks to the blessing of the opportunity to batch content, as well as the Lord’s provision of a lot of creativity and perspectives on how to encourage you, I can celebrate that I’ve been able to consistently churn out some pretty encouraging and practical stuff, without a single break.

I don’t claim the glory for this – it’s all glory to God. I just want to celebrate. Two years is a significant achievement for content creation on such a consistent basis. I also want to give a shout-out to my podcast guests, who include Dawn Jones, Erin Pakinas, Mo Higgins and Jerry Chambers. Their insights have added much more depth to what I’ve put together, because they’ve provided outside perspectives that have really enhanced this experience.

In 2019, we launched GuitarSuccess4U, our online paid offering, which I’ve mentioned after many of these episodes here at Guitar Serious Fun. And if you haven’t learned about it yet because you’ve only recently subscribed, I do cordially invite you to consider joining us.The website for this experience is GuitarSuccess4U.com. As you’ll discover if you explore the website, we have a lavish, yet accessible offering for beginning and intermediate Christian guitarists.

This means that it’s not for everyone…but the people it’s for really resonate with what we’ve put together. And it’s so much more than a guitar learning experience; it’s the opportunity to go deep with our passions for the Lord and music and how they intersect.

In the process of building out GuitarSuccess4U, my wife and I studied under Stu McLaren through a training experience called Tribe. They’ve since changed their name to The Membership Experience. Based out of Ontario, Canada, they’ve offered some solid counsel that has launched us forward into our teaching process of taking my 30 years of experience and imparting it through the portal and community that GuitarSuccess4U provides.

One thing Stu is famous for saying is “Do more of what works, and less of what doesn’t.”

Which brings me to the change that’s coming here at Guitar Serious Fun. We’ve had a steady increase in followers and readers, but as we’ve checked our analytics over the past two years for how many folks have read the blog or listened to the podcast, the increase has not been as “up and to the right” as we would have liked.I love to create long form content, but in the case of this podcast, it’s a lot like a journal. As one of our Guitar Successors shared with me, some of what I’ve put together here has likely been for…me. And it’s been a great way to process my thoughts and journey.

It has also, of course, been for you – my listeners or readers. Now, I know from our list of subscribers that a significant portion of those who follow Guitar Serious Fun are already members of GuitarSuccess4U. Which is awesome.

Perhaps you are not yet a member but are considering GuitarSuccess4U, and I sincerely hope you do. I challenge you to find as meaningful and affordable of an experience as what we offer.

So, this podcast and blog, Guitar Serious Fun, has been exactly that.

But the avenues that seem to be gaining more traction and momentum for our ministry in this season are our GuitarSuccess4U YouTube channel and our GuitarSuccess4U Instagram account.

You can find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@guitarsuccess4u.

You can also find us on Instagram at instagram.com/guitarsuccess4u.

We are posting almost daily on both YouTube and Instagram, and some of our shorts, vids and reels are getting some pretty good reach. As of today’s episode of Guitar Serious Fun, we have almost 900 followers on YouTube and almost 600 followers on Instagram. Contrast this to just over 60 followers here.Now again, hear me when I say how grateful I am for your willingness to experience what I’ve put together. Your investment of time and attention is a huge blessing to me. But it is indeed time for a change.

So, the change that’s going to happen is this: at this point, I will be doing less of these episodes.

Not that it’s “not working” – but it’s working less than I’d like, and as you know, we’ve all only got so much time to allocate to creating content, especially free content. I love to create content. It’s something that gives me a lot of joy, and I have a working list and folder of concepts that are steadily making their way into the light. People are loving a lot of what I’m putting together, and I’ve never experienced writer’s block, which I guess is something that many people have struggled with.So I have no complaints. Instead, a lot of gratitude!

My wife and I serve under a 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry, appropriately called “David Harsh Ministries,” and our Board of Directors has graciously counseled us to take the new approach of a monthly episode of Guitar Serious Fun, so for the foreseeable future, that’s what we’ll do.The episodes that will be forthcoming will be audio versions of mini topical guitar lessons. So, you can look forward to practical, encouraging episodes that will all link to a video version of what you’ll hear, sometimes accompanied by some charts and tables.

Speaking transparently, my intention is not to turn the Substack for Guitar Serious Fun into a paid experience, at least not at this stage, but instead to help you gain more awareness of how we can serve you inside GuitarSuccess4U.

So…what do I need from you?

Well, I think the best thing you can do is comment after today’s episode. Share your thoughts. Let me know which episode or episodes of Guitar Serious Fun resonated with you and provided encouragement or wisdom.And then, consider providing some topics we could expand upon for future episodes of Guitar Serious Fun, future videos on YouTube, or future reels on Instagram.Will you do this? Will you grab 5 minutes to share some feedback with us?

Believe me, some entire episodes of Guitar Serious Fun have come to life as the result of a single question.

I want to thank you for your time today and for however long you’ve been experiencing these episodes. I do look forward to our monthly connection here.

And I again hope to serve you inside GuitarSuccess4U, where I’m serving our members with most of my time and energy, as we desire to impact the Kingdom of God through a legacy of learning, as our members fulfill their callings in worship leading, songwriting, and the enjoyment of music at whatever level this season calls for.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!

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