A lot has been going on here and I thought, let’s just go with a casual update kind of newsletter this week.
Meet me in person
I was invited to play at the Guitar Summit 2024 as a representative of Manuel Rodriguez guitars. I will perform 2 workshops where I play some of my favorite classical guitar pieces on my MR guitar, maybe even 1-2 of my own compositions, and I’ll do my best to introduce the guitar the best I can to everyone interested in it.
We’ll give you a cup of coffee and a gift bag with some goodies if you come and listen. I’ll be sure to bring you some stuff from my shop too. :)
The times when you’ll see me playing:
27th of September, Friday, 17:30
28th of September, Saturday 16:30
This is all very new to me considering that I haven’t really performed live for years, but I’m trying to change that, so I decided to get out of my comfort zone and go for this.
This is where you can read more about the Guitar Summit 2024, and you’ll find different entry ticket prices and more:
So mark the dates in your calendar, 27-28th of September, 2024, Mannheim, Germany! :)
Hope to see many of you there, this will be very special!
Life Lately
So, this week I had a very difficult moment in my life. My sister relocated to Switzerland. It was especially hard because we got along so well as adults. I know many siblings grow apart from each other, but our relationship is better than ever now. - I think maybe we should ask her too haha.
Every time I opened Google Maps on my phone, I saw her little icon as we shared our location with each other. She was living 2 km-s from me, less than 10 minutes by bike. Now when I open Google maps I have to zoom out so much to see her icon.
This is us 5:30 am in the morning last Tuesday, right before her departure.
Wish her good luck everyone! She’s starting a new chapter of her life full of adventures, mountains and goats. I think there are goats in Switzerland.
So Now I’m Going on an Adventure too
Capy and I got really into bikepacking lately and we wanted to squeeze in a trip into the last few weeks of August. This is why this week I’m leaving to go on a 10 day long bikepacking tour. I packed my sleeping bag, my tent, gas tank, stove and some dehydrated meals to cook us dinners.
This will be the longest trip I’ve ever taken on a bike, so while I’m super excited, I’m also a little bit afraid how I’m going to hold up with Capy. We carry everything on the bikes, and using wider tires is also something I’m pretty new to.
Wish me luck and let’s hope I won’t be eaten by a bear. It would be a shame.
(Photo from bikepacking.com, but this is exactly the same as my bike, mine us just a bit more loaded at the moment)
This also means that I’ll have limited access to electricity, so no newsletter next monday. This whole year I have been pretty consistent, I never skipped a Monday, but hey, 1-2 years ago I would have stressed over breaking a pattern, now I know that sometimes you need to change the plan to be able to manage things. I’m growing up, look at me!
New Videos:
Last week I published a new video in which I wanted to walk you through step by step on my video making process. This is the first episode of a 2 part series. I haven't made the second one yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll let you know.
In this one I explain how I plan, structure, record and edit my talking style videos.
In the next one I’ll show the tricks of how I record my music videos.
This Friday I’ll have a new video published on the channel, it’s already available for Patreon supporters though. And let me mention quickly how much Patreon helps me to do what I’m doing. I’m happy to have time not only to create content and videos for you, but to also have the time and mental capacity to think about music, break down problems that affect many guitarists and offer solutions, and to be able to engage in other creative projects, like starting to compose music. If this sounds good, then…
My Favorite Things From Last Week
I randomly clicked on this video because I liked the vibe I saw on the thumbnail and I’m so glad I did. This is a longer, peaceful, meditative improvisation. I especially recommend it for your morning coffee or at the end of the day to help you calm down
Over the past few months I started to notice that my workflow is much better if I keep physical to do lists, and I draft ideas in a notebook. It feels great to cross something out once I’m done with it, as well as note taking gives you a lot of flexibility, adding arrows, doodles and more.
Sometimes when I took a walk and suddenly I had a great idea (at least I thought it was great) I wanted to write some notes to remember later. I either left a voice memo or some notes in my notes app on my phone. But then, I never opened them, never listened to them again because I simply forgot about it the second I closed the app. Now when I go for a walk, I can take notes in a tiny notebook, and when I get home, eventually I’ll meet with the notebook again as I take it out of my pocket or bag, so I’ll have the trigger and reminder to check my notes.
Don’t get me wrong, my calendar and Notion workspace looks super neat and organized, but the best way for me to make them work is if I start analog first, then, once I know what I need to work on, what I need to set time aside for and how to break it down into manageable tasks, I put them into my calendar and open them a task page in Notion.
So this has been going on for some time now, and I noticed myself to pick up paper and pen more and more, so I wanted to see what people were saying about it. I guess we are just tied to our digital devices so much these days, picking up my phone just doesn’t feel good sometimes and I try to avoid it when it’s not necessary. Maybe this is why many people are drawn to pocket notebooks now.
I found this video especially helpful and inspiring, because it shows different ways to integrate note taking into your daily life, and shows many ways to use and organize a notebook
This took me an hour to write down so now I need to bounce, there’s some more packing to do for the trip. I’ll see you in 2 weeks!
Hugs,
Beatrix
Have a fantastic bike ride, and lots of positive vibrations to you and your sister, in this new form of relationship.