We had the good fortune of connecting with Joshua Shelton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk aversion may be a reality, but risk avoidance is a fantasy. We synonymize risk with change, often ignoring the risks of choosing the situation in which we already find ourselves. DANG I want to make a Rush reference right now…ok fine. “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!” That said, my “career” looks like an utter mess to anyone stuck in a 20th century framework. I just started my fifth job in just over two years, because when something sucks I don’t do it any more. Wild, I know! This process started with a significant risk, that of moving from my native rural North Carolina to flat & frigid Fort Wayne, Indiana to work for the world’s largest online musical equipment retailer. Amidst a battery of personal/family losses, each bringing my priorities into starker contrast than the last, my wife and I wound up moving back home within five months.
“What a shame it didn’t ‘work out,'” the chorus rang from well-meaning friends and family. What would “work out” mean to them? Settling in the genocide capital of the US amongst a staggering dearth of wildlife and plant life for the sake of making beaucoups of cash so I could eventually buy a McMansion and afford a bunch of real nice guitars I never had time or inclination to play because I was so burnt out from a brutally intense, mentally pummeling sales job? (Things I’m glad I didn’t know ahead of time, or I’d have missed out on an amazing adventure and some wonderful friends)

The world values stability over satisfaction. I oddly value stability tremendously; It takes an act of Congress to get my wife and me out of our house and away from our dogs and guitars. But I don’t value it more than satisfaction, and a hell of a lot less than not being miserable.

Today I’m a nationally certified Optician (glasses guy) for my day job, and have risked my way from job to job to find one that sees and values who I am and what I bring to the table. Risky, sure. What about my resume? Well I’ve learned there’s one thing that beats resume, and that’s reputation. I have a reputation for not putting up with baloney at work, for not suffering abusive workplaces, and for delivering unforgettable service and experience for whoever is in front of me. Moreover, the risk of staying in any one of those lousy jobs would’ve meant staggeringly stouter levels of depression and anxiety (words I do not bandy about lightly).

What one considers “risk” is 100% predicated on their values. The riskiest thing to me is spinning wheels in this heartbreakingly brief excursion of embodied human consciousness, one that may well be over before I finish responding to this prompt. That’s a risk I don’t take.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Having played guitar a quarter century now and taught almost that entire time (I was always a step ahead of my guitar buddies, so everything I learned I also taught), I’ve realized my art is musicianship education through guitar. Like all young guitarists and songwriters (I am both) I fancied myself an “Artist” in the LA sense, someone who would be known for the songs and performances I created. I still write songs and have music out on major streaming platforms under my digital moniker JoshOptical, and still play guitar every day. George Harrison is rumored to have said “I’m only myself when I have a guitar in my hands,” and I feel that in my bones. Guitar is my security blanket and my sword. It keeps a healthy distance and distraction between myself and the world, while ironically showing the world what I’m made of better than I ever could in ordinary language. It’s a good deal.

So while I dreamt of compensating for my inner desperate sense of not mattering by making music that mattered to others (the foundational drive of most artists, in my observation), I gradually found the impact I was actually delivering was in musicianship education. I say musicianship rather than music because there is no shortage of 0’s & 1’s in music education available today. All the information is there. What you’ll have a harder time finding is illuminating content on musicianship. The whats of music aren’t elusive. The hows and whys however can be.

My content includes plenty of 0’s and 1’s; my job is to help and I help by answering questions. I don’t turn up my nose when someone asks “what’s a power chord and how do I play it?” But even in the most data-oriented answers, I provide a bird’s eye perspective on the topic and how it fits into guitar in the micro and music in the macro. “Why?” is a favorite question of mine. Why do you want to learn sweep picking? Does any of the music you love and want to play include it? Or are you trying to fill an identity gap to be able to say you’re a “good” or “real” guitarist to protect yourself from mean, sad people in the comments section of Instagram?

My role then is that of helping players separate music as its own worthy endeavor from music as an identity crutch (the latter is fine, by the way. Most of us will need crutches at some point. But music has bigger rewards when you can identify the difference between the two).. No one else is better qualified, since I’ve done a ton of both. In helping with both the “color by number” approach to playing guitar and the more esoteric and emotional side of musicmaking as a craft and art, I believe I bring something to the guitar space that’s unique.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Kendra Hope Shelton- I get to be your husband. I now know confidence beats qualifications every time. Samalam Daniel Baker-Bear Shelton- I got to be be your best friend. You’re still mine.
My parents Olivia & Steve Shelton- They didn’t teach me music. You don’t teach the North Star. You follow it.
Kenneth Bloom & Greg Hyslop- for teaching me music doesn’t care about the guitar.

Instagram: instagram.com/joshoptical

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshoptical?trk=public_post_feed-actor-image

Twitter: https://x.com/joshoptical?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshoptical/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1nggWNdSXFuxtuLxM0JuPw

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@joshoptical

Image Credits
Olivia Jewell Williams (@oliviajewellphoto IG)

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