TIPS FOR TODAY
Progress comes from momentum, not mastery.
If today’s challenge feels awkward or slow, that’s exactly how it’s supposed to feel. This isn’t a “nail it in one day” test — it’s your first pass at a new motion. Your hands will keep improving every time you come across a similar skill.
Even 10 focused minutes is enough to count today as a win. Our goal is NOT to perfect it. It’s to get exposure to a new skill.
Just get the motion under your fingers a few times at your own pace, and trust that next time you try a skill like this, it will feel a little smoother.
YOUR SAMPLE WEEK OF TONY'S ACOUSTIC CHALLENGE
5-Day "Stop Dabbling, Start Playing Guitar" Challenge
- MON: Technique
- TUE: Lick
- WED: Improv
- THU: Rhythm
- FRI: Transitions
FREE WHEN YOU JOIN TODAY
30 DAY JUMPSTART
All new members start with our 30-day jumpstart to learn the basics. It comes free with your membership when you join today.
3-Steps to Stop Dabbling and Start Playing
Try the Free 5-Day Challenge
Get a feel for the TAC method and see what 10 minutes a day can do.
Join TAC and Build Your Foundation
Start the 30-Day Jumpstart Challenge (included when you join) to lock in the basics and build a daily habit.
Keep Going with Daily Challenges
After the 30-Day Jumpstart, keep improving—one fun, daily guitar session at a time.
The second string buzzes.. I can’t get it clear .small hands):
I started playing at 16, after playing flute for years. Became more of a flute player and taught flute for several years .went into another career, but never gave up playing flute until an illness took my breath and voice. Now concentrating on guitar. I learned so much about applying theory to patterns and tricks on fretboard. Really, the only things I now struggle with are playing with a pick.. I have practiced some, but still seriously prefer my fingers touching the strings.i have a beautiful strat I may sell because I barely pick it up. I play fingerstyle ever day..for years. Other issue is I have a tremor in my fretting left hand. Really hard for vibrato! And. I am in my 70s. Got any memory tricks. Music keeps me young. My son said he really likes your lessons, so here I am to learn a Grateful Dead song my son can play really well!
After 2 hours my finger tips hurt, I have a break. but I enjoy it, I have a Maestro by Gibson Guitar perhaps that’s why.
Absolute beginner with 2 left hands and 5 thumbs on each hand and all the rhythm of a freight train but willing to give it a try. Wish me luck!
greetings Tony, been a novice for decades [i’m 70]. played guitar with my children but mostly via tablature. your list of ‘excuses’ resonated with me. i am a lifelong fan of the Dead so learning Friend of the Devil is quite inspiring.
I had guitar lessons as a kid up to 14. Played at church on a sunday as well. Gave up guitar when I changed school as no lessons available. Now late 50’s and want to take it up again. Excited to see what happens this week. I dont have a pletrum, Do you need to use one for this week?
Retired and want to learn Guitar. I tried another web based instruction and it went too fast for me. Excited to give it another try with Tony.
Excited to dive in! Started playing the first of this year, and I feel like I’m never sure exactly how to make good progress.
complete beginner .can.t wait to get going .retired.time on my hands .Duncan
I’m going to jump in and take the challenge. Enjoyed the first day. Very nice presentation. Looking forward to more.
I find Day 1 challenging from the first few steps: “hammer”?? My fingers are as much in each others’ way as every other time I’ve tried to learn!
Hi Tony, I picked up the guitar years ago and many times through the years but always stuck or overwhelmed watching video after video, class after class.
Really digging day 1 of this challenge. I have been a beginner for a year, still cannot play a song and I am feeling stuck after a year with JustinGuitar app lessons. I have a deep passion for guitar, I have wanted to play my entire life, now 43, I don’t want to wait any longer. 2026 has to be the year I become a guitar player!
I’e had a Matsuoka Classical since 1970s, the headstock broke, but I repaired it recently and may try to restore it some more, but it’s got a rosewood body, spruce top, ebony keyboard, reasonable machines and new nylon strings. I’m retired and look forward to some enjoyment with it.
Started lessons in my early teens, but never progressed past “beginner”. I’m 65 now. Dabbled a little over the years, but haven’t picked it up in the last couple of decades. Just did lesson one of the 5-day challenge. Fat fingered and very tender finger tips! Feels like the first time. Looking forward to this though.
I got a guitar for Christmas when I was 15 years old, took a few lessons and played some familiar songs around our campfires. I never really got going, just learned on my own. Because that was 50 years ago, and after watching this video, I think I am long past being able to even understand what you’re explaining here.
Got 4 lessons back in college in 1986, and have just played rhythm guitar on my own since then. No other lessons. Can’t read music. So nearly 40 years of being a mediocre rhythm guitar player.
Tony – I purchased TAC in Jan 2023 & worked at it for 2 months. My wife is invalid, requiring care 24/7 & each time I sat down to learn more, I got distracted to the point that I just stopped. But I’m going to give it another go!
Terminal beginner that played then did not. First time in + years
I started playing back in the 60’s when the Beatles were playing (I was 13). I kept playing for years later until my early 30’s when I started working. I also married a guitar player, so I started relying on him to play while I sang in bands. I really just stopped playing and now that I am retired I am picking guitar up again. I am a dabbler, I play open mics, but I am not progressing–really just stuck. I hope this program opens me up to a learning method that keeps me evolving without commiting to hours of practice.
Getting it but my finger tips get sore so fast! Any helpful tips for the tip?
I’ve been dabbling for a few years, but jumping here and there, Learning some chords, then not being sure of how to move forward.
I’m 76 years old and just retired. I bought Taylor GS mini a few years ago and learned some cord, but really didn’t progress. I haven’t touched my guitar in 5 years. I have musical talent, but I’m lazy. If I can’t pick it up and make progress easily, then I lose interest.
Got started in GFV. Now I stop and start again on chords. I keep repeating this cycle..
Hi Tony.
As a child, I played the accordion but got fed up playing polkas, waltzes and Christmas carols. I didn’t play any instrument for a long time, other than dabbling around on my childrens’ keyboard with my right hand. When I was playing the accordion, I could play along to popular music at the time by ear. I wouldn’t know where to start to do that on the guitar though..
I took up acoustic guitar in 2009 and was attending classes in which the instructor took a similar approach to yours. He said to me that you want to play songs, don’t you. We only worked on chords so I found today’s challenge quite CHALLENGING. I have played sporadically over the years, playing along with mainly classic rock songs, using downloads from UltimateGuitar.com. As you said in the introductory 30 minute video, you don’t get better by playing the same songs over and over again. That has been me with my favourites being Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd and the more acoustic tunes from Collective Soul’s debut album. Most recently, I haven’t picked up my guitar in almost two years. I’m interested in getting back into it in a more consistent manner. I am retired but I definitely don’t have a whole lot of time on my hands. Most days I wonder how I got any of the things done that I do in a day while I was working. I will be 68 in December. My main issues were and still are based on today’s challenge would be interference with other strings by an adjacent finger and buzzing of the strings on occasion. I also don’t have a wide finger spread that is advantageous, bordering on mandatory to play some chords. I’m looking forward to progressing through the week.
I picked up the guitar at 45, and started trying to teach myself. Now 10 years later I have never really progressed past that beginner stage.
I have been working on todays task with success. I’m can manage a clean sound on strings 6/5 and 5/4 but after those, I can’t get a clean sound, only buzzing or muting. Advice?
I got my first guitar when I was around 10yrs. old. It was a Hootnanny acoustic(LOL)! I took a few lessons but quickly got bored so I started playing by ear and was hooked! A couple of years later, I started mowing the lawn for a neighbor who worked for Ovation doing quality control. We were talking guitars one day and he asked if I’d like a deal on an Ovation Balladeer and hard case. Of course I said yes! I played in church groups through high school and college, and also informal jam sessions. After college, I pretty much stopped. That is until now! I recently had the urge to play again, and my love for bluegrass led me to joining the Bluegrass Association of Maine! Looking forward to learning more!
I kind of got it, but it took nearly 2 hours and I’m not ready to build on it….
If I am supposed to be able to learn this in 10 minutes, i am definitely in the wrong place. I have been at it on and off for several hours, and still nowhere near right. This is quite a discouraging start for me.
I’ve been playing and just strumming cords for a couple years and the first thing we learn is a hammer on and I’ve spent 45 minutes just getting that down without even attempting the strumming pattern
“I don’t play music because because I’m good at it, I play because I want to be part of it”
Im watching this free series to see if I can do this. I dont even have a guitar yet. Getting one for christmas. Im hoping the full series really starts with some sort of “know your guitar” as I dont know ow which string is which nofe or which fret or how to hold the guitar. But so far so good. I think i can.make my fingers do what your doing…not in 10 minutes but I love your entire concept of the best way to learn. Makes total sense. I guess im auditing right now but like what im seeing so far.
i had a guitar when i was a kid tried to learn on my own but went nowhere had a friend that was great at it but couldnt get him to teach me went in the service came home as a quad with a TBI and PTSD so learning was gone for me wasnt good god touched me i got my arms and legs back but my brain is like the movie 50 1st dates some stuff sticks other stuff dont i take lessons now but i feel im still at day 1 i now 2 whole songs i wanna be alot better i told my techer about this and said give it a shot it may trigger something to help im a Marine so im not a quiter so lets get this done Rah!
I’m retired and I borrowed a guitar from the library and took a class online at the community college. I bought a guitar but never got very far after the class ended.
My hands are small, and hammering on with the ring finger is difficult. Then the 5th string buzzes when I pick it with the upstroke, because my ring finger is in contact with it. UGH! I will continue to try to get it. It’s easier if I use my index finger and middle finger, but I have a feeling there is a reason (to be understood later) not to do this. lol
I started learning guitar when I was around 19 years old. My brother was in a band, and I worked with the guitarist in his band. Another guy and I asked him if he would give us some lessons. I learned a few things, but I never went much farther beyond that. Fast forward about 38 years, and I hadn’t touched the thing much. I decided that I was finally going to learn how to play it. It has been about 2 years into that commitment, and I have gotten a little better, but I was still a “dabbler.” I want to get better!
Played guitar mainly blues, for many years and just picked up the acoustic after no playing for 15 years. Like the way you present the lesson. Very clear, articulate and to the point. Thanks
I am 71 years old and have been dabbling with just chords on my guitar. Decided to do your challenge and hopefully get a better understanding of the next steps. Thank you!
lifetime beginner, i bought a guitar when my kids were young never progressed, got books still didn’t help put the guitar up. my youngest boy Keith picked it up worked at it, he listens to a song and plays music on the guitar by ear! I gave him the guitar. hes a natural. years later i bought a Peavey dreadnaught acoustic, still a beginner, i bought a Gibson Epiphone electric thinking it would be easier. No! then i bought a Yamaha G40 spanish guitar with a wide neck.! My wife said no more guitars! I need to learn to play these things! i like your teaching method Tony.
I have a mental illness where I collect beginner guitars and guitar songs tabs (printed off, holes punched, and arranged neatly in a binder, no less) and then dream about the day I can play just ONE of those songs using ONE of those guitars that hang on my wall. I’m so frustrated with myself because I can never get this thing into gear. It’s actually kind of become a running family joke. I laugh along and quietly die inside….
always meant to take lessons, finally doing it
I have been playing and singing for 35 years, and don’t know how to play correctly, and after watching this I’m pretty sure, I never will. I forced myself to play, because, I got tired of singing without music, I done a lot of ministry in jails, prisons, Boys homes and street ministry, so I felt I had to learn to play, I have been pastoring the same Church for 18 years, l lead Worship every Sunday. But I don’t think I could ever play the way you play.
Not ready for this yet! I need to cut my nails and I don’t have a pick so I have to start on another day! I couldn’t see the functions on the screen that you mentioned in your video. I am a beginner. I grew up playing piano so I can read music but not tab. I tried learning a couple of times with a friend or another lesson app but no luck
I took guitar lessons as a little kid. Quit when the theory part kicked in. Fast forward – I taught music in school and guitar was one of the classes I had to teach. Knew enough to get by, but now that I’m retired I would really like to get good at playing for myself.
I’m a professional sax player in a cover band. Rock.pop, country. I decided to learn guitar. So I’m a true beginner. Can I use an electric guitar in these lessons?
WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO ANSWER YOUR ELECTRIC GUITAR QUESTION
I am a 56 years old newbie here, have been torturing a guitar for almost two years. This is my first online guitar learning experience. So far so good). I am fingerpicking on this challenge, is it OK?
I’m an always beginner ! Have been trying to play since 2012. I picked up building Cigar Box Guitars and found that I liked building. I completed building my first Acoustic Guitar that took 5 years to build. If I spent as much time practicing that building then I’d be a better player. Now I’m trying to devote more time playing, and building my second Acoustic.
I consider myself a campfire musician playing well enough to be happy. Fortunately, about 10 years ago I ran into a fellow whose wife was in an assisted living home. The chemistry was there at our first get together and what a blessing it has been. His wife passed away and now he is in the same facility after losing the use of his legs. He can still play and we have gigs at his place where we are “celebrities”. Hah! We love a captive audience. I’m curious about your course because I have just been coasting as the rhythm guitar. It is all fun and we call ourselves the FunGuys. We do what we can to throw some light into lives that are shut in and often forgotten. I’m looking forward to doing a deep dive into this.
I’m 75. I decided to start to learn during covid and about 4 years on I am definitely stuck in the beginners stage.
I’ve been on and off trying to learn the guitar for a long time. 6 months ago I started again and this time I stuck with it long enough to get past the pain in my fretting fingers. I started a lifegroup in my shop and it turned out that there are 4 other guitar players in my lifegroup so God has put accountability in place. We’re having fun playing together and I’m getting a chance to learn from some good players. I’m ready to give this challenge my all.