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.
Been strumming away at the guitar for almost 20 years and never really progressed much beyond beginner – always playing the same tired songs with easy chords and lacking the knowhow to push myself further. Breaking it down into smaller pieces seems to be the key. Looking forward to the rest of this series of 5 challenges to see what new skills I can unlock!
Im 79 played a tenor Sax for over 60 years. Finally gave it up because of wind it required. Have always wanted to play a guitar so I bought an acoustic guitar. If I can learn to play it I’ll buy an electric guitar. The problem I have is playing chords with my short fingers.
I am an immediate guitar player age 79. I decided 2 months ago to learn more.
4 years beginner here!! Pretty hard for me, but getting better every day….
THX Tony
I have watched this video several times and cannot figure out the technique at all. The video is moving too fast for me by the time I get my fingers to the 4th fret you have already played and I don’t understand all the open C string or D or whatever string you mentioned. I don’t know the names of the strings, so I am totally lost. I find this very discouraging. I was doing better just playing chords I taught myself from a chart.
i agree re the names of the strings. it would be simpler and more under-
standable for beginners if it was 6 – 1 (low E to high E) , rather than E A D G B E.
Mr. Tony! I like your style! Have been playing everything from, in the park jams, to PAID!(amazingly enough) gigs, for 52 years. My guitar is mostly a percussion instrument with chord changes that accompanies my vocals. Working with some incredible guitar players has me wanting to improve my abilities, after all these years. Your 5 day Free! is my starting point. Looking forward to all five! Thanks!
I am having trouble with day 1 we are now at day 4 and still doing day 1. Beginner guitar player but feel like I’m getting better each day
Don’t know how you do it in 10mins as I’m playing at least 1 hour but as i get better hope to get faster at learning
Hi, my name is Tony,I played 35 years ago but du too my nature of work I spent little time and then not being able to play at all.I just had carpal tunnel done to my fretting hand
I basically lost my chords and notes, now that I have all the time in the world I can get
back to playing. Music takes you too a different world,Thanks for the lessons and maybe you would be kind enough to let me know of your courses.
Beginner. Joined Tony’s program during the pandemic. Had to pause for a while because… life.
Lifelong beginner. Start… stop … start … stop and then do it all over again.
Pretty good with the major cowboy chords, but have never been able to get the hang of moving down the neck and figuring out where the chords are played further up on the fretboard. Anxious to get that firgured out.
Just starting my journey day one getting there
I have paid my subscription to you for two years. Still not even a beginner. The guitar won’t get out of its case!!
I played in high school pretty well. Enough to play in a band in a lounge on weekends. Then set the guitars aside and went to work. Always picking them up to play a little.
Last time I played was over 25 years ago with a group was St Patrick’s day. Playing some Irish tunes.
And then life got in the way and I didn’t play anything for 20 years.
Went through throat cancer about 10 years ago and actually bought more guitars but they never got played.
So a couple years ago I ran across your site and really liked your method. So I joined and got about two days in then got sidetracked and never opened up another lesson. Always thinking I’ll will get to it.
Now I’m retired, sold my well drilling business and trying to slow down. So saw you five day challenge and said I’m going to do this challenge to see if I can get my rhythm back, timing back, and maybe even play a song again..
After all these years I do not have any rhythm or counting habits to even strum the strings in time. Very discouraging for someone that played a lot whrpen younger. Definitely not like gipetting back on a bike and things come back. Mine got up a left. And doesn’t seem to want to come back. LOL.,
So my goal is to get through this week and feel something again.
Sincerely,
Garry Z
Wow! Already overwhelmed. I’ve never learned guitar before and I don’t even understand the B E names for cords. I have a few friends that are musicians and in bands . I love music and feel it deeply . So I thought I’d give it a try. I forgot about this and didn’t check my emails until today. Watched the videos and now it’s Monday night 11:36 pm and can’t start at this time. I’m already behind! I’m 61 and doubting my abilities for sure.
I can relate to the life long beginner comment. Looking forward to learning more about the challenge . I’ve been playing on and off for 30 years.
Got it! Thanks!
I’m an intermediate beginner. Been playing for years but never had time to practice on a regular basis. Now I am retired and have no excuses not to learn.
Unfortunately, I feel like a perpetual beginner. Bored with strumming but floundering on where to go next . So far, I’m hopeful with this challenge.
Thank you.
My hight school and college years were filled with playing around on the guitar with friends, that was in the late 60’s and mid 70’s. I love music and my biggest obstacle is that I’ve never had any training in strum patterns or finger picking. I’ve been trying to teach myself Travis picking. I found class 1 very helpful and am inspired by your method. I found it understandable even though it took more than 10 minutes to absorb the lesson. I’ve gone back over it and can see progress.
I’ve been stuck in the beginner to low intermediate stage for quite a long time. I’m definitely more advanced with my fretting hand than my strumming hand, and for some reason my brain disconnects when mixing in different strumming and counting patterns and only wants to focus on what my fretting hand needs to do.
Its diffrenet but i enjoyed it and did the hammer on that i had never done before
A light bulb went off. What you picked and said was bluegrass, was also very similar to the intro to Tim McGraw’s just to see you smile.
I’m a beginner. i had wrist surgery a few years ago a had to fuse my left wrist. I’m trying to loosen it up and have fun at the same time.
love this Tony — and great song to pick!
Been learning for ages and don’t seem to improve
Where do I get the TAB?
This doesn’t play on my mac with chrome.
Hi Aer, A quick suggestion would be to reboot and try using a different browser, or device. Hope this helps!
Im doing it!! Slowly..but Im taking the little bites into it! Thank you
Long term beginner, totally me…singer first, picked up the guitar (bass and piano) later. My knowledge of chord shapes, theories far outweighs my skills (often skipping the fundamentals., because mm, I just wanted to create and play) and getting frustrated with instructions to “play it exactly as its written”. I like the idea of having cheats/skills to get the gist or a box of jewelry to dress up ad libs or jump in with others tastefully vs being pedantic and memorize tabs etc
Using a garage sale Lotus L100. [Acoustic] It probably needs to be set up because I’ve never been able to bar a chord and when I do the pull on the G string, it never comes off because it hits my ring finger on D. Its very difficult to play clean chords.
I have been able to learn Blackbird and can play that with McCartney at abbey road [YouTube] Of course, I cannot memorize lyrics to save my life and 9 times out of 10 I’ll screw up because Ive lost my concentration and forgot where I was. I also enjoy playing parts of dueling banjos, but have not tied it all together yet. Who knows maybe one day I’ll be touched by an angel and be musically endowed like some of these kids that have to be reincarnated Mozarts or Jimi Hendrix’s!
Enjoying the 5 day acoustic challenge. It is a 10 minute lesson that takes me at least an hour to figure out the frets, stings and picks. But, it’s there and if your patient you can get it down. Im enjoying the pulls and slides which may fool someone into thinking I have an ounce of talent. LOL!
Been playing pretty solidly since 2015 but I perform as basically a rhythm acoustic and singer. Toured many years as a sound tech and guitar tech and as a road manager for Bo Diddley, Paul Rodgers, Ronnie Wood but never really played a lot back then. Started as a drummer since 15 yrs old. Now Im looking to get into more picking, riff work and lead soloing, so thought I’d give this a try. Just recently got into more electric also with joining a CCR Tribute band. Nice first lesson.
I have been playing for 50 years. I’m a decent guitarist, but I just simply don’t play often enough. I’ve only been part of a couple bands that were just put together for an event. I played with a band at church for several years. I signed up for the 5 day challenge to get back to basics and to have a reason to play daily, at least for 5 days.
Picked up the guitar a year ago at age 50 after inheriting a couple guitars from my dad. Never played any music instruments before. Been make some progress with basics through a few online instructors.
Although you make this 1st lesson sound easy I’m have a hard time getting the hammer on to match pick notes and getting a clean tone. Also can’t get fingers clear of the string below without muting it. I need some more basic fundamentals help than what you are showing as simple. Not simple for those of us that haven’t been playing very long.
My lack of finger strength and need for lighter strings is showing up. I will keep working
I liked this lesson.
I am a life long beginner I’ve had my little Aria acoustic for fifty years.
Long term beginner is a good description. I started playing during covid but have been crazy busy with work so dropped off. But honestly it had started being a burden. I want to learn finger style since I can’t sing, and maybe I bit off too much too soon. I’m not happy with what I hear and frustrated by my lack of progress. Hoping this fresh start gets me motivated again.
I have played on and off for a few years but returned to guitar recently as a very extended beginner. I thought, I’ll never do that but I set it to 50% speed and had a go, had a go again and again and again and then suddenly it kind of clicked. I moved it to 75% speed and floundered horribly but kept on going. It’s not like anything terrible happened when I fluffed it. Then I cleared off and played a few blues shuffles as I was over thinking things. 10 mins later, back to your video at 75% and all was well so tried 100% and it all came together. I actually got up to 150% and was feeling pretty darned pleased with myself. See you tomorrow for day 2. It was really fun.
Good start- I can see how it also assures proper tuning and set up accuracy. I am a bassist and also play some drum/percussion, with some noodling on guitar over my lifetime.
Probably help if you’d explain the term ‘hammering’ right off the bat, rather than my confused a$$ having to Google it.
I am intermediate guitar player. My playing chops are better on piano, but I write songs and guitar is my go-to for playing my songs. I have gotten stuck at certain points (yes, barre chords was one of those). I find myself using the same few strumming and picking patterns and chord progressions and I would like to expand my vocabulary of what I actually play. I have a greater analytic understanding of harmonic concepts than I actually have a handle on in my playing. And admittedly I recognize that I need to follow through with repetition and drilling on techniques if I want to get better. I enjoy taking lessons but I get distracted with other projects that require focus and have trouble working everything into my schedule. I know I actually have enough time to get better, and I like the idea of working on bite-sized pieces that might help me avoid my avoidance, my talking myself out of switching gears away from one project because I am afraid I will not find my way back. I am looking forward to the 5-day challenge – I have started late because of other deadlines to meet, but as long as I can carry on at my own pace without dropping out I expect it to be productive. I have just finished Day 1 lesson and playing and I like it so far. I am hoping by the end of Day 5 to join for the whole program. I appreciate the free trial. Thank you!
I’m a retired 66 yr old, life long beginner. I know pretty much all the open chord shapes, but struggle landing cleanly and keeping time without hesitation. I know the “a minor” pentatonic 1st position and all the notes on the low E string. I know a few opening licks of rock songs, but never learned an entire song. I get easily frustrated and end up putting the guitar down for days/weeks before trying again and never really progressing.
Once I printed the tab and marked D, H & U for the notes, I was good to go. I need to play until it’s fluid. The hardest part for me is learning to use a pick because I’ve been playing finger style for many years. At this point, I think I’ll try following what you do with a pick, but also trying to do it with using my thumb for downstrokes and index finger for upstrokes.
This looks good but I can’t really tell which fingers are down on the strings from the angle shown
I always loved music and at 13 I wanted to learn guitar. Mom got me a nasty acoustic and lessons (Mel Bay guitar 1, Twinkle Twinkle, etc.) and it was hard and not fun. Quit. Then 3 or 4 years later had friends who were natural guitar players who could accompany themselves singing. THAT’S what I really wanted. So I bought myself a marginally better guitar but returned to lessons which I liked only slightly more. Still hard. Still not what I wanted. That guitar went under my bed and moved when I moved 5 or 6 times. Then 7 or 8 years later I tried lessons but this time they focused on teaching me a song I wanted to learn with teaching from excellent teachers and I got a better. Enough to sing and play at the same time songs I wanted to sing and play. Then I stopped playing when I changed relationships, moved again to a place where the neighbors could hear me and I got too shy to sing and play. Then a few years after that I moved AGAIN to a place by myself with no neighbors and I learned a bunch of songs from lyric and chord sheets and got brave using the Nashville #ng system and could listen to a song on the radio and figure out the key and therefore the chords and I played a LOT. For years. But I called myself a hack because I didn’t play many intros, outros or solos. Just blammed away on chords enough to accompany myself. Then I got married and didn’t have the house to myself anymore and avoided playing except sporadically. But I got serioysly into Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and got Tom’s ukulele song book as well as a couple TPATH guitar song books last Christmas and played a bit but was in school and got distracted from the music again.
And here I am today. Still loving both guitat and uke but not having learned the 5 elements of playing and just playing out of the song books once in a while when I’d rather play daily and grow my skills.
I am 75 and I have been learning for about 3 years and never play with a pick. I am hoping this challenge will help me get over my dislike of using a pick. I am limiting my playing abilities.
Hello Tony. Yes I am a life longer beginner. I first started playing guitar while serving in the Air Force overseas. A one year remote tour was a long long time away from my wife and children. I found this little local shop and bought a guitar. Took a few beginner lessons. Guitar was able to fill my loneliness bringing such joy and warmth to my life. After returning back home life and career took over and my playing guitar was put on the back burner. Now and then I would start playing again with the same events repeating. Then I was injured that ultimately ended my loved Air Force career and changed my whole world. Hardships, divorce and losing most of my eye sight was the nail that sealed my dreams of ever playing guitar. So I thought. I met my Shannon. We married and she has changed my world. More than I could ever image or hope for. Two years ago I found this program called Guitars for Vets. I signed up and waited over a year to get into the program. This program brought playing guitars back into my life a reality. I can say the passion is alive and well with this guitar in my hand and my wife beside me. Playing guitar is healing my life long wounds. I graduated just a few months ago and I have volunteered to help coordinate the Guitars for Vets program at my local veterans chapter. I have started training so I can help fellow veterans find the healing power of music. I am trying to move from life long beginner guitar player to one day teaching others this joy and passion. Tony, thank you for being a supporter of Guitar for Vets.
I’ve trying to play for years since high school. Never took. Was never consistent. Now that I am retired I am trying again. Hopefully things will work. FOD is appropriate for me as I have been listening to the Dead since high school. Looking forward to more.
Thanks
I feel like one of those extended beginner’s, even though I’ve been playing for 30 years. I was in a band in high school, but none since. I play electric and acoustic, but mainly acoustic now. My dad’s passing got me really motivated to get better and buying a Martin guitar certainly heped with that. I want to learn music development, how to play with others, and how to play lead on acoustic.
Bought first guitar 40 years ago and messed around with a couple lessons but never learned anything substantial. I moved to Nashville to enjoy the singer songwriter world and got inspired again watching others do what i could only dream of. I’ve no vision of being a musician but I do enjoy myself learning a little more about the instrument every time I sit down to entertain myself. At 73 and semi retired from fitness industry I find the learning part good for the BRAIN!
the TAB sheet is not “Friend of the Devil” it is Set out Runnin”
Liked this 1st exercise.