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.
Hi Tony. 6 year player, seriously injured my thumb on fretting, left hand. Haven’t played in over a year, or taken a lesson, recovery was slow, looking to jumpstart back into it, play at open mic events, etc. I am more proficient at finger picking than flat picking… so your first lesson is moving me out of that comfort zone. Thank you!
I didn’t expect a motivational and emotional repair work when I joined. Like Bob Ross of guitar.
I had taught myself to fingerpick a song by Jewel (yes i’m that old) and pretty much never did anything again.
Now my daughter loves Can’t Steal My Joy by Josiah Queen and I want to learn it so she can sing along because it would make her so happy.
Ottawa, Ontario Canada <3
I once tried to teach myself guitar at 23. Even married a guitarist at 29… he had ZERO patience to teach. We created 5 new humans (hahaha!) Now at 65 I'm back at it: …omg. :0 this is starting off SO easy to follow WOW even sounds good! …I'm so surprised! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
I played guitar as a teenager, just strumming and finger picking. Recently started playing again with a friend who is into folk. My technique is limited, never used a plectrum, hardly ever used hammering. I want to improve and broaden my playing. I can read tab and sheet music on piano and accordion but struggle with it on guitar.
I am starting back after years away – at 68.
I’m brand spanking new, abd I’m 71…out of shape and i just wanna learn…tha k u
Ican play about 15 songs pretty well.Iwant to be able to be able to embellish them with some licks in between chords. where can ifind the tab for lesson1
Tried day 1. Found it difficult as a complete beginner.
I started playing as a kid (in the ’70s) folk acoustic, youth group stuff. I’ve picked up and dabbled with different guitars over the years but it never caught fire and I felt a bit frustrated with it, mostly because I didn’t keep up with it. I’m now motivated to try and learn, at a decent and realistic pace, get out of my decades old rut, and just play and sound good at a campfire.
My ring finger is defective. I can’t bend it properly to avoid muting strings during upstroke.
You talk about hammer…what is it?
I’m coming from background of learning scales, fingering exercises, fret and string locations, strumming patterns, playing timing exercises cause I read music (piano). But, I got frustrated with my fret fingers never getting comfortable hitting the strings correctly and sometimes not able to stretch my hand far enough. I haves played simple little songs changing chords but at a very slow pace. I became disinterested and decided to step aside from learning guitar because it was a chore for me and not enjoyable. I haves played simple a Yamaha acoustic and have no issues with it. I’m 80 yrs old but willing to give a go one more time.
All new to me. Retired and want to give guitar a shot. This type of instruction seems to fit my style of learning. I could fret well however looking forward to developing a better understanding of the way the areas in the neck relate to each other.
coming back from starting years ago. My fingers hurt after this. lol
I reached a very basic level then just stuck, learn stuff by rote but would love to have a better understanding to be more fluent and maybe even capable of jamming
I started today with zero experience. I had no idea about string lettering or different cord locations. But my win is the picking was clear and consistent
Every challenging game teaches you something new about recognizing clues, spotting patterns, and thinking more strategically.
I needed this reminder today—I always get frustrated when a new technique feels clumsy at first. After sticking with a few short practice sessions, I’ve noticed that the next skill usually comes much easier.
Hello Tony,I just found day one. I used to play as a teenager, then stopped. I’m 64 now. My fingers seem to have gotten fatter. I really want this to work. I’m like starting from scratch. Thanks.
I am familiar with tableture but struggle with chord progression. In today’s video you said Hammer in 5th fret are you also playing that note?
I just became a TAC member on July 9th. I have been working on the 30 days to play since then. IO have made several attempts to play guitar in the past but was not able to follow thru. Now I’m hoping to stay with this method and really get to where I want to be. I have been enjoying the lessons so far and actually look foreword to playing my guitar. Thanks Tony
My fingers are slow but I have confidence in the learning process. I totally appreciate the ability to slow down the play tutorial.
Beginner, after listening, playing and following tabs I started to get it. Fingers are tender and was a little hard get good sounds sometimes. Enjoyable
I have been trying to learn enough guitar to string a couple of songs together for years with little or no success. I think that having an abismal memory is holding me back, although today’s lesson is short enough to remember and practice. An interesting selection of challenges in keeping my middle finger out of the way when strumming the adjacent higher string. I have this problem sometimes with a G chord. Up stroke on beat 4 doesn’t feel natural, so I’m working hard on this. Time will tell and I eagerly await tomorrows lesson.
I am new to learning guitar – very green. I found today’s lesson, feeling like I had jumped out of the plane and was now getting instructions on how to pack my parachute. I don’t know the E from the B or XYZ. It made it hard to figure out finger placement. It’s true what they say, it’s not easy being green.
I’m back after years of being away, but even then I was by no means a proficient player…so I’m really starting from scratch.
Coming back after 40 years, didn’t have enough time then. College and full time job. I’ve been working with a teacher for the last few months but although I’ve gotten better at chords, I’m terrible at strumming. Reading a little music and some tabs. I like playing notes better than strumming chords. I quit my lessons because I don’t think he is teaching me the way I need to learn. I don’t want to give up.
I started trying to learn guitar several years ago and made some progress but got to a point where I didn’t see any improvement and I was never comfortable playing around or for others because I didn’t think my playing sounded good as no matter how much I practiced I would always hit sour notes or forget which chord I was supposed to go to however some friends and family would tell me I sounded good just being nice I supposed so I quit playing but have recently tried to pick it up again. As I try this first lesson I find it virtually impossible to play the 6th string and hammer on and still be able to pick the 5th string without buzzing or muting the string below as it always contacts the back side of my fingers even though I am using just the tips of my fingers the meaty fat portion of my fingers get in the way. Very frustrating
Brand New 54 year old guitar player. Got guitar on Monday. I understand tempo and can read music from the past as I was a Alto and Clarinet player. I think I was a bit early for this challenge, as I did not even know how to sit, pic or fret properly. A few pauses to leard the fundamentals and still working the fretting and not muting the string below. Tempo and pic I got. But fretting a clean note on the A string is my biggest challenge right now. Appreciate the all the support. I am still working on Day 1 but will get through it!
60 year old, beginner.
I’m 65 and I would consider myself completely new at playing guitar. I did do some dabbling in my teens but didn’t stick with it after I moved out of my parents house. The real problem with me with this exercise is that my middle finger and ring finger won’t separate enough for me to fret the fifth fret cleanly as well as muting the A string beneath the E string with my ring finger. I’ll keep at it for the rest of today though and hope I improve.
Beginner and I can’t find the tab notation..doesnt seem to be in lower right corner
thanks for the free 5 day challenge, I’m from Florida and from a family with a musical background. We used to play as a family on weekends at my dads farm in Kentucky and at the time I played Base, but through the years I drifted away from the music. This past year my Younger brother passed away and left me 5 guitars which inspired me to get back into it. I had a teacher for several months but he gave it up to go after a job that he was going to school for. I still have all of the music that we studied, but seem a little lost in trying to stay focused. I’m hoping that this week will convince me to join the TAC and continue to improve.
Thanks,
Excellent start into the 5 day challenge. Greetings from Germany. I am stuck in some songs, hope you way of playing will help to make my guitar talk. Being a long time Springsteen Fan, I like the play – don’t practice mode.
Awesome first video! I previously bought a nice acoustic guitar and started taking lessons, but it never stuck. Looking forward to trying again using your technique.
Been playing for 55 years and feel like i “peaked” 53 years ago! I’m retired now so it’s time to fix that!
I’m just stuck with learning the technique stuff I can play chords bu t couldn’t put a song together if my life depended on it. Really slow on the uptake. I’m 73 and want to play for keeping sharp but feel frustrated.
Just been stuck for a long time
69yrs young, got me cheap acoustic to learn with about 2 months ago and this is my 1st lesson ever, little slow but I get there lol ,trying this out and I am thankful for you giving back to people to allow us to see a great 5 day lesson for free and your lesson or great experience, and the monthly lesson prices are outstanding, hopefully at the end I will have the courage to enroll, and you are a encouraging teacher, Thank you again
Hey Tony, my fingers and hands are still sweaty 🙂 The pressure! I bought my first guitar about a year ago at the age of 70 (but I know how to spell music as I played in my junior and senior high school band on trumpet). Messed around with it for about 6 months and quickly learned how to play 6 chords and watched tons of YouTube guitar videos. Then hit my first plateau and basically have stayed there for about the last 6 months. Hoping this will get me moving forward again.
Couldn’t even quite follow the pattern at first. Lots of what string am I trying to hit with my pick….had to slow it down to .5x. But, after about another 10 minutes in the “Play loop”, I actually got to (mostly) follow along at 1x speed. I’ll count that as a win for me! Thanks much.
I am just starting to learn. I am renting an electric guitar and taking a weekly lesson but supplementing with this challenge. I am older, and worry that my hands may not be strong enough to play the way I want to, but I am also not trying to become a professional musician, so will play for my own pleasure as well as I can. Progress comes quickly, because I practice every day and have lots of fun doing it. My goal is to play blues licks intuitively, but I know that’s a long way down the road. ‘Friend of the Devil’ is a great song, and I am excited to learn part of it!
Hey all – I am a 53-year-old drummer and have been an on-again, off-again beginner guitarist for a couple of years now. I like this approach and would really love to go pick up an acoustic to play this on. Right now, I am playing an unamplified electric guitar. I cannot justify purchasing another guitar until I am sure I am taking guitar playing seriously.
Great exercise very clear instruction and the pdf helps. I just can’t seem to get the open notes clear without my thick fingers touching the string, any helpful hints?
Over a 10 year period I have had on line lessons and lessons with 4 different instructors but didn’t stick at it so yesterday I picked up my guitar for the first serious attempt at playing music since I put my guiitar down about 6 years ago. I really did enjoy playing the day one piece and at 74 years of age I am determined to give your lessons a good go.
Super fun! Got a long way to go, but i’m glad the guitar is being used other than as a clothes hangar!
I’m a left-handed person playing right. I’ve been picking up the guitar off and on for years trying to get something to click but I’m still having trouble seeing what’s actually going on in the video fingering and what you’re picking was practicing the wrong pattern so I’ll have to go back and figure out the right one. Not too good at reading music especially off the phone because my computer is down
I’m still very new to everything, but I have hope that this might help. And I would get the experience either way even if it sound at first really bad. It does seem abit hard but when i get it down it would feel amazing.
New
Brand new…and honestly, a little overwhelming on just day 1… gulp
Hi Tony, my name is Norm. I’m 56 years old, and I guess you would say I’m a returning guitar student, ready to become a player. I took guitar class when I was 15-16 years old in high school, and lost focus and drive when I couldn’t make sense of the guitar. I’ve sort of always had a desire to be a guitar player, and a piano player as well, and I’ve recently made the commitment to myself to get serious and put my fingers where my desire is, so to speak. I’m working on the 5-day challenge now, and am interested to see where things go!