TIPS FOR TODAY
You might be thinking, “There’s no way I can learn this in 10 minutes.”
Good — because you’re not supposed to.
The goal isn’t to perfect the challenge in ten minutes. It’s to introduce your fingers and your brain to something new so they’ll be a little smoother the next time you sit down with a similar skill.
Motor-learning research shows that short, imperfect reps create more progress than long, grinding sessions. Ten minutes keeps your brain sharp, your hands relaxed, and the habit alive.
And here’s the quiet superpower of the 10-minute rule: it gets you started. Most people end up playing longer because once you’re in motion, the fun takes over.
So today, just touch the new idea a few times. Let that be enough.
Ten minutes builds momentum — and momentum builds players.
YOUR SAMPLE WEEK OF TONY'S ACOUSTIC CHALLENGE
5-Day "Stop Dabbling, Start Playing Guitar" Challenge
- 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.
About a month ago, I purchased a used Waterloo WL-14L & I’m loving it; can’t wait to play it every day. BTW, only re-started guitar in December/2024 after 30 years of idle guitar. I used to play (not very well) basic cowboy chords for family sing alongs. Have always wanted to truly learn to play better, especially would like to learn to improvise solos over the chords of a song.
Really liked day 2 of the 5-day challenge; looking forward to day 3.
Martin D 28 E C
I rotate between my Martin 00015m and Gibson J 45 Standard. The Martin gets played more because it is easier to play for me.
Hi Tony I am playing a Taylor 224 . Started playing 5 years ago and am 81 years old. Wish I had started many years ago.
3/4 size SaMich.
I have a few I rotate through.. Art and Lutherie Cedar Dred, Faith FVHG, and a Martin HD-28.
I’ve been trying to learn how to play guitar since I was 16 years old. I’m 71 right now. I’ve been to a few schools with 45 minute lessons, and I recently was a member of Guitar Tricks. I want to play so bad but hands and fingers just do not cooperate. I sometimes have a hard time fretting a single string, and my wrist, hand, and fingers just won’t bend the way they need to. I’m once againthinking it’s just not possible for me. These first two lessons seem easy enough but very difficult for me. I’m frustrated already.
My first acoustic guitar was purchased back in 1998 and is a left hand Washburn D-12 with crazy high action. I play right handed, so the nut was switched and the pick guard is on the wrong side. After years of painfully playing that one, I finally got the guitar that will last till the end. A 2025 Martin D-28 Billy Strings version. Plays 100% better than the Washburn and I’m really enjoying playing again. Love this guitar.
I am a beginner and I am learning to play on a 1974 Yamaha FG 75
Today I’m playing a Fender custom shop vintage ’57 Stratocaster in faded sonic blue (which reads more green than blue). I know, it’s not an acoustic, but I’m enjoying the course anyway.
I am playing a Yamaha FG830 right now. I also play acoustic on my Ovation 1986-6 when I need to cut away for high notes!
Nice! I have an FG730S, which sounds really nice, but maybe not as nice as your 830 with scalloped bracing. I started out with an Ovation Celebrity, but I sold it because it sounded a little too “quacky” for me.
Andrew White, Freya (production model).
Fender Sonoran Acoustic
1995 Collings 000-2H
i play a Harmony guitar that was passed to me from a niece, with no strings. It has to be over 50 years old.
Martin D-28
Hey Tony , im playing a Washburn .
Bought an Orangewood Rey in January, first guitar & first time trying. I have been fumbling through various YouTube tutorials with minimal consistency. I enjoy learning but clearly need lessons.
Yamaha FG-332-1
I’ve got a Oscar Schmidt by Washburn. I’m retired and trying to get back into guitar now that I have the time.
I’m playing an older Seagull S6. I like it because it’s got a little wider string spacing than most, which helps accommodate my chubby fingers
an Ovation LX—bought used for $400– has 2 big stress cracks behind the back bridge— intonation is out— fits my hands beautifully but I’ve got a concave belly and the guitar has a concave back— bad fit but it’s still sounds good
Hi Tony, I am playing a Martin OM28 Special. It is fun to play and I really like the action on it.
I joined TAC in 2017, I believe it was, and also was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I had to focus on getting better so I asked for a refund and you so kindly fulfilled my request. I fell in love with the guitar as a youngster. I was probably 9 years old. I have been dabbling my whole life with learning the guitar. I’m gong to give it another shot.
Thank you for your encouragement, Tony.
Best wishes.
Jerry Gobeli
A Yamaha F310. It may be kind of entry level, but it does sound nice (with new strings on).
But, cheap it may be, it holds its tuning amazingly.
Sheeran by Lowden Autumn Variations
I have a L’Arrivée 40R that was my 50th birthday present to myself 7 years ago. The investment keeps me honest about practicing!
it takes 12:59 seconds just to to watch he video. how can you claim ten minutes challenges. cordoba mini , i guess these are lessons for people who know chords an hammer on and pull offs. i need 25 minutes just to get through a few measures. not sure this is for me,
Feels like I’m sliding backwards. Yesterday was fine. Today the pull-offs are interrupting the flow, I keep follwung them with an up instead of a down…. and I’m hiting the wrongs strings. I’ll take a walk and try later on.
playing on my yamaha ac3r. agree this takes more than 10 minutes. i find these extremely difficult. signed up as a beginner in 2020 and had to quit because it was too hard for me, but have continued to play since. coming back cautiously hoping my experience helps me be able to process these lessons.
my guitar is a Carlo Robelli D20N, I need more than 10 minutes a day to keep up with this lesson.
This is pretty awesome this might be working for me
Playing on my Schecter Omen 6 FR (electric with no amp), my Taylor 714ce is across the room and everyone else is asleep. I’m interested in your teaching technique, always looking to learn things myself and to find good teachers to send friends to.
I’m playing a Martin 000-18.
I’m playing an Alvarez MFA70. I’ve just started your acoustic challenge, and I think it may work well for me.
Harley Benton CLA-15MCE LH
Yamaha FG5
Playing an Epiphone J5 Studio
Taylor “Grand Auditorium” (don’t know the actual number)
Zager ZAD50
Hi. Thanks for letting me in on this series of lessons. I play an entry level Hohner Western Series, Model MW400G. It was given to me as a birthday present 33 years ago. I’m sure it’s not a fancy guitar in any way, but I enjoy it and it seems OK to me – an entry level guitar player even after all this time!
Fender F-210
I have a Seagull S6
Yamaha F-310
Takamine GS330S
Hey,
I’m playing a Martin D28. It belongs to my hubby.
Really enjoying how you break this down.
Im playing a Typo Valencia classical guitar.
I’m playing a Seagull SM6 Spruce.
I just picked up a guitar for the first time yesterday on your day 1 lesson. I’m playing a brand new Orangewood Oliver Live that I just bought to learn how to play guitar.
I’m using my Gretch G5422TG. It’s not plugged in so I won’t wake my wife or son up because they have to get up so early.
I’m trying to start playing again. I haven’t been able to play for years because I have NMO. It’s a bit like MS, I only have partial sight in my left eye and not total control of my legs (I use a walker) and my hands twitch a lot so what a normal person could learn in a couple days or a week may take me 2 weeks. I’m not able to practice every day because I’m twitching too bad or the chronic pain is too bad.
But I’m on a new drug I get intervenously at the hospital once a month. They used to treat cancer with it because it’s a chemotherapy drug, so I feel pretty crappy after it for a day then I’m back at things. So being able to play guitar again means a lot. I was self taught and friends showed me things but I want to be a more rounded player with an instructor to help back me up. So just to reiterate, I have very low vision and not great control due to my hands twitching.
Epiphone masterbilt