TIPS FOR TODAY
If the word “solo” makes you want to hide behind the couch, you’re in the right place.
Improvisation isn’t some advanced skill reserved for guitar wizards — it’s just playing a few good-sounding notes in your own order. Today’s scale is designed so that every note works. There are no “wrong” ones to find.
Your first solos are supposed to feel simple. Simple is how your ear learns what it likes. Simple is how confidence is built. Simple is what unlocks real creativity later.
If your brain taps out on the second pattern, that’s okay — camp out on the first, easy version and just make little phrases you enjoy. That still counts as soloing.
By the end of this session, you didn’t just “try” a solo — you played one.
And that feeling? That’s the spark that keeps people going.
YOUR SAMPLE WEEK OF TONY'S ACOUSTIC CHALLENGE
5-Day "Stop Dabbling, Start Playing Guitar" Challenge
- WED: Improv
- THU: Rhythm
- FRI: Transitions
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3-Steps to Stop Dabbling and Start Playing
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This is dusting the cobwebs away from my guitars and my head. Also making me think about my technique (I flat pick and play by ear)
I can time it and play the notes and they seem to sound ok, but there is not really a beginning or end and I really don’t seem to have a plan of what I want to play so not really a solo. I was also doing the 2 stings pattern but I am still having issues getting my fingers out of the way to allow the G string to ring true all the time.
I thought scales are doe ray me a
and so-on not up and down. I think this is some kinda other pattern. You said two patterns what’s the other? You keep calling this a scale but it’s more of a pattern.
Wow! When i heard you first play it…I thought…no f-ing way.
I have been trying for a year a few different teachers or different videos that helped me learn..as there are hundreds on youtube. Yeah..the various teachers’ methods are good enough, but probably more for when you are sitting in front of them. You make this fun and more intuitive.
I really enjoyed the video and caught on pretty quickly…not perfect but it sounded good. The backing track is awesome! For the first time i am playing with someone else (I don’t feel i am not good enough to play with anyone right now) But doing it with you a definite confidence booster! Thank you!
I don’t understand how 30-day Jumpstart challenge will be FREE. If I join 1 month or 1 year at a time, does it mean the month or year does not start for another 30 days?
Playing a solo was fun day 3, I have to admit it all these years and I alway thought I could never do it ….just a taste…
This is fun – thanks for the great lesson! But mothers cover their children’s ears and angels look away when I try to play guitar. I will keep trying, but if my playing somehow summons the Mind Flayer and flips our world into the Upside Down, just remember that you encouraged me.
Really enjoyed the video; I have some understanding of scales and the notes on the fret board but the concept of vertical and horizontal scales and how they meet was such a cool way to think about it. And yes, I was playing a solo by the end. Maybe not the most melodic but I was experimenting with how different notes sounded against the backing track. soo that’s a win! Thanks so much!
What a fantastic lesson. I’m glad I did it on a weekend so I can play around with it all day. It was hard to play something that sounded bad as long as you stayed within the scale. I think a light might’ve come on when I started mixing the scales and repeating sections. It actually started sounding like something. So fun!
Had to play catch up today. Storms took out my internet yesterday and last night. Worked on lesson two for quite a while and I’m getting better. Lesson three has been a lot of fun!! The scales and improvising along with the backing track has been awesome!!! I’ll probably be playing around with this half the night!!!
This lesson was the bomb today!
that was so much fun,I used AI to generate a series of single line pentatonics for major and minor!!!
Can’t publish here. Always says excessive repeated characters when there are none.
Hi Tony way behind, but still here. My breakthrough has been my discovery of how just a few notes, grouped in a scale can make beautiful music. I have played by ear, as I have low vision, and knew this intuitively, but now I understand more about thee pattern and how it works. So fun! Thank you!
Missed a couple of days due to work commitments so just catching up with day 3.
Soloing! It can be done! Tomorrow I’m going to find an open mike night and get out there.
Well, maybe not just yet 🙂 but that was lots of fun and really great for confidence. Let’s see what day 4 brings.
I’d gotten out of the habit of using a pick unless I’m strumming chords (and not always then either) but this week has got me back to it. I’m even alternating up and down for the notes, which I’ve never been good at previously, mostly because I didn’t really try.
I finally was able to play the scale. I feel like it just takes me so long and playing it at the slowest speeds to do this. Might be the age factor. Feels so awkward and I have to concentrate so hard. Have to look at the frets and strings quite a lot. Felt today was a positive compared to Day 2. I still can’t seem to get that lesson.
Thanks for the positive vibes.
Great felt like I could play a bit of solo knowing what notes would fit with your chords
Scales not working
Started using a pick. Mostly stuck to just using my thumb and fingers.
Today has been the best day of the challenge yet. So fun to use the scale improvising to the backing track. I had to make myself stop playing, I could mess with that so hours.
I have to look at the frets a lot and can’t always find the right string. You make it look easy but when I try it, it is not so easy for me. I have to stop the video a lot and repeat to keep up but I think I am making some progress – slowly.
I have taught myself how to finger pick on a classical guitar and not used a plectrum at all and when I picked it up wasn’t even holding it correctly. I have had to get used to this and it seemed a big step backwards, and I am still working on getting day one, two and now three under my belt. But it is just starting to feel a little more comfortable all round and to me this is a small, but very important breakthrough. The dopamine is kicking in. Thanks Tony.
I’m really trying hard but I can’t keep pace. I figured out the scales. they seem relatively simple, especially the vertical scale. However, I’m spending far more than 1`0 minutes on this per day. I have to look at the fret board quite a lot and I frequently pick the wrong string.
This feels challenging. I just keep trying to break it down into small bits. Little by little. I just allow myself to show up and try it.
Tanglewood TS8. Bullied into buying it by a friend at start of summer, as it would be’good for me’. Not touched it since, I had to get over memories of childhood guitar trauma first! Anxious absolute beginner – taking me all day on each lesson, but I can feel progress and Im enjoying it.At 61 I’m finally ready to conquer the memory. Im in!
Wow – first time I have ever felt like I was playing an improv(-ish) lead where nearly all of the notes sounded good with the rhythm guitar in the background.
That was freaking awesome!!! I really felt like I could find my way around those notes, and finally understanding (a little better) how to play up the neck! Now if only I could get my “up” picking to work as well as my “down”. That’s my biggest stumbling block so far.
it’s interesting enough, but the most challenging part was matching the scale and the backing track. And at the end of the day that satisfying feeling that you finally succeed. I love that!
Wooooohoooo!, I´m a guitar player! Playing solo for the first time and I am really enjoying it. It sounds really nice… :-)))
Hmmm the small win, I think is just throwing it all together, something tangible, and a step toward, and not being afraid to play along with someone, of course there is much more to go with that like matching the keys and the right notes…
When I realized I was improvising. I felt like a guitar player.
Today was much easier than previous days.
I think I am doing okay. I definitely got the message and did the scales with the backing verbatim. Then realized you good mix it up and it sound cool. Definitely a break through for me.
Old banjo picker here. Figured it was time I learned the guitar. So many strings. My left fingertips are pretty sore. I discovered that I can finger pick this a lot easier than a flat pick, so I think that’s how I’m going to play. I don’t know if that’s a small win, or laziness. I’m enjoying your method and I’m going to see it through.
I struggled with the lick from day 2. Today I worked on it for an hour, before stopping to watch the day 3 video. While I was watching I successfully picked the Day 2 piece… it just came together! This is slow going for me, but I can see some wins!
I got completely lost time and time again when playing with the backing track. I could do the scales, but the backing track just went on and on multiple times before restarting with the four beats. It should be helpful if you restarted with the beats each time we completed the scale. Also some sort of moving line in the tab to let us know where we are would be helpful. This is the first time I have become frustrated.
That was good. Really enjoyed playing with the backing track.
One thing seems up in the air, though. If the learn videos are over 10 minutes long and that doesn’t account for some time on your own to play thru and really get it, how can it be TAC in just 10 minutes a day? I’m not trying to be a spoiler here, but it kind of sets one up for frustration to expect to play only 10 minutes a day for each video lesson.
Big win
Wow, this is awesome! Thankx Tony!
I’ve been playing for 4 months and have over 100 hours of just scale time I know 9 scales. No joke this video unlocked scales in a way I hadn’t understood before. Honestly so surprised how easy you made it.
took a little bit to get it down but it was fun to use it for my scale licks to the backing track…win
I finally see how the horizontal pentatonic maps to vertical pentatonic CAGED system. light bulb moment!
I’m finally actually begining to play a pentatonic scale.
My small win is that I have learned 3 skills in 3 days!
I made up my own “solo” against the backing track because it was too fast for me to do the scales and I didn’t want to slow it down. I sort of played messily at times. Bluegrass jazz. I am able to play the scales without the backing track.
I would find it helpful if the scales had indications of downstroke, upstroke – I get mixed up sometimes. And I would think that down/up would be key to technique.
My “win” for today was feeling rewarded for previous learning. As a sax player, I was familiar with the pentatonic scales (major and minor) and when I first picked up a guitar several years ago, it was one of the first things I learned. So today was little bit easier for me than the first two days and it made me realize that all the steps I have taken and will take in the future will give me the foundation I need to play better.
Wow Tony!
I am finally not intimidated by soloing. That scale really simplifies the process. I have begun to enjoy playing over the backing track. Big win today.
To echo Melissa’s comment from August 13th: “I can get the scale down without a problem but to add it to the backing track doesn’t make sense”
The scale was super simple and good to have learned, but I feel like I took almost nothing away from this lesson. Keeping time with another guitar seems counter-intuitive. I really need a drum beat, click track, or something else to help me find “down on the 1”.
I’m also (still) frustrated that the video player controls aren’t consistent between the different lesson segments. Why can’t they all have the full-featured controls? For example; Space bar = pause. Left arrow = back N seconds. Right arrow = forward N seconds. F = full screen. Escape = back to embedded mode. We’re 35+ years into computer multimedia and these keyboard shortcuts have been the norm since nearly the beginning. Re-training your focus from the course material to touch the mouse / touchpad / screen is the least efficient way to interface with a computer.
Small win… getting more accurate with the pick