TIPS FOR TODAY
If your chords are buzzing, your fingertips hurt, or everything feels clumsy — that’s not failure. That’s the normal breaking-in process.
Rhythm guitar asks a lot from your hands: new shapes, new pressure, clean strings, steady strumming. Your fingers simply haven’t built the strength or calluses yet — and they can’t build them without days like this.
Remember the science of motor learning: the goal is not to get each challenge perfect before allowing yourself to move to the next one.
We want regular, imperfect exposure to things just outside our ability.
So don’t chase perfect chords. Chase small wins: one clear note, one smoother switch, one pattern that feels a touch less chaotic than yesterday.
Those micro-improvements stack faster than you think.
Stick with it. Your hands are learning even when it doesn’t look pretty.
YOUR SAMPLE WEEK OF TONY'S ACOUSTIC CHALLENGE
5-Day "Stop Dabbling, Start Playing Guitar" Challenge
- 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.
Got the rhythm. Tony You are a great instructor. Your method of teaching is very encouraging to keep you moving forward.
day 4 I sort of already knew how to do. my biggest problem is the way I place my fingertips, with arthritis in my hands now, I have trouble getting my fingers on the strings right. reaching around the neck of the guitar and trying to see where I am playing is a big problem. I need to practice knowing where my strings are without looking. when I get there, I may just join and take my learning further, I will keep doing these five days over again and again till I have them down. maybe I will have the money by then to continue on with this program.
Biggest issues for me are picking the correct strings with my right hand and sorting out the position of my fingers on my left hand. How do I make a C chord again?! ; ) That being said, the practice from each of these lessons has produced something that almost sounds like a tune.
I started my guitar dream late in life, at 70. I spent 3 years of chasing videos and 30 minute lessons. Lessons are fine, if you have them everyday. Videos are fine but just don’t provide consistency and proper explanations. I would do my lesson then practice for a day and wait for the next lesson. My major issues are lack of consistency, no one to play with and chord transitions. I’ve learned more in 3 days with TAC than I have over the last 3 years. Unfortunately, I got sick during the 5 day challenge, so i’ll be doing day 5 tomorrow, which will be my toughest challenge. I’m excited though!! I already decided that I’ll be joining the TAC family.
My biggest problem has been consistency in my practice habits and frustration at living in the sticks with no other people to play with or learn from and horrible experiences trying to learn online with instructors charging 30 40 and 50 dollars for a half hour lesson without very much progression
here it is day 4 and I am still in it. I have many of the same difficulties others are stating such as sore fingers and slow chord transitions but sticking with it and hoping that consistency will by my trainer and as i go along things will fall in place such as muscle memory and hand strength, etc. I would like to echo the comments about you making the 30 day challenge avail for a separate learning program, it seems it would be a lot for a beginner to handle, both the 30 day challenge as well as the Acoustic Challenge lessons at the same time. It would give the beginner the time to developed, work, and hone those skills in the 30 day challenge and once the beginner has the understanding and or the elementary skills to build upon, he or she could then move on confidently into the 30 day Challenge. Since i have been thru this everyday so, I have come to really love my Washburn and Yamaha 6 string acoustic guitars. I am fortunate enough to have several different brands and types of guitars thanks to my dad, who passed away a few years ago, he too was trying to learn to play. If he were alive today I would have loved to share this program of Tony’s with him and we both could have done this together. Wish i knew someone in my local area taking this program so I could have gotten with them and practiced, who knows maybe we could have helped and encouraged each other along the way. Anyway thank you Tony for the lessons, see you tomorrow.
I am really enjoying this 5 day program. My question what if i start falling behind IE day 2 I am having problems with. I don’t want to have lessons building up. Then it would be overwhelming Any solutions?
I found to my surprise that this was an “easier” day. I learned 3 of these 4 chords last year, so they are familiar, and the Am is easy enough. That said, chord transitions for me are still slow and messes up the rhythm, and adding the single note either ends up being the wrong note because I hit the wrong string, or it doesn’t sound at all because I missed it entirely. My fingers were still finding the chord and my pick went floating by uselessly. Consistency has always been my problem and if I can’t do “10 minutes” every day just to see what the lesson is (much less play/practice it), I’m not sure what good having new lessons to learn every week – even if they are in a logical format – is going to do me. It seems like a lot of pressure for a beginner. I’d rather commit to a 30-day challenge to learn the basics (which I don’t really know yet) than commit to a year and get a 30-day basic session. Because here’s something I’ve learned about people who have 20, 30, 40 years of practicing an art and go into teaching it: they consider this easy and above all, fun. But it’s easy and fun because they’ve been doing it so long. For beginners, it’s not easy. It’s hard. It sore fingers and training in muscle memory for something they’ve never done before, and thinking about several moving parts at once, and it’s NOT easy. And that often makes it NOT fun. And yeah, it’s not like someone’s going to die if you miss that downstroke or the chord sounds wonky, but that doesn’t make it less stressful. I’d like a short course before I commit to a year, not just a 5-day trial.
It seems to be working now, I have been having computer problems.
I’m 66 and starting this course with a 20+ year foundation of classical guitar (as a hobby) so I can read standard notation. I know about TAB but haven’t practiced reading it. I basically play by reading music, that’s it. If I don’t have sheet music in front of me, I can’t play. I want to expand into other styles, learn strumming techniques and be able to play along with friends. So far the challenges have been easy for me, but they are new, something I don’t normally do. I have an Ovation and a Hanika classical guitar and a Takamine acoustic guitar. My small win is the improv., I was never able to do that. Hoping this course will work for me.
I am having trouble posting anything
Been on and off learning the guitar since 15. I’m now 57 and every year I start learning again only to get frustrated and forget about it again. Had same epiphone acoustic since 18 , should I get a newer guitar.
I’m enjoying this course but it’s going to be very expensive even with the 45% off.
Tony, I like your 5 day challenge. I’ve been playing for 2 years. Learning songs is not easy as day 5 will prove. Timing and rhythm will be a key obstacle as well as remembering the 1st 2 days in particular. IMO, a beginner will struggle especially if there is a new challenge each week. I would struggle with that. Repetition and muscle memory is so important. Guitar is not easy especially in the 1st year. Maybe the 30 day challenge addresses some of this but we have no information about what it entails. And 30 days is not that long. I think this method may be good for someone with 2 to 3 years experience but it will be very frustrating for someone just starting out.
I’ve been playing these chords for years, not very well but for quite some time so no sore fingers or finger placement issues, but anticipating the bass string pluck keeps bringing me to a stop or making me forget what gets played next.
I needed my in-person teacher to show me how to hammer. I showed him what you’d taught us; he showed me how to drop my finger down.
3 rd and 4 th lessons this week…. I am not giving up!!! These lessons are not as overwhelming to me. I think I just might like this. It was hard for me to learn and remember the string names.
I’m beginner, I did purchase online lessons elswhere but have to much Inconsistency. I’m liking your style of teaching, 67 struggling but enjoying it. My dream is to play the blues, more of the slower type.
Tough one for me today, because I suck at chords. I’ve always had a hard time playing them, so for C I use A power chord on 3/5, but I got better playing them today. I will be practicing this one all night!
I’ve been dabbling for about 2 months mostly because I’ve bounced around different free beginner training courses. The first one was too technical and not fun at all. The second one was a lot more fun but and did help me to move forward, but in time I discovered all I’d ever learn was rhythm guitar. The third one I tried was very short lived as I just couldn’t connect with what they were presenting. So far I’m liking how TAC is presented and seems like a good method to learn all aspects of playing and allows you to grow in the areas where you excel, but keeps you invested and trying in areas where you struggle. I will say I was disappointed the 45% off is actually the $197, not off the $197. If you’re going to offer a discount it shouldn’t be the regularly advertised price! Do something like 10% for participating in the 5 day challenge. Like you say, make it a small Win!
I think that I didn’t practice playing my guitar in the past because I didn’t have a clear practice plan to follow. Your plan is now giving me a practice plan going forward.
Working with your G chords and yesterdays G pentatonic scale, I found myself doing “Pink Floyd’s Wish you were here” and “Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well” long with several other older songs not of this genera. But it enforces your methodology of teaching, and the effectiveness of this challenge. I read of others struggling with sore fingers (pushing to hard) and timing fears even though you demonstrated the counting, and “just have fun with it” If they stick with it TAC would really be beneficial for them even just short term. I was an intermediate self thought player back when I was playing and this experience has really brought it all back into focus.
Day 4 I’m still here, this sometimes
get’s confusing finger tips are getting sore.
Sometimes I’m wondering if I’m overthinking and making it harder then it is. The strumming
part is starting to sound a little like I’m slowing getting it.
I just started. 8 have struggled to sign on every day but then I did two days in one sitting. Not sure if that is best but….I am trying
Day 4 was a challenge with moving quickly between chords. I did get the strumming down with a few clean sounds. Fingertips are sore!
I discovered I am pressing too hard on the strings. Not only does that make my fingers sore, but it mushrooms out the tips of my fingers, interfering with neighboring strings. I concentrated on less pressure – just enough to put the strings to the fret, and found it was much more pleasurable and less painful with better sound as well.
I’m enjoying this so far but I cannot find the tablature.
I’m not being very successful here. While I have made a bit of progress, I’m really struggling holding the chords with the correct fingers which don’t seem to spread far enough when across three frets. I need to stop and reset for each cord, and I can’t seem to memorize the finger placement and the strings without writing them out (G – A2, E3, B3, E3 …etc..). This takes time to reset so I have no transition. On day two I spent an hour or more on just the first 2 measures. I gallantly moved into day 3, but got more lost. Should I spend days learning the 4 measures and THEN move on? I just do see how I could keep pace without lots more basic string memory first? What am I missing? I’ll go back over this first lesson for a couple of weeks and then decide if I can move on. But I think I’m gonna need to mix in some basic string and note memorization first.
When I’ve tried to play guitar before this is the killer, this is where it ends. The tips of my fingers are so sore and blistered after three straight days of ‘playing’ it makes doing chords very difficult. I’ll keep at it because I want this but I’m not looking forward to tomorow.
Sometimes life gets in the way and I had to skip a day. Then I just went over the next lesson very slowley. I also had to play my bass for 90 minutes during band practice. I switched over to my electric stratocaster to give my fingertips a break.
Strumming with a pick and coordinating where my left hand fingers should be is my challenge at the moment.. It’s like rubbing your stomach while patting your head.
Easy for me as I have played chords for too many years. I have, however, neglected much of then other lessons. I found this lesson still quite helpful for sharpening my chords.
I think a lack of structured learning has held me back in the past. Really enjoying these challenges but couldn’t find the time every day so am running behind. This worries me in terms of potentially subscribing going forward.
Still have some sore fingers, but I enjoyed today’s lesson. It’s nice to play chords and I thought that overall it went OK. I will have to practice my strumming technique and improve more since it’s pretty crude yet… BUT today was good and it was fun!
Hi Tony,
So far, I’m liking what I’m seeing, and I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. Day 2 was somewhat challenging but, I’m going to spend this weekend going back thru all 5 lessons. The one thing I could not figure out as on Day One, it wasn’t clear to me when there was a Down Stroke and when there was an Up Stroke. I understood the Hammer Stroke, then a down-up Stroke. Down on the quarter note, but then an up and down on the last 2 the 8th notes. Is that right?
Timing is my biggest problem
Even if I know these 4 chords I struggled a lot playing this rhythm today, but had some fun anyway.
Maybe someone can answer this for me.
Just starting I’ve struggled some every day to get it right. We are on day 4 and I know I haven’t gotten comfortable with days 1 2 and 3.
This will probably continue today and tomorrow unless something magic happens.
My question then is…
Do I start over on Monday doing the same lessons next week?
Or does it move on to something else and I live with what I have accomplished?
Boredom and overwhelm for me. I have found most courses and programs good to a point, but there comes a time when they feel very dry, so I get bored. The overwhelm stems from waaay too much information being thrown at me and also because I end up jumping around from program to program.
I actually found today the easiest thus far because I already know the chords but it was still fun and I enjoyed the play along. I suppose just doing something familiar made it feel like a W.
One thing I figured out on days 1-3 was that when I was struggling getting the sequence down (trying to watch the “mirror image” so to speak of you and copy you) I kept messing up over and over, I would take a 5 minute break, come back to it and I’d be able to play it flawlessly. Not sure what magic happens when I do that but it works for me. Looking forward to day 5. Thanks Tony
Loving this course , I got so excited when I did my solo and the chord . I exclaimed loudly I did it, since I signed up I can’t access lesson 5 I would like to finish this one before I go on please
definitely difficult to get my fingers in the right fret, but I DID it.
That’s my win for today… First cords I ever play.
Future goal: be able to transition cord to cord
I’m 76 and my main problem is memorizing songs. I end up playing what I learned in the 60’s and 70’s.
Consistency and making time to practice. Also, hitting road blocks and not understanding how to get around them or simply learn more or advancing.
Although my fingers are sore I got through the challenge. I suck at strumming especially on the up strum BUT it’s All good! I am going to practice this Rythym challenge because I like the simplicity of it and I just want it to sound better.
Lack of progression due to playing same thing over and over. Then would stop, start, start and always get back to where i was. Never learning full songs just bits and pieces. So all in all, lack of time spent with not much to show wears you down. I also knew these chords although your pinky positon made it hard to see if it was being used or floating so had to go to tab to see that they were the chords I am use to. But first of day that I got the lesson down. These 4 days have got me going again as I have made some new progress.
Consistency with a touch of despair over getting stuck and not feeling like I progress fast enough!
the chord progression is easy, its still going good. Thanks for the challenge its fun.
Already have joined. Today’s lesson was more enjoyable since I’ve been playing guitar and knew the chords already. This was the first day of any satisfying enjoyment. I’m beginning to get a little better at working the computer along with the lesson which helps reduce the frustration level. It’s challenging understanding the tablature. For the scales a diagram might help me more, especially since I don’t read music.
I used to play extensively when I was younger; career, auto-immune issues and arthritis have affected by ability to play like I did previously. This is giving me a chance to step back and redevelop practice routines, and play music with hands that aren’t quite as cooperative and strong as they once were. Thank you, Tony!
Hi Tony! You were talking about information overload out there – now I have a bit of information overload right here. I was in the 30 day jump start – then along came 5 day challenge. I am at day 4 and you are promoting the 30 day challenge. And then there is30 day jumpstart free if I join TAC today. But I also have the Quick start guide … and a lot of mails. But I have paid for a year (I think)
I also used to be with you some time ago, but I think , that’s still there and pops up. I am spending more time figuring out where i am than playing the guitar. But i like it… once i get playing. Thanks
I have tried 3 or 4 different training programs and have learned a little from each one, but I am excited to play guitar instead of just dabbling, I will sign up after tomorrows lesson, Thanks