TIPS FOR TODAY
Don’t worry about perfecting each of these transitions. Just pick one you like and throw it in occasionally to add spice to some of your transitions.
Here’s what matters most: you showed up five times. Your hands know more now than they did a week ago. If this is what five days of showing up looks like, imagine five weeks. Five months.
Smoother changes. Quieter self-doubt. Songs that once felt impossible slowly falling under your fingers because the skills you’re getting consistent exposure to keep stacking in the background.
So if today’s pattern never feels “perfect” in one sitting, don’t use that as proof you’re not cut out for this. Use it as proof you’re working on the real stuff.
You’ve already done the hardest part — you kept coming back.
Keep trusting that process. It’s already working. And keep going!
YOUR SAMPLE WEEK OF TONY'S ACOUSTIC CHALLENGE
5-Day "Stop Dabbling, Start Playing Guitar" Challenge
- 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.
Super instructions Tony but I hit a barrier on the 4th day unfortunately. Some of the cords are difficult to strum cleanly due to my arthritic fingers. I have tried many finger positions but I continue to mute the bottom string. However I won’t give up! I am sure there is an answer somewhere that I haven’t discovered.
Hi Tony, I’d like to compliment you on your clear teaching style. I like it. However, for a 65-year-old beginner like me, the introductory week is barely manageable—or to be honest, actually just beyond my reach. I need (much) more than the 10 minutes; an hour a day is more realistic, at least for me. That said, I haven’t yet decided whether to sign up for a year…Greetings from Norway, Jan.
Tony,
I can’t express enough how wonderful the last five days have been. Each day brought a new aspect to the concepts and techniques of the song. Yet without the pressure of getting every note right.. instead, taking something positive from the lesson in attempting to play it. You are right, it makes guitar fun again! And when I miss a day, I spend 10+ minutes in the morning on yesterday’s assignment and another 10+ minutes in the late afternoon on today’s.. and I don’t feel like the train has passed me by for the week. Thank you.
Another difficult day for me, but got through it. I have learned a lot through the courses and need to work on strumming, especially up stroke, and cord transitions. I am determined to keep at it until my brain and fingers play nice.
Tony, I feel that I owe you an apology for my comment I made earlier in the week. I should have opened my eyes and shut my mouth in that you play the lesson before you start the explanation so everyone hears what they are working towards.
You also have the play button and tabs so you can get a feel for the rhythm that you re explaining when teaching melody slowly note by note. You do a good job of explaining without getting on a tangent of going into music theory. That’s what amazing about music. You can play it without understanding everything about it. I applaud you for mentioning Marty and Justin. Each teacher has a different way of explaining things which way be easier for someone to understand. I prefer to see the fretboard on screen as you are playing with it. It’s sometimes difficult to see what string you are playing when other fingers may be in the way of the camera.
I’ve been playing my Westerly made 1981 Guild D55 for 45 years and am still learning how to play it. Also taking private lessons at about twice the price you mention and trying to overcome decades of ingrained bad habits.
Keep up the good work. Being able to make music is one skill that can hopefully last for a lifetime.
Yes, I’m done with day five. Right now, I’m just trying to take bits and pieces from each day. It has been difficult. Like I said in my previous notes that I’ve never tried to play the guitar before and this is as hard as I thought. As you say getting the cord, notes and stuff under your fingers is going to take me a little bit longer. I’m also learning that I’m probably going to have to try to play chords a different way. For example, the G cord that you was showing us, there is no way I can put both fingers on the B and E strings. But like I said, my fingers are so fat that I was able to cover both B and E with my ring finger. And it sounds fine. Or should I say as good as I can get right now. I will continue to go back over the five days as I try to figure a way to come up with the money to pay for a year. It’s all a little overwhelming trying to learn when you’re completely new to playing guitar. But I do think it’s a good way to learn to play the guitar.
I was challenged every step of the way, but it is fun!
The 2nd part of this lesson was hard to grasp but challenge accepted. I really enjoyed your 5 days for sure !
Really enjoyed the 5 day challenge & getting to move into the 30 day jumpstart. My brain & fingers are slowly putting it together.
Fun indeed. However I had a number os instances where the video just stopped and never recovered. Sometimes it needed several refreshed to get it started again and that was quite frustrating
Do your lessons also apply to the electric guitar?
I really enjoyed this 5 day challenge but found it was way to easy for me,I would like to purchase the course but would it be to easy for a intermediate guitar player?
Thanks
Tony
I would not call this a biginner cource, but after finding my way of using the TAP first together with the video I see some progress. It feels a little bit like going to the gym an lifting weights, that are too heavy, but I like the idea of practicing something new daily which builds up on the things before. Right now I practice about an hour a day, but I also repeat stuff from the previous days, which feels easier today.
That was great. Playing well over an hour a day. I never had any structure. Sure I could play chords but what do I do with them. This five days has opened up a whole new chapter. Now excited to get home to play the guitar. Actually keep one in my car now. Thanks again. I will be signing up.
How do you know what notes to take between the chord transition? Like why on the first, G chord, you take the notes: Low E on 3 fret, low E on 2 fret, open low E, open D, 3 fret A, second fret A, open A and then low E 3 fret?
I have learned a lot during the course, notably reading tabs, what pull-off is, playing single notes and melodies, and daring to use the pick. For now I will not join the course, even if it sounds like a pretty good offer. I never managed to only spend 10 minutes per lesson, it was always rather 45 minutes to an hour, and i still had the impression that i had only just begun to understand. At the moment I feel I just don’t have that much time. I have a pretty good book to learn from and will add the different challenges as exercises in my daily practice. But – I might come back later 🙂
I was unable to make my day five on time ugh but on day seven I was able to commit my time. Even though I had two days away, day 5 lesson made a full circle effect for me. I have much to “master” but I do see my progress! What a great feeling!
Well here we are at the end of the 5th day and I thought it was an interesting course. I was able to pick up some new techniques and go ay my own pace. when I was taking personal lessons I learned to put notes to sheet music as well as strumming patterns. I think I might like your course but the problem I have is I miss the human connection when it comes to learning. The 45% off your membership could be a good thing if I knew what the real price was, but I guess I won’t find out until I click on the join button
I like the teaching style and personality you bring to the lessons. Down to earth and honest just like most things from Montana. My wife purchased an acoustic guitar for me on my birthday. I used to mess around with Rocksmith on PS4 with a Fender electrical I purchased years ago. However I haven’t picked in up in years due to home and work timetables. So but day 3 on new string my fingers were hurting. More than likely because I was over doing it messing with Rochsmith again and doing TAC. That said this seems like a great program and I will be giving serious consideration now that I am retired and have the time to commit to myself. Thank-you Tony.
I get the first line of tab, but after that I’m lost. I can’t tell where your fingers are in the video. If the tab had the chords marked like notes above or below the tab that would help. I’ll get it. Just need to watch the video a few more times and try again later.
I started with a name brand guitar app. once I felt comfortable with where I was and ran out of money, I stopped using the app I had and I’ve been eclectic is my learning, since then. It’s been an up and down experience but a lack of consistency. I really like that everything I needed to know has been planned out for me, so all i need to do is have fun. I can’t wait to see what the next year has for me. Thanks for allowing me to see a side of guitar, I never knew existed.
Tony,Thank you for this week. The Challenge structure is exactly what I was looking for to make my practice more beneficial. Day 5 visuals were tuff and not as informational as the other four days. I will us the tab sheet for practice. To be honest, my experience with this past week and my playing skill improvement does not give the push to sign up just yet. I’m going to go through the 5 days of tab until I reach that point. I will get there….
So, I’ve been 1 1/2 years with the competition, and got sorta stuck
What I think, after 5 days, is good is the “Here, I’ll do the thinking for you, this is what you should practice today”. I’m more lieutenant and less captain.
My self direction is not good. I tend to drift back to “noodling”, to the “feel good” runs, patterns, chord changes.
Yep, there is that dopamine hit, and the familiar discomfort of “the fear of ‘failing’ “….
AND
I think if I did NOT have that background, I probably would NOT have made it through day two of this challenge.
I’m retired, empty nest, so I can give guitar as much time as I want to, but I DO want it to lead to more growth than it has.
60 day money back guarantee? I’m in!
Cool -see lots of great challenges heading in to TAC and looking forward to growing my guitar playing
I am so excited about this program! It is exactly what I’ve been looking for. It gives me a good challenge and makes me want to learn what you are doing because it sounds so good. I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned this week. Playing a scale and actually enjoying it! Playing up the fretboard, adding bass notes and learning a lick. I have taken other online lessons and Youtube lessons but I was getting stuck and not sure how to improve. Clear direction is what I needed and these 5 days have given me that. I’m signing up tomorrow. Thank you for these great and fun lessons!
I followed and enjoyed days 1 – 4 and got completely lost on day 5. I’ll keep trying but have trouble translating your finger positions as shown in the video and the vision I’m seeing looking at my fret board. I always wondered why guitar videos don’t show the teachers’ POV of the fret board and finger positions so the student can see the same view from their own POV.
Tony, I really enjoy your teaching style. I finished the 5 days and have gone back and practiced each one a couple of times since then. I’ll give a lot of thought to signing up but have already sunk $ into another online teacher, so can’t right now. I wish I’d found you a couple of years ago. I’m 68 and you’ve renewed my dreams about going on tour with the Stones someday Thanks for the teaching and encouragement, and best of luck to you in your business.
I thoroughly enjoyed these past five days. It’s the first time I’ve picked up the guitar five days consecutively in well over a decade. The bass crawl is so cool. Hearing a lot of Elliott Smith songs, I always wondered if I could pull that off.
As I get older, decision fatigue has been rearing its ugly head in a big way. These smaller, structured lessons are filling my cup. I even remembered one of my old songs. I can’t wait to continue the course.
have really enjoyed these last 5 days, today has been very challenging with this step and is going to take a lot more focus than i have done so far. I believe i have gotten more out of this week than i have with my in person instructor. I was kind of skeptical about starting this, thinking perhaps its going to be to advanced for me , but all my preparations work i had spent the last couple years trying to learn to play proved to be very helpful, some of which is thanks to my in person instructor. Tony is right about the fact of taking it in small bites, it makes it easier to work with and understand. I will probably take the next step even and sign up for the Acoustic challenge program. thank you Tony for this program, whish i could thank you in person or even say it over the phone to you.
Definitely found I am not ready for this. You may want to let people know that they need to know what each string is and that they need some chord knowledge. I spent way more than ten minutes and still felt overwhelmed. I can see it can be valuable for more advanced beginners, but over my head.
Easy for me, but new. Can you tell me what is covered in the year long lessons? If I do this for a year what will I learn?
I can very slowly get the first line on the tab. The second line falls apart completely. Part of it is that I don’t know what finger to put on what string, and the other part is that my fingers simply don’t seem to move in those directions. None of the chord shapes on the second line correlate to anything I recognize so there’s no muscle memory that gets my fingers to where they should be. And they change with every measure so that’s really not happening. As a rank beginner, I think these lessons are still above my skill level, as simplified as they are, and I’ve been spending way more than 10 minutes a day trying to do this. There needs to be something way more basic to work on before I try to come back to this. Disappointed and frustrated.
I definitely practiced longer each day given a concrete target to shoot for. I’m always anxious wondering what my in-person teacher is thinking; I don’t have to worry about that here!
I deeply appreciate your lessons, yes I’m still struggling but not frustrated at 67. I will definitely sign up for your yearly course tomorrow. I believe your way is the motivation I’m needing.
Thank you
This helped me get over my fear of not being good enough to learn to actually play. Long way to go, but a great week! Hoping to join TAC and see where it goes.
I’m a 60 year old beginner, and I think I’m hooked. This has been a challenge but there were plenty of bright spots. On Day 4, I finally started feeling confident that I could eventually play a recognizable song with practice. Chords are a major challenge since I have small hands/fingers. I’m going to sign up for 3 months to see if I’m still improving and confident. My two concerns are whether there is any feedback for my specific questions or issues and the tabs don’t show the chord names. So, I can follow where to put my fingers but I’m not learning the chord names that way. I’ve got my cheat sheets for string names and basic chords but I don’t want to print out every exercise to write the chord names on them while I learn.
Finished the 5 day challenge. Some days tougher than others. Finally starting to get most of it. Brand new beginner, first guitar. Getting my fingers to curl and not mute some strings has been a challenge.
Will be also starting the program on Monday.
Well, looks like Danielle and I might be the sole survivors this week with just our comments so far! I really enjoyed the week and had many little accomplishments. My chord changes need the most work, but as I’ve seen watching many training videos the last couple months, even the best slip up once in a while! I probably will sign up for the yearly as I like how the challenge is setup and I believe it will keep my interest moving forward while still having fun playing (not mastering) the daily challenges. Thanks for the 5-day challenge and look forward to seeing more or your videos.
Well Tony, I finished my 5th day this morning and it was a very interesting and fun group of lessons. I’m most proud of utilizing the habit stacking process you mentioned in your 30 minute intro video and have built a good foundation for practicing and showing up for all 5 days. I’m planning to jump right into your 30 day challenge this Monday after I sign up for your yearly program which sounded like a good deal. Thanks for creating this program, I can’t wait to hear what I sound like after the first 30 days!
Just checking to see if my typing works. I did the 5-challenge and signed up as a TAC member today. So far, I really enjoy the content. I think I have already improved. Appreciate your methods. Take care.
I enjoyed your 5 day guitar challenge! I think that I have picked up on your guitar lessons better than when I took my guitar lessons many years ago. Thank you Tony.
i really enjoyed the challenge and think this is a wonderful way to teach guitar! I was able to play right along with you no problem. i have tried Facebook, YouTube, and email lessons and have most of the books you showed in the intro video, and wished i had something like this when i started out, it would have prevented a lot of my bad habits. I currently have your version of “Last Steam Engine” in my playing repertoire and it’s one of my favorites. Thank You for this opportunity. TAC is a wonderful teaching tool!
Finding day 5 almost impossible just really struggling with g & c cords
Days 1-4 great
Hi Tony,
I tried Guitar for Dummies, a couple of video courses, and I tried to teach myself by reading music that had chord diagrams for guitar on the sheet music. None of them has gotten me as far in as short a time as this past five days has. I am hooked.
Had a great time very difficult but the way you change things up makes it fun
Its been a tough week, not least of which has been the time constraints on me. My daughter started the week pregnant and overdue,
i just came back from my second visit to hospital to see my beautiful grandson. I made the decision this morning to join up and now I’m just going through day 5 knowing I’m still a mile from perfection , but understanding I am making headway and enjoying the experience at the same time. This is about the only time in my life that i have felt the need to make comment about it. Thanks Tony.
So what I have learned in 5 days is that I truly am NOT a guitar player!! I enjoyed the lessons but I can honestly say from my beginners standpoint I just couldn’t keep up without spending hours on each day. I’m such a beginner that I am just learning the chords and the strings as we go along and if you guys that are more familiar with guitar remember, as soon as you learn a chord, you forget it!! I am writing them out (diagramming the finger positions, which I think would be a nice addition to the lesson) to help remember them. I am sure Tony doesn’t realize there are students in this challenge that have never picked up a guitar before!! I would love to continue with the 30 day challenge but at this point I am so discouraged and frustrated I can only imagine what I would feel like given another week! I hope to be back when I have the basics under by belt (or fingers). Thanks.
Same as Val so eloquently wrote. Day 5 for example was much better going over the G progression with the strumming added I was doing pretty well, but the D progression I had a very hard time remembering which fingers to lift, so I blew that off for today. I’m still in open water here, so I’ll go over the 5 days again until I feel I won’t drown. I’ll consider buying on in full. I do wish I had one private lesson so somebody could give me some basic pointers about my guitar and my strumming. My guitar is pretty old and I’m not sure the threats are good or the strings are sitting in the saddle properly.
I’m concerned about going to the next step of signing for an entire year or even a month. I’ve found lesson 4 and 5 difficult and I can only get through about half the lesson with 2 or more hours of playing. If I sign for a year and the process is the next lesson builds on the previous then I’m screwed since I can only get a portion of the previous lesson completed with any accuracy. Are the paid lessons like the free 5 day cahallenge? Where you only get 24 hours to do a lesson before the next? Is it 260 lessons that I can take three years to learn or is it just one calendar year and then my membership runs out? I can’t do this every week day for a year, I’m not taking my guitar on vacation with me. I do appreciate the five free days, I’ve learned and progressed but definitely not at the pace of the lessons.
I have played guitar for 50 years. I learned it purely to sing songs and can play hundreds of songs. I can play lots of accompaniments and styles but I have never done runs or riffs or the stuff you have taught. Thank you so much. I hope I can join your course from the UK?