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How I TAC
Hey TAC Ohana!!!
It’s been some hits or misses lately on getting the schedule going, but this is what I’ve finally ended up with that works for me!
1.) How many days per week do you play?
I play Mon-Fri and then I allow the weekends to be just jamming (playing random songs I find online).
2.) What time of day do you play?
I work from home so I have decided to utilize my flexible schedule to build in time to practice while at work. I set a 20 min meeting for myself so no one bothers me and then I pull out the guitar to play. A few things that have helped me are: having a guitar right next to my desk and linking my practice with something else (for instance, I am trying to do intermittent fasting so before I can eat for the day I have to have already done my TAC practice – nothing makes you practice more than doing it to survive! Plus then as I learn to shred on the guitar I can shred some of these Covid-19 pounds I’ve accumulated.)
3.) Where do you play?
I play in my little home office. It doesn’t share any walls with the neighbors (perfect for jamming) and it’s where I spend my 9-5 so having a guitar in there makes work a little more home-y.
4.) What was your guitar life like before having a guitar routine & how has implementing a consistent guitar routine helped you? (if possible name 3 ways).
I started playing guitar in 3rd grade and hated practicing, I got by on being naturally decent but would go months, sometimes years without playing. My problem was that practice always seemed daunting, a big to-do, and I never knew if I was learning the right stuff and progressing. Over quarantine my dad told me about the Acoustic Challenge and I looked into it. I liked the idea of “outsourcing” my guitar training to Tony so he could tell me what I should be learning. I started last year but failed to do the essential figuring out when to practice and carving out a time during the day and then quit practicing altogether – so recently I just got back into playing and have picked up TAC again and am loving it. The three ways it has helped me are:
1) Trust the process. As Nick Saban says to his team, don’t worry about the next game or the championship, worry about each play, each practice and trust the process. That’s what I’m attempting to do when all the things I don’t know or can’t play start to get daunting – trust the process, we are all in this together and we will make it. Especially during these covid days it has been important to take each day at a time and just trust in the process.
2) Discipline. The discipline of TAC has already flowed over into other parts of my life. After getting used to biting the bullet and just starting something even if you’re not feeling it, I’ve been inspired to learn Spanish and I am attempting to do it the same way. I have a place I study, a reasonable time set, and an overall goal. Instead of Tony’s Acoustic Challenge I just call it Antonio’s Spanish Challenge.
3) Callouses and confidence. Consistently playing helps build callouses. In the past I might play a lot for a week and then just stop which would cause me to lose my callouses and start all over again when I picked it back up. This starting and stopping while affecting me physically would also affect me emotionally as no one wants to be that guy that can’t stick with something. By sticking with it and pushing through it not only builds callouses but confidence in my abilities to take on not only this challenge but any other one that may come my way.
5.) Bonus Question: What is one non-guitar item that is a must have in your guitar routine?
Pants. I know it sounds silly but actually showering, putting on clothes and shoes makes me more serious and focused while playing than when I have just lounged around in my pajamas fiddling around.
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2 Replies
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Keep on TAC’in @Porkins !👍👍😎
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Thanks Bill! You too!
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