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Newbie Level Question
Hi All! I’m new to the TAC, and to any formal dedicated lessons. I’m a campfire strummer, and love it but wanted to acquire more skills. But I’m already getting frustrated with the lessons. My question is , Are we all on the same level? Is there not a Beginners/ Intermediate/ Advanced course? Or do we all get the same Daily challenges? I was guided from the 30 day intro, to the Bass Walk Challenge. And I’m getting frustrated as Barr chords, especially the B, C D ( WHERE WE HAVE TO STRETCH OUR FINGERS) are proving difficult and Im just not achieving anything or enjoying it at all. Ive reached out to Support, but no reply yet. I guess what Im hoping for is that I have a setting wrong. because this course seems to think I am already way better than I am. Any input appreciated. Thanks.
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18 Replies
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Namarran-
Please—- please—– please….. Take a deep breath……………
Then…… Take another deep breath.
You did good by joining TAC— as long as you are ***able to realize*** just that- and give it a chance. Get “inside it”…. Dig deep. There’s a LOT here!
And you also did good by bringing to HERE in the Forum! (our Forum is AWESOME!!!!)
I have a feeling you will get some responses! You can bet that there will be some genuine advice, help, and suggestions coming your way(!)- from some knowledgeable, helpful, wonderful folks farther “along” in their guitar journey. Great stuff indeed!
Welcome to TAC, above all else!
(Pssst– You are on THE RIGHT TRACK)….
the old coach
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Thanks so much The Old Coach! I’m excited to learn new things, and glad to hear its the same as everyone and we just have to breathe into it. Truly appreciate your response. Hi from Malaysia 🙂
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@Namarran ,We are all at the same level. Some weeks are harder than other weeks that’s all. The daily challenge is the same for all of us. One course you don’t mention taking the ‘5 Day Guitar Routine’. It shows how to use the Daily Challenges to their fullest. I’m retaking it myself right now. I think it should be a prerequisite for the daily challenge. It pretty much shows you how to take a weeks worth of the daily challenges and write your own song. Anyway…… The daily challenge is the main feature of the site. Helps you get your fingers moving the way they should. Stretch those fingers out. Reach for frets that you never thought you could reach before. Do it every day. If you can’t do the exercise in 10 minutes straight, break it up into sections. 2 minutes here, 2 minutes there. If you can’t play along with Tony’s recording, so what? I don’t all the time, but still learned something from the lesson. You’ll find you have it down quicker than you thought. Then when you are playing your camp fire songs you can start adding in your own break in-between verses. Make up a cool ending to a song. Give it a little time, I’m sure you’ll do fine.,
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Thanks Cadgirl, super encouraging and made me smile, so I really appreciate the helpful reply. I wont give up 🙂 See you around 🙂
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As one beginner to another, if it wasn’t for TAC, I probably would just keep doing things that were easy for me, and then the progression stagnates. What I like about TAC, is it forces me to try things I would never try. Yeah, I botch most lessons, and can’t get through most of them. Ironically, this is kind of the point. Just keep showing up, and do the best you can for that day. After some time passes, you will start to see the subtle changes, and will start to “get it”. This is a very complex instrument that takes time, patience and dedication. Take the small wins, and try not to get frustrated. This forum is a great place to vent, and there are some amazing people here willing to give advice.
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Hi Skyman, thanks for that. Yep, I understand now. My fingers have never been so stretched!!! You are right, I gravitate towards the easy things, so its great to have this challenge.
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Cadgirl and Skyman–
Wow– both GREAT responses!
I’m also myself reminded that I need to go back thru the “5-Day Guitar Routine” course- (again).
the old coach
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hello @Namarran ,
I like the replies you’ve already gotten. And it seems you have already accepted the situation with determination to continue your journey without any major changes.
But, I wanted to add one thing: an explanation. Tony’s method is completely different from most approaches. He has the skills courses where you are trying to do one specific skill. But they are kinda limiting. Yeah, yeah, they are necessary at the beginning. But if all you ever do is learn one skill after another, you never really break free of the beginner learning phase.
Tony’s approach gives you something to work on that will hone your guitar skills across the board while having fun. Yeah, I know, some of the lessons, like barre chords, it’s kinda hard to have fun at first. But let me stick to the point.
Each day of the week is dedicated to some aspect of guitar playing. None of them are like a skills lesson. There is no starting point and no ending point. You don’t have to master any lesson. If you just “try” for a few minutes, you gradually but surely get better. In fact, you get better faster than if you do skills lessons. And it’s subtle. So subtle that you will miss it if you don’t look for the improvement.
Ok, so I’ve been here for 3 years. I’ve improved so much it’s more than I thought possible for me. Yet, I still can’t do everything. I can get frustrated with my guitar journey and my progress. I am still learning that crazy A shaped barre chord that we had in this Friday’s lesson. I have always avoided it because it’s so tough for me. But, I’m working on another original song and I’m wanting to put one of those chords in so I can learn it… finally.
But back to the point about I can still get frustrated. It turns out, playing and learning the guitar is really more about attitude than physical skill. It just doesn’t take much guitar skill to make pleasing “noise” and have fun while doing it.
And that’s what Tony covers frequently, our attitude toward our playing and practicing. That’s why this forum is as important as the lessons themselves. So I will reinforce the suggestion made by @Cadgirl , go check out the “5 Day Guitar Routine Challenge”. A lot of what is contained in those videos is about the how not the what. How do we approach the lessons. Also, check out “TAC Quick Start” even if you have already done it.
I hope this helps.
MG 😀
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👍
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Hi Mike, and thanks for your reply. When I started the Daily Challenge, I thought I had to master them all in one session! Let alone in the 10 min I was thinking I was going to do hahahah!. Anyhow, I now realize I dont have to master them, but just keep trying, and keep showing up. 🙂
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I’m glad you see this. I allows you to do what ever you can and focus on the main thing: have fun.
MG 😀
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@Namarrar , I forgot to mention. On the side bar is an icon called Acoustic Tuesday. This is a free thing Tony does on Tuesday. He will go over the Tuesday’s daily challenge of the week. This weeks was “Bingo Bango’. Gives good ideas and tips. If it makes you feel better, when I play it, it’s not nearly as fast as he does it. In fact, I didn’t even bother to play along because I couldn’t come close. But, it just takes time and you’ll be surprised how fast you catch on. Also @MikeGaurnier, I saw that barre B and thought…. Oh NO! But, like @the-old-coach said, take a deep breath, and then another.
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Yeah, @Cadgirl and @the-old-coach , taking deep breaths is as helpful as anything else. It’s more about attitude than physical skill. The physical skill will come if we don’t get up tight. And the best thing to make sure we don’t get up tight is to “have fun”. Such seemingly simple suggestions can appear silly or overly optimistic. But they are really key.
MG 😀
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Hi @Namarran and welcome to TAC! So glad you took the step to post your question, frustration and concern. You’ve received lots of great input in the thread already. I am pretty new to TAC myself (joined in May 2022) and here is what I have experienced thus far.
We are all on our unique guitar journey with the common denominator of loving the instrument and wanting to improve in some way. We have differing levels of experience and skills depending on our journey to this point. Each of us brings a unique set of gifts to the TAC community. Sharing those gifts with the TAC community helps all of us grow and we are enriched. We are all learning through the same Daily Challenges and regardless of our experience or skill level there are things to be learned. By the way, have a look at the comments left by fellow TACers on each of the challenges and you will get a feel for that.
The Guitar Routine Journal helps us to clarify our goals and what specifically we want to focus on for next 90 day period. I would also encourage you to watch the July Progress Party Recap video. Tony and other TAC members walk through and discuss how to complete and use the Guitar Journal. In the GRJ we document our “fast start” milestones as well as other milestone checks. The Guitar Ritual we document in the GRJ help us to develop the consistency “ tiny habits” of playing guitar every day. In July Progress Party replay, Tony shares he has designed the Daily Challenges as a “launching pad” to get us playing straight away when we sit begin our ritual. No need to think about “what do I play now”. Just start by doing the challenge. Once you’ve spent at least 10 min (I find myself sometimes spending 20 min to an hour depending on how the DC grabs me – some days it seems as easy as pie, others it seems impossible – however by breaking it down into small chunks there is always something to learn and accomplish) on the daily challenge you should then move to playing and practicing things that support your goal you’ve documented in the GRJ. These may be related to skills courses, past daily challenges, learning songs, etc depending on your unique goals. You may find that things to which you are exposed in the DCs are finding their way into your playing.
Read the “Small Wins” forum on a regular basis. Here the TAC community shares and celebrates their wins for the day – which usually contain some great ideas and wisdom!
Above all, have fun! This is your own unique guitar journey and you are here with a group of likeminded guitar geeks on our own guitar journeys right along beside you!
Play on and have fun 😎🎸🎼🎶.
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Another EXCELLENT post!
You nailed it– we all learn a huge amount by reading OTHERS’ posts!
It’s like free money🤨……
the old coach
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Wow, @Kitman , you sure figured out how to use TAC to your best advantage awfully quickly. This is a great comment.
MG 😀
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I have been in TAC a little over 2 years. I show up; do the lesson; and for most of them; leave them behind at the end of that week. Others may approach it differently. Some daily challenges I do well; some are okay; and some are……..see you next time. What I don’t do (any more); is drive myself crazy thinking I had to get each lesson to a certain level of skill. I found it was like I was stuck, and spinning my wheels trying to improve; and I ended up just digging a deep rut of frustration. If I stopped there because of that; I wouldn’t have went on. In time, my skill in those tough areas have improved, subtly. I have added some skill courses along the way; learned songs (applying the skills learned); and even composed a few just for fun.
Welcome to TAC! Enjoy!
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Awesome response………
Confession—- it took me a while to SEE that…..
But all good now
toc
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