TAC Family Forums

Hi @KayMesser and welcome to TAC! I joined TAC in May 22 and took the same approach that you took (ie. signed up for Fretboard Wizard straight away). Our fellow TACers have already given you some good advice. The course is very helpful in providing an understanding of what Tony is saying in the Daily Challenges and what is going on in a song we are trying to learn. It is also foundational in the sense that it helps with providing an understanding of the fretboard and provides knowledge, tools and the “why” behind the fretboard and how music (eg. song keys, chord structure, which chord progressions are being used and what notes make up the chords, etc). Admittedly it can seem a bit heady.

I’ll share my experience and approach: I did the 30 Days to Play, Five Day Guitar Challenge and of course the Daily Challenge with guitar in hand so I was ready to play along. I did those at the same time plus the Fretboard Challenge (I am retired and had some free time 😃). I also had some prior experience in playing the guitar which helped. I did the 30 Day and 5 Day courses in the stated days – no worries there.

Fretboard Wizard was a different kind of animal for me. For the Fretboard Wizard, I did those without my guitar and instead had a notebook and pencil ready. I took notes on what Tony presented. I made a lot of sketches of what he was presenting. If I didn’t understand it, I backed up the video and played it over (and sometimes over and over 😃). Sometimes I would stop the video and open a new page in my browser and do a search on a term or an idea Tony was presenting – just to get an alternative view or two. After I finished a video I went back and reviewed my notes and attempted to reproduce the items Tony presented on my own in my notebook using the tools and tips from the video. I have quite a few revised or scratched out attempts in my notes!

After I did the above, I took the quizzes for the sections presented. If I missed an answer I reviewed my notes and rewatched the video to figure out why. When I finally passed the quiz I picked up my guitar and applied the knowledge I learned there (in “real life” as Tiny is fond of saying in the FW videos and quizzes). Finally, I moved in to the next section.

You might be thinking – that seems like it might take some time. It did (for me)! As @Cadgirl points out – the videos are yours to watch when you want and as many times as you want. I still go back to them and review them if I feel I am not understanding something (in the middle of the right now on a particular topic). I am not quite sure how long it took me to complete Fretboard Wizard – and how long really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you achieve an understanding and work completely through the course

I would finally offer that the time you invest in Fretboard Wizard will be repayes to you many times over. It provides a fundamental understanding of not only the guitar, but Music Theory in general.

Hang in there and take the course at your own pace. Above all, have fun learning and playing the guitar – it is your guitar journey! 😎🎶🎸

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by  Kitman.