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What?! Learn to play guitar at my age?!
1) How many days per week do you play? I started TAC on November 22, 2022. Since then, except for two days, I have played every day. Those two days we had family here for Christmas, and things were wild with activities. But only for two days!!! I committed to at least ten minutes per day every day, and with Tony’s approach, I find myself almost drooling in anticipation to get to my guitar each day!
2) What time of day do you play? I try to start my guitar time mid-afternoon, keeping me busy up to just about dinner time. (Hmmm, maybe that’s why I find myself drooling…LOL) It gives me plenty of opportunity to greatly exceed that minimum of ten minutes per day. So I often put in more than an hour per day, and only occasionally, a half hour or so. So I get chores, projects and workouts out of the way, and guitar time is my reward.
3) Where do you play? I play in my office – I scoot the comfy office chair over and move my practicing chair to the desk, and bring TAC up on my laptop and get started. The office is quieter, and I have other helpful tools handy (i.e., my Guitar Chord Dictionary, etc.) for reference.
4) What was your guitar life like before having a guitar routine & how has implementing a consistent guitar routine helped you? (If possible, name three ways.) About a year before COVID wreaked havoc on our world, I took one-on-one guitar lessons with an instructor. I had a hard time getting myself to adhere to a committed practice schedule, assigning about 30 minutes to a session. So I missed many practice sessions. I consistently felt less than prepared for my instructor sessions, and I became frustrated, which affected my mindset going into each session.
In the last couple months, I saw pop-ups on my laptop of Tony advertising his TAC approach. I finally took that introductory class this last November, and I took the bait. It made a terrific Christmas present from my wife. And I love it!
Three ways that implementing a consistent guitar routine has helped me?
1) It’s a priority, so things get scheduled around my guitar practice, not the other way around.
2) Tony’s “at least (only) ten minutes a day” approach made it so much more palatable, therefore easier to commit to.
3) The variety of lesson topics from day to day keeps it so much more interesting for me. It makes me want to keep coming back for more! And maintaining the ability to go back to previous lessons facilitates reviews.
I’ve said it before – Tony puts his PhD in Psychology to work in this program! (I don’t think he really has a PhD, but he can sure fool me!) The constant stimulation with the focus changing on different skills, not urging us to achieve perfection with each lesson, and the attention given to complimenting us on achieving progress (“Yeah, I did do that!”) help with motivation more than I ever thought they could!
Thank you, Tony!
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6 Replies
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Gary, this is a really fantastic routine. Thank you for sharing!
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Keep on chugglin’
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Hey Gary @garyrc4aol-com ;
I love that you really understand how Tony’s approach works. This helps explain it a lot because you experienced the “truth” about the 10 minimum rule for yourself. But then you said you study psych in college so that certainly helps. But here’s the line I love:
“I get chores, projects and workouts out of the way, and guitar time is my reward.”
I have gotten in workout, guitar and regular chores, but I am having trouble getting the projects and intermittent chores into my schedule.
Anyway, this is an inspiring post. Thanks so much for sharing.
MG 😀
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Great How You TAC introduction @garyrc4aol-com ! I started guitar later in life too, and albeit a slow progression, I’ve definitely progressed during my 2 1/2 years with TAC. You’re spot on regarding Tony and the TAC orogram, and it’s ability to build a committed practice routine that leads to progression in playing skills.
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Great guitar routine @garyrc4aol-com ! The foundation of TAC and progress is to be consistently true to your routine and have fun. Seems you have both these bases covered!
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Thanks for sharing that
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