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Tough
Feeling like I am falling behind. It is tuff to get practice in every day. When it says Week one, I should be playing xyz and I am not able to, it gets a little overwhelming.
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2 Replies
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Hi @nynatvegmail-com Welcome to TAC. I can understand the initial confusion or feeling overwhelmed. Break it down to simply what can you do today. The goal of TAC is progress over progression. It is a suggestion that you commit 10 minutes per day to playing. This basically means that you spend 10 minutes on a lesson and then mark it as completed. You can practice longer than that, but at a minumum try to do 10 minutes. You will get better. The other part is to keep moving. Don’t get bogged down on a lesson. Do your best and then move forward. It takes the fun out of it when perfection of a lesson is sought. Lessons roll around again months down the road, so you’re not missing out on them. If you’re unable to play every day, just jump on that days lesson. Don’t try and make up for missed lessons. You’ll still gain skill and knowlege by doing this and will progress.
Just do the best you can and if it is too much or you’re unable to play, don’t worry about it. Just pick up and play when you have time. I practice sporadically 10 minutes here and there, and other times I can sit and play for an hour or so. But I only do what I’m able to.
Hang in there, and you’ll do great!
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And I would add to what Loraine so excellently said: These are YOUR lessons. There are no “shoulds,” no time line you have to measure up to. This is your experience and your progress, right? My guess is if every TAC student described how we apply TAC to our guitar playing that works for us, each would have a different answer. Make the program work for you, in your life, the way it fits – your way. The change will happen, but like learning anything new, it takes time. You’re doing it! Just take it chunk by tiny chunk from what you CAN do, then build from there (and check out the skills courses. I found some of it easier, to me, anyway – whatever works). As an encouragement, I started about 5 weeks ago, (or is it 6). I was not physically capable of doing the intro power chord, or producing the first licks. Loraine directed me to the stretching exercises in the skills courses. I continued working out the bugs (such as experimenting with elbow placement, which changed the position of my fretting hand and fingers) as I learned more about playing, and with the addition of the physical exercises, I eventually became able to stretch my fingers into every fret asked of me in the 30-days-To-Play. Today, I am doing it and preparing to move out into new things, fairly soon. But I had to stretch and practice, discovering and making adjustments as I went. For my schedule, I stuck to the 10 minutes per practice, which took the mental pressure off. Then I started doing 10 minutes, twice a day – once first thing in the morning, then before bed. It was amazing how fast each session went, but even more incredible the progress that could be made in those one or two little bouts of time. Another help was to read previous comments in the forum. So many people had things already posted that helped out, a lot. The more I exposed myself to all-things-guitar (like listening to guitar music, messaging a few people through TAC, reading the forums, re-watching video for what I was working on, or aspiring to begin), the more motivated I became to do my little 10 minute practices to move forward. So, hang in there! Take it in baby-steps, when and where you can. The TAC police are not coming to check your progress, I promise. You’ll see change, over time.
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