-
@Stilltrying Great to have you here with the TAC community! I will start by apologizing because this will be a lengthy post trying to answer your questions maybe intelligently and maybe not so intelligently feel free to ask for clarification of something doesn’t make sense or maybe someone else can explain it and better manner than I can but this is my thoughts and experience and hopefully I will answer some of your questions
TAC is a learning platform for foundational skills for playing guitar. These are all skills that you will use as you move forward in your Journey to learn the guitar you may not see how you can put it all together at this point but as you move into learning songs and listening to songs that you want to play you will hear where the skills come in and you’ll want to know these foundational skills, so that you can to some degree replicate a cover if that’s what you’re goal is to play, or maybe someday aspire writing your own songs, or you want to understand why some cords are paired together and sound good and others don’t sound so good together or different strumming patterns or different fingerpicking patterns knowing scales that you can incorporate into licks and other runs within a song, to know why or when to use accentuated strums, and you want to accentuate things, to understand and incorporate things like arpeggios , staccato, and many other things.
Have you taken five day challenge that explains the purposes of each day’s routine? If not that’s where I suggest you start. https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/5-day-guitar-routine-challenge/
Specifically,
Monday – Technique s
Tuesday – guitar licks
Wednesday- improvisation … BUT, in the lessons you’ll notice that Tony is teaching you a scale of some sort every week so the purpose is to learn scales just as you would as if you were playing piano or another instrument scales are essential, because they form a progression of notes and octaves. It is basically how Music is formed by moving from one note to another note to another note in (the notes may be within chords) but it is Notes that pair up and sound good moving up in active you know up in octave. Improv simply takes those same notes from a scale and puts them to a backing track that’s all it’s doing and it actually teaches you to be able to Play in different keys, find notes that sound good together, and that is what music is. You will notice when you start playing songs that you hear the same type of increases and decreases in octaves within the same key to make it sound kosher together. I hope that makes sense
Moving on
Thursday focuses on rhythm guitar which is typically a type of strumming support type playing and not the lead guitar. Rhythm guitar to me means that you learn cadence, timing using a metronome, different time signatures, forms of strumming based on the time signature, whether 1/2 notes, whole notes, quarter notes, etc. Accentuations on strums, and so much more.
Fridays are chord transitions several years ago TAC approached cord transitions in a very linear manner on a tab sheet, basically playing chords back and forth between possibly 4 chords in a very repetitive manner with a few different patterns between the chords. Currently, Tony does them in the overall focus from that week. If the focus is on learning a song or an aspect of a song throughout the week each day will focus on the daily goal of learning a specific skill with Fridays being a culmination of the chords and transitioning between those cords that go to that particular song or whatever is being worked on that week.
So the purpose TAC is to teach the foundational skills so that you can go out and learn songs and understand and know the different things that go into a song and why, and it will actually help you understand and learn songs faster but you also need to study a small amount of theory to round out your understanding, at least in my understanding.
So as @Moose408 mentioned guitar is not an easy instrument to learn, but it’s not impossible. It takes patience, practice, and by that I mean repetitive practice meaning you’re practicing every day learning new skills, songs, or working on a new skill you want to become proficient in. Learning aspects of a song that shows you how it incorporates different techniques, how to play the guitar licks found in a song, the scale that song incorporates to have flow, cohesiveness, or even discord within a song through the use of a diminished chords that add dissonance. As you learn songs, they will incorporate all these aspects of skills that you’ve learned, and you’ll be able to recognize them. You’ll be able to play the song because you’ll understand the rhythm of it and why the chords are where they are and the cadence and the tune and you just everything of a song you’ll understand the song is written the lyrics the timing throughout the song why some cord sound sound better than others which many times is just from playing those scales that are taught on Wednesdays. If you decide to board wizard or any other theory type course you will learn about the different scales and major and minor chords and the typical progression of a song how to be trained because you’ll be able to identify keys of a song which it’s very important to understand keys of a song
I would like to apologize because my intention is not the sound as if I’m lecturing or anything along those lines I’m basically trying to answer the questions that you put fourth in your post I do feel like probably been too repetitive in my answer and for that no I just apologize tendency to be word ha ha
I can guarantee that it gets easier as you move forward. The go to fucking go to bed what the fuck is your problem beginning is very difficult because it’s a new skill that you’re trying to learn it be like learning a foreign language that you’re not familiar with it would take a lot of practice a lot of repetition in order not to lose it you would have to continue to use it. fingerpicking or flatpicking so it’s more.
I was frustrated and almost quit playing guitar, probably the end of my second year. I think I was still confused as how everything fit together I was having a difficult time picking up learning songs transitioning between chords Learning how to strum inability to fingerpicks because I have tremors in my hand challenges due to a pain and muscle disorder that makes it difficult to play. I was overwhelmed with Covid, being a sole caregiver to my mother who had Left Body Dementia. It seemed to be stacking up against me and, oh stressed depressed overwhelmed and a bit angry. I was going to meet some people in Florida get together and several songs were sent out ahead of time that we were going to be playing during our time together and I was determined to learn the songs. Now I did supplement TAC with personal lessons in my 2nd year. He gave me a few pointers, but for the most part I was left on my own to practice them. All of a sudden things just started to fall into place I mean my strumming clicked I was able to transition between chords better my vocal still weren’t great that I’m still working at it’s having so much fun playing guitar because all of a sudden I could pick up songs much easier than I had ever picked up a song and I haven’t stopped since I love the guitar I love playing I love learning new songs I love performing at open mics and I go to jams and get together with friends sometimes it’s my happy place and what I’ve learned is that if you want to have fun it Hass to come from within you it’s not an external thing that Tony gives you or people within the form give you it’s taking the tools that are given to you and learning how to have fun with it experiment with it goof around with it no add some of your own flavor to it that type of thing at the beginning I just had such a joy over learning even the simplest thing like the 30 days to play I had never played the guitar before so it was brand new and was ecstatic about what I was learning I wasn’t good but I was determined and I had to find my own phone and learn how to laugh at myself I had to I decided I was gonna put out to the forums the good the bad the ugly and I posted videos of my journey and it wasn’t a lot of times but that’s OK because I learned from it and I got better from it so that’s still fine I love meeting new people that that’s part of my fun you know I’m six I’ll be 63 and two weeks so I was an older adult too I’ve only been playing four years and I have hundreds of songs that I can probably play now do I may not play them well, but I can play them.
Again I’m really not trying to lecture I’m just my whole point is don’t give up before the miracle happens that’s what happened with me I almost gave up and I almost missed out on the miracle which to me is my happy place absolute fun playing at times frustration but there is always something I can laugh about and I continually learn and I think to me learning is fun so it just depends on what your goals are and I suggest that you take Tony up on his quarterly chickens and write down and 90 day goal what you’re going to accomplish within 90 days what steps you’re gonna take and then in 90 days to a check in to see where you are on those goals and that’s all I can really suggest at this point feel free to message me with questions if you want I don’t have all the answers but I’m willing to talk to anyone I can only give my experience strength and hope so you know it has to come from within you I hope you are offended by my post I have to laugh because I’m never short
