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Losing Enthusiasm
I’ve been doing TAC for 4 months now. I’d dabbled in guitar for about 40 years when I thought I should introduce some structure into my learning and playing. I saw TAC and thought it was an easy way to get serious about playing. Winters are long here in Canada so I really enjoyed the guitar routine I had started and I certainly had plenty of time to not only do the challenges, but to learn some music theory and get a better handle on the fretboard. However, I seem to have hit a wall with my playing. I do the challenges and then don’t have a lot of interest in picking up the guitar any time after that. I realize my playing is so much better in just 4 months, but I feel I am just learning ( and practicing ) techniques rather than music. Has anyone else gone through the doldrums with the program ? What do you enjoy most about the guitar – playing or practicing ?
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18 Replies
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I’ve had many ups and downs with guitar and am by no means “good” at playing, but it sounds to me like you need to divide your time between picking some songs to learn and practicing technique. This is kind of how we trained in sports: we had technique training, strength training, then playing scrimmage games and real competitive games. we have to remember the goal is playing music and not becoming technicians so I know for me I have to always be applying things to songs I’m trying to learn and the songs are the payoff. So find a couple songs you like and practice those 10 min a day in addition to 10 min of TAC and maybe that’ll help. I know exactly how you feel.
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Thanks. I’m kind of a process guy, but I think finding some songs may be helpful. I just wish I could sing !!
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This topic is dear to me, as I almost quit due to some of the same issues. I had a great teacher who helped me through. He basically said I was practicing too much and not playing enough. My mindset was, “well I need to practice in order to play, right?” Not so much. I wasn’t having fun. Since I’ve gone from practicing to playing, my guitar has improved greatly, and the best part is, I’m having fun. I don’t put my instrument down because of frustration anymore. The hard part about this though is being OK playing poorly and still having fun. Being OK with the thudded chord, the missed chord, the out of time chord allows you to start having fun, and not striving for the perfect chord. TAC is a great resource, however not the only learning method out there. Find some songs you really like and just start playing. Don’t get me wrong, I still practice. However I spend 90% of my time playing, and not practicing technique or chord changes to a metronome. Playing is practice. I mean, this is why we started with guitar because we wanted to play, not just sit there with endless practice leading to frustration. The key again is learning how to accept where you are, and being ok with sucking. I hope you can find the same joy I have found. It is life changing.
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Thanks ! I think songs are probably the key for me. I know I’m having trouble inserting some of the licks into my actual playing, so I’ll have to concentrate on that to make my playing more interesting. I have no real problems with chords or transitions, so playing songs is actually pretty easy for me, and my singing is REALLY bad ! I think I need to try playing songs and really focus on adding the embellishments.
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Can’t agree more. Find a song you like and start playing it!! Do the challenges, but add a song to play!
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I haven’t hit the doldrums, Gary but I have run into some patches of less excitement. I was so raw when I started here that the level of teaching has been quite challenging through my first 2 years, and it looks like that will continue for a while. I wasn’t skilled or gifted and it’s still going slow. I have supplemented TAC with some books on music theory, another music program that had the word academy in it’s name and I’m learning luthier skills on the side, doing my own setups.
I gravitate back to TAC though, this thing has way more magnetism than the other shiny objects out there. If you’re not being drawn to it then I’m not sure what that means.
When I first started I had a long list of songs I wanted to learn and it was my goal to be able to play them as soon as possible. But I soon realized that my skills were totally inadequate to play most of them and I began rearrange my short term goals to learning the basics for as long as necessary, so that down the road I could learn songs at 10 times the pace I was able to do in the early going.
I do rehearse a few songs and I’m keeping a list of the ones I want to play eventually but my desire to learn songs and develop a playlist has waned greatly. I would say I devote less than 20% of my time to learning, rehearsing songs. I’m much more focused on overall command of the instrument. But each person’s journey is unique and your path may look completely different from mine.
Music is a language and as students of guitar we are learning one of music’s dialects. Songs are how we get exposed to music, and they reflect an individual’s (or small group of people’s) expression of ideas using the language of music. When we enjoy a particular song we want to mimic it and that by itself is absolutely a desirable goal, as long as it continues to reveal the (musical!) vocabulary and grammar to us as players. I don’t want to let the pursuit of learning a particular song become a detriment to learning the language that the instrument speaks.
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This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by petelanger.
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Thanks Pete. I should really come up with a list of songs I want to play. Right now, I may come across one on YouTube and think, ” Yeah, I can play that !” Then I quickly forget about it or don’t copy it out to tab. Another problem I can foresee is the Canadian weather. We have inside and out side seasons ( about 6 months of each ). We’re coming to outside weather season, so I’ll be a lot busier with other activities soon. Time to get organized !
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I get you bro! I grew up in Montreal, know all about Canadian summers that last about a week and freezing nights in late August foreshadowing about 7 months of winter around the corner. That’s why I moved to Florida!
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This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by
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I’m probably right around where you are and am also hitting a similar feeling. I’m addressing it exactly how the others have suggested. I’ll watch the TAC video but sometimes I’ll spend time working on a song I’m interested in, or just play around. I also dug up a few old songbooks that I love going back to. I still consider it a win for showing up and playing. And after a “week off,” I feel ready to get back on the TAC train tomorrow.
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I still love the challenges, since I’m a process guy. But I’m going to get organized and get some songs down. Thanks for the input !
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Keep going. I have learned over and over that boredom is a sign of impending breakthrough. I remember periods of time when playing was about as fun as watching paint dry and then when I settled in for the long haul, …breakthrough… and some new to me ability manifested. I learned later on that making “play” my practice was also a good strategy. Boredom is now part of my process and does not cause me any concern, it is the opposite, I know good things are on their way!
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I found a couple sites on youtube that provide the chords for a play-along with songs from the 60s and forward. JoAnne Cooper play along videos and Planet Guitar are two I frequent. I use them on weekends or when I come back to play later in the day. Playing along with some of favs from the 70s is fun; some are just too advanced for now. Check them out!
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Thanks !! I will.
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Hey Gary from a fellow Canadian down the road in London. This is a great thread you started and lots of good advice. Sounds like you got a handle on a lot of things and some good skills but getting a bit bored and hitting a plateau. I think this is very normal and, like everyone says, is part of learning guitar. I also think the first thing is to ask yourself what are your goals with the guitar…start there. For me being able to play and sing covers is the main one but I also want to be as good as I can be technically, and to continue to study theory so Im really understanding what and why Im doing the things Im doing. So I do both…Im continuously learning songs while at the same time have a regular practice plan. And for me thats why TAC is so good…Tony doesnt really teach songs but will give the bones of a song while hes providing five days of skill development…great licks, strumming paterns, percussion, soloing, all of it…I think its great and Ive learned a ton here. But like I say my main thing is to be able to play and sing songs that I like from beginning to end…for me anyway thats kind of what its all about. And I also learn a lot of those same things by learning songs…just as many as I do from TAC. Ive got three lists: Campfire Ready…if someone asked me for a tune, I could do any one of these, play and sing, beginning to end (including any number of mistakes). Next list is Developing…these are songs that Im currently working on to move them on to the first list. Some stay on this list for months, others just a few weeks, depending on the degree of difficulty. Last one is Next Up…songs on the wishlist that I havent started yet. My view is that even beginning players should do this as well. Depending on the songs on your list, and using chords you already know, there is usually an easy way to play most Western popular music ie rock, folk, country, metal…jazz not so much. Tony does this all the time, he usually always provides three versions of how to do any particular skill…easy, harder, hardest. Playing songs is the same way. You start basic and work your way up. YouTube is full of good how to videos that are very beginner friendly and I think it really helps to keep you motivated. Anyhow sounds like youve already decided to add learning and playing songs while youre also doing the TAC program. That model has worked well for me. By the way I still hit plateaus every once in awhile but they dont last forever, esp if you find something to give you a little kickstart. Just remember this shit is hard. It takes committment and time, again depending what your goals are, but like others have said the rewards can be life changing. Music, in all its forms and expressions, is a beautiful thing and offers us so much. i wish you well brother and hope you get your mojo back.
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TAC gives you the tools. After you collect a few new tools into your toolbox, you can open-up the drawers and admire how great they look there, all perfectly in order………. or ………. you can take them out and build something.
Old saying— “You can’t make an omelet without breakin’ some eggs”.
Take your new knowledge and use it/ mess with it/ experiment with it……. otherwise it’s just for looks- (like those all perfect tools in the toolbox).
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Hate to reply to myself… but as I thought more about this— I guess what I was trying to say is that there is a “bigger picture” here.
Years ago, there was a person having trouble staying motivated. He must have had some sports background; one time he said– “I’m tired of just doing “cone drills”— I want to get out there and PLAY”. He had good intentions– but I think he was just a little impatient. His desires were ahead of his abilities— trying to build something but didn’t yet have the tools. This never works……..
TAC-challenges are the tools. Every one of these little skills you pick up in the challenges- (months and months worth)— whether it’s mastering a certain transition, some cool picking or strumming pattern, maybe muting, some scale, learning about Keys or modes, maybe hammer-ons or pull-offs or slides or whatever……. (hundreds of little mini-skills).
These are just a bunch of little parts and pieces (tools) that don’t really mean that much when looked-at individually. But “the bigger picture”– over time– starts to show you how they all fit together.
Your brain may well just do this automatically for you— without you even noticing!
THEN, you take all these hundreds of individual little parts and pieces and put them to use— as your own skills allow.
Maybe I just made it more confusing…. I hope not….
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Not confusing at all !! Right now I have a lot of tools and techniques, but I’m really not putting any of it to use. It’s like I’ve practiced making dovetails, but I still join 2 pieces of wood together with nails !! I need to go back and get some of the songs I USED to play, and add the embellishments in there to spice them up a bit. Hopefully as I progress, these small techniques will become a bit more 2nd nature to me.
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Perfect!
I do this all the time– I’ll maybe be working on a couple new things; then I’ll go into E-Chords- (or some other TAB website); dig-up one of my old favorite tunes……. and bring my new skills to the party– (at least somewhat– while I figure things out a bit).
To me– this is a blast! Some of the most fun stuff, right there.
Great strides with not-too-much effort, “breaks things up” a bit, and it’s loads of fun!
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