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Extremely frustrated
Hi, I don’t know anybody else out there is having some serious frustration problems with this last Chicka Boom Boom strumming practice? Where you have to go from a G an A Minor to a C to D to an E minor back to a g. I try to keep up with Tony and I mess up every time I can’t switch chords very fast or they vibrate or my fingers are in the wrong place or I get off timing completely to what Tony’s at the only speed I seem to be able to try to keep up at is the slow speed that he’s doing it at. As soon as I go over to 1.5 or 1 1/2 speed I can’t keep up my fingers don’t switch right I’m very frustrated it sucks cuz I want to get better. I don’t know what else to do. I can kind of do it on my own by myself but I don’t do the music exactly right to what he’s doing it at like maybe I I strum a little bit too much on one chords or just get messed up completely. I just don’t know what to do I want to get better but it doesn’t seem like I am getting better. My timing is off my cord changing it sucks. So if anybody have any words of encouragement or support it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Matthew
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21 Replies
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@MrKimm
So I don’t recall the exercise specifically but you mention going to 1.5 and 2x speed. This isn’t necessary anywhere in the program. It’s a commendable effort to try to get there as it will help you with your transitions to go fast but you always want to learn slow.Try to get it right slowly and then gradually increase speed. If you can get close to doing a challenge at .75 speed you are fine to move on.
Hope this gives you encouragement Matt!
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In general, TAC never requires you to be perfect at any of the shown skills before moving on. It’s cyclical and things come back again giving you ample opportunity to get better at them!
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MrK–
Remember this about the Daily Challenges— especially when just starting out here in TAC.
No two people are at the very same exact “starting point” when they join TAC. Some are very experienced; some are absolute beginners. There is no way that the TAC crew can design a daily program (the challenges) that fits everyone. Not possible.
In the same way that you may have troubles with a tough lesson; yet another may find it too easy! You get my drift here….
TAC’s program kind-of “bounces around” in this respect—– some Dailies are more advanced; some less. To make it perfect for everyone, they would have to custom-build hundreds of different curriculums.
So my advice is….
1. Don’t sweat the toughies. Just give them an honest try….. and move on- (you will see them again– with a year’s-worth of new skills under your belt!).
2. Make sure to do the warm-ups/stretches- (at least somewhat…)
3. DON’T compare yourself to anyone else- (even Tony)- and especially to some mental image of “where you THINK you should be”.
4. Focus on those beautiful sounds you are making….. the rest will follow!
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Thank you, yes I do have a mental image on where should be. I put to much pressure on myself a lot.
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“I just don’t know what to do I want to get better but it doesn’t seem
like I am getting better. My timing is off my cord changing it sucks.”In my opinion, you won’t get much better until you change your mental messaging. You’re at the critical point where most people give up. The best single piece of advice any of my teachers gave me was, you need to be OK sucking and still have fun. Even Tommy Emmanuel espouses this. You’re new to this. Your timing will suck, your chord changes will be slow and cluncky and so on. Really try to be OK with this and accept it. Have fun with it, laugh at it when you screw up instead of beating yourself up. THIS single piece of advice will help more than anything. It will make you want to pick up your guitar and learn with vigor instead of not wanting to pick up your guitar because you may be off on your timing, or miss a chord change etc.
I know this sounds easy put in words, it is more difficult to put into practice, especially if you’re like me, and have the need to be perfect at everything. Most activities in life have come pretty natural and easy for me. Not this dang guitar. But I keep plugging away everyday, and having an absolute blast. And I totally suck.
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Lots of good replies here and I have little more to add… the main thing to remember above all is consistency. Try to play every day for at least 10 minutes but that doesn’t have to be a speed limit… you can go longer but only if you are feeling it.
It has been a long time since I first started playing and for some reason I got a 12 string guitar to start which was not a good idea. But I remember the same frustration. Definitely dial back the speed or even just play the chords on your own. That coordination only comes with time and repetition as your muscle memory kicks in as you transition from every chord to every chord.
I really like the advice here about moving on and not requiring mastery of yourself before you continue. My practice routine pre-AC was to work on a technique/song/new chord kind of randomly but I’d keep adding things and never mastering the earlier things… though I’d keep them in my routine until I felt I’d mastered them. The result? A VERY long routine with a whole bunch of things I couldn’t do. Moving away from something before mastery I know is difficult… it really bothered me a first but now I find, working on other seemingly unrelated techniques impact everything and when I return to things I did not master, I’m a lot better at them even without having practiced them for weeks! It isn’t magic, it’s just that fundamental techniques develop over time with the method that can be applied to lots of different styles, exercises and songs. It really works! Be patient with yourself and understanding of what seems like slow progress. It will come with time and perseverance.
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What @Skyman911said!
Feeling frustrated means your expectations are beyond your capabilities and that is totally controllable. It’s okay to want to be better, but it’s not healthy to think you should be, deserve to be, must be better. Ratchet down expectations, I had to do this a lot during my first several months of playing.
Playing guitar is a lifelong journey, everyone would like to improve even the very best in the world. The key is being pleased with what you can do right now and excited about what tomorrow will bring. Take that approach and then you will find yourself suddenly surprised when out of nowhere (it seems) you can do it. Yesterday I actually rejoiced because I struggled with the lesson so much; knowing that being challenged mightily fosters mighty growth down the road.
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This is a really great thread! I agree that no matter where you are in your guitar journey– you always want to be “better”. It’s natural to put pressure on yourself to get there- (wherever “there” is)……
But……… “there” is a mirage. You can see it from a distance, but once you get closer… you realize that it isn’t real- (and never was).
I’m thinking that maybe I need to hit the big giant “reset” button every now and again when it comes to keeping my own expectations in check. It’s easy to get “too far out over your skis” without doing the work needed to be there.
Focus on the trip much more than just the destination.
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I love the “mirage” reference Coach! It brought back a memory for me when I was in my twenties and addicted to smoking. I had realized that my brain was tricking me into thinking I needed to smoke: light up and things will change, you will feel better! Every time that I lit up it was evident that the promise was fake! That smoke wasn’t making me feel any better. It’s kinda disgusting; it stinks up the room, my clothes, hands and breath and just like the 60,000 cigarettes before it, it was no better than the one before it! And on top of everything it’s also making me poorer every day!
Once I fully grasped all that, I quit and haven’t had one to this day! That was 41 years ago!
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Lots of good advice and wisdom here. I wouldnt be able to add much more but just to summarize wht others have said….its all about your attitude, goals, expections, and degree of committment. And its all relative…if you really want to be at your version of ‘perfect’ or even good in say, six months from now, its probably impossible, there isnt enough time in a day. Two years? Yeah maybe, but youd better be playing 6 to10 hrs a day. Ten minutes sure isnt going to get you there.
So its important to be realistic about what you want and how bad you want it. Learning guitar is hard. If it was easy and fast everyone would be a rock star. Not only hard, it comes with a price…you have to work at it for a long time. And if youre truly not happy with the progress youre making, you have to work harder and/or smarter.
Like everyone has said you hopefully learn to embrace the process and love the journey. Those who dont eventually find a new hobby. But those who stick with it, with the right attitude and expectations, reap the guitar rewards. But to each their own…its a very personal endeavor. Not sure where you are brother but I wish you well and good luck. If you decide to play on thats great. Just stay off the clock, embrace the suck and celebrate those wins, big and small. They all add up.
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Braden—
I loved your “ten minutes sure isn’t gonna get you there” line…. and could not agree more.
I surely have no actual qualifications of any kind on this subject— so all I can offer is an opinion.
But I always thought that ten-minute-thing was a bunch of hooey; always sounded to me like a “bait” thing—– “”””Yes… YOU can become an excellent guitar player in only TEN MINUTES A DAY!!!!”””
Takes me more than that just to figure-out what I want to work on that day- (I just don’t have the time to have this stuff all planned/mapped-out ahead of time).
What can you really gain in ten minutes???
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This reply was modified 2 months ago by the-old-coach.
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This reply was modified 2 months ago by the-old-coach.
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Hey Coach I think youre right…in this world where we want it fast and maybe with not too much effort, the only ten minutes a day line is a good hook. However i think there is a strategy behind it as well that is not just marketing…the hope is that ten minutes turns into 30, or an hour or even more. I’m giving the grandkids lessons and use this all the time to hopefully stretch out their practicing. But youre right, what can you really accomplish in ten minutes? If youre sitting down for a planned practice session, not much. You’ll barely tune up and do some warm ups. If however, youre having a busy day which isnt going to include much, if any guitar, then picking it up and getting even a few minutes in can also be a beautiful thing. If ten is all youve got, go for it, youll be glad you did. Just dont expect to advance very quickly if thats all you do. Again its all relative..and depends on the big four…goals, expectations, attitude and committment. Hope youre doing good brother. Keep on rockin
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This reply was modified 2 months ago by
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I don’t think the ten minute a day thing is really a hook. Some days it’s tough and don’t feel like doing. So I do it for ten and move on. Other times I really get into the learning of a song and am spending 30 minutes or more. The “trick” is picking up and doing something daily and becomes a habit. Then when I track the progress, or a lesson comes around again, I do see the progress. Less frustrations and more enjoyment. We all came into this world knowing nothing and not able to do much. But we kept trying and got better.
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Hey MrKimm,
Thanks for posting about your struggle. I’ve meant to learn my whole life and somehow believed that now that I’ve finally decided to seriously try to learn that I wouldn’t feel like completely SUCK after every lesson! Guess I’m gonna have to seriously lower my expectations because every time Tony says “Now that you’ve got that under your fingers…”, ………………. Well. Lets just say it’s a good thing that these lessons are not live or I’d be kicked out of the class! 🙂
Finished my Five Day challenge today after repeating three of the five days at least once! Still feel like I’m failing horribly, but I’m gonna keep trying here and see how it goes.
Thanks again to everyone for their good advice and encouragement for those of us that are struggling.-
No you haven’t failed. Repeating a lesson is fine, but I suspect that it wasn’t necessary. If if gives you peace of mind to redo a thing it could help you, so not to worry. Most new comers, myself included (when I was a newbie) think that lessons build on top of each other, and in the 30 Day program there is a bit of that. However, you will see all that stuff again at various times in the daily challenges. They are a bit less challenging in general, maybe call ’em “Daily Challenges Light”, so you will notice things ramp up a little bit (could be more or less depending on which week you come in) but they will be layered so that there is a simpler way to approach it and then a number of options that are more challenging. People get caught up in thinking everything must be completed or you failed. No! Do a small part, hopefully you learned something new but even if you could only muster 5% of the lesson, mark it complete anyhow! The same teaching will come again soon. Weeks do not build up, it ebbs and flows throughout the year and you’ve got bench marks that are repeated 3 times annually.
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Try doing the lessons with a metronome. Mine goes as low as 30bpm and that is usually where I start. I will do a lot of reps at a given speed (usually 50-100) until I feel good that I can bump 5-10bpm. I try to keep increasing until it is apparent that I cant go that fast. Than I will bump it up one more time, do a bunch and go back to my previous level.
When I go through a lesson there is always at least one section, transition, technique, etc, that gives me trouble. I will focus on that, practice just that, looking to start creating the muscle memory. Not trying to master.
FWIW, playing at 30bpm can be REALLY challenging, soooo slow.
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I use a metronome at a slow speed. Then slow it down a bit more. I can see where I rush some notes/parts, and it gives me a chance to settle into the rhythm. Once I can stay with the slow beats, I look at finger placement and sound. It becomes very relaxing. Then I increase the speed 10 beats at a time and try it again. It makes for small wins and enjoyment during the practice time.
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Said it earlier in this thread, and I’ll say it again……..
(In my un-edumacated opinion)– I think the “10-minutes-per-day” is all fine and good…….. if you NEVER want to actually make serious guitar-learning actually happen….. within your lifetime….
I have never believed you can be a bowl-of-mush, passive, benchwarmer, and still be saying you want to learn how to play guitar…… period. If you actually want to learn and improve– you really DO have to take the bull by the horns, and go after that goal.
Tony is NOT gonna make you a guitar player– so we should get that out of our heads at the very beginning. Only YOU are gonna make that happen.
Ten minutes?……. Yeah, right.
Remember…… It’s called Tony’s Acoustic Challenge for a reason…..
I don’t wanna sound like some a-hole in here… but in everythinhg in life, we all know that improvement ONLY comes from effort-put-in. Some of us may feel that we’re not improving at guitar– so maybe we quit….. I don’t EVER want to see anyone quit…. but I actually do believe that this “10 minutes per day” stuff is NOT gonna make you improve… It’s a mirage.
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This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by the-old-coach.
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This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by the-old-coach.
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I’ve left this tangent alone until now, but I think I would like to voice my opinion on it. 10 minutes a day is simply the amount that we should devote to the challenge of the day before we mark it complete. And in the past I’ve always called it 10-20 minutes. Some challenges require more time than others. You want to at least attempt a good portion and some days 10 minutes isn’t going to get you far. And if you’re new to TAC then you don’t know what’s covered in the Learn Video and you will need to watch it a lot more closely than a member who’s been through it a number of times. At this point there are lot of challenges where watching video isn’t necessary to do the challenge. If I can skip that I absolutely can get some meaningful reps done and be better than the previous time. Benchmarks especially fall in this category since we see them so often.
Will you improve if that is all you do each day? I believe you will improve, but quite slowly. Heck I probably spend an hour minimum most days (7 days a week), often much more and I am still not progressing as fast I would like. Partly because I am not terribly gifted, but mainly because guitar is crazy hard.
Spending more time daily, multiple sessions, accelerates progress. Five 10 -15 minute sessions per day is superior to one 2 hour session. Your brain processes things during the time you aren’t holding the instrument, even while you’re sleeping.
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Pete–
I agree 100% about what you say here. Believe me– I wasn’t trying to sound like an a-hole here. The goal in my previous post was maybe intended to be an old coach’s “tough love” kinda thing. Learning guitar is tough– and the sooner we accept that fact— the less-often people will give up when the progress is slower and harder than (maybe) they were “told”– (that the “only 10 minutes per day” is somehow gonna make you better). The slower you see improvement- the more chance you have of quitting– and I don’t wanna see anybody quit.
That is, was, and has always been my goal—- in years of coaching, in career-stuff, in guitar/ whatever…… you get out what you put in.
A person who chooses to walk fast will certainly get farther/faster than someone who’s chosen some slow stroll….. and both types deserve the result…… Not rocket science, right?
Repeat— “you get out what you put in”.
Repeat— “I don’t wanna see anybody quit”.
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This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by
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Thank you Sir
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