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Brand new – so confused
Hello! I am brand new to TAC and picking up a guitar. I really want to make this work but I am already feeling lost right out of the gate. I’m asking for guidance on several things.
I’ve gotten a lot of emails since signing up (almost too many) and I find them conflicting at times mostly surrounding the 30 day and 5 day challenges. I’m struggling to understand what’s what in the program, where to start and how to progress through. I also received an email on Sunday saying I was going to start getting an email once a week on Monday (not sure what it’s meant to be about). I never received that email this past Monday (checked spam). I replied to one of the emails I had received asking for clarification. I got a friendly reply with somewhat of an explanation but it really wasn’t clear, and I was routed here to the forum to ask for help.
Next problem 🙁 I started the 30 day challenge, but can’t complete the very basic fretting (can’t get that third finger to work with the first in the first step no matter how hard I try) much less the other pieces taught later in this same first video. I understand we are not supposed to get hung up on one thing and I am trying to move forward, but as I do that, I see that I actually need that previous fretting skill in order to do the next step and he actually says that in the video.
Can someone please guide me if 1) I am in the right place as far as focusing only on the 30 day challenge, 2) what is the five day challenge, where does it come in to play and how do I find it? 3) What is the Monday email I’m supposed to be getting that I’m not, and 4) does anyone have tips about how I get over this hump with basic fretting? I’m so stuck and I’m pretty embarrassed about having to even ask all of these questions especially so close to the beginning. Thanks in advance.
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9 Replies
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Good Morning and Welcome to TAC. First off, I would say don’t worry about the Monday emails for now. They refer to Daily Challenges. Those Challenges repeat on a yearly basis and you can join in and start them when you are ready. Tony has developed a Five day process for learning a song or Technique which the Daily Challenges takes you through.
It has been a couple of years since I did the 30 Day and 5 day, but I think you start with the 30 day. Do what you can. if the 30 day takes you 60 days, that is OK. You do it at your Pace. You may find you can do a couple a day, and that is OK also.
Guitar is hard but rewarding. Do what you can and enjoy the journey.
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Thank you so much!
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The 30 day course is the right place to start. You are new to guitar, everything is going to be hard and you are not going to be able to do it all. That’s ok and expected. The motto here is progress over perfection. Try your best, do what you can for the day and move on. You may have to do the same skills the next day that you struggled with the previous day. That is as designed, you will struggle with it again, but because you are being exposed to it over and over your brain will start to recognize it and you will get better at it. Progress is going to be slow.
A couple things to keep in mind.
- Guitar is hard. You are going to suck in the beginning, you are going to suck for a long time, it’s ok to suck.
- The most important thing you can do is show up every day.
- Don’t get frustrated. You are trying to make your fingers do things they have never done before. Progress is going to be slow and incremental. Just strive to get just a little bit better everyday.
- Don’t get hung up on any daily exercise. Do the best you can and then move on. The skills required will come around again and will become a easier each time you see them.
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Thank you, thank you!
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@Moose408 is bang on as usual! You will see the stuff in the 30 Day and the following 5 Day programs over and over and over. Don’t worry too much if you struggle there. You could veer off into the skill courses for a day here and there.
I disagree, however, about extending the 30 days to 60 or 90. I would try to keep it closer to 30. You want to feel like you are progressing and as long as you’re in the intro programs you’re kind of spinning your wheels or just warming up. It gets a bit more challenging in the Daily Challenges but as many have emphasized, you shouldn’t expect to complete them. Do your best and mark complete!
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When I first started I thought the 30 days to play challenge should have been changed to 90 days 🙂. I don’t know of any beginner or even novice who could ever come close to mastering it in 30 days.
The others have given you good advice here. I disagree with “don’t get frustrated”. You absolutely will get frustrated. When that happens, put the guitar down and walk away for a few hours or even a day, BUT then be sure to come back. It takes a while before you can really do anything that sounds ok, but if you show up every day it will start to happen.
Hang in there and keep at it.
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@ChuckS you aren’t expected to master any of it.
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You’re going to hear this a lot, but I want to reiterate it because it is so important to this program. Don’t feel like you have to “master” each skill or lesson before moving on. This is a program where you simply do your best with the time you allot yourself that day, whether that means you feel like you finish a lesson 100% or 1%. Whatever you accomplished is the “win.” Even getting something 1% means you learned something that day and you improved.
As it was mentioned, all the skills/techniques come through the program in different ways. You may not get something the first few times around, but you will continually see tiny improvements as you come back to them.
The 30 day challenge is good to spend time on.. and feel free to go back to. Once you complete that, it will open up the “5 day challenge,” which is essentially the same as the daily challenge but it walks you through the process better. After you finish the 5-day, you can start on the daily challenges which are the main things from then on.
Summary:
30-day challenge – Take your time… don’t feel like you have to master anything but take your time where you feel like you want to.
5-day challenge – This introduces you to how the program works and what the main daily challenges are.
Daily challenge – This is the main thing that everyone participates in daily (once you’ve finished the 2 challenges above). Again, this is the main one where you do what you can in the time you allot yourself, then give yourself a pat on the back for whatever you learned.
Most of all, enjoy the journey! Have fun. Stick with it… you’ll be amazed at all the things you continue to learn. Humans are used to instant gratification. Learning an instrument is not that, but it is so much more rewarding if you stick with it and acknowledge that it will challenge you. It is supposed to.
Cheers!
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This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by MattTX_24.
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This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by
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I am in the same boat as you. I am on the first blues riff in the 30 day challenge and it is frustrating. I keep hearing that I shouldn’t worry about mastering it before moving on. But I can’t even go through it one time without sounding horrible. Sometimes the cord is bad and sometimes I miss the correct strings. Even my dog is giving me the side eye 🙂
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