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The first thing I learned 52 years ago. It was also called the Church lick or the Carter Family lick or just Boom-chick-a.
Definitely a must know. You can play 1000s of songs just knowing how to do this and the open chords and the chord progression.
My biggest challenge was keeping in time with Tony, especially at the slow pace version. Also because I already have alternating bass notes part of muscle memory, I kept automatically doing them. A situation where knowing something actually gets in the way of honing a skill. Keeping time and counting was always my biggest problem, and I never have fixed it. I’m really committed to this method of learning for this reason. One skill at a time. Do your best and then move on for the moment, but keep coming back and setting that plan in action, building on each day.
Yikes, this day was the hardest for me. I can’t actually reach some of the strings for these chords without manually moving my fingers with my other hand. Some kind of hand stretching routine is in order, I think! I need some kind of easy graphic showing the chords and hand placement…I struggle seeing what your hand is doing in the video. Also not sure how to hold the pick.
I find it hard to make the chores, my fingers begin to hurt, I become frustrated and stop playing. Until now I did not have a clear path to follow. Im enjoying the challenge, my fingers still hurt and Im still frustrated with making the chores but I have a great path to learning
Inconsistency is my biggest issue, and I think that is the result of lack of a clear path. I’m enjoying your challenge, and I like that there is a path and a pattern for each week. I think this may help me progress.
I don’t practice chord progressions enough and can’t do them in time and it frustrates me and I end up stopping.
Inconsistency is my biggest issue! I get excited and do good for a bit and then crickets. I started this go round with way too much info “saved” to learn later, most are still there. I am really enjoying your challenge, seem to be picking things up which creates more excitement for me! Fifty plus years and finally becoming a guitarist!!
What’s the gauge of pick do you use?
Awesome! This is great!
day 5 coming up tomorrow, that means I can do this a whole week.
I would like to learn to play, “Call Me the Breeze”, Lynrd Skynrd version.
Hands down my ability to remember is what lets me down.
I have start and stopped too many times due to disorganization on my part. I feel that this has the organization I lacked and although it seems I’m going over ground I have covered before. It actually isn’t because this pieces it together in a more organic way than I experienced in the past. So I’m decided to sign up and get on with getting my act together. Its sort of taking a break everyday doing something that is goal and result oriented. I’m in.
I am a real beginner, and I have had one guitar lesson. I was using an old guitar that has a warped bridge that made it next to impossible to tune, and keep tuned. My instructor lent me a guitar, and I signed up for your 5 day challenge. I am happy with the few small wins I have had this week. I am eager to learn, and I have ordered a new guitar, and I can’t wait to get it. I believe in your teaching techniques and I will sign up for a membership but I won’t have a guitar right away since I have to return the borrowed one and mine hasn’t come in yet. I don’t want to waste half of the 30 days without a guitar to follow the lessons. Can you extend your offer of the 45% off? Thank you.
Consistency is my biggest challenge. I can go 4 or 5 months at a time and then not play for another 6 months.
Derek I am with you. I struggle picking the correct base cord on the four day challenge along with keeping up with the pace of the song. I really appreciate the option to slow down the song. I feel better knowing I have made progress and accepting small wins. Have I been able to play the complete song no. But I am making positive progress.
Thanks Tony!
Hi – My lack of meaningful progress is that I have no music or guitar experience. I am spending an hour + per night on the daily assignments because I am so new. For example, I still don’t know the appropriate posture or hand positions. Struggling with the basics.
Good stuff! I am really enjoying this!
Life, earning a living and having kids
Chords hurt my fingers.
I’m working on it.
I believe my failures and lack of progress has all been about inconsistant performance. I always seem to be jumping around back and forth Before I accomplish the exercise.
I used to play along with my records, but that was in the 80s and I listened to ‘hair bands’. When I pick up my guitar now, I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be stuck in the 80s.
Lack of progress has been due to not being consistent and also not having any structure to push myself to learn and practice new things rather than just banging out the same old chords. I have really enjoyed the five day challenge and if the full course is structured in the same way then I’m going to sign up 🙂
I relate to the comments about trying to keep up. My fingers definitely need to get used to pressing the guitar strings. The first day with Technique was intimidating. However, going back to trying to perfect Technique was way better. Is this course structured so I can jump around (meaning repeat previous lessons)? Do you have recommendations on what strings would work best for a beginner (Ibanez Acoustic)?
Do I have to do a lesson per day or can I repeat a lesson over a few days until I get it down. If Im away from home for a few days will I be able to continue from where I left off. In other words do I have to keep moving forward every day even if I wanted to perfect one lesson before moving on?
Historically, my progress has been slow, I think, because I can’t put things together. I’ve learned many chords and rhythm styles but not a whole song. Time is my enemy with a challenging job, family, etc. Honestly it comes down to commitment and desire. That’s what I’m looking for.
Hi Tony,
I’m struggling to keep up with the timetable. As a novice (struggling to remember finger placements for chords, struggling to move my fingers to a new position quick enough, and get it right, then working with Tabs is all too much for me at the moment), and I think I am looking at a slower pace. I can see tiny daily wins but feel that there is still something missing. It is also a struggle to ride along when you can’t actually see what I am doing and offer guidance as may be appropriate at the time.
If you can get back to me with some suggestions, it will be appreciated but not just with words of encouragement. I am looking for guidance of the basics at this stage. We have not touched on posture, hand placement for fretting or techniques for strumming and finger picking. There is a whole heap of other things that I probably don’t know about what I am dong wrong either.
I look forward to your reply.
I am just wondering is the course just for beginners ?I am enjoying the five day challenge and found some exciting things in it but,I am not really a beginner,just a little rusty from not playing for a few years.Is there more challenging content in the course as you progress?
Not where I want to be, yet, but my strumming is beginning to become more confident. I guess I have been playing for myself for so long that I have lost confidence in my pick action – both the double picking from tomorrow’s lesson and strumming from today’s. My Tak has an easier string action that the Fender – maybe the acoustic strings on the Tak make a tension difference. I will replace the electric strings on the Fender and give them a try.
But, the point is that my strumming is beginning to sound more consistent and more confident.
Day 4 – why do I think I haven’t been making progress?
Despite the thousands of YouTube videos and the couple of guitar courses I’ve tried I find my self going over and over the same few things and never movings forward.
The idea of having no clear path makes sense to me. Having to think about what to play each day means I gravitate back to what feels comortable and thinking that perfeting one or two things is ‘progress’. I haven’t perfected anything yet and I certainly haven’t made progress. I feel I’ve made more progress in the 5-Day challenge than I’ve made in months.
I definitely get information overload. I try to learn too many songs, or too many different ways, instead of sticking with one. I hit that intermediate plateau and tend to waffle.
I’m using an electric guitar, a PRS SE Mira. I’m hoping it will translate well with these acoustic lessons. What do you think?
I seem to always be start something new but never actually finishing anything
I have never flat picked before . This helping very well.
Alsoi haven’t played much in the past 20 or so years I just kept playing the same few songs.
My biggest impediment to progress is my short attention span. I’ve worked on it a lot this year, and my focus has improved somewhat, but it is still a challenge and has hindered my progress. As for a specific problem area, chord changes have always been a real challenge for me.
I’m a complete beginner. I have a hard time getting my fingers on the right strings and only on one string when fretting cords. My ring finger does not want to cooperate. I am going to keep trying.
Hey, I’m enjoying the lessons so far so, I am wondering, if I joined the group, do you pay annually or can it be on a monthly basis?
I like the structure and the micro lessons. Fortunately I have more than 10 minutes because I spend at least 45 minutes on each days lesson. Your insight and tid bits are also important to learning guitar.
I understand the end goal and can play these 4 chords (after taking way too long to get my fingers in position) but what trips me every time is switching from chord to chord.
That frustrates the bejesus out of me.
I was more comfortable with today’s challenge because up until now I had only been playing chords, with the exception of the intro to Wish You Were Here. However, it was almost 2 years between starting TAC and my previous consistent guitar playing. I am not familiar with the fret board when playing notes so I spend a lot of time looking at it. I have probably spent at least an hour each day on each challenge. That’s possible because i am retired. However, it’s also resulted in very sore fingers and me falling behind. It’s Friday and I’m just finishing up challenges for Days 3 and 4. Thanks for the tip about how to play chords with my fingertips. My palm is quite a bit away from the neck of the guitar. I’m going to work hard to change my form. I expect my chords to be cleaner once my callouses return and I adopt an improved form.
I like what I am learning and the method. I have taken lessons and noodled around on the guitar for years. . . and have made very little progress. Time is a factor for me; and I ran behind even in this first week, but still I made it a point to keep up viewing the daily lessons even if I didn’t master the practice exercises. I am a little fearful about getting behind and feeling frustrated.
This program is challening me in a good way, so I am interested in continuing and becoming part of a learning community instead of going it alone. Maybe there are even opportunities for getting together with other students? Anyway, I am planning to give it go.
I’m certainly being challenged! Having not played for years along with arthrititis and Dupuytren’s Contracture, my laft hand doesn’t function the way it used to. But I’m not giving up!
Finally, something I can do easily – chords I know and common strumming. It may make up for some of my earlier misteps.
I’m really enjoying these daily small lessons, and it has encouraged me to pick up the guitar outside of the lessons. I was looking for something to get me interested in playing more, and this is the perfect way to learn.
Hello Tony- So I am considering joining in for the fun but have a question about today’s lesson. I cannot make the print out of notes and tab match what I see you playing. On paper I read, G, G, C, C= repeat, D D Am Am- repeat, D D. What I think I see you playing is G G G G, C C C C, D D D D, AM AM D D D D and ends with G. Please enlighten me. Thank you! Connie
I’ve been dabbling for a couple of years, starting on and off, with no direction. I learned to strum chords but had no idea of where to go from there. I like your structured lessons. I feel like I really made some progress this week in four days!
I think having a clear path will be huge for progressing in my playing. When you don’t know what to practice, it’s hard to make good use of your time. And then having the time to commit each day. I’m still at the point where my fingers can’t hold up for practicing as long as I’d like to.
I started learning how to play guitar two years ago very energetically and being very optimistic. I reached some relative good level for about a year and since then I’ve been plateauing for another year. I could provide tons of reasons and excuses for this, but I prefer to start again from the point where I stumbled
Finding the practice time to keep up with new skills Tony is teaching everyday.
I can’t master playing a guitar solo technique, in my 45 minutes of practice time I have each day. That said, I am very intrigued and playing every day to keep up with the course, so I am playing which is the most important thing.
Lack of discipline and focus.
Love blues, but information overload caused me to put guitar away for a long while!
For me it is unrealistic to think I can master each challenge in ten minutes and then do something else the next day. I drive truck and have my guitar with me in the truck and try to play some each day.