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This is a really tough decision, @Cadgirl . Back when the forum was connected to the lessons, it was much more difficult in my opinion. Now, the forum is over at JMG and I just welcomed you over there. I’m very glad you joined JMG.
As for the lessons, I think what Tony offers is different and more effective than anything available elsewhere.
When I was paying for private, face to face lessons, what bothered me, was that I was paying every month for weekly lessons that wouldn’t benefit me very much within that month. One weekly lesson could show me stuff it would take me weeks, months, or even years to work on. But in the meantime I’m still paying and still getting new stuff thrown at me when I haven’t digested what I learned in the first few lessons.
So then, I joined a pay by the month site, where numerous courses were taught by numerous instructors. Though that seemed like it would be what I needed, what I found was that it was simply more overwhelming than helpful. I still needed to direct myself in my training. I had to decide which courses to take. Did I take more than one concurrently? Did I finish one even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted? How much better was I getting, after all, week to week and month to month?
Then I found Tony’s site. I signed up for lifetime because I very quickly became sold on his approach. I don’t have to master the daily lessons. I don’t even have to like them or remember them. Maybe they are not what I want to develop in my personal musical choices. So what? If I just did the daily lessons, I was working on guitar skills on a regular basis. In fact, on a range of guitar skills. The bottom line remains the same: “was I improving at guitar at least month to month if not week to week?”.
The answer was simple and profound. I was and am making regular progress, real improvement week to week. Within the first couple of months I had improved more than I had in 20 years of trying to learn on my own from books.
As long as the lessons challenge me, they will continue to lead to regular improvement. From there, if I ever reach that point, I will have to direct my own daily guitar practice. I will still need fellowship with other guitarists and musicians.
As far as the number of years it takes to start really getting to a “basic” level of competence with Tony’s lessons, I’d say that a minimum of 3 years is needed. At that point, one has paid as much as a lifetime membership. I was able to cough up that dough at the time. Now I couldn’t even cough up the yearly fee. I am very grateful for TAC and what they offer and for the option of being a lifetime member.
But I totally understand other people have different circumstances than me. I hope that your guitar journey continues moving forward, Cadgirl. And if TAC is helping with that, I hope you can afford it and I hope you make that choice.
MG 😀