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Welcome to the TAC family @Shawnee56 . You have some great goals.
Just a means of support, I have major depression too. TAC and the people in the forums literally saved my life. I was a full time caregiver of my mother who had Lewy Body dementia, which is difficult because of sun downing, hallucinations, anger and physical attacks, and constantly listening to the people she was seeing and conversing with. They told her things that caused paranoia, distrust, and more. I had to literally lock us in the house, because she would wander and run away. She’d end up at random strangers homes or having bad falls all the time. I was trapped in the house, and it didn’t help that there was a lockdown from Covid. I found Tony’s advertisement and joined. I was an extremely slow learner. This did not come naturally, but I can play many of those songs and so much more. I’m still not great, but that’s my claim to fame. My dad always told me I had good form, but I wasn’t good at sports, piano, violin etc, so I simply stopped trying.
I decided early on to post the good, the bad, and the ugly. It was a great way to get me to learn and grow. I went to virtual open mics starting in my 1st or 2nd year. That was probably the most rewarding thing I’ve e done, I began playing and singing very simple 2 and 3 chord songs. It helped to have songs whose words simply matched the music, because singing and playing is extremely difficult to learn. I nearly quit at the end of my 2nd year, because I wasn’t as good as my friends.
I supplemented TAC with a private lessons, although I’ve been on hiatus since early October from a bad fall that has resulted in 2 surgeries, with the talk of a 3rd, but Ive shon myself and others my resilience in my life with major depression, dealthsmof most family in the past 8-10 years, wing a single teen parent and persevering and getting an education, and my daughter also. I’ve experienced homelessness, and so much more, but I got through it all. I’m only telling you this, because you have also proven resilience by returning, because this is something you really”y want. It’s a motivator. Depression sucks the life out of us, but we continue to fight back from it.
You seem to re Alize that guitar is not a easy instrument to play, but it’s not impossible. I’m nearing 5 years with TAC, and I know I’ve improved greatly. I’ll never be a great player or performer. But, that okay. I am having a blast learning new songs and trying out different guitars, strings, playing different guitars. I’m still having fun. I play every day, and it’s the highlight of my days.
My suggestion is to do the 30 days to play, the how it works in the skills section, and then jump into the daily challenge;