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  • First TACiversary, mixed results

    Posted by Greg_F_Lee on May 7, 2021 at 2:17 pm

    My First TACiversary story is one of highs and not so highs, which unfortunately is where I am now. Hopefully, if you have time, you can read this and weigh in on my plan to get back on the high road.

    I was so excited watching Tony’s opening video. “30 Days to Play” was an awesome way to start. Although it took 90 days, I posted my soloing video. The Community’s response was overwhelming. I felt like progress was made through accomplishing the milestones and posting the soloing video. 30D2P got me into the habit of playing every day. I probably played 345 days, with 10 days off for vacation and Christmas.

    After 30D2P, I didn’t know what to do next. The Community suggested a way forward of “Your Next 6 Chords,” “Flatpicking Jumpstart,” and “Fingerpicking Jumpstart.” I chose YN6C and Fingerpicking Jumpstart because I think fingerpicking is fun. I also started “Foundations of Fretboard Navigation.”

    In addition to the courses, I filled out my practices with a number of exercises and warm ups.

    I felt like progress was being made through accomplishing milestones. Fingerpicking Jumpstart culminated with learning “Freight Train.” I did not finish YN6C and Foundations but did achieve milestones.

    In November 2020, I started “Fretboard Wizard.” It was amazing, at least the 11 percent of the course I finished. I loved learning about the chord matrix and the “standard” spacing between notes on a scale. I greatly looked forward to all the musical theory that would be unlocked.

    Also in November and December, I started dabbling in the Daily Challenges and learned that they weren’t beyond my skill set. I would usually do the Tuesday licks and Wednesday scales and improv. But after learning the Challenges and doing exercises, I was too tired for FBW, YN6C, Foundations, and Flatpicking Jumpstart.

    By January 2021, I was “all in” with the Challenges. But they took a lot of time and supplanted FBW and the others, now called “skills” courses. In February, I settled into a routine of warm up exercises, Daily Challenges, and practicing a small number of songs. Long gone were any thoughts about finishing FBW and other skills courses.

    In the March-April period, I realized that I was in the dreaded rut and not making progress. Although the Challenges hopefully were helping me improve, they seemed random and one-off and not like a coherent learning strategy that was moving the ball. For example, there’s a big emphasis on the key in which they’re played but I don’t know what that means. It was like trying to run when you don’t know how to walk. I also didn’t feel like I was making progress with my songs, including “Freight Train.” I kept making mistakes and having trouble with chord progressions, especially G to C and back.

    Here’s where I really need to hear your thoughts, Community.

    I plan to get back to basics and cut way back on Challenges. I don’t have time for both. I will finish FBW, YN6C, Flatpicking Jumpstart, and Foundations. After that, I’ll decide what skills course is next. I feel that completing these courses, with their sections and milestones, will get me back to the high road of making progress on my guitar journey.

    Thoughts, suggestions, or other comments would be greatly appreciated.

    If you read all this, a big thank you!

    Greg_F_Lee replied 3 years, 4 months ago 16 Members · 49 Replies
  • 49 Replies
  • Marty73

    Member
    May 7, 2021 at 4:26 pm

    Happy 1st TACiversary @Greg_F_Lee You’re on the right track. I’ve been doing much the same thing and I am on my 4th year with TAC. You may want to try the song vault it your purchased it. 🧐🧙‍♂️😎

    • Lena

      Member
      July 25, 2021 at 10:00 am

      Marty I was just dipping my toes into the community forums. You mention a “song vault.” I’ve poked around but am not sure how to find it or sign up for it. Any pointers?

      • Lena

        Member
        July 25, 2021 at 10:07 am

        I’ve answered my own question with a little Google searching. From what I’ve read the song vault is no longer a thing except for those who have already purchased it.

  • Greg_F_Lee

    Member
    May 7, 2021 at 9:40 pm

    Thanks @Marty69 for the encouragement. It’s good to hear that I’m on track. I still will play every day but it probably won’t be the Challenges. Among other things, no monthly guitar party as an incentive! 😀 I might try the song vault too.

  • Alfred

    Member
    May 8, 2021 at 6:03 am

    First Happy Tacaversarry…

    Second, it sounds like you are feeling like a ship without a heading at the moment. It would be time to take a breath and ask… What do you want to play on guitar? Who inspires you? What kind of music do you most want to play?

    Pick a couple of songs that seem out of reach for you at the moment, then study those songs and what skills you need to develop to play them. From there you can find the courses and exercises you need to work on to build the proficiencies to play the songs. Spend 10 minutes on the dailies and 10 to 20 minutes focusing on your personal goals. That should bump you out of your rut.

    I brake my practice into 3 daily short sessions totaling 45-60 minutes. You can do it all in 20 if that works better for you. This approach seems to be working for me. I hope these ideas help.

    • Greg_F_Lee

      Member
      May 8, 2021 at 10:37 am

      Thank you for your advice, @Alfred . I was thinking about learning new songs. I also was having second thoughts about quitting the dailies.

  • Michelle-PSL

    Member
    May 8, 2021 at 7:16 am

    Hi Greg_F_Lee – Happy TACiversary! 🌟

    I think we all have ups and downs, starts and stalls. I won’t advise you what to do except to say never give up playing guitar. You obviously have a love of the instrument. Keep on keepin’ on!

    • Greg_F_Lee

      Member
      May 8, 2021 at 10:46 am

      Hi @michelle-psl,

      Thanks for your encouragement! It’s good to know that others have had similar obstacles that they’ve gotten past. I just keep playing every day for 10 minutes, no matter what.

  • Bill_Brown

    Member
    May 8, 2021 at 8:42 am

    Hi @Greg_F_Lee , My 2 cents – You should definitely finish the courses you started. Great decision there! But I think you should do them 1 at a time so that you can concentrate on each one and get the most benefit from it. I would start by finishing YN6C first. Then I would finish FFN second and then move directly on to FBW. I think you would get the most benefit by moving in that direction before doing the Jumpstart courses (IMHO) Happy TACiversary and may you have many more😎

    • Greg_F_Lee

      Member
      May 8, 2021 at 10:51 am

      Thanks for the affirmation and advice, @bill_brown. It’s exactly what I was looking for.

  • Tom000-18

    Member
    May 9, 2021 at 3:44 pm

    Hello Greg_F_Lee, I can totally relate to your struggles. From the replies and your feedback I think you are back on course. I know for me it sometimes takes hearing things 10 times to sink in. Only thing I would add is take the time to just play for fun!

    • Greg_F_Lee

      Member
      May 9, 2021 at 8:03 pm

      Thanks, @tom000-18 , for the advice! I forgot to mention in my post that I would also play songs, licks, and rhythm guitar pieces in addition to the skills courses.

  • Loraine

    Member
    May 10, 2021 at 10:56 am

    Happy 1st TACiversary @Greg_F_Lee — I love reading everyone’s starts, stops, hiccups, and hurdles.

    It sounds to me as if you and I suffer from the same type of ADD and jump around and take on way too much at one time and never finish what we’ve started. It became overwhelming to me, and I decided to take a step back and focus on the daily challenge and typically one other project or course. I still find myself jumping around and wanting to do it all, and I have to literally stop, take a step back and then refocus on my original goal.

    I found that doing the 90 day goal (or shorter if that helps) really helped me focus on what to do. Try not to fill it with too many things. It could be that you’ll complete a minimum of 10 minutes per day on the daily lesson; 15-20 minutes warmups; maybe 10-15 minutes on a lesson from a course I’m taking. Then I’ll practice that daily for a bit, and then I’ll bite a small piece off again and practice that for a while. On the weekends, I let myself go hog wild and do anything I want. That might be songs I’m working on, other sites I frequent on the internet for songs or other courses. There is sooooo much to do and so little time, so I decided I just had to break it all down to 10-20 minute mini bursts throughout the day.

    Hang in there, and it will fall into place. Just remember that if you realize you’re not completing things or don’t have enough time for your courses, it’s okay to reconvene and change your plans.

    • Greg_F_Lee

      Member
      May 10, 2021 at 4:31 pm

      Hi @Loraine,

      Thanks for the thoughtful advice and I am simplifying and getting back to basics with skills courses like YN6C, Fretboard Foundations, and Fretboard Wizard. I’m only doing one at a time. I’m supplementing them with exercises and songs, licks, and rhythm guitar, with the last two coming from the dailies. I probably will check out some new sources.

      I successfully completed my 90 day challenge but it looks like it’s time to do a new one.

  • dr_dave

    Member
    June 22, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    Greg said

    1. “In November 2020, I started ‘Fretboard Wizard.’ It was amazing, at least the 11 percent of the course I finished. I loved learning about the chord matrix and the ‘standard’ spacing between notes on a scale. I greatly looked forward to all the musical theory that would be unlocked.”

    2. “Also in November and December, I started dabbling in the Daily Challenges and learned that they weren’t beyond my skill set. I would usually do the Tuesday licks and Wednesday scales and improv.”

    3. (referring to the daily lessons) “For example, there’s a big emphasis on the key in which they’re played but I don’t know what that means. It was like trying to run when you don’t know how to walk.”

    Considering how these three statements interact, I think FBW should be a big priority for you. Completing it will help you understand what it means for an exercise or a song to be in a key and so much more, giving you much greater benefit from the daily lessons. It will also make it easier to learn to play songs you enjoy. You’ll start to understand why the songs contain certain chords and maybe understand how music evokes certain emotions even without hearing the lyrics. I think it will renew your inspiration, giving you more focus and better results from the time you are able to invest. Of course learning a few more chords is another great endeavor. While learning the shapes should not take long, it often requires a lot of repetition to groove the technique needed to make the notes sound clearly and yet another layer of practice to make smooth transitions between the chords.

    It is very important to ditch any expectations of how long any of this “should” take. Some concepts will come quickly, some will take longer. We’re all different, but I don’t think there is anyone who has denied achieving deeper understanding with each pass, regardless how many times they have taken FBW. You may get some aspects of guitar playing faster than I do, then struggle with some other things that come more quickly to me. It takes as long as it takes.

    I am fairly confident that in time, your learning will noticeably accelerate. When we start playing guitar, our fingers are clumsy and we find it hard to smoothly transition between chords. We need to think about what each finger has to do individually. But over time, we learn to lift our fingers off the strings and simultaneously land all fingers on the strings exactly where they need for the next chord. It takes quite some time to achieve that state, but eventually our fingers seem to be on autopilot. Similar results are realized with scales and melodies. We eventually reach a point where the fingers seem to know where to go. These days, I do most of my playing with my eyes closed. I practiced that skill; it didn’t happen all by itself.

    One of the biggest surprises to me has been how quickly I now learn new songs. I’m just over 8-1/2 years into my guitar journey (full disclosure: I have been playing a lot more than 10 minutes nearly every day since receiving my guitar as a gift from my wife), but the last 3-1/2 years have been the most amazing for gains in the speed and accuracy of my hands and fingers and also for how quickly I learn new material and memorize songs. I do not think it’s a coincidence that I took Fretboard Wizard for the first time shortly before I began to notice these speed gains.

  • Greg_F_Lee

    Member
    June 22, 2021 at 11:03 pm

    @dr_dave ,

    Thank you for the incredibly thoughtful and encouraging reply. I’ve bookmarked it and also pasted it into a Word document so that I’ll have it for reference and encouragement.

    I’m slowly working my way out of a guitar rut, mainly by playing almost every day for at least 25 minutes. I’ve been focusing on exercises, the major and minor pentatonic scales, and a few songs. I recently finished “Your Next 6 Chords” and also practice the F major and minor barre chords and the B major and minor barre chords.

    You’ve now gotten me inspired to turn my focus to FBW. It seems like the course has been truly transformational to you and others. It’s very encouraging to think that FBW will accelerate the learning process. And how did you know that I still move the fingers individually when changing chords? It’s encouraging to think that it will pass. For now, G, C transitions are hard because so many fingers need to move at the same time.

    I was really loving FBW last year when the holidays came and it just got away from me. As I peek ahead, there are some great upcoming lessons, like “How to Find the Key by Ear.” But first I need to finish the “Foundational Five.”

    Thanks again for the advice and encouragement. Especially to ditch any expectations on how long it will take. I’ve had a guitar for years but I didn’t really play it much until I started TAC in May 2020. Although it feels like progress is slow, I still play almost every day. And my wife says the playing has gotten better.

    • dr_dave

      Member
      June 23, 2021 at 9:48 am

      I composed and posted a nice reply here, but after I edited it a few times, it disappeared. I tried several times to re-post it, but the quirkiness of the site is preventing that. It’s happened to me several other times. This never used to happen prior to the transition to the new platform in late March.

      • dr_dave

        Member
        June 23, 2021 at 9:50 am

        I’ll try pasting it here. Maybe the slight change will confuse the software enough so that it won’t block the post.

        Greg – you put equal care in your reply to me. Thanks for that. I really look forward to hearing back from you in about 2 months or so.

        I’ll share one other tidbit. While I was able to blow through most of FBW rather quickly, it wasn’t until my 6th pass through it when I was first able to truly complete it. I always got hung up on the writing project at the end. No doubt a big part of that was my own stubbornness. I resisted using one of the canned 3 or 4 chord progressions, and I think that was because I didn’t want my first song to be something that had already been done a thousand times. There’s only so much you can do within those constraints, so I cheated by ignoring them.

        For me, the catalyst was throwing in a “bVII” (flat 7) chord. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means just yet; you’ll learn about it in the course. It’s one of those what I like to call “spice” chords that really perk up your ears. Often it’s one of the chords included in the ‘Key Chords” daily lesson on the third Friday of the month, accidental chords technically falling outside the key (i.e., including one or more notes that are not within the key) but sometimes encountered in music written in the subject key. Once I removed the constraint, my writer’s block lifted and out popped a piece of music penned by “dr dave, the mad arpeggiator.” https://tac.tonypolecastro.com/topic/15362-mark-the-date-the-monkey-is-off-my-back/?tab=comments#comment-171657

        And I’ll offer another thread from the old TAC Community (hurry up and check these threads out it before they are forever lost to the ether when TAC HQ deletes the old Community) as additional inspiration for where Fretboard Wizard might lead you, namely transcription. I noticed in this thread I mentioned I was at the time on my fifth trip through FW (but I think it was actually my 6th!).

        https://tac.tonypolecastro.com/topic/15344-wild-roving-by-dr-dave/?tab=comments#comment-171456

        The skills I learned in FW, together with some ear training to recognize intervals, major/minor tonality etc., have taken me to a new level of musicality. TAC is not a one-stop shop. Ear training plus some additional theory are coming from a variety of other sources. Perhaps the most valuable lesson I have learned over time is that all this information sinks in over a a long period. In the background, a chain reaction is occurring – imperceptibly at first, until it all erupts like a dropped beer can!

        Have fun!

      • dr_dave

        Member
        June 25, 2021 at 10:54 am

        Surely enough, there is a bVII chord in today’s key chord lesson, KC6 In A Accidentals. In the key of A, G would be the bVII (flat 7) chord, the major chord built on the note that is a half tone below the seventh scale tone. The seventh tone of the A scale would be G#. The G natural, which is one half step below the naturally occurring seventh step of the scale! is not a itself a member of the A major scale.

      • N-lightMike

        Member
        July 1, 2021 at 9:34 pm

        Here is my experience with this “phenomenon” @dr_dave . It seems that you can only do so many edits. Consequently, when I have written a long comment, if I have to make edits, I copy and paste it into my word processor and fix it there and then plunk it into my TAC “reply”.

        I hope this helps.

        MG 😀

    • N-lightMike

      Member
      July 1, 2021 at 9:43 pm

      It sounds like you have found your way out of your rut @Greg_F_Lee . I think the “rut” is simply a feeling or an attitude. When I have clear direction and recognize that I’m making progress, then I’m not in a “rut”. My “rut” happens when I don’t know what to play or practice and I don’t think I’m any good or not making progress.

      I’m glad you are making progress again and you’re having fun. That’s what’s important. To have fun with what skills we have now and continually working on something that will help us improve… over time.

      MG 😀

  • Cherie

    Member
    June 26, 2021 at 12:19 pm

    Dear Greg,

    Thank you for sharing your TAC anniversary story.

    Reading about your journey and the helpful replies from @dr_dave and others is helpful and encouraging to me, too!

    Much appreciated.

    Best wishes to you.

    Have fun!

    Sincerely,

    Cherie

    • Greg_F_Lee

      Member
      July 1, 2021 at 7:52 pm

      Thank you @Cherie and best wishes to you on your guitar journey!

      Greg

  • Greg_F_Lee

    Member
    July 1, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    “The skills I learned in FW, together with some ear training to recognize intervals, major/minor tonality etc., have taken me to a new level of musicality. TAC is not a one-stop shop. Ear training plus some additional theory are coming from a variety of other sources. Perhaps the most valuable lesson I have learned over time is that all this information sinks in over a a long period. In the background, a chain reaction is occurring – imperceptibly at first, until it all erupts like a dropped beer can!

    Have fun!”

    @dr_dave

    Thanks for the last bit of advice (and all the others too). I didn’t understand most of the chord theory but I’ll revisit your posts after completing FBW. It’s good to know that TAC is not a one-stop shop. I always feel mildly guilty when studying other guitar video lessons.

    And I greatly enjoyed the two videos you shared. Your original song was amazing and truly had that Celtic sound. The tin whistle version was great too. Your version of “Wild Rover” also was excellent. Nothing wrong with your voice!

    And the beer can eruption gives me something to look forward to. Need to keep remembering to enjoy the guitar journey.

    Thanks for the info on the old community–did not know it was still accessible. I miss the badges and counts.

    I’m just getting back into it. I was without my guitar for 5 days while down in Norfolk, VA, helping my son move.

    • dr_dave

      Member
      July 2, 2021 at 6:49 am

      “I’m just getting back into it. I was without my guitar for 5 days while down in Norfolk, VA, helping my son move.“

      Thanks for the follow-up, @Greg_F_Lee . That must have been real torture being sans guitar for a week, but it must have felt great helping your son. I find it very g watching my kids moving through the stages of life. Both my kids are now parents themselves, and they seem mighty good at it – better than I was in my estimation.

      I hope you experience the same joy I got from Fretboard Wizard. I have studied music my whole life, since long before I got a guitar, and I have to admit that I learned a lot from FW. But is really striking is the amount I have learned in the last 3-1/2 years since taking FW the first time. I also have a much better appreciation of how much more there is to know. I hope I have a lot more time to grow both my technical skills and my musical knowledge. But regardless how far I get, the main focus is to have as much fun along the way as possible!

      • Greg_F_Lee

        Member
        July 6, 2021 at 2:14 pm

        <div>@dr_dave , I thought I posted this last night. My apologies if this is a duplicate message.</div>

        “I hope you experience the same joy I got from Fretboard Wizard. I have studied music my whole life, since long before I got a guitar, and I have to admit that I learned a lot from FW. But is really striking is the amount I have learned in the last 3-1/2 years since taking FW the first time. I also have a much better appreciation of how much more there is to know. I hope I have a lot more time to grow both my technical skills and my musical knowledge. But regardless how far I get, the main focus is to have as much fun along the way as possible!”

        @dr_dave , thanks again for your help! As you, @Raye , @mikeguarnier, and probably others have said, one needs to enjoy the journey and have fun. I’ve really tried to focus on the fun part the past two weeks and it seems to have worked.

        Greg

  • N-lightMike

    Member
    July 1, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    Hello @Greg_F_Lee ,

    I’m not sure why I’m bothering to make a comment as you have had so many comments. And @dr_dave weighed in at the end. I learned a lot from dr_dave and @jumpinjeff . Any way, here is what I was inspired to say when I read your post.

    When you first start playing guitar, with the right guidance, you will see a lot of progress fairly quickly. The reason so many of us came to TAC with years of playing under our belts is because that phenomenon can’t be maintained and we found ourselves deep in a rut. Learning guitar can be fairly quick. Gaining proficiency on guitar takes a life time. What saved most of us from our guitar rut was to STOP trying to “master” the guitar or even any aspect of guitar, but rather to have fun playing guitar.

    The method Tony introduced to make that happen was simple. He gave us a fun little challenge to spend a few minutes on every day. Regardless of our ability level, we could have fun and gain greater skill and knowledge… very slowly and incrementally. Being able to play the lesson like Tony was unimportant. For most of us, it would take years to play some of the lessons as demonstrated. But, we had a reason to pick up the guitar everyday and had a suggestion as to what to practice. What we did or did not understand about the process he was guiding us through didn’t actually matter. His lessons were connected in a very subtle and counter-intuitive way. His lessons help us with the full range of guitar skills every single week and over time we learn about guitar and music the way a child learns. Not by organized study, but by exposure to new ideas while having fun.

    Tony has explained how and why his approach works. I get it, but I can’t explain it as well as he does. What matters is that I’m sold on spending a minimum of 10 minutes on the daily lessons. I never have to spend any more time than that… for what ever reason. I don’t like it. I’m not good at it. I’m not in a good mood. Whatever, I’m getting the exposure that is having it’s effect on me… over time.

    Now, that brings me to your routine. Here’s what you do: spend 10 minutes on the daily lesson. Reserve some time for a warm up at the beginning. Now, if you’re inspired, spend more time. But you won’t be inspired everyday, and that’s great news. Because now you can spend a few minutes on one of the skills courses. And some days, if you have enough time, you could do the daily lesson and a skill course and then another skill course. Here’s why:

    You can only spend so much time on any one thing before you’re just wearing yourself out. That’s why these short little bursts work. And why we can actually be making progress on several fronts all at the same time.

    Anyway, those are my thoughts and experience. I hope this helps.

    MG 😀

    • the-old-coach

      Member
      July 6, 2021 at 9:25 am

      Mike- Every once in a while, a thread like this comes along that hits pretty close to home for many, if not most, of us.

      Definitely including myself.

      Not tryin’ to be all mushy here, but your response here is dead-on for me. It’s perfect– especially the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs- perfect. I’m thinkin’ I’m gonna print them out and read them before each practice session.

      As I may have said before- I hope you’re leaving crumbs along the trail so I can follow.

      — Mark

    • Greg_F_Lee

      Member
      July 6, 2021 at 2:10 pm

      Mike, I thought I posted this last night. My apologies if this is a duplicate message.

      Mike, Thanks for the encouragement and advice about the Dailies. Here’s what I originally wrote at the top of this thread:

      “By January 2021, I was “all in” with the Challenges. But they took a lot of time and supplanted FBW and the others, now called “skills” courses. In February, I settled into a routine of warm up exercises, Daily Challenges, and practicing a small number of songs. Long gone were any thoughts about finishing FBW and other skills courses… Although the Challenges hopefully were helping me improve, they seemed random and one-off and not like a coherent learning strategy that was moving the ball.”

      But I now might try to find time (at least 10 minutes) on the Dailies. Your observation really resonated with me. That his lessons were connected in a very subtle and counter-intuitive way. That “His lessons help us with the full range of guitar skills every single week and over time we learn about guitar and music the way a child learns. Not by organized study, but by exposure to new ideas while having fun.”

      Now it come down to finding the time to warm up, do the Daily, do FBW, and hopefully play a few songs. I guess that’s part of the fun!

  • Raye

    Member
    July 5, 2021 at 4:50 am

    Hi @Greg_F_Lee I’m new here and just joined last night! I’m usually quite shy in forums so posting straight away is a little win for me, lol.

    I wonder how you are getting on Now? It strikes me from having listened to Tony’s intro that inspired me to sign up and reading your words, that you were practicing and not “play”ing.

    So my questions to you would be how can you get back to “play”ing not practicing if you haven’t already? And what does it feel like when you stop taking practice and progress so seriously? How can you enJoy your practice more Now, instead of trying to be better?

    Your mind will never be satisfied with where you are so you may as well “play” anyway and enjoy the ride. Also, I know this from other disciplines (I used to figure skate)… when you get to certain level of mastery the improvements become more subtle and not so obvious as when you first started.

    You may need to remind me of this at my TACiversary, lol

    Also…Did you know that a huge majority of platinum songs have the same 4 chords!!! This blew me a way when I found this out. Maybe attempt to play your own song. Claim back your innocence. There is no right or wrong then, just music finding it’s way through your Heart to your fingers 😍

    Anyways, wishing you much renewed Joy in your practice.

    Blessed Be

    Raye 😁

    • N-lightMike

      Member
      July 6, 2021 at 7:02 pm

      Wow, @Raye , what a wonderfully worded comment. Thanks for being a contributing part of the community.

      MG 😀

    • the-old-coach

      Member
      July 6, 2021 at 7:40 pm

      Nailed it.😀

      Now- for me anyway- it’s a matter of remembering to remind my mechanical, goal-oriented brain to “pull its head out” and check out the scenery.

      Thanks-

      Mark

  • Greg_F_Lee

    Member
    July 5, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    @Raye ,

    Welcome to TAC and thanks for the encouraging words and good advice about not being too serious! I keep forgetting that enjoying the journey is a big part of learning to play the guitar. Today, I “played” for over an hour, which included about 20 minutes of exercise. And I did treat the exercises as “play”ing. Made a game of trying hit every note strong and clear. The rest of the time was playing songs, licks, and rhythm pieces. My songs are far from perfect but they’re still fun to play and sing along to (if I only had a voice, lol).

    Good luck with your songwriting. Even though you’re brand new, you’re still pretty far along. Maybe we’ll see a performance in the Community? I did a 30 Days video but haven’t posted since then. I learned how to fingerpick “Freight Train;” now I just need to record and post it.

    Greg

  • Greg_F_Lee

    Member
    July 5, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    “I hope you experience the same joy I got from Fretboard Wizard. I have studied music my whole life, since long before I got a guitar, and I have to admit that I learned a lot from FW. But is really striking is the amount I have learned in the last 3-1/2 years since taking FW the first time. I also have a much better appreciation of how much more there is to know. I hope I have a lot more time to grow both my technical skills and my musical knowledge. But regardless how far I get, the main focus is to have as much fun along the way as possible!”

    @dr_dave , thanks again for your help! As you, @Raye , @MikeGaurnier , and probably others have said, one needs to enjoy the journey and have fun. I’ve really tried to focus on the fun part the past two days and it seems to have worked.

    Greg

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