How does it all fit together?

[Emjaye]

Hi Kevin,

i am new as well. Just started a week ago. I have been dabbing for 20+ years but never really become a guitar player. All the stuff that I have seen so far has been a review of what I already know but really enjoying it. I have a feeling of where I am heading to after a year or so of becoming a member. Will I be better than I was? I think so or I better be. I already see some improvements when I played some of the songs that I have been playing before. My timing seems to improved and my chord placement and fingering. I believe it has a lot to do with the daily challenge that I have been doing. Like you, I also want to hear from those who has been a member for a long time. All I can say is I am having so much fun and more so than before.

[Loraine]

Hi @KevinAppel and @Emjaye and welcome to the TAC community! The program teaches practice routine and foundational skills and by continuing to practice you’ll be able to apply those skills to playing actual songs.

[MoochasPoochas]

It sure sounds like you’re on the right track with consistent practice and a great attitude. The program is designed for you to work at your own speed and skill level so it is not always clearly laid out like a cookie cutter course. You will need to create a plan that works for you. Stick with daily exercises and do the best that you can in a reasonable time. Add them to your favorites and possibly work some of them into a daily practice routine. You don’t have to master them immediately. As you feel ready, add the other skills courses, especially the Fretboard course. I can assure you that you will get an AHA! in the next few months as these dailies accumulate in muscle memory. It doesn’t seem to make sense at first, but all of these small skills become important as a whole a little later on. I’m on my 3rd year and I’m constantly surprised at how far I’ve come one grain at a time. My best advice is to stay consistent, alter your practice routine regularly, be patient, have fun, learn a song or two and keep moving forward. If it is in your means I strongly recommend the Fretboard Wizard course if you don’t have music theory under your belt already. It’s a great foundation for all of the other material in TAC. Keep on pluckin’.

[Cadgirl]

@KevinAppel & @Emjaye ,I found by taking the “5-day routine challenge” it explained the daily challenges to me. Gives a bigger picture of what we can do with the daily challenges encompassing the entire week. They are good as being just a daily challenge, but you can take them a step further. When the fretboard wizard comes up it would be a big benefit to take it. It goes into music theory. Tony goes into music theory as gently as he can. From what I hear, there are updates being done with the program. I’m hearing it should be offered soon.

[jumpinjeff]

Hi @KevinAppel , I will attempt to answer your question “How does it all fit together?” as succinctly as I can. When I started I was laying on the ground with my nose touching it and I could see that which was in front of me and a lot more in my peripheral vision but it was not as easy to see. As I began doing the lessons, day in and day out, I started to gain elevation and my vision/knowledge (the clarity of musical guitar real estate) increased in area. I spent a good deal of time trying to force my perspective to try and see over the horizon as it were but to no avail. After a prolonged period of trying to intellectualize and anticipate to no avail, I decided to trust the process be in the moment with the lessons. I reveled in the process of each lesson, enjoying the process (I paid Tony to teach me so I decided to let him instead of trying to teach myself). The process provided the elevation to which I could then see more. This allowed me to gain perspective and understanding of what was going on faster without the frustration I had previously experienced. My theory knowledge increased as my physical capabilities developed: two distinct things developing in tandem. It was as if everything blurry became clear but then I would begin to notice details that had not been remotely apparent before. This process continues to this day. Surprising details continue to fill in the picture. No lesson is ever old as I have learned so much since the last time I played it. I am 6ish years into the process. At a certain point you see that the whole thing is a big loop. Music is big loop. There is only one scale with infinite variations depending how small the detail is you are willing to see. I realized there was a whole music world right where I started with my nose on the ground…I just didn’t know what I was seeing there.

Sorry, longer than I wanted but that is my summary in answer to your question. Maybe the shortest answer: It fits together in time but you have to stick to it. Every day, do it! Observe your progress! It will reveal itself. The quality and focus of your effort will be the speed of your enlightenment. I guess I could have led with that 😊

[KevinAppel]

Thanks all for weighing in. This is all helpful to hear. I will try not to look too far ahead and to trust the process.

Onward!

[kurtv]

Kevin, my back story is very similar to yours. While still working on the 30 days to play effort, I can see glimpses of what or how I might play a song or hymn that I couldn’t before by applying what I’m learning on TAC. In part, it seems TAC creates a tool or skills box from which we that’s strum pattern or finger picking something and try using it, or an approximation of it, on something we like. Maybe it works, maybe not quite or not at all. So, take something else out of the toolbox and go again.

Kurt

[[email protected]]

This thread is a great read for anyone having short term doubts of ever getting to the next level. Me included! We crawl, we walk, then we run. Best I can describe it. I’m about 2 1/2 months from the start and I would say there’s no way a life long dabbler would be able to get this far without the structure of TAC. That said I may go back and redo the first 30 again to see how much improvement I have made. Good luck all!

[the-old-coach]

This is indeed a fantastic thread!

These come along every now & then– and are VERY helpful.

jumpinjeff- (as always)- your perspective on this is amazing in itself- (where do you store all this stuff??🤨)- I always LOVE reading your posts.

the old coach

[N-lightMike]

Hey @KevinAppel ,

As I read the first paragraph, I’m thinking, so what is the question? I’m not seeing any confusion here. This guy is totally on track. (But hey, thanks for starting the thread so I got to read @jumpinjeff ‘s explanation. 😄)

So, now, to try to answer the unanswerable question: how does it all fit together? First, I just gotta say that’s one of those questions that’s so basic my brain just kinda freezes up. It’s sorta like asking why the sky is blue. Ok, so maybe state the obvious first? It’s already together. No need to fit anything.

So, Jeff was using an analogy about what he was able to see. And I think that’s really what’s going on. It’s like you’re in the Amazon jungle. Someone has pointed you in a direction. You feel like you’re lost, but you’re not. You are moving in the right direction and you have some feedback to let you know that. Yet, you can’t see anything. You can’t tell where the end point is or how far away it is.

There is no over riding ah-ha moment like you know “the answer” ever. But there are numerous moments of reveling in the wonder of it all.

I think the real problem is, we can’t know how to get something if we don’t know what it is. I didn’t know enough about the guitar or music to even clearly understand what I liked much less figure out what I wanted. I used a pick on the TAC lessons for over 2 years before I realized I don’t want to use a pick… ever. Why? I still don’t know the answer to that one, but now I know it is a purposeless question. I see the what, I don’t need the why.

But I have never really “figured” anything out. I realize what I want by getting there or at least close to it. So, I adjust my focus to make that thing I want to be higher priority. As I move forward I find the treasure I wanted all along. But I didn’t know what that treasure was till I found it.

And all of this amazing wonder happened because I was determined to do only 2 things: keep moving forward and have fun while I did it. That’s it. So, my latest mantra is:

Play On!

I hope this non-answer gave you some answers. 🤔

I wanted to tag @Emjaye , @[email protected] , @the-old-coach because you stated you were interested in hearing the perspective of others on this thread.

MG 😀

[the-old-coach]

Mike– This is ANOTHER great answer- in a great thread!- (Like I asked Jeff– where do you store all this stuff🤨😀?)

Funny how the most helpful advice and thought has the most simple beginnings.

Always love reading your posts also!

the old coach

[N-lightMike]

<div>You are so welcome @the-old-coach </div>

🙏😊

[KevinAppel]

Helpful indeed. I am a painter by profession and it’s very much the same. You know when you know. Or better yet, you never really know which is in part the pleasure of doing it at all. You continue because of the minor and major epiphanies. There is no end.

[N-lightMike]

Hey Kevin @KevinAppel and Mark @the-old-coach

I’m very happy that my answer was something you could benefit from. We don’t “store” anything, we just play and learn and experience. We try to understand our own journey by asking questions and watching others and by paying attention to our own playing and growth. So our answers are simply coming from the experience and understanding we have at this time, but those answers are stimulated by your questions. So when you ask questions, I not only get to hear Jeff’s @jumpinjeff answer, I also get to “hear” the answer I figure out. We literally learn from each other, whether we learn from someone ahead of us on the journey or following behind us on the journey. It’s not linear, so any measurement or judgement is pretty arbitrary and artificial. We will never be anywhere but exactly where we are. At any point, we can enjoy the process, but we can never “control” the process. We’re on a ride. Have fun.

MG 😀

[jumpinjeff]

Right on @MikeGaurnier : this journey is one big circle that continues to repeat itself on different plains. It gets big and It gets small but in the end it is all the circle of notes. It can be a basic circle or it can be a spirograph with lots of detail, seemingly complex and then you realize it starts where it ends and it is all a bunch of loops. Sometimes it has a linear feel but then when I look out at the ocean on a calm day it looks pretty flat too and I know for a fact it is not.

[N-lightMike]

So, wait a minute, Jeff @jumpinjeff , the ocean’s NOT flat? 🤣

We do seem to spend a lot of time trying to sequence things. And it’s true that context is important. But my universe keeps expanding, so it is linear… or wait… that means it’s circular, right? Well, what if it were a straight line that came around to meet itself? Would that make it linear AND circular? 🤔

MG 😀

[jumpinjeff]

Only if you are well directed and highly disciplined then you will be able to make your straight line meet itself. I have more fun going awol and making a spirograph. And a wiggly one at that. I have the discipline of a golden retriever in a forest filled with squirrels. 😄 Like @Mrfredsporty says, the first and last rule is SHOW UP! After that it is a pretty big crap shoot.

[N-lightMike]

🤣👍

[the-old-coach]

You’re standing at the North Pole, looking out at the horizon. Then you turn yourself around 180 degrees, and look the exact opposite direction……

In both cases—- looking in opposite directions—- (looking in ANY direction, really)—– you are looking the SAME direction.

South.

Maybe in learning guitar, we’re ALL “standing at the North Pole”……. and then we head out, on foot, on our own, unique, guitar journey.

We surely will all have different paths- no doubt some completely opposite direction from some other……

But no matter which way we go…… we are all headed in the same direction.

the old coach

[jumpinjeff]

🔭🔬 🗺🌐😄👍 All’s I can say is I am glad Tony provides clear direction, always lighting the path.

[N-lightMike]

LOL, @the-old-coach , you should finish that by making a song out of it.

MG 😀

[jumpinjeff]

Da da doo doo doo, I can go east forever

Do do dah da dah I can go west forever

I can only go north for a while before I have to head south ewwwaahhhh.

[N-lightMike]

🤣👍

I can hear it, @jumpinjeff .

[the-old-coach]

Man, I would love to have the ability to assemble some sort of jingle just from an idea or thought, and then maybe improve it from there over time.

(I’m assuming you guys aren’t just messin’ with me🤔😄).

Maybe I’ll be able to do that after I learn a LOT more.

I’ve been doing some reading and thinking about guitar-things lately, including some on this subject. Latest pick-up– “No Bull Music Theory for Guitarists” by James Shipway. I’m NOT a big “reader-person”- so this book is a perfect fit for me- (I’m on my second time thru it). Because I believe I also have the “golden retriever in a forest full of squirrels” trait………. (now THERE’S a song!)

Can’t wait till Fretboard Wizard comes out!

the old coach

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by  the-old-coach.

[N-lightMike]

Hey Mark @the-old-coach ,

It turns out, you don’t need any special knowledge to write a song. Just start listening to some chords and write down what you are playing. Find a sequence of chords you like, find a pattern, find a melody that fits with it. Find some lyrics you like. It’s all trial and error. Some people get really fast at it. I’m still really slow, like days or even weeks to write a song I like. But I have the theory knowledge to figure out what I did… after the fact. The theory doesn’t help me write the song. It just helps me understand why the chords and notes I came up with work. Who cares. If it sounds good it is good. Only rule in music.

MG 😀

[the-old-coach]

Like wine tasting I guess- if it tastes good– it IS good.🤔

[Mrfredsporty]

The first and last rule is SHOW UP! I was a dabbler 40 years ago and really started getting into it a couple of months ago. I didn’t pay any attention to the obvious fact that I would pick up the guitar every once in awhile and then ignore it. The real beauty of tac is it gets you fired up to show up . In other words you hardly notice how consistent you are becoming which almost automatically improves your playing . Sneaky but great

[N-lightMike]

That’s the heart of it, @Mrfredsporty , show up consistently and you will see growth.

MG 😀

[Mrfredsporty]

Right on!

[jumpinjeff]

It is a treat to have you swimming in the deep @dr_dave . With the thoughtful perspectives given by one and all here the big, bigger, dare I say, yes I am saying it…biggest picture I have yet puzzled together is coming into focus.

[dr_dave]

Thanks jumpin’ jeff. I don’t know what happened – I spent a long time writing what I thought was a pretty good reply, then tried to edit it only to tag you and Mike G. Poof – it’s gone. At least you got to see it – you’re probably the only one who did before it vanished. Such is my luck with technology and it’s at least part of the reason I am discouraged from taking the time to try to post here. My time is usually wasted.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by  dr_dave.

[jumpinjeff]

I did see it and to be sure I was enriched by the reading so no a waste, at least for me. For your contribution I am grateful. Funny when I looked again I could not find it either. Maybe you and I are going back and forth between two simulations.

[the-old-coach]

Dave– Did it “appear” in the “pink screen of death”? (I think it was Cadgirl who first use that term😆). If so- don’t feel alone. It has happened to quite a few of us.

And I feel ya’– it’s pretty frustrating to write out a well-thought-out post, check it all for various mistakes, and then finally hit “post”….. only to have it go POOF……. gone.😒

[dr_dave]

I think it’s more that the TAC site re-design was aimed at keeping people like me at bay. The post is really gone, and so is the moment of inspiration that spawned it.

[N-lightMike]

No one is trying to keep you at bay, @dr_dave . But this site has some glitches for sure that can make lengthy comments challenging. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see your response. This is a killer thread and I would have loved to read your thoughts.

One thing I do when a thread elicits a lengthy response from me is to copy it to my clip board and paste it into my word processor. That way, if I lose it I can repost it. That’s happened more than once. But then, even if I don’t lose it, I have a copy of deep things I’ve been moved to come up with.

Anyway, I’d love it if you would try again. 😄

MG 😀