TAC Family Forums

Share your wins, get unstuck, or see how others use the TAC Method to create a fulfilling guitar life!

  • Posted by Bubdaddio on April 24, 2021 at 4:27 pm

    TAC Family, hey there. I am posting what is working for me, routine, focus areas, why, etc. Take a look because there is some advice at the bottom and what can help those starting later in life.

    I play guitar 5 days per week, M-F. I play on weekends as time allows. Having just started TAC, I intend to use weekend time to refine lessons learned earlier in the week and to learn new portions of songs.

    I like to play in the morning, after walking the dogs, which is usually completed between 7:45 and 8 am. Sometimes I check my work email before playing.

    I play in my computer and music room. It’s where I keep my bible study information, work information, sheet music, instruments, amps and computers. Being there helps to take music breaks from work, as I work half-time (20-30 hr per week). I can close the door when I need the extra concentration, and it has a window so I don’t feel closeted. I am blest to have such a space.

    a) I recently started a guitar, like the “tiny habits” even before hearing about tiny habits through TAC. About a month ago (I am enrolled in TAC now only 2 weeks), I decided to play guitar for at least 15 minutes of gospel music, after walking the dogs. Then I’d play lesson materials after that. Prior to implementing the recent adjustment to “tiny habits,” I played for more than 3 years at irregular times of day. I managed to put in about 200-250 hours per year, but I still couldn’t play one song well (very disturbing—I thought many times to sell my two guitars). Watching the TAC initial video confirmed my suspicions what I accidentally discovered about tiny habits (Tony providing the “second opinion” from the doctor). Chords transitions are now smoother, and fretting (tonal quality on single notes) is higher quality and reproducible.

    b) I figured out, on my own, all the problems with methods that most tutors use (including how the tutor just talks for 12-20 minutes during a half-hour lesson). I stopped taking guitar lessons, because they were not getting me anywhere after two years with about 500 h total. Meanwhile, I was applying self-devised methods to saxophone (another long story), which incidentally embraced TAC’s 5 categories, even though I knew nothing about them! 1. Rhythm- I used metronome and variety of time signatures/styles. 2. Improvisation, taking simple songs and applying pentatonic scales (a la Jay at “Better Sax” methods), 3. Licks (from improvisation guides and advanced methods), 4. Techniques (using Sig Rascher’s Top Tones for Sax and Rubank’s Advanced Methods), 5. Chords and transitions (from Rubank’s Advanced Methods). Well, having a Ph.D. in chemistry, and having experience educating honors students at Cornell, I was able to figure out these five categories for myself—but only on the sax—and started making real progress on it in the past 3 months on the sax, putting in 10-15 minutes per day on each category for 60-90 minutes total. When I saw Tony’s TAC presentation, I said wow! His 5 categories immediately resonated with my own observations, so I started it for guitar (only one week into it as of 4/19/21). I thought it would be very useful to have someone pick out my lesson material in each of the five categories, and to show me (recorded), instead of talk to me, for 15 minutes. I can’t say playing guitar is unconscious for me, but the habit is becoming unconscious. Here goes!

    c) Focus and fun: I play easy songs for fun, both finger picking, flat picking, and chording, pushing the difficulty level a little at a time. Using a guitar pick is very difficult for me, much more than using my fingers—for my brain, locating the strings to pluck is easier with my fingers than with a flat pick. I figured this out about a year ago, after a lot of frustration using a flat pick. That is when I first started to have fun. (Maybe this observation can help some beginner folks: on a simple song like The Farmer’s Daughter that uses all six strings, try using only the flat pick for one week, and then try using only the fingers for one week,. Then run with the method that your brain more easily assimilates—your brain-hand relationship will self-declare. Afterwards, the other method will catch up.) I play challenging stuff also, but I don’t have time to push this aspect as hard as I’d like. Sure I’d like to spend an hour on fun easy songs, and an hour on challenges, but my time is probably like 20 to 60 minutes, and I am a slow learner. TAC lesson material is challenging to me, and it keeps me moving forward without crushing the fun out of it. Last, I like to memorize songs, so what I memorize I play while watching TV, which is a good indicator of how well I know a song portion.

    5.) Bonus Question: What is one non-guitar item that is a must have in your guitar routine?

    I wear trifocals, BUT I use a pair of bifocals when playing music or working on the computer. Trifocals are set for distance (top), 24 inches (middle…computer distance), 14 inches (bottom for reading). Trifocals are a hassle for computer work and reading music. So I thought to purchase a cheap pair of frames for custom, prescription bifocals made with the top for middle distance (24 inches for reading music and computer) and bottom for reading (14 inches). As a result, I have this large vertical field of view for reading music, so my head isn’t constantly moving up and down with the sheet music (or computer screen), and I can still read or write on paper. Since my bifocals are the variety that have a line in them (not progressive lenses), then my field of view is also quite wide (wider than progressives, which give an hourglass field of view). Other folks I’ve told about these customized bifocals have been grateful for the suggestion.

    Bubdaddio replied 3 years, 9 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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