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How I TAC…kinda tacky
1.) How many days per week do you play?
My routine is to practice 5 days per week. If I miss a date, I make it up on the weekend. I take seriously the guidance to play at least 20 minutes. I play longer if the time is available. It’s remarkable, after a year, that I’ve pretty much stuck to this routine. Now that some of the lessons are coming around again, I’m glad to be able to play them readily and more competently. I’d guess this is due to the consistency of the commitment.
2.) What time of day do you play?
My goal is to finish in time to have a beer before starting to fix dinner and watch PBS News Hour at 6 p.m. If I miss this window, I will catch a time slot before 9 p.m.
3.) Where do you play?
I live part time in the Texas Panhandle where (right now anyway) there is very little rain and humidity is low, low, low. (Pray for rain!) The basement in our 60s-era ranch house is a 12 X 12 foot space (doubles as a tornado shelter…hm. What are tornadoes?) According to my dinky little hygrometer, this is the most humid room in the house. So it makes my two guitars happy and, dang, they almost are always pretty much in tune when I pick them up. I also exercise and work on a long-running photo project in this space. At the moment it’s kind of a tacky mess. But as you can see, it’s a little music cubby most of all.
4.) What was your guitar life like before having a guitar routine & how has implementing a consistent guitar routine helped you? (if possible name 3 ways).
My guitar life before starting TAC was a guitar in the closet. I found Tony’s Acoustic Challenge and my guitar came out of the closet.
With some help from TAC friends, I discovered that my Baby Taylor badly needed a set up. Forming calluses on fingers is hard and takes awhile, but I was REALLY struggling. One TAC friend suggested it sounded like a good excuse to get a new guitar.
I got the Baby Taylor dialed in by a luthier but I did purchase a Taylor Academy with electronics and I’ve been very happy with them both.
1) Having a regular guitar routine has given me the “I need another guitar” bug, but I won’t get one until I become a better player. So that’s an incentive to keep playing with consistency.
2) I am finding out so much more about music and the guitar without getting overwhelmed. Sometimes Tony brings up some music theory thing I cannot wrap my head around, but he doesn’t nerd out on it. The teaching style makes it safe to not understand something technical. The old mantra “Just Do It” seems to apply and lightbulb moments just happen.
3) Playing/practicing/learning the latest lick, scale or chord progression is just part of my day now. I am looking forward to doing more of the things that TAC provides when I can make those things part of my day, too.
Bonus Question: What is one non-guitar item that is a must have in your guitar routine?
Pillows for my back. Maybe one day I’ll have a chair that’s comfortable for guitar playing. Also, if the time of day is right, that beer I mentioned above.
Play on!
Pat S.
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