TAC Family Forums

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

  • How to get started

    Posted by LukeCipers on April 7, 2021 at 2:51 am

    Hi everyone,

    I’m new here; signed up a couple of days ago. I’ve been playing and singing for some 12 years and would like to improve. But, where do I start here? The 30 day was too basic so skipped it. Now what?🧐The Daily Challenge? Is there a logical proces that I can follow? I guess I’m a bit confused right now…

    LukeCipers replied 3 years, 9 months ago 10 Members · 18 Replies
  • 18 Replies
  • Mark-D

    Member
    April 7, 2021 at 4:23 am

    Luke – Welcome to Tony’s Acoustic Challenge (TAC), you have found a great place to continue your guitar journey. I was confused as well when I started a few years ago. Here are some of the resources in TAC that I have found helpful. The daily challenge, new ones posted Monday through Friday, will have a positive impact over time and worth doing. On the home page, you will see a musical notation in the upper left side of the screen. This leads to the skills section of the site, which is good. There you will find 19 courses covering a range of topic;, I found some of these courses to be very helpful. Every month there is an online Guitar Party, next one 4/7/21, 11 am mountain time (link at top of home page), which covers a variety of topics. On Tuesday Tony post a video on YouTube called Acoustic Tuesday that is informational, you might enjoy it. Finally, look for the next time the Fretboard Wizard course is offered. This class focuses on practical guitar theory which will change the way you understand the guitar. This has been the best part of the journey for me so far. I hope this helps. Welcome to TAC!

    • LukeCipers

      Member
      April 7, 2021 at 2:32 pm

      Thanks, Mark!

  • Christopher

    Member
    April 7, 2021 at 6:40 am

    Hey Luke,

    I started in November ’20. Found thec30 day challenge easy as well but I completed it anyway; it kind of helped orient me to the TAC site. You can certainly orient yourself without it though. The daily challenges are the biggest thing that we focus on here. They are all themed for the week and cover different components of playing. Mondays are different warm-ups (some of them speed challenges), Tuesdays are short licks, Wednesday is, I believe, improv/ soloing with pre-recorded backing tracks, Thursday ir rhythm work and Friday are key chords. Your coming in at a good time, as they just recreated the TAC site, so you won’t have the same issues of getting used to it. There was, at one time, a song vault that was offered for an added cost but I think, sadly, it is no longer available. The vault was a lit of fun; there were lots of old classic flat picking and fingerpicking song-bites to learn. I’m still getting use to the new site and haven’t been on much since March. We just had a baby so it’s been very busy with family and getting settled again. Plus, trout season just opened here in NY on the 1st…I’ve been tying a lot of flies and spending much of my extra time in the water. I really loved the old TAC. I haven’t really given this new site a solid chance just yet, but the core is still the same. It’s been, and I’m sure remains, a great place for well organized, focused, fun and challenging guitar practice. To top it off, the community is awesome. Through them, I’ve been exposed to so many more musicians and different instructional/ teaching content as well Welcome and have fun.

    • the-old-coach

      Member
      April 29, 2021 at 9:31 am

      Chris- that is an awesome response!

  • Bill_Brown

    Member
    April 7, 2021 at 8:07 am

    Hi @LukeCipers , First, I think you should consider finishing the 30 Days to Play. I finished it in 6 days and thought it was a good rehash of things I knew, but also came across things I knew but wasn’t good at. It allowed me to see the things I needed to improve on.

    Also, @Mark-D touched on one of the great courses that TAC offers, and that is Fretboard Wizard. I learned so much from that one, and really enjoyed it, well worth the extra $, in my opinion. Sign up will be later this month, TAC will announce the exact dates soon.

    Beyond the Daily Challenges, the skills courses are also good ones. I’ve come away with something from each one, even if it was a skill that I thought I was proficient with. And they’re included with your membership.

    Finely, there is always the Community – you ask a question and you’ll always get a dignified response.

    BB

  • LukeCipers

    Member
    April 7, 2021 at 2:36 pm

    Thanks Bill! Not sure that I have the time and motivation to start another course at this point, but I ‘ll keep it in mind since theory is a huge blind spot of mine. I’ve been trying to understand it for a very long time, but somehow my brain refuses to capture it…🤯

    • Sharon_T

      Member
      April 7, 2021 at 8:08 pm

      Hey @LukeCipers – I can’t help you with the time constraints but as for motivation, I can tell you that FW is a great jumping off point for learning a bit about theory. The knowledge you get out of the course will help you in so many ways. It really is a great course.

    • Bill_Brown

      Member
      April 7, 2021 at 9:12 pm

      Also, @LukeCipers , let me say that one of the best things about FW is you can do it at your own pace – there is no time frame associated with it – once you sign up, it”s yours for as long as you’re a member! Check me on that @MommaTAC !

      • Sharon_T

        Member
        April 8, 2021 at 8:45 am

        Check and recheck @Bill_Brown – You can access the course anytime you want and join in any new “live” discussions.

  • punder

    Member
    April 7, 2021 at 2:50 pm

    Hi Luke,

    I think the main value of the daily challenges are that they

    -help you build a practice habit (I can’t go a day now without picking up the guitar and at least laughing at the impossibility of doing today’s challenge; you sound farther along so probably don’t have that problem!)

    -expose you to playing aspects that might lie outside your comfort zone or current focus

    -provide a “spiral development path” to gradual improvement, in that each challenge will come around again, and you’ll be better at it next time.

    • the-old-coach

      Member
      April 29, 2021 at 9:56 am

      Punder– That is a great response also!

      Luke– welcome!

      I love the Daily Challenges– because “ya don’t know what ya don’t know”.

      Each one pushes me just a little- (OK- some more than a little……..), and if you stand back and look at the entire curriculum, it’s well balanced and indeed provides that “spiral development path” Punder mentions. What you learn in one lesson kind-of comes back in another- but a little bit different or more advanced. It’s great.

      No one could ever try to learn guitar on their own- just noodling around or playing song-tabs, and come up with these licks and lessons themselves- and how they go together.

      Lastly- (probably don’t even have to say)- this— your— TAC Community is really GREAT stuff! Helpful people that remind us that none of us are alone in this guitar journey. There are guitar EXPERTS here, but they are the first to offer up advice and say they have hit that very same chuckhole in the road as they were passing by that spot in learning. They understand your question– because they’ve been there.

      No question is too small– or too big…….. Again– great stuff.

      Welcome!

  • StevenB

    Member
    April 7, 2021 at 4:42 pm

    When I started it was the same for me. I still completed the 30 day challenge but did it in 5 or 6 days. I generally knock out the daily challenge, then go into skills and work on the groups of lessons for each skill. I’m still working through those. There is also the fretboard wizard. I have not done it yet, but it seems to be quite popular. Welcome, and good luck on your journey.

  • LukeCipers

    Member
    April 18, 2021 at 1:58 pm

    Thank you all for your advice and support! In the meantime, I did the 30 day and had a lot of fun doing it, so that was a great tip! But now that this is done, again I feel a bit lost…I gues I was expecting to progress via a step by step methodology, but now it seems I have to figure it out myself what to do next. Tried the daily challenge today but at the end Tony says something like: “next we’re gonna learn…” and the vid stops…No other vid to be seen, so again… I’m a bit confused..🤨

  • Deeaudy

    Member
    April 21, 2021 at 10:04 am

    I too just started and am enjoying the challenge so far.

    I am working my way through 30 Days to Play just to make sure that my basics are where they need to be to meet each of the daily challenges.

    I’m wondering if the Daily Challenges get incrementally more challenging. I am afraid that If I don’t jump in that I will fall behind and not be able to catch up.

    I’d love to hear what others have experienced.

    • the-old-coach

      Member
      April 29, 2021 at 10:56 am

      Hello- Hopefully(?)- this is what you meant when you said- “I’m afraid that if I don’t jump in that I will fall behind and not be able to catch up”.

      When I joined it was about the middle of the month- (Jan 2021). Because of that, there were two weeks of lessons that had already “happened” in that month.

      Well, of course, I HAD to “catch-up” and not miss out on those lessons!

      And all this TAC-program was “new stuff” to me– and some of it was beyond anything I had ever monkeyed-with.

      So I felt I was “behind” and, of course, my fingertips were hurtin’, and on top of trying to “catch-up” on the ones behind, there was also the new ones as they were coming out!….. AND…… the “30-Day Challenge” stuff……..

      So, needless to say- I felt WAY behind!

      My two bits—

      1. Go thru those lessons that already happened- and “Save” any or all – (to Favorites). Better yet– print them out and put them in a 3-ring notebook or folder.

      2. Develop- (and likely adjust!)- a really good– written— (that is KEY)- written—practice routine. This will give you exactly what to practice and how long each segment is. This takes all the thinking out of “what do I practice next” and makes that practice more efficient. Result— you pick up your guitar, put that day’s practice schedule in front of you- (paper or screen)- and go to work.

      3. Take notes! Of easy and hard, of good and bad, of “tricky sections” or movements, and especially of improvement- (because that happens so slow you may not even notice it)- but it IS happening!

      You’ll “catch up” no problem! Don’t sweat it- just work thru it. It’ll get easier, your fingertips will get tougher, and your fingers WILL learn to stretch “that far”.

      Enjoy the ride, give yourself some credit- (because you have earned those successes!!!!), and have fun.

      Long-winded me- Mark J

  • LukeCipers

    Member
    April 26, 2021 at 2:24 pm

    I have the same fear…Let’s wait and see what happens. Good luck!

  • flytyr

    Member
    April 29, 2021 at 8:19 am

    Good morning, I signed up like 2 weeks ago, but hurt my fretting fingers, and God just gave me a job (after 2 years). so I’m behind on my 30 starter; I’m a long time jazz drummer that had to sell, but dying to learn acoustic; America, Eagles, Criss Cross etc. Once I get thru the 30 day, is it hard to keep up with the lesson structure?
    I thought about trying to set aside 20 minutes,,,, or am I off base?
    Thanks
    Frank from Vancouver WA

  • LukeCipers

    Member
    April 29, 2021 at 3:08 pm

    Thanks for the good advice and motivating words. Working my way through the 5day 12 bar blues challenge and enjoying (most of 🤓) it. @flytyr: I would try to practice at least 30’ 5 times a week. Good luck!

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