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How to restart after a forced break
I started my guitar journey with Tony in late 2024, but this was suddenly interrupted. I have recently, in last week, restarted my guitar journey after a 4 month break caused by a health issue which prevented me from physically being able to do the daily challenge or finish the 30 Days to Play that I had completed about 90% of. I have since reviewed and completed the 30 Days program but don’t know where to go with the Daily Challenges.
I have missed 4 months of Daily challenges and when I look at the current challenge, the skills are way beyond what I have tried so far. I am looking for advice about whether I should try and go back to earlier challenges or stick with the current and “gut it out?”
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7 Replies
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Hi There Jim, My advice is, “Don’t be fooled by what initially appears complex!” Jump into that daily with the curiousity of a five year old. Listen, watch carefully, Tony is a master of sneeking in the least complex way to face a challenge sqaure on, if only to get the first note in every measure or just the first measure by itself. This is an necessary part of learning guitar. If you ever need help simpliftying: Put it out there on the chat of the given day’s challenge and if that doesn’t help D/M me and we can work out a way for you to find success. We are burning daylight get on those challenges!
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Thank you, that is very good advice!
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@jim-v-doylegmail-com TAC isn’t linear in its design, it’s more like a circle!
Not matter where you start you just jump into the daily challenges. They naturally come in variable degrees of difficulty that cycles each month, week and even day by day. Come to the site every day and do as much as you can. It might only be a single line, or a single measure. It doesn’t matter, bite off as much as you can chew for the time you have and mark it . If all you could play was the first 4 notes, still mark it complete. The same skills will be required again in a short time and perhaps you can go a little further then. Consistently playing as often as possible is the key, the order is less important. Sometimes the challenges build on each other during the week, but you can still pick up later and if you have to go back to an earlier day of the week, you will know but I think it’s never really necessary.
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Thanks you Pete! I guess I am not fully in the flow of Tony’s method, but your advice makes sense when I read it and remember Tony’s admonition against seeking perfection each day. I will try to get my mind set to small successes each day and keep moving.
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Yes, it’s normal to think in terms of completion, most of us have been in that very same spot. You’ve got to reframe your thought process, that is crucial because perfectionism will stop you in your tracks and you’ll eventually quit.
In the beginning there were days I could hardly even begin to attempt the challenge. I went back to the previous days in the week and revisited the Technique and the Guitar lick days; taking those further than I had done was my win for days 4 and 5 when I just wasn’t ready for Rhythms and Chord changes yet.
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spot on @petelanger !!
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Hello. I was in a similar situation as you. I joined TAC in the fall of 2024, but because of a serious health issue (I’m better now, BTW), I wasn’t able to play much. I basically started over in April, 2025, beginning with the 30 Day Challenge. You said that you’ve completed that. In that case, you probably want to go through the sample 5 Day Routine. (It’s one of the icons on the left side of your TAC home page.) The 5 Day Routine explains all about how to get started with the daily challenges. Once you complete that, you can then move on to the “regular” daily challenges. Don’t worry about missing out on anything…as I understand it, each daily challenge is played again every 9-12 months (don’t quote me as to the actual timing). You might also want to read through the introductory pdfs that you probably got links to in your TAC welcome e-mail. Hope this helps.
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