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I’m Still Playing!!!! 30 Days to Play Win
On June 30th I picked up a guitar for the very first time. I found Tony’s Learn Fingerstyle in 5 Minutes video on YouTube and was able to make pleasant sounds from the instrument without actually knowing anything about how to play the guitar. This was a huge win for me. I watched the TAC intro video and signed up immediately. I started the next day and I’m so excited to say that after one month, I’m still playing!!! I didn’t walk away in frustration. This is such a wonderful win.
I can admit that I nearly cried with joy on my final 30 Day lesson when Tony said you are now a guitar player.
My background:
I’ve long-held the story that I come from a non-musical family and would never be able to learn how to play an instrument or sing. My family all jokes about it often but behind that story was a lot of sorrow because we all love listening to music and I know that a few of us, myself included, have been wanting to learn how to play an instrument for decades. I tried to learn the flute in band for a few years as a kid before quitting and choosing to have an extra study hour – I cried in frustration trying to learn to read music. In my 30’s I have attempted to teach myself mandolin without any structure and after a few days of random practice I would get overwhelmed with frustration and would put the instrument down for months, or years, at a time. Over seven years, I never learned how to play a song or a scale smoothly. Each time I picked up the mandolin I would just re-learn the absolute basics before putting it down again. In a recent moment of frustration my significant other suggested that I try guitar as it is an instrument that sounds better being played slowly & one where you can play a simple song with just a few chords – it might be less frustrating to learn than bluegrass mandolin. I borrowed his guitar, found TAC, and had more fun in the first few days I was playing with his guitar than in years trying to play mandolin. I signed up for TAC because I don’t want to wait another 7 years to have fun playing an instrument. I figured if I started today and really gave this tiny habit structure a shot I would be happy that I did in decades to come. I can say with confidence that I already am.
This is a great reminder that the stories we tell ourselves have power and that we have the ability to change the story rather than letting it change us. Shifting my self-thoughts from “I’m not musical” to “music can be learned slowly through consistency, intention, & imperfection” has been one of the biggest wins of this entire experience.
Will I be buying a guitar to leave with my parents so that my entire family has access to an instrument when they go home for a visit? Yes, yes I will.
30 Days to Play:
I just completed the 30 Days To Play Challenge and was able to hit my goal of playing at least 10 minutes for 5 days a week. I had some trouble sticking to my Anchor habit for consistent time of day playing, but I did make sure I played at least 5 days, most weeks I was able to squeeze in a 6th day. Rarely did I play for more than 30 min as I am working, etc but it was great to see progress in my skills over the month. I still have some buzzing when fretting, my right hand loves hitting the wrong strings, I am only able to keep up with the 1X play speed (1.25 seems so fast), and I made a ton of mistakes – but throughout the entire month I had fun while stumbling through the imperfection – and that is awesome.
When I signed up for TAC, I also opted in to the Fretboard Challenge and I have progressed about 1/3 through lessons – they are really tricky for my brain to grasp, but I’m getting a bit more comfortable with understanding the fretboard. I’ve found that taking lots of notes and really working through the quizzes until I can get the right answers easily has been helpful. I’ll likely revisit these lessons a few more times as I progress.
In addition to my skill building, I was able to tap into the incredible knowledge of the TAC Community by asking a few questions on the Community Support forum. Thank you all SO much for your answers, advice, perspective, and encouragement. Your help really carried me through some barriers and difficult learning moments. I enjoy seeing everyone’s wins as well.
Next:
I’m transitioning into the 5 Day Challenge series as well as Your Next 6 Chords this week and then I’ll be building new goals for the 90 Day Challenge. I’m traveling quite a bit in Sept so I will likely miss my 5-Day consistency goal, but I am pretty confident that it won’t derail me. I’m hoping by 90 days to have a song or two that I can play with a simple structure. Heck, maybe I’ll even tackle my insecurities around singing next now that I’m a guitar player!Wishing you all the best on your guitar journeys. Thank you again for your support on mine. It has been amazing.
Cheers, Kay
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13 Replies
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Kay, Congratulations on being a guitar player! Enjoy your journey. If you make each note count today. You will be adding up all the notes faster than you realize, You’ll be playing your song.
Have a Grateful Day! Al
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Thank you so much! Every lesson gets me a little closer!
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Love your story🙂 Especially the part about learning to change your own story rather than giving it control over you. That’s something I have long struggled with in my life, and you made me realize how helpful TAC has been towards overcoming that! I’ve only been a member for 3 months, but I know Tony’s program has finally given me some firm direction after nearly 4 years of “dabbling” at guitar. And yes, I agree with you how awesome the forums are for connecting with fellow geeks😄
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I really appreciate your note. Changing stories that we tell ourselves can be difficult but so worth it! This community has been helpful at keeping a positive tone as well.
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Wow, @KayMesser , your story and wins are super inspiring! I loved reading your story…thanks for sharing! Glad that you found the guitar and TAC and that you are learning and having fun! Congratulations! 😎🎶🎸👏
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That is really kind, thank you! It has been such a wonderful month of playing and I can’t wait to see where it takes me in time. I’m hopeful that I can get a few family members started as well. How cool is it to be able to pick up an instrument and make music.
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Congratulations! Welcome to TAC. Great story. Keep going, growing, and enjoy the journey.
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Thank you so much for the kind welcome!
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Excellent start for you @KayMesser ! What impresses me is not only are you advancing through TAC logically but with great enthusiasm.
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@KayMesser you are now on the guitar journey. I think it’s just no one wants to be made fun of. That’s why they don’t try. I remember not wanting to sing loud because someone would yell out ” is that a cat howling?”. Now, i don’t care (as much). Keep it up, there is a lot of support on the TAC site and you actually sound like us already. Good Luck, but it has nothing to do with luck, it’s hard work and your going to make it look easy. 🙂
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Thank you so much for the generous words and encouragement. I agree, I’m always worried I sound like a howling dog. One of these days I’ll embrace my Mom’s maiden name, Wolf, and just howl as loud as I can and enjoy it. For now, practice, practice, practice.
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Congratulations!
Sticking with anything worthwhile is such a win, even more so when you are bucking a lifetime of thinking this is just something that ‘isn’t for you’.
Yay You!!
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Thank you so much! I think celebrating the simple act of showing up has been huge for me.
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