Tony’s Acoustic Challenge – The New Way to Learn Guitar › Family Forums › Community Support › Letting it go?
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Letting it go?
Posted by Carnelia on April 24, 2022 at 5:22 pmI’m just coming back after a two and a half week break, which started due to holiday craziness, but lasted all last week because I procrastinated. I am a song leader in my faith community, so I continued to play the guitar every day, but couldn’t open up the TAC fam. I think the big issue for me is that I am getting overwhelmed with the “new lesson every day” – I feel a need to practice each one until I get it, and the new lessons just keep coming and coming. I wonder how all of you manage – do you just let them go at the end of the week, start playing the new ones, and forget about last week’s, that weren’t ever really mastered? How much do you come back to the older stuff?
crarod replied 2 years, 9 months ago 7 Members · 7 Replies -
7 Replies
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Greetings!
I started late in life; been playing about 2.5 years with 2 years in TAC. If I hadn’t learned to just practice each day, do what I can in the time I had, and then move on; I would have stalled, never kept going. It would have been a chore. Each day did add to my skill, experience, and total ability to play; but it came incrementally. Now, daily lessons that were too much before are doable. You can favorite some also if one strikes a chord (pun intended), and go back to it.
Eventually I applied what I learned to some songs. I developed a routine where I warm up with some things learned; do the daily lesson (sometimes also a skill course); and then work on or play a song or two.
I was not as experienced as you are when I started, and everyone is different, but I would avoid the chasm of perfection you can fall into. Do the best you can with the time you have daily; and yes; let go.
Enjoy the journey; keep doing your song leader thing; and let TAC add tools to your skill box “as time goes by”. Take good care! -
Hi @Carnelia – You made it back, and you asked a great question because you were overwhelmed – 2 great wins!
As for the daily lessons, shoot for progress, not perfection. All the lessons during a week build upon each other, so you’ll be improving your skills just by moving forward. I personally play the minimum of 10 minutes and then mark a lesson complete. Sometimes I’ll spend a little more time on it, but not much. Or I’ll favorite a lesson I might want to incorporate into my practice or revisit at a later time. But, all the lessons rotate back around about every 8 months or so, and you’ll be able to see your progress on it. I guarantee that you’ll improve just by following this recipe.
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Hello @Carnelia ;
So, 10 minutes. That’s it. You succeeded no matter how imperfectly you managed to do the lesson. Now, if you have the time and want to spend more than 10 minutes, that’s fine. But remember that you also want to spend time doing a technique warm up, and stretches, and something fun like playing a song or noodling, and working on something you want to do everyday like a song or a technique you are learning. Now that’s all in addition to the lesson. None of these pieces should be so long that you get worn out or they take away time from your responsibilities in life.
Playing every day can be difficult. But the reason is because we have a life and other things we want or need to do. So the tough thing is to play in small enough chunks that guitar playing fits into our life. Also, to improve, we must work on multiple things… everyday. Again, the secret is small chunks.
Small chunks allows us to be consistent, and that’s what leads to progress. What interferes with progress is spending too much time on something because we won’t be able to sustain that. Another thing that interferes with progress is trying to master a lesson. Guitar takes time to learn. When we try to master a lesson, we are trying to get better instantly. It will only take you 5 or 10 minutes to play a lesson as well as you are going to that day given your current level of ability. Then, you can spend a little more time having fun with it. Having fun, that is, with what you were able to do. 8 or 10 months later, when the lesson comes around again, you will notice that you can play it better even if you never tried it again.
To really understand the purpose of the daily lessons and how we can use them to the best advantage, go through the 5 Day Guitar Routine Challenge in the Skill Courses section. Here is a link:
https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/5-day-guitar-routine-challenge/
So, the simple answer to your question is: “Yes”. Each week, start new. Even day to day, you will only carry over so much. If you spend time going back over day 1, and day 2, and day 3, and day 4, by the 5th day you simply won’t have enough time.
I hope this helps.
MG 😀
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Thank you, @PhilB and @Loraine! It is really helpful to hear your practice routine and know that things cycle around again. Will work on those ten minutes, not worrying about perfection, and letting it go at the end of the week. Not so easy! I really appreciate your taking the time to respond. Have a great week!
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Welcome back.
I don’t work each day’s lesson until “I get it.” I work each day until, a) ten minutes has expired, or b) if I really like it, I start smiling while playing, or c) until something more interesting crosses my fingers.
Not all of these ideas of Tony’s interest me (at least not yet), and not all of it is needed by me to enjoy the guitar journey and see my own progress.
Joy is easy to identify. After 10 minutes: No joy equals “Move on to something else.”
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I understand your feelings. I got sick over the holidays. I would go as far as opening up the challenge and that was about it. I’d start a few but rarely finish them. Don’t let yourself become overwhelmed. Just take little bites at a time. You said you are a song leader take one of your songs and try to incorporate a solo like the Wednesday Improvisation does. You might get yourself back on track this way. This is all for learning and fun. Don’t take the fun out by stressing too much.
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Everyone struggles a bit with some or all of the lessons each week… I normally try to do my 10 minutes. If I get the daily challenge then I move on. I feel I can do it better, then I tag it as a favorite so I can go to it later. Then on another day, when I have more time, I simply go back to it and try it again (and again)… Once I THINK I am comfortable with my playing the lesson, I remove it from my favorites and give myself a small win!
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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