Question about the TAC Method of learning

[John_Bolling_Hall]

Absolutely. It’s a journey, not a destination.

[N-lightMike]

I can not tell you the story you want to hear, @BrandonK , because I was not a total beginner when I joined TAC. However…

I had picked up the guitar 20 years earlier as a middle aged adult and only learned from a book. Most of those 20 years, the guitar sat in a corner. I like to say I played off and on, mostly off.

So I cannot claim to have been a total beginner. But basically, I was still at a beginner level with most of my skills. And like you, I felt like I was doing TAC incorrectly.

Before I expose how our thinking is/was wrong, let me say one more thing about beginners. In my time at TAC, I saw numerous people join who were a complete beginner before TAC. I always envied them because their progress was like a rocket ship taking off compared to mine. Now, don’t get me wrong, learning guitar is difficult and slow for everyone. Their advancement was fast compared to mine. It still felt slow and tedious to them.

Ok, so what’s wrong with our thinking? Simple, we’re adults. Adults have learned to be stupid. Kids learn faster than adults. Kids learn exactly like the TAC method, but their brain doesn’t get involved trying to tell them “how it should go”. One of our members, @jumpinjeff , came up with an expression that fits here. “Expectation is where fun goes to die”.

Get your brain out of the way and just have fun. Do the best you can and move on. That’s how a kid would have fun. They’d get bored if they stayed on one thing trying to perfect it. But they must have something right cause they learn faster. For a while, it seems like they are getting nowhere. Then suddenly, you look again and you’re surprised by how much they’ve improved.

Now, because we’re adults and we’ve learned to be stupid, you gotta “trick” your brain. You need to pay close attention to how well you can do each little skill and technique. Write it down or take a video. That way you can see that you have, in fact, improved. If you’ve been here 35 days and picked up your guitar every day, then you’ve improved more than you realize. Others could see it, but you’re not going to see it without special effort.

So the special effort needed is not anything different with learning guitar than you’ve already been doing. The special effort needed is to notice your improvement and give yourself pats on the back. Most of us suck at that.

MG

[BrandonK]

Thank you so much Mike I really appreciate your feedback

[Moose408]

I was a complete beginner when I joined TAC last June. I am now comfortable playing hundreds of songs (only about 10 from memory), know 20+ chords, and can make decent sounding music. It was around 80 hours of practice that I started feeling like I could actually play guitar (approximately Oct). Learning to play the guitar is hard, it’s like a kid learning to walk. My mindset going in was I’m going to suck, I’m going to suck for a long time, and it’s ok to suck. I have that hanging on my wall above where I practice and when I get frustrated I use it to remind myself that it takes a lot of time to train your hands to do the right thing. Learning to play the C chord consistently took a month.

I just looked at my log and I spent 7 days on each week of the 30 days to play, and also 7 days on the 5 day challenge and then jumped into the Daily Challenges. I averaged 15 mins a day for the 30 day challenge as my fingers would get sore if I did too much. These days I average 45 to 60 minutes a day.

It’s easy to get frustrated but you just have to keep reminding yourself that it is hard and it takes a lot of time to train your muscles what to do. If you were learning to fly a plane would you expect to be able to be a pilot after 10 mins a day for 30 days? Learning guitar is harder than flying a plane.

[BrandonK]

That is amazing to hear Moose you are 9 months in and can do so much. That is motivating to hear.

[TerriG]

Hi Brandon,

I’m about 75 days into TAC now and I was a total beginner with guitar. My husband and son plays, but I didn’t know the first thing about them. I had some keyboard skills, so I knew about the musical alphabet, some chords, and notes – basic stuff.

Fast forward 75 days later (2 1/2 months) and I am learning to play songs I like. Not great, but you can definitely identify the melody. I attribute this to Tony’s teachings. As I mentioned, my son plays guitar and he took weekly lessons for five years. He commented the other week that I am learning techniques that took him a year to learn when he had lessons. So I am progressing….

As someone mentioned in the previous post, give yourself time. It takes time to get calluses on your fingers. It takes time to get those fingers stretched the right way and get stronger. It takes time for the muscle memory to kick in.

For example, this week is a benchmark week with Neil Young’s “Old Man”. Weeks ago, I tried a similar chord transition technique and absolutely sucked at it. Today, I tried it and I was able to play the “D” chord transitions. Small win. But the point is that it takes time.

And as someone else mentioned, make mistakes. That is the only way you’ll get better. More mistakes, the better sometimes. Good luck and enjoy the journey. This is a nice community and once you start daily challenges, you’ll see there are more people hanging out at the Daily challenge forums to assist you when you get stuck. Hang in there!!!

[Bradee]

I will cal myself a beginner until my playing becomes decent.

I always wanted to learn, but confidence sucked so I just never started. With that said, I was completely new to guitar May 2023 with just a basic no name acoustic guitar with steel strings probably a wally world special. I have tried a few different apps/programs. I was obsessed at first, playing same routine/song over and over, 2-3 hours a night until I hit gold (bouncy ball app). It was frustrating and I always felt disappointed in myself.

I set the guitar down for a week, came back to it, same thing. One day my daughter who I had bought the guitar for told me that’s why she quit – doing the same thing got old, boring, and she never felt like she was getting anywhere. So this time I put the guitar down for a day, didn’t even look at it. I decided I was just going to play to play not to learn. When I picked it up again, I would go through and choose a song I wanted to play, no set routine, just play it Once and go to another because I didn’t want to become frustrated or bored. I began having fun and not overthinking, but I was still looking as I played chords. Then one night my partner was playing a v-game with lights dimmed and I was too lazy to get up to turn the lights but wanted to play anyways. That changed everything for me! It was like finger memory started to kick in finally. I couldn’t see the neck, but I could still play!

I haven’t found the perfect app/program yet. I started TAC two weeks ago. It is the fourth app/program I’ve tried. In that time, I’ve completed most of the skills/courses while doing the daily challenge. I had the 30-day done in two. So I’ll list what I think are the Pros Cons.

Pros:

Tab music downloads. Most have the chords being used showing. I’ve found I learn the song faster with the sheet music.

Daily Challenge & Self-pace. I am a little ADHD when it comes to the guitar. I’ll spend hours going from one lesson to the next, or in perfection mode on one song. So having the daily challenge and Self-paced skill course allows me to do both.

Videos. I like being able to SEE how someone else plays and having the visual instruction really helps. The videos pop out so I can have the sheet open. He also gives his insight on tips & tricks and makes you feel okay when you don’t follow the way of finger chord placement. I position my fingers for ease of flow and comfort not necessarily the correct finger for the string/fret.

Now the Cons.

Videos. The instruction is sometimes to fast for me and I hate having to rewind or slow it down where it’s garbled.

Skill Courses. There aren’t enough. There also aren’t any specific skill courses for chord transitions which for me is my biggest need for improvement.

Overall. There isn’t a suggested plan to follow. You’re expected to set your own routine. For someone who is advanced this may be a plus, but for a beginner, it is just crazy. I’m a beginner wanting to learn, so how can I know what to do??

It would also be nice to have a record/playback mode so you can hear yourself.

As for more suggestions, I’ll let you know in a month or so. My best advice is to have fun and play in the dark sometimes.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Bradee.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Bradee.

[Yafee]

I echo Bradee’s comment about the plan for a beginner to follow not being very clear. I think TAC needs to create a few different paths to follow based on your skill level. Don’t leave it to a beginner to plan. Make it easy to figure out what steps to follow.