Try this guitar challenge
STEP 1: Watch the video to learn the bite-sized piece of music
STEP 2: Click the "PLAY" tab below the video to play along with Tony until you can do it on your own.
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Responses
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Responses
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Did pretty well today. Makes sense.
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Classy spice or spicy class?
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I really like this bass walk progression. Couldn’t stop playing it!
Now THAT’S a small win! -
I like chord exercises the most.
A half-win from this weekend. I changed strings, which I don’t like so much. The tuning of the strings is still settling with constant re-tuning. And, the new set sounds metallic with a little buzz. I’m never sure if I’ve anchored the bridge pins correctly, although the strings are tight under the pins. I followed Tony’s video. I don’t consider the actual changing and tuning-winder connecting to be difficult. Yet this time the strings aren’t ringing as well as other changes. Any ideas from TAC to improve the sound? Thanks from Milwaukee!-
Be patient. It will take a while to break them in. Try doing some extra chord strumming. That will speed up the break-in process.
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@jctakeiteasyhotmail-com
The two main causes for buzzing after a string change that I can think of are,
1) Installing a different ‘weight’ of strings, i.e., going from standard strings to light strings. With lighter strings there is less ‘pull’ on the neck, so if your truss rod was adjusted to your last set of strings but lighter strings were installed there will be less pull on the neck allowing the neck to more easily ‘bow back’ causing string buzz. (As you’re probably aware, the truss rod can be adjusted to compensate for a specific amount of string pull. When adjusted correctly, this generally straightens out the neck, but if the same amount of pull is no longer there the neck will have a tendency to bow back). Also, even though strings of a common gauge are designed to provide a set amount of ‘pull weight’ there may be slight variations, depending on the type and quality of the strings.2. Winter is always a challenge for guitars because low humidity will cause wood to imperceptibly shift, due to wood drying out. Even a small amount of warp can cause a change to action and allow buzzing to appear. It’s not always associated with a string change but can be.
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I love walk downs…Willie is great at them and he doesn’t rush them (mostly) at all! Small win, I got it to 1.75X speed.
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Got it to sound good. Mastering the G and C chord two not window bass walk, need to practice the D chord. Small win. I am getting the boom chicka picking better with Bass walk better than when I do Boom Chicka alone in the past. Maybe not overthinking!
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This one is simple and fun! Adds so much to the chord transition. Love it!
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had some technology problems and last week was an online wash out. Yes i picked up my guitar and practiced the A scale which felt solid! I keep on coming back!
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Fun little walk
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Enjoyed and am pretty good at bass walking. Challenge is fun and very helpful.
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I took off a little bit and now I’m trying again. This is tough but I will hang in there.
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Bass walk, easy and sounds polished!
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This was pretty easy for me today. Just have to build little more speed. Do like a base walk. Have a great day everyone!
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Fun!
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great lesson for future walking
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Love bass walking!
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Still working on chords but making some progress.
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All talking went too fast for me. I was away too much from playing for many years. You showed your fingers on line when I looked on some previous days. I am now 84 years old and perhaps too old to pick this up again now. I have to get back to remembering notes of the chords again. I remember how to play those chords but forgot the actual names off those keys or notes. . I will work on that first then move to the base walk.
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Hang in there. Guitar playing is brain food. I am now 73. Been at it for almost 9 years. Found Tony when looking a guitar reviews to decide on a decent cheap guitar. Learned that he had a teaching website and signed up. In the beginning I got lost every day. It got a little better every day. I can now keep up with the most difficult sessions and some seem to easy. I gave my first guitar to one of my granddaughters and now have a nice collection of acoustics. My goal was to learn to play in 10 years. I will be beginning my 10 year soon. I am confident I will be a liget guitar player by next Xmas. Guitar has become a part of my daily life. Again, hang in there.
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Hi @rsrenke8gmail-com.
Did you remember to do the 30 Days To Play and the other intro challenges before jumping into the daily challenge? If you haven’t it will really help you get back into the practice and remembering the chords. Daily challenges can be a bit frustrating if you are rusty or new. The skills courses will ease you in. You can find them by clicking the note icon on the left of your log in screen.If you want to go over theory stuff you can buy the Fretboard Wizard course. It is a one-off payment rather than a subscription so once you have it you can revisit it anytime.
In terms of following daily challenges, you don’t need to rely keeping up with the Learn video each day. No offence to Tony but I don’t always watch them. I just look at the TAB and the Play video a lot of them time as I can process the info better by looking at a 2d visual and then listening to the Play to understand the timing.
Have fun! 🙂
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i am 88 and all I can say is stick to it, it’s good for your brain and will keep you young.
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Sounds good, hang in there and as a 74 year old I look at it this way; at the very least I’m giving my brain a work out. Hang in there!
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Not too hard to play but harder to play cleanly. Will keep working on it
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This one I didn’t think I could do it and that it was above my skill level. After watching and looking at the tab I did it several times un a row. Now I’m not the fastest person and mine sounded nothing like Tony’s but I did it! That’s a big win!
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Loved this, a good basic exercise!
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Nice, intuitive!
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What a great start , feels good after last week
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May I suggest to those who have already had the “Hotel California” challenge that you go there again. It adds interest when playing something that one already knows the melody.
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Very cool!
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still struggling with strumming using a pick. I’m wanting to learn how to do that more smoothly. i’ve used to acrylic nail on my index finger for so long it feels unnatural to strum with a pick. however the scratchy sound made by the acrylic nail in the down beat has started to annoy me.
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Fun lesson that I will use a lot. Thanks, Tony.
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Fun bass walks to learn. Helps me work on pick accuracy and speed as I increased the tempo.
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doing ok on this
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Those that have been through the Hotel California based challenge should have no problems with this one. I love these changes.
Have a great day!! -
I did this before in the Skills courses. I don’t remember how I did then, but this time It was pretty good as I’ve developed some better understanding of what is going on with those walk notes. Two pass throughs and I think I have the fretting fingers figured out. Got to be somewhere now so I’ll come back to this later.
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The tricky part was what fingers to use on the 3 and 4 beat. Also I continue to be frustrated because can’t fit the whole tab on the screen and have to stop every line or so to move the screen. As a result I don’t get much value out of the play along.
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@RLD I have gone a step further and put all my printed out tabs in plastic sleeves in a binder labeled with the corresponding week number. So far I have 29 weeks of TAC lessons. OCD you think? Nah.
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I did the same thing after starting TAC but soon found the book impractical to play from (not having a musician’s tripod stand to set the binder on). So I’ve gone to importing the TABs into a OneNote file which I pull up on any computer, tablet or phone. It’s not ideal but it’s been better than a physical book.
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One click on the minus button at the top of the PDF should get you showing the whole tab. It does on my 13″ laptop. Of course you also have to scroll down below the title.
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I having been doing bass walks for a while. But this exercise was good for pick accuracy!!
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I love this exercise. Good for working on my boom-chick and pick accuracy and getting the hang of these walking bass lines. Fun stuff. Still need a lot of work to smooth it out but I’m able to move through the whole thing without too much clunkiness … at a pretty slow pace …
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my challenge is leading with the correct index or middle finger on the bass walks between G and C. repeat repeat repeat
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I really appreciated the detailed approach to this.
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YES!!! I did it! Once I figured out the chord shape for each, I was able to do this lesson. I wouldn’t have figured it out 6 months ago. Still need to work on smoother transition from C to G, but it’s getting there. Really pleased that I could do this song!! 😀
Trust the process!! -
This is my second time through this lesson, and I have been using these little bass walks ever since.
Once you get these down it is hard not to use them because they are so much fun to incorporate into your playing. I use them to warm up and go from chord to chord, ads a new element into the practice routine. -
I was surprised by how quickly I was able to grasp this challenge, not that I can play it cleanly at full speed yet. But just understand the drill and be able to practice it took no time at all!
The Florida weather has returned to the state, life is good! Enjoy your week TAC family! -
This is a fun exercise! Helps to work on picking accuracy.
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Yes! And not getting mixed up which base note to hit on the boom-chicka part. But it’s fun, and once I get the muscle memory in, I could play this all day!
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This is a great day to get back into regular practice.
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Here’s to another wonderful week of TAC!
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This was fun, got pretty good at figuring out which finger would be better to put where, Timing was better. Good Day!
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I watching Tony’s strumming hand carefully at the beginning of todays exercise. Before he starts strumming. He is chatting away and you don’t see the pick in his hand until he makes his first strum. Pretty tricky.
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Well the dog likes it 🙂 must be doing something right.
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Enjoyed today.I found base walks reasonably easy,it is incorporating them I find hard.Tonys explanation of the timing today is a big help.
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Good basic exercise, usefully, in some many songs.
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A good week of technique training. I have an ingrained habit of playing the 3 finger G chord. So, I’m trying to retrain my fretting hand to switch to the 4 finger G chord. Old habits are hard to break especially for old dogs. Hope y’all have a great week of progress!
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The 3 finger G is my friend – easiest to transition into and out of for certain!
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Yep, except when transitioning to the Cadd9.
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This is one of my favorite weeks in TAC. I get to revisit the bass walks. I use them all the time and it is good to refresh on the technique. I hope everyone is doing well, and I can’t wait to read the comments.
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It’s always good to refresh!
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You are correct my friend.
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Totally agree Howard! Good day!!!
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Enjoy your day @WAMGOC.
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Still struggling with my mind as to be constantly moving on without getting to grips with everything. Determined to continue with the course and hopefully Tony is right with this approach.
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Tony is right. Just stick with the system. You can do it.
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Don’t give up. I know I struggle when you have a new cord and your learning a new progression. I find that I spend more time say how to finger the cord and at the same time try to play the new strum pattern. Repition is a players best friend.
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Don’t know how much guitar experience you had before TAC.I had very very little,and found TAC hard at first,some weeks much harder than others.But I have stuck with it for nearly a year now,and I have improved without doubt,plus I find the weekly challenges getting easier.Stick to the system,it seems to work!
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I also, like @Stromcat had very little experience before TAC (~4months of very aimless, sporadic practice). 7 months into TAC I am remarkably improved and enjoying the learning process more than ever. I have played my guitar on 193 out of 208 days. I have missed 15 days, 10 of them were my trip to Vienna without a guitar and at least 2 others were a glitch in the TAC system, I know that I played but it didn’t register.
Contrast to the other 2 programs I started in my pre-TAC life that I fell away from withing the first 8 weeks. TAC is the perfect blend of teaching skills and making it fun. It is so well designed to keep you coming back. Others might be very rich in content and be taught by excellent guitar players, but they won’t hold your interest and you’ll end up learning slower or giving up altogether. -
Going with Tony’s way does work. Over time. But if you really want to get grips with everything, spend more than the ten minutes. The old adage, “Practice makes perfect” still applies. The challenges that I really like, I tend to spend a lot more time with, and I really do get better. Muscle memory develops with more repetition. You might even go back and repeat that day’s lesson, or at least play the tab every day for a week or more, if it’s one you really like. You might just like the results. Good luck! And have fun!
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Good morning to all you TACers out there in Guitarland. Now go back to sleep. It’s 2:30 am on the east coast znd I’m going to bed. Later gators.
Congratulations, !
Challenge complete
Come back tomorrow for your next challenge
Did pretty well today. Makes sense.
Classy spice or spicy class?
I really like this bass walk progression. Couldn’t stop playing it!
Now THAT’S a small win!
I like chord exercises the most.
A half-win from this weekend. I changed strings, which I don’t like so much. The tuning of the strings is still settling with constant re-tuning. And, the new set sounds metallic with a little buzz. I’m never sure if I’ve anchored the bridge pins correctly, although the strings are tight under the pins. I followed Tony’s video. I don’t consider the actual changing and tuning-winder connecting to be difficult. Yet this time the strings aren’t ringing as well as other changes. Any ideas from TAC to improve the sound? Thanks from Milwaukee!
Be patient. It will take a while to break them in. Try doing some extra chord strumming. That will speed up the break-in process.
@jctakeiteasyhotmail-com
The two main causes for buzzing after a string change that I can think of are,
1) Installing a different ‘weight’ of strings, i.e., going from standard strings to light strings. With lighter strings there is less ‘pull’ on the neck, so if your truss rod was adjusted to your last set of strings but lighter strings were installed there will be less pull on the neck allowing the neck to more easily ‘bow back’ causing string buzz. (As you’re probably aware, the truss rod can be adjusted to compensate for a specific amount of string pull. When adjusted correctly, this generally straightens out the neck, but if the same amount of pull is no longer there the neck will have a tendency to bow back). Also, even though strings of a common gauge are designed to provide a set amount of ‘pull weight’ there may be slight variations, depending on the type and quality of the strings.
2. Winter is always a challenge for guitars because low humidity will cause wood to imperceptibly shift, due to wood drying out. Even a small amount of warp can cause a change to action and allow buzzing to appear. It’s not always associated with a string change but can be.
I love walk downs…Willie is great at them and he doesn’t rush them (mostly) at all! Small win, I got it to 1.75X speed.
Got it to sound good. Mastering the G and C chord two not window bass walk, need to practice the D chord. Small win. I am getting the boom chicka picking better with Bass walk better than when I do Boom Chicka alone in the past. Maybe not overthinking!
This one is simple and fun! Adds so much to the chord transition. Love it!
had some technology problems and last week was an online wash out. Yes i picked up my guitar and practiced the A scale which felt solid! I keep on coming back!
Fun little walk
Enjoyed and am pretty good at bass walking. Challenge is fun and very helpful.
I took off a little bit and now I’m trying again. This is tough but I will hang in there.
Bass walk, easy and sounds polished!
This was pretty easy for me today. Just have to build little more speed. Do like a base walk. Have a great day everyone!
Fun!
great lesson for future walking
Love bass walking!
Still working on chords but making some progress.
All talking went too fast for me. I was away too much from playing for many years. You showed your fingers on line when I looked on some previous days. I am now 84 years old and perhaps too old to pick this up again now. I have to get back to remembering notes of the chords again. I remember how to play those chords but forgot the actual names off those keys or notes. . I will work on that first then move to the base walk.
Hang in there. Guitar playing is brain food. I am now 73. Been at it for almost 9 years. Found Tony when looking a guitar reviews to decide on a decent cheap guitar. Learned that he had a teaching website and signed up. In the beginning I got lost every day. It got a little better every day. I can now keep up with the most difficult sessions and some seem to easy. I gave my first guitar to one of my granddaughters and now have a nice collection of acoustics. My goal was to learn to play in 10 years. I will be beginning my 10 year soon. I am confident I will be a liget guitar player by next Xmas. Guitar has become a part of my daily life. Again, hang in there.
Hi @rsrenke8gmail-com.
Did you remember to do the 30 Days To Play and the other intro challenges before jumping into the daily challenge? If you haven’t it will really help you get back into the practice and remembering the chords. Daily challenges can be a bit frustrating if you are rusty or new. The skills courses will ease you in. You can find them by clicking the note icon on the left of your log in screen.
If you want to go over theory stuff you can buy the Fretboard Wizard course. It is a one-off payment rather than a subscription so once you have it you can revisit it anytime.
In terms of following daily challenges, you don’t need to rely keeping up with the Learn video each day. No offence to Tony but I don’t always watch them. I just look at the TAB and the Play video a lot of them time as I can process the info better by looking at a 2d visual and then listening to the Play to understand the timing.
Have fun! 🙂
i am 88 and all I can say is stick to it, it’s good for your brain and will keep you young.
Sounds good, hang in there and as a 74 year old I look at it this way; at the very least I’m giving my brain a work out. Hang in there!
Not too hard to play but harder to play cleanly. Will keep working on it
This one I didn’t think I could do it and that it was above my skill level. After watching and looking at the tab I did it several times un a row. Now I’m not the fastest person and mine sounded nothing like Tony’s but I did it! That’s a big win!
Loved this, a good basic exercise!
Nice, intuitive!
What a great start , feels good after last week
May I suggest to those who have already had the “Hotel California” challenge that you go there again. It adds interest when playing something that one already knows the melody.
Very cool!
still struggling with strumming using a pick. I’m wanting to learn how to do that more smoothly. i’ve used to acrylic nail on my index finger for so long it feels unnatural to strum with a pick. however the scratchy sound made by the acrylic nail in the down beat has started to annoy me.
Fun lesson that I will use a lot. Thanks, Tony.
Fun bass walks to learn. Helps me work on pick accuracy and speed as I increased the tempo.
doing ok on this
Those that have been through the Hotel California based challenge should have no problems with this one. I love these changes.
Have a great day!!
I did this before in the Skills courses. I don’t remember how I did then, but this time It was pretty good as I’ve developed some better understanding of what is going on with those walk notes. Two pass throughs and I think I have the fretting fingers figured out. Got to be somewhere now so I’ll come back to this later.
The tricky part was what fingers to use on the 3 and 4 beat. Also I continue to be frustrated because can’t fit the whole tab on the screen and have to stop every line or so to move the screen. As a result I don’t get much value out of the play along.
@RLD I have gone a step further and put all my printed out tabs in plastic sleeves in a binder labeled with the corresponding week number. So far I have 29 weeks of TAC lessons. OCD you think? Nah.
I did the same thing after starting TAC but soon found the book impractical to play from (not having a musician’s tripod stand to set the binder on). So I’ve gone to importing the TABs into a OneNote file which I pull up on any computer, tablet or phone. It’s not ideal but it’s been better than a physical book.
One click on the minus button at the top of the PDF should get you showing the whole tab. It does on my 13″ laptop. Of course you also have to scroll down below the title.
I having been doing bass walks for a while. But this exercise was good for pick accuracy!!
I love this exercise. Good for working on my boom-chick and pick accuracy and getting the hang of these walking bass lines. Fun stuff. Still need a lot of work to smooth it out but I’m able to move through the whole thing without too much clunkiness … at a pretty slow pace …
my challenge is leading with the correct index or middle finger on the bass walks between G and C. repeat repeat repeat
I really appreciated the detailed approach to this.
YES!!! I did it! Once I figured out the chord shape for each, I was able to do this lesson. I wouldn’t have figured it out 6 months ago. Still need to work on smoother transition from C to G, but it’s getting there. Really pleased that I could do this song!! 😀
Trust the process!!
This is my second time through this lesson, and I have been using these little bass walks ever since.
Once you get these down it is hard not to use them because they are so much fun to incorporate into your playing. I use them to warm up and go from chord to chord, ads a new element into the practice routine.
I was surprised by how quickly I was able to grasp this challenge, not that I can play it cleanly at full speed yet. But just understand the drill and be able to practice it took no time at all!
The Florida weather has returned to the state, life is good! Enjoy your week TAC family!
This is a fun exercise! Helps to work on picking accuracy.
Yes! And not getting mixed up which base note to hit on the boom-chicka part. But it’s fun, and once I get the muscle memory in, I could play this all day!
This is a great day to get back into regular practice.
Here’s to another wonderful week of TAC!
This was fun, got pretty good at figuring out which finger would be better to put where, Timing was better. Good Day!
I watching Tony’s strumming hand carefully at the beginning of todays exercise. Before he starts strumming. He is chatting away and you don’t see the pick in his hand until he makes his first strum. Pretty tricky.
Well the dog likes it 🙂 must be doing something right.
Enjoyed today.I found base walks reasonably easy,it is incorporating them I find hard.Tonys explanation of the timing today is a big help.
Good basic exercise, usefully, in some many songs.
A good week of technique training. I have an ingrained habit of playing the 3 finger G chord. So, I’m trying to retrain my fretting hand to switch to the 4 finger G chord. Old habits are hard to break especially for old dogs. Hope y’all have a great week of progress!
The 3 finger G is my friend – easiest to transition into and out of for certain!
Yep, except when transitioning to the Cadd9.
This is one of my favorite weeks in TAC. I get to revisit the bass walks. I use them all the time and it is good to refresh on the technique. I hope everyone is doing well, and I can’t wait to read the comments.
It’s always good to refresh!
You are correct my friend.
Totally agree Howard! Good day!!!
Enjoy your day @WAMGOC.
Still struggling with my mind as to be constantly moving on without getting to grips with everything. Determined to continue with the course and hopefully Tony is right with this approach.
Tony is right. Just stick with the system. You can do it.
Don’t give up. I know I struggle when you have a new cord and your learning a new progression. I find that I spend more time say how to finger the cord and at the same time try to play the new strum pattern. Repition is a players best friend.
Don’t know how much guitar experience you had before TAC.I had very very little,and found TAC hard at first,some weeks much harder than others.But I have stuck with it for nearly a year now,and I have improved without doubt,plus I find the weekly challenges getting easier.Stick to the system,it seems to work!
I also, like @Stromcat had very little experience before TAC (~4months of very aimless, sporadic practice). 7 months into TAC I am remarkably improved and enjoying the learning process more than ever. I have played my guitar on 193 out of 208 days. I have missed 15 days, 10 of them were my trip to Vienna without a guitar and at least 2 others were a glitch in the TAC system, I know that I played but it didn’t register.
Contrast to the other 2 programs I started in my pre-TAC life that I fell away from withing the first 8 weeks. TAC is the perfect blend of teaching skills and making it fun. It is so well designed to keep you coming back. Others might be very rich in content and be taught by excellent guitar players, but they won’t hold your interest and you’ll end up learning slower or giving up altogether.
Going with Tony’s way does work. Over time. But if you really want to get grips with everything, spend more than the ten minutes. The old adage, “Practice makes perfect” still applies. The challenges that I really like, I tend to spend a lot more time with, and I really do get better. Muscle memory develops with more repetition. You might even go back and repeat that day’s lesson, or at least play the tab every day for a week or more, if it’s one you really like. You might just like the results. Good luck! And have fun!
Good morning to all you TACers out there in Guitarland. Now go back to sleep. It’s 2:30 am on the east coast znd I’m going to bed. Later gators.