[Alisa]

I hear you. Chord transitions is a long-term project. Remember what Tony says in his introduction video: consistency, not mastery. We don’t get better by playing the same thing over and over again, and it can take months to land a chord transition perfectly and consistently. You can’t be playing the same lesson over and over for months; you’ll die of boredom! Or, more likely, just quit. It’s ok to move on from a lesson after getting a C- and not an A+. These chords will come back in other lessons and the daily challenges. You can practice them there as well.

[Alisa]

Excellent! That was my small win from Thursday’s challenge! Finally, developing some muscle memory with the pick. It’s so much more challenging than fingerpicking; the struggle is real. Glad to hear I’m not the only one 😅

[Alisa]

That’s great, @Bob_E! I also found these week’s challenges, with first the Am scale and then the backing track, great for making the connection between fret position and the note. I wish Tony would play the notes when explaining the finger positioning to reinforce that. Sometimes “middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string” is a lot for my brain to process, but if he plays the note, I’ll know what he means.

[Alisa]

I love the cat bombing your picture 😻 What you wrote about creating space and letting the music breathe is beautiful. I sometimes get so caught up focusing on the technique that I forget to enjoy the beautiful music. Journaling sounds like a wonderful idea; I might steal that one 🙂 Thank you for sharing!

[Alisa]

Good luck with the surgeries, and let us know when you’re back! I hope you have a nice acoustic guitar playlist to keep you inspired while you’re healing

[Alisa]

Welcome back! Your guitar must have missed you.

[Alisa]

Nice! 🙌

[Alisa]

Congrats! Flatpicking is a challenge for me too, we have 5 fingers to pick with but only 1 pick, right. But it sounds so cool. Thanks for sharing, I should check that course out.

[Alisa]

Thank you all 🙂

[Alisa]

guitartricks website has a “fretboard trainer” (https://www.guitartricks.com/fretboardtrainer.php), I think it’s accessible also to non-members. It goes beyond just the empty strings, but you have to know the string to be able to figure out the note.

[Alisa]

I just very recently joined this community (day 10!). What attracted me to this program in Tony’s 40-minute-long-sales-pitch is taking off pressure from mastering something before moving on. I am someone who will not celebrate a “small win” until I get it perfect. And there is always that one transition I keep messing up, or the one chord that doesn’t sound perfect, so basically, I never give myself that pat on the back. The idea of giving it your best shot for at least 10 minutes, taking from it what you’ve learned, and leaving behind what was out of reach is very liberating and exciting for me. So perhaps this feature is meant to reinforce that original concept of consistency above mastery and learning by experiencing a new challenge every day.

I like Jumpin’ Jeff’s suggested workflow of using the menu to go back to previous challenges (or add to favorites if you wish to keep it beyond the month) but still allowing yourself to click on the “complete” if you spent 10 earnest minutes on it, whatever the result was.

[Alisa]

If that’s “work in progress,” what’s the finished result?? 😅
I loved it. Are you playing by ear, or is there a link to tabs or music sheet you can share?

[Alisa]

Hi Campfire. I have both guitars as well! Once upon a time, I was pretty good at the classical one. It’s great for fingerpicking, but chords are more challenging because the strings are further apart. I got the acoustic guitar to learn chords and use a pick. I switch between the two as well and I don’t see any harm in it. The tuning issue is just new strings, I’m dealing with that as well right now, they go out of tune within a couple of minutes. It will get better.

[Alisa]

Thanks, David! The official tab on ultimate guitar looks legit; thanks for the tip! And that’s how I ended up with a subscription to yet another guitar website 😂

[Alisa]

Thanks, Loraine! Was the sound weird on the fast speed on the old site as well? Or am I the only one with that issue?