Biff_Gordon
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Do one lesson a day. Do not try to do it perfectly. Do as well as you can in 10-20 minutes. Play it through against once or twice later in the day. Next day, before starting the lesson, play it once more for a warm up. Keep moving on!
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One of my favorite picks was smooth, but one of the dogs chewed on it, creating dimples that make it easier to hold onto! Now, I have found Fender picks with enough embossing to give very good traction.
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A few things that might help:
1. Do not expect to master a TAC session in a day. Mastery comes with time and experience. I watched a documentary on Doc Watson, and when asked how long it took him to master a certain piece of music, his reply was 12 years! Sign on, watch the video, play the exercises at 1/2 speed, and learn the principle Tony is teaching.
2. Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. I can work on an exercise first time for 10-15 minutes before I turn into fumble fingers. At that point, I have to put the guitar down and come back to it in a few hours for another 10 minutes or so – and repeat again later. If you continue to “practice” after your fingers start to have a mind of their own, you will reinforce bad technique. Trainers tell us it takes 1000 perfect repetitions to build muscle memory. You don’t have to do it all at once. Start at 1/2 speed and try to work up to 3 good repetitions. Then stop and try again later. Speed will follow accuracy.
3. Tony is good at offering bite-size chunks, with each session building on the last, but trying to get all 5 days right may not be possible yet. Spend 10-20 minutes on each TAC session, then pick 1 or 2 sessions for that week, print off the tab, and practice in 10 -15 minute bits through the week. Are you interested in licks? Focus on Tuesdays. If you are more comfortable with chords, focus on the Rhythm Guitar days. Before going on to TAC, I tune up, do some stretching exercises, play a few scales, and use the lesson I want to focus on as a warm up.
4. Weekends, do the skill lessons OR work on a song you want to learn. Let it be fun!
Hope some of this helps!
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Hello! I. just started the 30 day challenge today. Been playing for 52 years be ear, chord books, and instinct. Tony just gave me what I have been lacking – STRUCTURE!
It may be a bit humbling, but I needed to have someone tell me about posture, the arch in the fingers for fingering, how to hold a pick properly, and “Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie”.
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First thing I do before starting a lesson is print the Tab. I use that for reviewing the skill
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<div>Danny, you said, “its not a natural motion…” And you are correct! The natural motion for our hands is to grasp. Our fingers naturally want to move as a unit. Guitar practice is like touch typing – it takes time and repetition. No instant gratification!</div>
About the hand pain, I can only recommend you go to the Skills Couses and go through Tony’s stretches. It works! Stretch a little before each session.
Keep going on the 30 Day course! Do not stay on a lesson more than 2 days. Keep progressing. Do not try to get the lesson down perfectly – you won’t. You need to first understand the concept being taught. Print off the tab for the lesson, and try to play through one note at a time. Then go to the practice video and reduce it to 50%. You are going for accuracy, not speed. Speed comes with time. You may find that after 10-20 minutes your playing gets worse. No worries! Fatigue is setting in. Stop and put the guitar up for a while. Come back later in the day and do a 10 minute refresher. the next day, before you begin the next lesson, go through the previous day’s lesson as a warm up. Then on to the next lesson.
In the 30 day course, Tony will teach you basic techniques, timing, and TWO CHORDS. I have been playing over 50 years, and found the 30 day course extremely helpful, as it showed me techniques I never tried, and broke a few bad habits. It felt like starting from scratch. I did not get any lesson down perfectly. I still have to go back and practice blues bass runs and scales to keep them fresh. You are looking for progress, not perfection at this point. Keep going!
Your next skill course should be My Next 6 Chords. This will help increase your dexterity and give you the chords to play along to a whole bunch of songs. Give each lesson a day or two and move on. After that go on to the Daily Challenges. And remember, they are CHALLENGES. I frequently flub my way through Monday and Tuesday, and do better the rest of the week, but the challenges have expanded my flexibility and have helped me to understand what really good guitarists are doing to sound that good. I may not be able keep up with them, but it is no longer a mystery.
On last thing. The daily challenges will expand your technique tool box. Try to teach yourself a new song every month. This will help keep things fresh. As Chet Atkins told Tommy Emmanuel, First, learn the melody. Next learn the chords. After that you can add to it to make it your own.
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Did ok. Once your fingers are in position, it doesn’t take much to pluck. Swelling is down some today, and I have about 50% mobility. Its a good week for finger picking.