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I’d like to know if there is any new content/updates being done to the site as I least want some new content as I continue my journey. I can understand repeating the benchmarks but other content should be refreshed and updated to hold interest and teach us in different ways. I haven’t been here long enough to see repeats but do any of the old timers know if Tony ever updates any of the content or replaces older weekly challenges with new ones? We are paying weekly and I don’t have a lifetime membership so I’d expect some kind of ongoing improvement…
Really like the content so far and it is helping me to make progress from when I started for sure.

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Wonderful!

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You are sellin’ it brother! Excellent!

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Good stuff… I like the production… video, inserts! Very nice!

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Sorry I’m so late to this party but I LOVE covers of songs I like done by other great musicians and collect them on a playlist… here are a few:

Africa – Toto/Weezer

Last Kiss – J. Frank Wilson/Pearl Jam

Heartbeat – Buddy Holly/Chris Isaak (w/Michelle Branch)/The Knack (3 different covers)

Cruel To Be Kind – Nick Lowe/Letters To Cleo

Somebody’s Baby – Jackson Brown/Phantom Planet

Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House/Sixpence None The Richer

My Back Pages – Dylan/Byrds

I’m going to look in this thread for others for my list! Great topic. Thanks!

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Take the following with a huge grain of salt as I’m not in your position regarding injury, just some arthritis. Since your D is OK, I’d think you can get to successfully playing 3 finger chords. By “successfully” I mean good enough to get the majority of the sounds in place. I’m going to say there are two main factors of playing chords: fretting hand holding the correct strings so they sound clear and aren’t dampened, and transitions between chords. The first factor will take time for your muscle memory and strength to develop. You are using muscles that you’ve maybe never used and adaptation takes time–even years to master. Having said that, you can be good enough with 3 string chords and that should be your first goal. Look for 3 chord songs that are slow, use 3 or less string chords and easier transitions. This will help with respect to keeping your interest as you get better at making actual music you like. Pick chords that are easiest for you to hold first like the D. Maybe Em, maybe Am or A… you can make a song with these three… AI will actually give you songs names that use the chords you know in the genre you like. Then it is down to transitions and this is all about slowing down and working on particular transitions.

One more thing, when you get fatigued and you reach that point of diminishing returns and frustration, put it down and come back to it later in the day or the next day. At first, 10 minutes or less might be all you can do… put it down, come back to it later. I feel my muscle memory seems to improve even between sessions as if pathways are being built in my brain and nervous system. Maybe not but sometimes I pick my guitar up after a pause between a few sessions and I’m all the sudden better at some aspects that were a struggle. As far as when to move on… I really think it is important to move on and leave things we haven’t perfected. This really goes against my grain and upbringing but it has helped me a lot here as the next weekly routing gets me out of a frustrating rut sometimes and even though I do something completely different in the next week, I get general improvement that is really obvious. The course will circle back to things you practiced a while before, then you’ll see improvement that will really build confidence, desire and satisfaction. Hope this helps!

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HUGE accomplishment! Consistency is the #1 factor leading to improvement and making your goals. GRATS!

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I think that what Tony provides in AC is a broad base of fundamentals that will enable you to play almost anything on guitar to some level of proficiency. From there, you can focus on what you like with more ease as your hands and mental connections are trained which frees you up to develop the specific technique expansion you need.
I definitely have a specific style I want to learn which I believe AC is helping me get to… but I’d also say that it has expanded my horizon at the same time into areas I didn’t know would fascinate me. I’ve come to accept that fundamental expansion of technique and mental connections are really key to mastery… those come slowly unfortunately, particularly to people our age, but I get a lot of fulfillment out of AC and really enjoy how it helps me focus my practice without a lot of research and false starts.

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I say this a lot so please excuse my “broken record”… Make sure you complete the steps in the Quick Start Guide if you haven’t already. It sounds like you might have gone on to the weekly challenges? I was a little confused at first regarding the 30-Days to Play and 5 Days To Play Challenge. These are important steps! Sounds like you are committed and that is great! Just make sure you reward yourself for small wins… you deserve it and a great first win is even trying!!!

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I’m pretty new here… just a couple of months. I “played” guitar for a few decades but never put in the work to actually build a fundamental skill set. That is what I feel I’m getting here.
One thing I would stress is seriously and methodically completing the steps in the Quick Start guide if you haven’t already. And by seriously I mean don’t skip anything no matter how easy it seems. Take a full 30 days on the 30 Days to Play and 5 days on the 5 Day Routine Challenge. I started the course about 2 years ago and skipped a lot of that because it seemed to fundamental… I was wrong about that for sure. When I stuck to that plan it sort of clicked for me what what happening. You don’t have to get the exercises perfect before you move on… each makes different connections in your brain and muscle memory and then you’ll find improvements in areas you didn’t even practice… small improvements but improvements none the less. Then it took me about another month before I started feeling the rhythm of the weekly challenges. Some weeks it seems like no or very little progress… others I feel a huge difference.
Lots of great input above regarding other factors. Good luck with your guitar journey or whatever else you decide to do.

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Very good info here from someone who has really put some effort into seeing the patterns. Thank you.

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Interesting! Let us know if you pick it up and how you like it!

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Thx for the advice! I’ll check out the Ableton and also the online tutorials. What people say about the Mixcraft is it is more intuitive and the closest thing to Garage Band on the Mac. I have time to look and am in no particular hurry. One thing I like about the Mixcraft is that there is a 2 week full-featured trial so when I get ready to lay down some tracks, I’ll start that and see how I like it.

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In the same category but inverted… Nine Inch Nail’s Hurt and Johnny Cash’s version… the Cash version is so poignant.

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I’ve always made the folk G though I didn’t know it was called that. I really do prefer the transitions from that G but the other thing it has done for me was help to build strength and coordination in my non-index fingers which was really needed in my case.