[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@rdeputy you are asking alot of very very good questions!! If you’ve already taken the Fret Wiz course, I highly recommend you look into Edly’s Music Theory for Practical People, by Ed Roseman. I’ve heard Tony make reference to this book and have since read it cover to cover. It’s a great “part 2” after FretWiz.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi Tredd, and welcome to TAC!! And congratulations on your retirement too. Now is a great time to get back to the things that you never had enough time for!!

I would highly recommend that you check out the “Skill Courses” section (under “Resources” in the menu bar on the right side of your screen. There’s tons of little mini courses on things like strumming, fingerpicking, chord changing and lots more. Also it’s good to spend a few minutes a day on the Daily Challenge. Just to get used to the daily lesson routine and to build your daily practice habit. Don’t worry if you don’t get the daily challenge perfectly. Just watch the video and give it a few minutes. But do pick out a few of the skill courses that interest you and work thru those.

Best wishes!! C

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @KnottyJim that’s a great question!! The way you hold your guitar can be very individualized for sure. I’d say there’s 2 basic sitting positions, one is with the guitar on your left knee (or on your picking side), and the neck horizontal. The other way is the more classical posture, with the guitar on your right knee (strumming side) and the neck tilting about 45 degrees. (Low E tuner should be about eye level). The classical posture is usually a bit more ergonomic, easier to reach notes and easier on your fretting hand. Also there’s playing while standing too. I would try them all out and use whichever way is most comfortable for you. Don’t forget to take frequent stretch breaks (helps as we get older, hehe)

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @RonAmos great question and already some great answers here!!

I would add by saying that there’s an almost infinate number of possible scale patterns… All you need to remember is that for any of the patterns, when you change from a major scale to a minor scale, you just have to flatten the 3rd, the 6th, and the 7th scale degree. (On our fretboards, we just go down in tone by one fret to flatten a note.)

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Great question @paulabmoorehotmail-com

The note A# is another name for the same note Bb. But when constructing scales, we have to stick to “The Alphabet Rule”, which means we can only use each letter of the alphabet one time. So the F major scale is F G A Bb C D E F.

(Not F G A A# C D E F, which has the letter A twice)

Hope that helps 🙂

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @langerking I find that in the winter my tuning tends to run flat, and the hot humid summers if anything, I run a little sharp. Keep in mind that indoor heating makes the relative humidity drop like a stone, so definately my humidity runs really low indoors in the winter (10-20%), which is why I try to pay attention to keeping my guitars in their cases with humidipacks during the winter months.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @BrandonK that’s a great question that plagues most guitar geeks… I think @Loraine listed a whole bunch of excellent tips that are all very very helpful!!

I also would add that once you learn the guitar part of a song without the singing yet, that you should start playing the song (without the vocals yet) in front of the TV, with the TV sound ON loud enough to be a distraction to your brain. Once you can easily do that, start trying to LISTEN to the TV while you play your guitar song without the vocals. Once you can do that, start trying to listen to the TV weather forecast while playing your guitar song without the vocals, and be able to tell somebody what the weather will be tomorrow after you finish playing. This helped me soooo much!! Both my hands used to go dead as soon as I opened my mouth to start singing. I just didn’t have the bandwidth to operate 2 hands independently plus generate a vocal. So the hands went offline once the vocal started. The TV exercise helps you to find that extra bandwidth in your brain to power up a third thing (vocals) simultaneously.

The best thing about singing and playing, is that it’s just a matter of practicing it. It’s not impossible, just don’t give up!!!! Have fun 🙂

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Bainer I’d say that the short answer to your question is that you should play the lesson slow enough that you are not making any mistakes. Once you can play a passage 5 times with no mistake, you can inch up the tempo a bit. Keep doing that until you reach the desired tempo. I think it’s actually harder to play something slower than faster, because all your mistakes are obvious (which is exactly why slow is a good practice tool).

The actual BPM beats per minute you would set your metronome on to reach your target tempo is also a bit misleading. If you set your quarter notes as one click, you might be set at 50 BPM on your metronome. But if you’ve got the same tempo but have some tricky dotted quarter notes to master, you might want to set your eighth notes as one click each…. so your metronome would be set at 100 BPM but your tempo would still be 50 (You just have twice the clicks per measure)

There are some really cool metronome apps out there that have a tap feature. You just tap the screen to the beat and it automatically sets the metronome speed to match your tapped in tempo.

Hope some of that helps!! C

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@johnhalsall87gmail-com Glad you are enjoying playing guitar and especially that you are enjoying Tony’s Acoustic Challenge!! You have some great guitar goals for next year for you wife’s birthday celebration!! Knowing the “Why” is a very powerful motivation.

I think @Loraine gave some great advice, that it might be good to take some lessons even for a short time. Taking 1:1 instruction in person can give you very personalized tips on how to learn a few songs that you could be able to play for your wife by June next year. And of course it’s a great idea to keep going with Tony P’s teaching method right here to get your general technique to advance.

Also it might be helpful to find a local song circle jam group. It will help you learn how to play along with (and in front of) others, and you can share tips about how to make certain songs/chord progressions easier.

You might not be able to play those songs exactly like on the record album, but you might need to modify the songs to a different key with more playable chords. You may need to just play in a simpler rhythm pattern, like one strum per measure… you get the idea. I’m sure your wife and all the others at the party will be amazed at your progress, no matter where you are in your guitar journey!! Have fun!!!

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by  Carol-3M-Stillhand.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Hop you very well may be over-doing things on the strings… Most people use up way too much energy by pressing too hard on the strings. This just makes your entire fretting hand tense up and that can make everything more difficult. It also pulls your note sharp when you fret with too much pressure. Perhaps the reason Tony P. looks so relaxed when he plays is that he only uses the minimal pressure to avoid buzzing.

Some suggested exercises for you would be to try some drills without even using your thumb on the back of the neck. (I did this when I had tendonitis in my fretting hand thumb). Doing this makes your other fingers realize just how lightly they need to press to get a clean tone. You really don’t need the vice grip from behind with your thumb and letting that go helps you play alot more relaxed.

The other exercise I’d suggest would be to do the “spider exercise” but for each note you play, keep on that note while fretting with less and less pressure each time, until you get a buzz. The one right before the buzz is your minimal fretting pressure (MFP). That will eventually make it into your muscle memory and you will never be clinching down on the neck with your fretting hand. Play relaxed, play better.

Hope that all makes sense. Enjoy and have fun!!!! C

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Loraine I am so sorry to hear about your injury and surgeries!! I am sending tons of good thoughts and healing prayer your way, and hope you heal through this quickly. I admire your “can do” attitude, you are an inspiration to us all.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @Novelette the TABs will indicate which fret on which string, but which fretting finger to use is usually not included. That’s where I would watch the TAC lesson video carefully and look at what fretting finger Tony is using. If it helps, you can slow down the video play speed the same way you can with YouTube. Also there’s frequently more than one way to fret any given sequence of notes, so if one way isn’t working, try it another way that might be better for you.

There’s alot of music notation out there (especially for classical guitar) that will indeed indicate which fretting fingers will work best and learning that skill will transfer over to most styles of play.

Lots of watching, learning and practicing, and you will get it!!! Have fun 🙂

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@TomJabz1973 All the stretching exercises are helpful but if you want an instant gratification push in the right direction, try tuning your guitar down a full step

(D-G-C-F-A-D) and then put your capo on the 2nd fret. You will still be in standard tuning to play along with Tony’s video, or with anyone else, but you will also not have to stretch your fingers as far to reach the notes because you’ve just eliminated the 2 longest frets. Also you have instantly lowered the action so it should be easier all around. And why not make things easier where ever possible???

Hope this made sense and hope it helps!!

C

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@MartyP it’s a great question with alot of great answers… Guitar strings are alot like car tires… They wear out gradually and you don’t usually appreciate how bad they are until you replace them… Thankfully as already mentioned, guitar strings are not as expensive as new tires, hehe!!

But really, everyone has a different “tolerance” to aging strings. Professional musicians who charge people money to hear them play, usually change their strings every day they have a performance, to play with fresh strings. And it goes down the continuum to people like me (hobbyist players) who can’t really even hear the difference between new strings and old strings. I change mine once a year (or so) whether they need it or not, haha!! Or if one string breaks I change the whole set. I like “old” strings because they stay in tune better and like I said, I can’t really hear the difference in tone. That said, there’s nothing more gross than taking a really old set of strings off, coiling them up and then doing a side by side comparison with the new ones….

If you need a tetanus shot before you play your guitar, it’s probably time for new strings. But everyone should do what’s right for themselves.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Very nicely stated, @jumpinjeff I agree 110% with your assessment of things.

I think we are learning not only how to play guitar, but more importantly, how to teach ourselves to learn even more guitar and how to play songs without being dependent on other people’s TABs and arrangements. I think that takes a little while to realize but I came to that same conclusion too. (Just celebrated my 10th TACiversary last week!!)

Be well, my friend!! C