[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Gregr819 Pain is a warning sign from your body… I’ve learned the hard way, better to listen to it. I’d guess your ergonomics might be suboptimal and you may be on the verge of tendonitis or some type of overuse syndrome. You’re already doing well by asking for advice and adjusting your form. Hope that helps!! If not, you might try taking just one or 2 lessons in person so they can check your posture and form face to face. Also it’s easier to learn and easier on your body if you keep to shorter, more frequent practice sessions. (3 ten minute sessions vs 1 thirty minute session). Don’t forget the ice!!

Best wishes, Carol

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Rob503 You are certainly not alone with this issue… And it’s an important thing especially if you are playing with others but also to sound better when you are soloing or singing along with your playing.

Lots of great advice here already- I would add that I usually never even get the metronome out until I am able to get my chord transitions fairly smooth first. It’s almost impossible to stay “on the beat” with the metronome if you’re still working at finding the right place on the fretboard.

Not sure which piece you are working at specifically, but whichever song, try just looking at the chords first. Do one simple down-strum per measure with whatever chord is indicated, changing chords as written. One strum per measure on the first beat. If you can get your new chord changes smooth on the first beat of the next measure, then get your metronome out and work on 1 beat per click with just the strum on the first beat. That will get you used to hearing the metronome, counting in your head (or out loud) along with the metronome, and your hands are only strumming once per beat on the 1.

(For example, If the song is in 4/4 time, starts on a C chord for the first 2 measures then switches to an F chord for the third and a G for the 4th measure, set your metronome at 30 bpm, and counting out loud: “1-2-3-4/C strum-2-3-4/C strum 2-3-4/F strum 2-3-4/G strum 2-3-4) If you’re not used to singing/speaking out loud while you are playing guitar, you might have to just count out loud with your metronome without your guitar at all, just to get used to that.

You can also use your metronome to practice your chord transitions. Tony has some lessons on that, you can practice say a C to F to C to F along with a metronome. That spotlights a specific element of a song which you can focus on until it’s smooth. Then switch it up to F to C to F to C etc… You can use the chord changes found within the song you are interested in learning, but use the metronome to help you smooth out the individual elements of the song. You will be ready for the entire song before you know it!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@jumpinjeff Congratulations on your 9th year with TAC!!! You have been an awesome source of wisdom and inspiration and also an awesome friend. Wishing you many more years of guitar joy ahead of you, Buddy!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@bwscv123yahoo-com first of all, welcome to the awesome world of guitar! I’m so happy that you are taking the first steps in your guitar geek journey!!

I have to echo the wonderful advice already offered here. Mostly, to be patient with yourself and keep it fun. Guitar is not easy- if it was then everybody would be playing!

I would start keeping a guitar journal/log/practice plan. Get a planner or even just a blank spiral notebook and use it only for your guitar. Make some specific goals for yourself and tag them as long term (12 months out), intermediate term (3-6 months out) and short term (1-3 months out). Your short term goal might be to practice at least 10 minutes a day for at least 5 days a week, or to watch all of Tony’s daily lessons and attempt them for at least 10 minutes… Your intermediate goals might be to learn 4-5 basic chords and be able to transition between them. Your long term goal might be to learn a specific song. Whatever they are, make your goals specific, realistic, and measurable. Also if you make a short video of yourself during one of your practice sessions, then wait a week or a month to view it- you will be amazed at realizing how far you have gone!! (Nobody needs to see the video except you.)

So be patient and ignore any critics- they are just being impatient and want quick results… You might consider inviting your kids to join you in learning to play guitar… They will then realize it’s not so easy and they might enjoy learning/playing together as a family!!! Anywayz, I’d try to just settle in for the long haul and keep at it. That almost guarantees results over time. You are in the right place for results, for sure!!

Let us know how you are doing- I would love to hear what you choose for your very first song goal!!!

Carol

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Carol-3M-Stillhand.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Loraine that’s awesome news!! I am sure it will be quite the experience. You may have thought of this already but if you have a Martin guitar, bring it with you and Chris might have an opportunity to sign it somewhere?

Have fun and can’t wait to hear all about it!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@ProbablyBryan I’m with @Fletch on this one… I have a $20 footrest made by On-Stage. It’s collapsable so could fit easily in the outer music pouch of a gig bag. Anyway it’s got 5 different height adjustment notches, and if I’m playing for more than 5 minutes it’s indispensable!! Much less wear and tear on our backs and joints if we use optimal ergonomics!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

A tie that links 2 notes is an instruction to play the first of the 2 notes for the duration of both notes put together. (without re-playing the 2nd note.)

So in 4/4 time, if you had one whole note in one measure (takes up 4 counts which is the entire measure) and that note had a tie to a half note in the next measure, followed by 2 quarter notes, you’d play that first whole note and hold it for 6 beats before playing the 2 quarter notes that follow the tie.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hiya @Roy-Phils

The chord of D Major (D, F#, A) is the 1-chord in the key of D-Major. However it’s also the 4-chord in the key of A-Major, and it’s the 5-chord in the key of G-Major.

1-4-5

G Major G-C-D

D Major D-G-A

A Major A-D-E

Hoping that helps with your question? And hope you are enjoying your music theory studies 🙂

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

So much great advice on this discussion thread!!

I will add that one of the most difficult things is to cultivate a habit. Often the biggest obstacle each day is just getting your guitar in your hands and starting. If you are trying for an hour or 2 each day, that big of a time block is likely to get crowded off the “to do list”. If you know that your daily goal is only 10 minutes, that makes it so much easier to smile, set your timer and grab your guitar. So, practice the daily lesson for 10 minutes a day. After 10 minutes, give yourself a big green check mark!! No matter how well you think you mastered the material. Next time you see that lesson you will be familiar with it and you will notice your progress. You can favorite any lesson so you can go back to it at any time, or wait until the lesson cycle repeats.

Most people do end up practicing/playing/noodling for longer than the 10 minutes. Think of the 10 minutes as a starting block.

Keep it fun, and enjoy the music!! C

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@MMMURRAY sometimes it helps to compare and contrast to the piano keyboard… On a keyboard there is only one place or key to play each note. Guitars have multiple places to play the same note. Think of each of the 6 strings as a separate “keyboard”, but the notes of each string overlap those of the adjacent strings. This creates multiple spots across the fretboard where you could play the same note. (7 different spots for C in the first 12 frets.) That’s just one note. But there is some hope because these multiple “spots” occur in a repeating pattern on the fretboard. Once you learn the pattern it works with any note. Knowing that you can build a chord off of any note, once you learn the single note octave pattern you can play notes, scales, solos and chords all over the guitar neck with ease.

I don’t know if this helps you or not, but keep studying and you will get it along the way. Fretboard Wizard is one of the best courses I’ve ever seen for guitar fretboard theory so you’re on the right track!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@BrandonK You can find plenty of encouragement in the TAC forums under “Small Wins” where people can post their milestones and victories, both large and small. I hope that helps you to keep picking away at it, and remember that guitar is a difficult instrument to learn. There’s alot of things for your brain to get a hold of at first but you will get to the point where you have your fretting callouses built up and you know 3-4 chords and it starts to become really FUN!!!!

https://tonypolecastro.com/family-forums/forum/small-wins/

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Carol-3M-Stillhand.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@BrandonK Congratulations on your new guitar and welcome to TAC!! Happy NGD (New Guitar Day) and alot of us geeks would love to know what you brought home from the guitar store and how you like it so far!!

I agree that the best place to start is the 30 days to play. Don’t be a perfectionist, but work your way through that. Afterwards, give the daily 10 minute lesson a try for 10 minutes a day. Just to see the video, take a look at the music/TABs and go wading. See how far you can get in 10 minutes. Many of the daily lessons repeat, so the next time you see it you will be familiar with it and you will really see the progress you have made since last time. (You can also click the heart to put any lesson on your list of favorites so you can go back to it any time you like and work on it.)

Also under “Resources” in the menu column to the left of the screen there’s a goody called “Skill Courses” which contains a whole bunch of awesome video lessons from Tony. They are fun and very do-able. Check them out!!!

Glad you are here and hope you are enjoying your new guitar life!!! C

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@PickinmyPocket If you go to the daily lesson screen, there is a section on the right side of that screen with all of your stats, including your session number. It also has a running total of the number of consecutive weeks you’ve completed the lessons on and a running streak of consecutive log on days.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@leftyruss that’s an awesome group of chords to work from!! They are all in the key of G-Major after all!! (The G-Major chords are G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em and Fdim) but hardly anyone plays diminished chords, haha!

Besides the obvious answer (practice), I’d say the best way to obtain smooth chord transitions is to look at the chord diagrams for each chord and see if any of them have strings/frets in common with each other. Like the C Major and the A minor. For the C-Major chord, most people use ring finger to fret the 5th string 3rd fret, middle finger to fret the 4th string 2nd fret, and index finger to fret the 2nd string 1st fret. Switching from C Major to A minor, you can just leave your index and middle finger as those are the same for the A minor chord. All you need to do is pick up your middle finger off the 5th string and place it on the 3rd string 2nd fret. Give that a try and go back and forth from C to Am.

Always look at where you are coming from compared to where you are going next. Any notes/strings/frets that are the same are called “anchor notes” and you can leave your fingers fretted, using them as spatial reference points to move the other fingers that do need to change. A classic example of this is in the key of G, if you make your G-chord like Tony, the bluegrass way (with your ring finger on the 2nd string 3rd fret), this can become your anchor note for all 3 of the major chords.

Gmajor:

Pinky 1st string 3rd fret

Ring 2nd string 3rd fret

Index 5th string 2nd fret

Middle 6th string 3rd fret

Practice making this G-chord with good tone, then after you strum, leave your ring finger where it is but practice just lifting the other 3 fingers and then re-fretting the entire G-chord. Keep doing these “take-offs and landings” within the same chord until you can do it with your eyes closed.

G to Dmajor:

Start with the Gmajor chord above. To change easily to a Dmajor:

Leave Ring finger on 2nd string 3rd fret (This is your anchor note)

Pick up the other 3 fingers from their G-Positions and place

Middle finger on 1st string 2nd fret

Index finger on 3rd string 2nd fret

Practice holding your ring finger down while switching back and forth between Gmajor and Dmajor.

G to Cmajor:

Start with the Gmajor chord above. To change easily to a Cmajor:

Leave ring finger on the 2nd string 3rd fret (This is still your anchor note)

Pick up middle and index fingers from their G-Positions and move

Middle finger to 5th string 3rd fret

Index finger to 4th string 2nd fret.

Technically this is a C-add9 chord but it should sound OK wherever a C-major chord is called for.

Give this a try and see if it works for you. Just keep your ring finger down as your anchor note and switch around from G to C to G to D to C to G etc….

Also Tony has a bunch of lessons on chord transitions over in the menus on the left side of the home screen 🙂

Best wishes, Carol

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Loraine glad to hear you will be taking a Martin Guitar for Mr. Martin to sign!! And yes, hope to see you soon 😉