[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hiya Jeff,

It can be difficult to carve out some guitar time when your schedule has some very crowded days in it… My advice to you is, to think outside the box. You only really need to find 10 minutes on those crazy busy days. Think about all those little 10 minute windows you might be able to steal in the mornings, or before dinner, wherever. Keeping your guitar out on a stand helps to save time and allows you to quickly pick it up and play…

And if that isn’t going to work for you, maybe you can just skip a day but do a “makeup” session the next day when you might have more time. That way you will still be getting all your daily lesson check marks.

Go easy on yourself, this is about progress, not perfection. If you do miss a day, that’s OK!! Keep it enjoyable and you’ll see everything getting better with time!! C

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Michelle-PSL Congratulations on your 2nd TAC-iversary!! It’s always great to watch your videos, you are an awesome guitar player and vocalist!! May you enjoy continued progress and happiness on your future TAC years and acoustic adventures 🙂

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@the-old-coach wow you have many irons in the fire for sure!! Sounds like you are enjoying your busy guitar journey 🙂

Many of us have the same issue, there seems to be too many things to focus on sometimes. I have found that writing down my guitar goals is extremely helpful for this. Make a list of your long term goals (12 months out), then subdivide each long term goal into 12 smaller chunks, things you will need to do each month in order to reach your yearly goal. Then take each month’s goals and further divide those into weekly goals. From there you can write out your own personalized daily practice plan into a practice log/notebook, that you can check off each day. Make sure you account for days off (everyone skips a day of guitar here and there due to real life), and also knowing you may not have a full 2-3 hours each day, but that’s OK. Having a specific plan helps to stay focused and organized. Hope that helps and have fun with your practicing!!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@CaliBob that was pretty impressive!!! It looks like you’ve got this piece memorized which isn’t easy, and you’ve got some awesome tremolo happening as well. A classic piece, played with much emotion. Nicely done!!!!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @subsailor731 The “3 finger” G chord is 320003, or GBDGBG

The “4 finger” G chord, aka Bluegrass G, aka “The Tony P” G chord, is

320033, or GBDGDG.

Since your standard G major chord is GBD, both of these variations counts as your standard G Major. The only difference is there’s 2 B notes and only 1 D note in the 3 finger, and there’s 2 D notes and only 1 B note in the 4 finger. They are both G Major but they sound just a bit different, so it depends on what song you are playing, what “sound” you’re after and also, how well you can make both G chord variations, and how well you can transition to both variations from what comes immediately before and after your G chord.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@bugmeist unfortunately, there is no archive of previous months lessons. You can only go back to pick up earlier lessons from the current month. But, if you have ever “favorited” a lesson by clicking on the heart icon, it creates your own personal archive within TAC that you can access whenever you like. You can also download the TABs for the daily lesson, and store them on
your hard drive and/or print them out to make your own lesson library.

One trick that others have suggested is to visit other members’ profiles because you can view their favorite lessons from there. You can’t search for a specific lesson but it does allow you more access to random lessons that others have on their fav list. You could try posting a request for the week you’re looking for, if anyone has favorited any of those lessons, they might post back and then you would know which profiles to go find the lessons you missed.

And remember, if you miss a daily lesson, you are not behind. Every lesson can stand on its own so just pick up where we are today and get back on track. Nothing to make up for 🙂

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by  Carol-3M-Stillhand.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@the_old_coach first, congratulations on getting 15 pieces under your fingers!! Wow, that’s a big win!!

Second, I’ve had teachers and pro’s alike tell me that if you can’t play it slow, you surely can’t play it fast…. And once you get a song under your fingers they tell you, play it slower…. (until it’s perfect and then you can start speeding it up). Then once you reach full tempo, going even a bit faster will make regular speed seem like sight seeing….. Glad to see you have discovered this trick!! It’s alot more fun to play when we are at tempo or even faster. So yeah it’s not a dumb question, and it’s a method that alot of us share with you 🙂

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hiya @subsailor731 Welcome to the TAC community!! You are not alone in your thoughts that your fingers are too small to accomplish certain fretboard feats!! My advice to you mirrors what was already very nicely said, and it’s to keep doing the finger stretching exercises to maximize your reach, and also to do whatever works best for you to accomplish the drills.

A few other things I could add would be, to pay close attention to your form. Improving your hand position can automatically extend your fret reach well beyond your expectations. If you search YouTube and watch the players with small hands (Muriel Anderson comes to mind) you will see what I’m talking about. Also good is to use your capo and try the exercises on a higher fret where the distances are shorter. Once you have it, start lowering your capo one fret at a time. It’s like training wheels for your guitar.

Best wishes with this, keep at it and remember to warm up and stretch before playing. Keep it fun!!!!

Carol

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@johnny_b yes the Tuesday show is posted as a video, it’s not live. You can access it through the menu list on the left of the screen, right underneath the Forums link.

https://tonypolecastro.com/blog/

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@RealKurt I love all of your songs, but this one has soared to the top of my list of Kurt Fav’s!!! Your’e a pro, and I can’t wait for your album to be finished!!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@WillyB Sorry to hear that you are feeling the “Flounders”!! It sounds like you already have a good solid guitar practice habit and that you are meeting your short term guitar goals!! Big win there, way to go!!

There’s been a few great posts here already with very good advice. Might I add that it may help to write a list of all of your guitar goals, not just short term, but also medium term and long term. Goals need to be specific and measurable (and achievable). Having goals written down makes them more real, and it’s easier to recognize when you’ve reached one. (Crossing things off can be truly satisfying). Not sure if you’ve attended any of Tony’s quarterly guitar parties, but he usually covers topics just like this at every one of them. (Next one is in July 2022)

Another way to make it easier to see your progress is to video some of your practice sessions. Every time we pick up our guitars we are better players than we were yesterday. The little improvements can be so easy to miss unless we look back on a practice video from a few weeks or months ago and then it’s right there in plain sight.

One other tip I can offer is to keep a practice log. Look at your goals and ask yourself, “What do I need to do to reach that goal? What do I need to practice? How often?” Then incorporate that into the headings/objectives in your practice log. So each practice session should have a short list of specific songs/exercises/chord transitions etc, at the top when you open each page to start your daily guitar practice.

Progress can be furtive and elusive. It loves to hide itself from us. We need to go look for it and let each milestone fuel our future progress. Yes, it’s so easy and common for most of us to go through “guitar doldrums”. Sometimes it’s just no time/energy left over for guitar at the end of a busy day. Sometimes it’s a touch of boredom from doing the same routine every single day. Sometimes it’s a perceived lack of progress. So you’re not alone here. Not at all. I hope some of this helps you, and wherever your guitar journey takes you, I wish you success and joy!! Carol

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by  Carol-3M-Stillhand. Reason: spelling error

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hiya @the-old-coach it’s a good question, and I think my answer will agree with what the others already so wisely posted. Yes, it’s OK to simplify a song in order to get used to singing along while you play. If you’re first learning to sing and play, it’s definately one of the most difficult things to do, and everyone makes it look so durn easy. The nice thing to know is that each song you master will be easier and easier. So don’t give up!!

Some tips I’ve picked up along the way:

1. Choose a song you like and that you know very well.

2. Learn the song without singing first. Learn it forwards and backwards and in your sleep.

3. Start playing the song in front of the TV. Start trying to listen to what the TV news guy is saying while you are playing the song. (This trains your brain to focus on outside words while your hands are busy playing guitar.)

4. Start thinking of the lyrics in your head as you are playing the song. Progress to saying the words out loud as you play.

5. Once you are ready to start actually singing out loud, stop down the guitar down to bare minimum simple. Like just doing a simple strum on beat one of each measure, whatever chord is appropriate. Then do just a simple down strum just one for each new chord change…

6. Write out the lyrics and above the words, write down each new chord above the actual syllable of the words where the chord changes. This really helps as you are learning to sing and play.

7. Keep trying. If you give up it will never happen. Just when you start thinking you can’t do this, you will see, that you CAN do it. It’s like riding a bike. You will take off and fly!!!

Best wishes!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

In the beginning days of TAC, my handle was simply: CarolM, and in those days the system allowed duplicate screen names. (This was a bit confusing if your name was John or Bob) For a few years I was the only Carol in the house, then there was a few more but still only one CarolM… By this time there were about 40 members named Bob, and it was becoming very difficult to figure out if you had the right person. This is one of the things that was addressed when the TAC website got re-launched last year. At that time everyone had to think of a new screen name that was unique because the system no longer allowed duplicate screen names.

I stuck the number 3 before my last initial because to me, the 3M was my mental shorthand for a major third. (I am particularly fond of the use of a Picardy Third, which involves finishing a minor key song or a phrase with the corresponding major chord, out of key). The last chord of Classical Gas comes to mind. It’s in key of Aminor, and it ends with an Amajor chord which turns the whole emotion into “happy” at the end of a sad minor piece. So no, I do not work for 3M, hahaha!!

The “Stillhand” part of my screen name is a gift from @jumpinjeff who has called me by that nickname pretty much since we met, way back in the beginning days of TAC.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@jumpinjeff very sage advice, along with all the rest of the posts here. I think we all could use some guitar meditation/zen or guitar yoga to go with our pre-practice warmup stretches… seriously.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Cadgirl thanks for the book recommendation!! I just looked it up at my local library and they carry that title so I placed it on my reading list!! Now I just have to finish the 4 books I already have checked out so I can get to this one!!! Thanks again 🙂