[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @flagguy There’s a few different ways to fret an open G chord, and that’s with or without the D on the 2nd string third fret. Try all the different fingerings and see which one might be best for you to avoid muting strings… Also don’t forget the little trick of practicing your exercises with a capo on fret 2 or 3. The frets are now closer together and makes it easier for your fingers to form the chord shapes with proper technique. Once you get the muscle memory down, you can start moving the capo down a fret until you don’t need it any more 🙂

Best wishes with the G chord!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@speckpgh lots of great advice already but one thing to check is if your saddle slipped out while you were changing your strings, it’s possible to place it back upside down or backwards… or even not re-placed at all… (TBH, I have actually done this myself)🙄

Also if your bridgepins are loose/not seated properly, could also wreak havoc. It can’t hurt to take it to your local luthier to give it a quick check- it might turn out to be something quick and easy to adjust. Hey let us know what fixed the problem, it would be interesting to hear the end of the story 🙂

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

<div>Hi @Eric B</div><div>

Welcome to TAC!! Congratulations on a great beginning to your guitar geek journey!!

Sorry to hear you are having some challenges with your G-D-C chord transitions- Have you checked out the “30 Days to Play” section here at TAC? (I see that @Loraine has already wisely suggested this 🙂

Week 2 of this series contains a nice lesson on those 3 chords including a section on improving your chord transitions. I put the link to it below here in this post or you can find it in the menu bar, just look for “30 Days to Play”

Hope that helps you and best wishes with your studies!! Have fun 🙂

C

</div><div>

https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/30-days-to-play/

</div>

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

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @TJ… All of the previous ALFs have been in mid June, on a Friday/Saturday at the Rialto in downtown Bozeman, with many people electing to arrive early and/or depart late to allow for more time for socializing shopping and sight seeing. They usually announce the specific dates by December and program tickets go on sale in mid January. And as @Loraine has stated, it’s all based on whatever restrictions are going on for covid- which as we know can change with zero notice. It’s alot of work and planning for something that could be cancelled, so I’m not sure if/when they would even be planing for a 2023 event at this point. I suppose it’s another year to “wait and see”.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @BobbyJ Congratulations on finishing your “30 Days to Play” and the “5 Day Guitar Challenge”!!! Way to go!!

I’ve taken the Fretboard Wizard course and I have to say that it’s worth every penny. There’s so many fretboard/guitar theory YouTubes out there that you could watch… but Tony’s FretWiz class is one of the very very best explanations I’ve ever seen. I had countless “light bulb moments” and my comprehension of guitar theory and song structure was taken to a whole new level. I highly recommend it!!

Best wishes in your guitar journey!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Great question, @BobbyJ

Most people play power chords because they are easier to fret. Who doesn’t want to form a 2 note chord instead of a full barre chord?? If you are already comfortable playing full barre chords then this is not an issue.

That being said, let me add to this wonderful discussion by saying that the full chord adds a flavor that a power chord just isn’t capable of. A full chord is made up of the 1-3-5 notes of the corresponding scale degrees, where the power chord only has the 1-5 (It’s missing the 3). Well the 3 is what differentiates a major chord from a minor chord, and a sus2 from a sus4. All of these variations of the 3 note within the chord act as superb “flavorings” in the emotions and feeling of the song recipe. So wherever that’s important, you’d need the 3 (the full chord). Hope that made some kind of sense.

D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D (Dmajor scale)

1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7-8/1

D Power chord: D-A

(1-5)

Dmajor chord: D-F#-A

(1-3-5)

Dminor chord:D-F-A

(1-b3-5)

Dsus2 chord: D-E-A

(1-2-5)

Dsus4 chord: D-G-A

(1-4-5)

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@crarod I’m not sure what Tony P uses but I’ve used GuitarPro software in the past and it’s really excellent. You can transcribe songs onto the software, and even write your own stuff, it will generate whatever format you ask it to, ie music notation, TABs, or both at once. Best wishes with your songwriting!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @JennyMc and wow congratulations on playing guitar every day since joining TAC!! It’s quite an accomplishment and you should definately be proud of yourself!!

@Cadgirl is correct that once the month is finished, you can’t go back to previous daily lessons unless you have checked them off on your favorites list.

However a sneaky way to get to previous lessons that you haven’t favorited, you can access other members’ favorite lists on their member profile. Even though you can’t search for a specific daily lesson that way, you can still get a good sample of past lessons that other people have liked.

Best wishes and happy guitar playing!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@jumpinjeff Happy 7th TACiversary to You!!! Holy Smokes has it been 7 years? I think mine is coming up in June (#7 for me too) so we’ve been TACers forever I guess!! It’s always gratifying to read your wise words of wisdom- my fav one is the “Expectations are where fun goes to die”, and also “speed kills”, and the “3 take rule” which I break frequently, haha!! (Speed is just a side effect of good technique and relaxation)

It’s been a wonderful time of learning guitar and friendship over the years, Buddy!! Wishing you many more years of guitar enjoyment to come!! Congratulations!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Donnie_1020 There’s a few things you can do here. Many great tips listed below already- I might add a suggestion that you could try your Yamaha that you already have, and use a capo on the 2nd or 3rd fret when you practice. It will instantly lower your action, and it will also require less stretching to reach those tricky chords because your frets are now closer together. And, as always, keep practicing and do light finger/hand exercises and stretching.

There’s tons of guitar professionals out there with small hands- they are great people to watch for copying their good technique. It’s amazing how just shifting your fretting hand at a different angle can suddenly make a struggle into an “I got this!”

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Ping that’s so awesome that you are starting to learn fingerpicking!!! I must agree with @David_Leo, that a general rule of thumb is to designate your thumb for Low E, A and D strings, then index covers G, middle takes B, and index has the high e strings. There are, of course always exceptions both in the artist, and the arrangement. I would say that whatever works best for you and for the piece you are playing.

Tony P’s Daily Challenge lessons are 100% fingerstyle every other week, so don’t miss those weeks!! Also there are quite a few fingerstyle skill courses, so check them all out, you’ll be glad that you did so!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@bmacdonald Wow congratulations on making a goal of playing at Open Mic this year!!!

If you are referring to a “real” open mic (in person…. yeah, what is that again?, haha), most open mic setups are equipped to mic your guitar by placing a separate mic on a stand, about 18″ from your 12th fret. This is actually one of the best ways to mic a guitar for a performance. They have a vocal mic separate, for your singing.

If you are referring to a virtual Zoom style open mic, most laptops are equipped with an onboard camera and mic which are more than adequate to perform virtually. There’s tons of gear you can buy to geek out with, but I’d say give simplicity a try first and then see what you end up wishing for from there.

Best wishes at your Open Mic Goals!!!!!!

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@Bill_S, Hoping your surgery goes well and you recover quickly!!

You didn’t say which shoulder, your fretting arm or your picking arm? For simplicity sake, I am assuming you play right handed as well…

Either way, it will likely be a few days before you are up to playing… And of course whatever restrictions the doctors/physical therapists place on you, is the gold standard. I would definately tell your physical therapist that you want to get back to playing guitar as they can direct your exercises accordingly to some extent.

Meantime, I would try out different guitars. Smaller travel or parlor sizes (or even a uke at first) will likely be more comfortable to play. Placing the lower bout on your left knee and angling the neck up (more like classical) will help out your strumming shoulder, but this might aggrevate your fretting shoulder. Also depending on which shoulder, you could use this time to try out some open tunings to rest your fretting hand/arm and still allow some beautiful right hand arpeggio practicing.

And… don’t forget you can use this time to brush up on your music theory. I’d also agree 100% with @Cadgirl and say that yes, it’s a perfect time to take/review the Fretboard Wizard course if you haven’t already.

Best wishes tomorrow Bill!! Let us know how you’re doing 🙂

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by  Carol-3M-Stillhand.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @DGri

Many people have this same issue, and besides doing stretching and practicing, I have one more tip: Use your Capo.

Put your capo on the 3rd, 4th or 5th fret and give it another try. The frets aren’t as far apart up there and it will give you a chance to conquer the exercise/song even if it’s in a different key. As you master the fretting, you can gradually move your capo back down, one fret at a time.

And, as others have already said… don’t over do things. It’s way too easy to get tendonitis from pushing it too fast. And it takes 4-6 months to recover from tendonitis. It’s alot of time to spend studying theory, hehe.

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

So glad you had a great guitar rental experience, @campfire!! Travel rentals are also my preferred way to go while on vacation. By the time you pay for gate checking and/or damage anxiety, it’s very well worth it!!

$75/day is really kind of steep, even for a Taylor. But $30/month is wild on the other end of the scale!! I’m curious to know what guitar they are renting for that rate…

I would be tempted to just go to the Guitar Center every day and grab a Taylor to “try it out” for an hour a day…. Free guitar rental, hahaha!!

Anywayz, glad everything worked out well for you in your travels!!