ChuckS
Forum Replies Created
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@sahardellamorady – If you are concerned because you missed 2 weeks, I wouldn’t’ sweat it as these exercises will come around again with the next year or 2. I thing you can do going forward is to download the PDF of the Tab every day. I do this and it enables me to go back and re-try things minus the video of course. You already figured out the Favorite button, and so that is good.
Finally, you can access other member’s favorites I believe. You would just need someone to let you know if they marked any of the missed lessons as favorite.@sahardellamorady – If you are concerned because you missed 2 weeks, I wouldn’t’ sweat it as these exercises will come around again with the next year or 2. I thing you can do going forward is to download the PDF of the Tab every day. I do this and it enables me to go back and re-try things minus the video of course. You already figured out the Favorite button, and so that is good.
Finally, you can access other member’s favorites I believe. You would just need someone to let you know if they marked any of the missed lessons as favorite. -
@Joemama – I tried out the low tension Santa Cruz on my trusty old 1974 Guild G-37 about 1.5 years ago and have stuck with them ever since. They sound and feel good. I did, however, find that it really takes a week or two for them to hit their stride. Agree that they are pricey, but they seem to last at least twice as long as others. I use the same Christmas list trick as @jumpinjeff to help offset that.
About 9 months ago, I picked up a 2011 Martin HD-35. Have not tried them on this beauty yet.
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@aj2323 one possible option is to click on the members link here on TAC and then do a sort on your state or city and see who might pop up that is near you. I have yet to actually do this as I am not confident enough to play with or in front of people (none of my friends are into guitar) and also a bit hesitant to reach out to folks I don’t know.
Anyhow, food for thought. Would think fellow TAC members are all of similar mind.
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Congrats on your new Martin. I picked up a 2011 Martin HD-35 last year and love it. Monitoring the humidity is very important to keeping your guitar intact and most recommend keeping between 40% and 50%. Martin recommends 50%.
Where we live (Jersey shore) it gets very dry in the winter and very humid in the summer, and so I am constantly keeping on top of the room (basement) humidity with a good room Humidifier in the winter and a Dehumidifier in the summer (No A/C in the basement). Through experimentation I have found that the Martin seems to be real happy with the humidity is sitting in the 48% – 52% range. The other 2 (non Martin) guitars I have don’t seem to be a fussy (: With the Martin you can hear and feel the difference.
Like the others said here, I would also recommend acclimation for a day or even 3 before you get it cranking. Enjoy.
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@CortGuy – It might be either WU-1, Alternate Picking, or WU-3, Adjacent Strings. Those are the only Flat Picking Warmups I am showing in my log for Jan. I have the PDFs if that helps.
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That could be caused by a whole host of things @stevieblues. May need a truss rod adjustment or some slight tweaking of the saddle or nut. If it is brand new, you may want to take it back to the shop for a look over. Also, it could be as simple as the humidity levels where you keep it are too low.
I had a similar problem with my trusty old Guild after I pulled it out from a long winter’s nap and once I got the humidity stabilized (40% – 50%) in the room it came around after a few days and self corrected.
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@Geordie – I don’t think the tabs are ever wrong, they are once in a blue moon just a tad different than what Tony is playing. Usually he mentions this. There are many ways to play things with improvised changes and adjustments which are quite fine and keep with the intent of the daily lessons. Tony even encourages you to experiment and try your own variations. The intent is to show up every day and the daily exercises are the means to do that. You can play them exact or add a little spin.
Hope this perspective helps.
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@Lorraine – thanks, did not know this.
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Mama, there is on old saying = “A thousand mile journey starts with a single step”. 100% agree with Lorraine’s advice. Don’t try to perfect or you will go nuts. Enjoy the journey. I’ve been at this for about 2 years now (after a 35 year layoff from what was a rudimentary foundation) and the progress just takes time.
When I first started TAC, I really could not do any of the daily exercises at all and I used to feel really guilty checking off the “Complete” box. But after sticking to it CONSISTENTLY, for almost 2 year things finally started to go a bit smoother. Now I find that the exercises seem to come much easier (still can’t hit them error free) and if I give a song a shot, that cool, challenging part starts to become doable. When you do manage to nail something, you get a real sense of accomplishment.
Also recommend you do shorter sessions vice going at it for 2 hours. Maybe 30 minutes and then walk away and come back later.
Hope this helps. Hang in there, it will get better.
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Happy Birthday Tony and wish you many more to come and may your beard display no gray for at least another 40.
Your passion, enthusiasm and constant encouragement have certainly made a difference in my formerly dormant guitar journey. Hope you maintain those attributes for many many more birthdays to come. That is what separates you from all the others engaging in your trade out there.
Thanks.
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In addition to all the helpful replies already provided, you can also just download the a PDF of the Tab and save it on your computer, allowing you to tap into it from now to eternity.
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I am right there with you on trying to get those fingers to work independently. There is a real good exercise I found on You Tube by Tom Strahle that really helped me with this. I have been doing it for about 1.5 years now and it has made a difference. As is usually the case, this guy Tom makes it look easy, but it is not easy, especially for someone like me with short fingers. So, realistically I can’t physically hit a couple of the stretch notes cleanly (or at all for that matter), but it has helped me a lot with getting some finger independence. I try to hit it at least 5 times a week. It is called ” “The Killer Finger Independence Exercise” Here is the link = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHCzbnv_s-A&t=27s
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Wow, that was really good – both playing and vocals. You may have just inspired me to add this Old Neil Tune to my list of songs that I would like to play.
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Mark,
The TAC community has given you plenty of ideas and recommendations, so I will add my two cents worth on top of all of that. Yep, we all hit that point some time where the excitement and motivation is just not there for whatever reason.
I have found on several occasions that I was playing late in the day and that just didn’t always work out. I tended to be tired and really had to kick myself in the butt to go down to the basement and pick up the guitar and engage with the daily exercise. I did however find that once I forced myself to get going, the lack of desire slowly went away. A few other things helped as well such as:
1) Made time in the morning to do warmup exercises and the TAC Daily exercise. That made a difference as I was not dragging to start with and had a lot more energy.
2) Still hit it later in the day or early evening, but that became “My Time” to mess around with whatever song or drill I wanted to with no min or max time constraint.
3) Wrote out those 90 day goal that Tony suggests. At first I was biting off too much and falling way short of my target, so I tried to scale back the 90 day goals )I still tend to put too much there, but am slowing learning to keep it short, simple and realistic. I also found that I would type out the 90 day goal, print it out and set it near my guitar work area and then totally forget about it. So, I dug up and old dry erase board, and wrote out the goals on that and then propped it up on a tri-pod do that I am facing to every time I play. That helped a lot and kept me from wandering off the reservation. Really helped focus.
4) If you are not really feeling it, take a break for a day or two or longer. I think after that, you will find that you then start craving getting your hand back on the guitar.
5) regarding the daily exercises, every now and then Tony offers something that is just not my thing, but I give it a shot anyhow just to try and expand my skill set and then I move on and don’t worry about it anymore and focus on the things that I like.
Anyhow, hope these suggestions help.