Moose408
Forum Replies Created
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Yes, the level of complexity will be beyond your capabilities. That is kinda of the point. The idea is that you spend 10 mins trying the techniques that Tony is showing you in the Daily Challenge. Some days you may only get the first note, some days you can perhaps do the first couple measures, some will seem easy and you will be able to do the entire challenge. The point is to try he best you can and move on. You are not striving to master the technique, the goal is just to give it a try. The next time it comes up you will get a little further, the next time even further. The brain doesn’t learn from the doing the things that come easy, it learns from the challenging things, so by constantly challenging yourself on will learn bit by bit until you master it.
It can be frustrating but just remember the mantra “progress over perfection.
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The mantra is progress over perfection. You’re not expected to be able to do what Tony does the first time through or maybe even the fifth time through. The idea is you keep getting exposed to these skills and overtime you will get better at them. If it is difficult just give it your best shot, spend 10 mins on attempting it and then move on.
As for playing consistency, that’s why he talks about just playing for 10 minutes each day. Everybody should be able to find 10 minutes in their day that’s to be able to play. It can be more, but the goal of the 10 mins is so you sit down to practice each day. Tony also talks about tying your practice to a tiny habit so that you remember to do it each day and it becomes part of your routine.
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There is a link in the email Tony sent earlier today.
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It took me weeks if not months to get where my fingers positioned so they didn’t mute adjacent strings. Just keep trying and you will notice improvement in a week, then more improvement after that.
Frustration is caused by our expectations not meeting reality. You need to lower your expectations and realize that guitar is hard and it’s going to take many repetitions before you will get any of the skills being taught. What helped me was telling myself that I’m going to suck at guitar, I’m going to suck for a long time, and it’s OK to suck as long as I’m improving.
There are going to be a lot of things that Tony teaches that you will struggle with. I’ve been here 11 months and was unable to do all of yesterday’s Daily Challenge. That’s OK, I tried, and will try again the next time it comes around and will get further. The goal is to try and realize you aren’t supposed to get it on the first try. Maybe not even the 20th, but eventually it will come.
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The most recent release of Zoom is 5.17.11 and is the last version that will work with Windows 7. So you should be able to update and have all the latest features. Start Zoom, login, then click on your icon in the upper right. From the menu select “Check for Updates” and it will take you to a dialog where you can download and install the latest version.
That being said, you would also benefit greatly by upgrading from Windows 7. It is coming up on 15 years old and was declared end of life 4 years ago.
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Wow! That sounds like a great evening. How did you get the invite?
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You should start with the 30 Days to Play, then move to the 5 Day Challenge. If you started with the Daily Challenges, there is a check-in every 90 days where you evaluate where you are in your guitar journey. That may be what Tony was referring to.
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Too hard won’t cause dead strings unless you are pressing directly on the fret. The finger should be slightly behind the fret.
Dead strings can be caused by pressing too lightly, but the most common cause is one of your other fingers touching the string. When playing a chord it is very common as a beginner for a finger holding down a string to touch adjacent strings causing them to be muted. Fixing this just takes practice and time. When fingering a chord you should play through each string individually, all strings should ring clear. If a string does not then you should do micro adjustments with your fingers until all the strings ring clear. Rinse – Repeat.
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For me it was right at 80 hours of practice, which was about 5 months in. I felt like I could consistently make chords, play a few songs, my strumming still sucked. Strumming fell into place at around 120 hours. That being said, everyone is different and it really depends on how you approach practice. I have a very strict practice routine that varies for each day of the week, each routine is timed (3-5 mins), and I use a metronome religiously. When I don’t do that level of “focused” practice it takes much longer.
When I have a problem with a chord I will include focus time on just that chord into my routine, 3 mins of slow motion placing my fingers without strumming, 3 mins of alternating which finger goes down first without strumming, 3 mins of picking each string and doing micro-adjustments so each string rings clear. It took a week of doing this everyday to get the Dm chord and 5 weeks of doing this everyday for the C chord. For strumming I do 3 mins of a given pattern with the strings muted. This may be overboard for most, but it is what it takes for me to feel like I’m improving and it works for me.
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I felt the same for a long time. I would spend a few minutes everyday doing isolated practice on strumming (mute the strings with the fretting hand and just focus on the strumming hand). I didn’t feel like I was making much progress and then suddenly at the 8 month mark of my guitar journey I could suddenly strum. It was a very binary thing. On Tuesday I was struggling and on Wednesday I suddenly could strum with complicated rhythms. I’m not sure what was different but on Wednesday I was playing with feeling/emotion instead of just concentrating on the mechanics.
Don’t know if this is helpful other than don’t get frustrated, and practice what is hard.
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There is no way to search for past lessons. At the end of each month the lessons disappear unless you save them in your favorites, or copy the links to your local computer. I use a spreadsheet to save all of the lessons.
Here are the Fast Car lessons
<google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin>Convenience Store
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Have you checked your browser’s history? If it’s only been a day it should be there close to the top.
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Here is the link
https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/april-guitar-routine-2-2/
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One of the benchmark songs will be one of the weekly challenges this month. As @TerriG said, this month’s is Ain’t No Sunshine.
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I used Ultimate Guitar or YouTube lessons from Lauren Bateman or Justin