Moose408
Forum Replies Created
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It takes time for your fingers to know where to go. My technique is to place my fingers on the strings and play each string. If a string is muted I make small adjustments until it is not. I will then press really hard for a second and then slowly lift my fingers and place them again. Rinse repeat.
It typically takes me doing this for 5 mins a day for 6-10 days to get it so I’m not muting strings when I place the chord.
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I was a complete beginner when I joined TAC last June. I am now comfortable playing hundreds of songs (only about 10 from memory), know 20+ chords, and can make decent sounding music. It was around 80 hours of practice that I started feeling like I could actually play guitar (approximately Oct). Learning to play the guitar is hard, it’s like a kid learning to walk. My mindset going in was I’m going to suck, I’m going to suck for a long time, and it’s ok to suck. I have that hanging on my wall above where I practice and when I get frustrated I use it to remind myself that it takes a lot of time to train your hands to do the right thing. Learning to play the C chord consistently took a month.
I just looked at my log and I spent 7 days on each week of the 30 days to play, and also 7 days on the 5 day challenge and then jumped into the Daily Challenges. I averaged 15 mins a day for the 30 day challenge as my fingers would get sore if I did too much. These days I average 45 to 60 minutes a day.
It’s easy to get frustrated but you just have to keep reminding yourself that it is hard and it takes a lot of time to train your muscles what to do. If you were learning to fly a plane would you expect to be able to be a pilot after 10 mins a day for 30 days? Learning guitar is harder than flying a plane.
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If you want to make music come from your guitar, search for Horse With No Name tutorial on YouTube. It’s a common first song, it only has two chords and can be played with a simple strumming pattern. I tried it when I was 4 weeks in and my wife could recognize what I was playing so I considered that a success.
It wasn’t until the 8 month mark that I got the proper strumming pattern down for it, but it sounds good even with just strumming once per measure.
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It’s been a while since I did that lesson but the idea is to listen to the backing track and play the notes along the low E string until you find a note that sounds pleasing with all of the chords in the backing track. A dissonant note would indicate a note that does not work. The note that works with all of the chords is the key.
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As a counterpoint to the two previous posts I was playing songs, at least a resemblance of a song, at 3 months. I’m now 9 months in and can play a dozen or so songs and feel like I at least know what I’m doing with the guitar. Everyone is different and everyone learns at there own pace. But it does take time.
I tried guitar 18 months ago and quit after 6 weeks because my ability did not meet my expectations. I restarted last June with the realization that I’m going to suck at guitar, and I’m going to suck for a long time. That lowering of expectations as served me well, although I still have to remind myself periodically that I’m still a long way away from being a decent guitar player and that I’m OK with that.
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They do disappear at the end of each month but Tony has been including a link in his weekly newsletter. However the link in today’s email was incorrect and points to February.
I save every lesson url to a spreadsheet so have them all. I’ll post when I get back to my computer later today.
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As for when to pick up vs down there are a couple rules of thumb.
– down pick on the beat and up pick on the off beat.
If you have 4 quarter notes then it is all down picks, if you have all eighth notes it’s dudududu. When you do the count pick down on the numbers and up on the “ands”
– if doing arpeggios you pick in the direction of the next string. So if you are picking strings 5,4,3,4,5 you would pick DDUU and then either U or D depending on where the next string is after this sequence.
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It is called a tie if it is below the notes, if above the notes it represents a slide.
Tabs don’t really provide rhythm information, you need to use the notes to determine timing.
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If you want .mp3s for TAC classes you can only download the backing track on Wednesdays which happens to be what is learned on Thursday.
To play it back and be able to loop you should look at DAW software. There are dozens available from free to $1000s. I use one called Aducity that came with my Focusrite audio interface. If you are on a Mac, Garage Band might be able to do what you want.
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I completely understand the feeling, I have had it too. But then I try something that requires double stops, palm muting, improv, etc and realize how much I’ve actually learned here at TAC. It’s hard to see day to day improvement but easy to see month to month improvement.
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Yes, they go away at the end of each month. You can save them as favorites so you can refer back to them, but the UI for the favorites isn’t great because you have to remember the name of the challenge.
Each month I just copy the links of each challenge into a spreadsheet so I can refer back.
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Ear training is just like learning anything else it takes dedicated practice to get good at it. Two good apps for practice are Tenuto and Ear Master
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I would recommend not going back to the 30 days to play course but instead jump into the daily challenges. The philosophy of Tony’s teaching method is that you often will be unable able to play what he is teaching initially but through repeated exposure and repetition you will eventually learn it. You’ll often see people here refer to progress over perfection. The 30 Days to Play was just your first exposure to the various skills and techniques that will be repeated over and over again in the daily challenges. Each time you are exposed to them you get a little bit better.
Some challenges will seem impossible, just try them for 10 mins, mark them as complete and move on to the next challenge. The next time that challenge comes around you’ll find it a little easier, and eventually you will be able to replicate what Tony is teaching.
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Just an FYI. I save all of the month’s lessons at the beginning of the month so I don’t miss any if I get busy at the end of the month.
If you just tried to click on future lessons it will tell you that they aren’t available, however if you right-click on the lesson there is an option copy the link. So copy the link and then paste it into my spreadsheet.
I just did this for the entire month of April, so I’m set if I get busy and forget to do it.