Moose408
Forum Replies Created
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I use the tab for fingering and the note notation for timing. Tony’s instruction is often critical to show me which fingers to use and I will often stop, rewind, and restart the video to make sure I have the correct fingering. Trying to figure it out on my own is often an issue and results in problems playing because of using the wrong fingers.
If I print out a tab I enlarge it when printing, it most of the time, I just zoom in on the computer to make it large enough to read.
I’m really surprised that the audio and video aren’t synced for you. Even an old computer should keep them in sync. Do you have a smart phone? Perhaps play the video on that.
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I highly recommend the book. The Laws of Brainjo.
It explains how the brain learns and gives other tips about how to improve both strumming and rhythm.
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The answer to the first question about strumming is to practice strumming in isolation. Mute the strings with the fretting hand and spend 5 mins a day on trying to strum without so much force. Make sure you are just using the tip of the pick and angle it up or down depending on the direction you are strumming. Go slow to start (this is the hardest thing for me).
The 2nd issue is similar. Try isolation by just placing your fingers without strumming, do this slowly for five minutes, then add strumming but keep it slow. Slowly increase your speed over time. I highly recommend using a metronome. If you make mistakes 3 times in a row then slow down the metronome. Once you can go 3 times without mistakes increase the tempo by 5 or maybe 10 bpm. Rinse, repeat. Depending on the challenge you may get up to speed in a single practice session, but more often it will be several days or weeks to get up to speed.
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Tony’s version of the song typically shows up on Thursday, when he does chord progressions.
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Just to clarify what Tony is saying. You don’t have to stop after 10 mins, but that should be your minimum. Feel free to spend more time. But also don’t overdo it. If you aren’t getting something in 10 mins it’s not going to get better by spending an hour on it. Mix up what you are focusing on.
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Counting the rhythm is its own skill and can take time. I spend a significant portion of practice just working on my counting and rhythm using a metronome and it definitely helps. Working on areas in isolation speeds the learning process as you can’t learn multiple things at once. If you are trying to fret the chords, strum the rhythm, and count to the beat all at the same time, your brain will pick one of those to learn and it will be whichever you are giving the most focus. If you practice all 3 separately you will learn all 3 faster and will have better results when putting them all back together.
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I joined TAC 9 months ago today. I can’t say that there is a direct correlation between learning from TAC and me now being a guitar player because 6 months ago I started supplementing TAC with another guitar course. Together they have made me a better player. A lot of times when a topic comes up in the other course like palm muting, hammer-ons & pull-offs, scales, double-stops, I am super comfortable with them and they are easy because of my exposure here at TAC. One thing TAC has definitely helped me with is improv. It now comes easy to me.
TAC doesn’t really teach you a song, it might teach you Tony’s interpretation of a song, but I’ve always felt like I had to go elsewhere to actually play songs, which is really the point of learning guitar.
I’m not sure I really answered your question. But I feel better.
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Technique – Light My Fuse – https://tonypolecastro.com/lessons/light-my-fuse/
Lick – Layin’ it Down – https://tonypolecastro.com/lessons/layin-it-down/
Improv – That Funky Sound – https://tonypolecastro.com/lessons/that-funky-sound/
Rhythm Guitar – Hoochie Koo – https://tonypolecastro.com/lessons/hoochie-koo/
Chord Progressions – Spread the News – https://tonypolecastro.com/lessons/spread-the-news/
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Just to clarify there are four benchmark songs that are presented one per month and appear quarterly. The other daily challenges repeat but less frequently like every 8-9 months.
The four benchmark songs are:
1. Aint No Sunshine
2. Wagon Wheel
3. Hotel California
4. Old Man -
The daily challenges disappear at the end of each month and you can’t easily go back to them unless you have saved them in your favorites or copied the URL into spreadsheet (which is what I do). They do come around again in a few months.
That being said I don’t actually learn any songs here on TAC. The songs I learn are from other sites. TAC teaches me great techniques but the songs are often lacking.
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“What I think I was trying to ask is, if you don’t read notes, does playing by ear and memorizing slow you down or enhance your learning?”
I don’t know the answer, but I have several thoughts.
When learning something new the brain needs feedback in order to learn. A good example of this is free throw shooter, they can see when the ball goes on the basket. Now if you hid the basket so they could not tell if the ball when it or not they would never get better. For guitar our ears are our feedback, so being able to determine by ear when a wrong note is struck or timing is off is essential.
This works great for songs where you know how they should sound. This issue is when you don’t know the song, you have to rely on the tabs/notes to figure out what it should sound like. Overtime you will learn what it sounds like and your learning with happen at a faster pace because you can rely on your ears, but until that time you will struggle. If trying to play mainly individual notes like we have been doing with Fast Car this week I find being able to read the notes as quicker than the tab.
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Power chords might be out of reach until your fingers can stretch more, so get frustrated if you can’t get it right now. Move on to something else and come back to it after a while, you’ll be surprised by the improvement.
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1. “lol, I read through this list of guitar techniques and laughed to myself because I had no clue what you were referring to “palm muting, hammer-ons & pull-offs, scales, double-stops…etc”. I am still trying to learn the C and G chord lol.”
These techniques are taught as part of the daily challenges, and come up often in the challenges, the repetition helps.
@BryanDean has some great comments. You shouldn’t really compare yourself with others. Everyone learns differently and devote different amounts of time and energy to it. I spent a lot of time studying how people learn and perform a lot of those techniques to maximize my practice (spaced practice, selectively applying focus, slow motion learning, visualization, etc). So my progress is going to be a lot different from people who practice daily without these routines. That’s neither good or bad, just a different approach.
I also use the Andante app to track my practice and find it keeps me motivated to practice everyday and keep my minutes of practice up. It’s like trying to get the high score in a game for me.
2. “What supplementary program did you use to help you play songs? Did you also let TAC know that was a limitation of the TAC program so they can improve it for all of us?”
For actual playing of songs use Ultimate Tabs which is a very popular site/app for showing the chord progressions for a song. I’m not really comfortable promoting another online course here on TAC.
Tony’s teaching style is unique and proven. I don’t expect or even want him to change it. I get value from it even if I do feel the need to supplement the training. That is more about me than a reflection on Tony’s method.
I understand what @BryanDean is saying about taking multiple course but disagree. I would get bored with just TAC but it does take effort to implement a practice routine the utilizes multiple courses. I use an app called Modacity to plan my weekly practice sessions so I stay on track and focused. Without that plan I’m lost and don’t maximize my practice sessions.
3. “Also, can you go into a little more detail regarding “helped me with improve”? What type of improv are you referring to and what did TAC teach you that helped with improv?”
In the Daily Challenges almost every Wednesday Tony teaches improv. That weekly repetition has been great for improving my improv skills. In my other course the other participants all struggle with improv and I find it easy because of my exposure here at TAC.
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Tony advises moving on. Progress over perfection.
Spend at least 10 mins, give it a try, simplify it or only do a portion of it if it is too complicated for you and then move on. You are learning even though it doesn’t always seem like it.
I’ve been with TAC for 8 months and there are still some daily challenges that I can’t do. But I find myself getting further on them each time they come along.
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I too find it difficult to get finger position from the video and always have the TAB open at the same time.