[Moose408]

I just went and watched the lesson and yes he is hitting 2 strings for each strum. It’s not obvious from watching but I can tell by listening to it and the fact that there would not be any change in the pitch if he was only hitting the open string.

As for your fingers, it’s not a hand size issue, it just that you are just starting and your fingers haven’t stretched and loosened up. This will happen, but it will take a while, so don’t worry too much about it at this point. It’s ok to either slide you fingers up, or use your pinky. Most people have problems using the pinky but it’s not strong enough in the beginning, but that works for you then great, you building it up even more.

The goal is here is to give it a good try, but don’t strive for perfection, when you have give it a try, move on to the next lesson. It’s progress over perfection.

[Moose408]

I’m going to get a little philosophical here…

Frustration is the result of unmet expectations. Expectations are a prediction of the future which we as humans are not good at. Most beginner guitar students get frustrated because they think they should do better than they are, and that unrealistic expectation is the driving force.

Learning the guitar is hard, and it takes repetition and time to build up the muscle memory necessary to successfully play. Think of it like going to the gym. If your goal is to bench press twice your body weight, you don’t expect to be able to go in the first day and lift that. A beginner in the gym can typically lift 1/2 their body weight and by adding 5 lbs a week can expect to take months to get their body weight. The issue with the guitar is that it is very hard to measure and observe that “5 lbs/week”. It seems like we aren’t making progress when we actually are.

Tony stresses progress over perfection. Don’t try to get the exercises in the 30-day challenge perfect, just do the best you can and move on. The perfection and improvement will come over time from the repetition.

I started my guitar journey 2.5 years ago, I started learning, got frustrated and quit after 4 weeks because I didn’t feel like I was progressing fast enough. A year later I decided to try again but I had a different mindset, the mindset was, I suck at guitar, I’m going to suck at guitar for a long time, and it is ok that I suck. That mindset helped me get through my frustration and I’m not 7 months into my guitar journey. I still occasionally get frustrated, but I also can look back and see the amazing progress I’ve made over that time which causes me to reset my expectations and continue on.

There is a great book called “The Laws of Brainjo” by Josh Turknett, he’s a neuroscientist and banjo instructor and discusses how the human brain learns new things and the best thing you can do to progress and Tony’s method of progress over perfection fits right in. Here is a link to a podcast he does about frustration

https://www.brainjo.academy/brainjo-bite-how-to-end-frustration-for-good/

brainjo.academy

Brainjo Bite: How To End Frustration For Good (Brainjo Bite) – The Brainjo Academy

Brainjo Bite: How To End Frustration For Good (Brainjo Bite) – The Brainjo Academy

[Moose408]

Welcome and congrats. Just remember progress over perfection.

[Moose408]

Are you improving as you encounter the lessons again?

I supplement TAC with other courses but have stayed with TAC because I find that I’m developing skills that I am not learning elsewhere and I continue to see improvement. I plan to stay until my improvement wanes.

[Moose408]

The goal is progress over perfection.

Spend a minimum of 10 mins a day on each lesson and then move on. You will struggle with most of the lessons, but just do the best you can, if something is too hard, don’t worry just give it a try and then skip it. Most of the techniques come around again and again, and you will get a little better each time.

[Moose408]

You are basically playing scales. Once you know the notes in a given scale you can play those notes anywhere they reside on the fretboard. The C major scale is the most straightforward as there are only whole notes (no sharps or flats). It goes C D E F G A B. So any whole note on the fretboard is part of the C major scale.

For other keys you just play the scale corresponding to that key and any note in that scale would work for that key.

[Moose408]

Everyone learns differently. I can’t follow Tony, when he is describing finger placement so the I always look at the tab and instantly understand the lesson. Whatever works for you.

[Moose408]

Well said.

(although I’m suspect about your comment about the F barre chord. I’m resigned to fact that I may never master it. 😛)

[Moose408]

The book is fantastic. This time through my guitar journey I’ve really learned a lot about the science of learning and have applying those techniques and it has change my mental attitude as well. I’m have really progressed in my guitar abilities since reading that book.

[Moose408]

I learned from another instructor, but you should be able to find an image of the notes in the fretboard and learn from there.

The low E on the staff is the 2nd fret in the D string, and all the others on the staff shown are in the first 3 frets going towards the high E string.

There is a good app called Staff Wars that will help learn the notes on the staff. There is a website called MusicTheory.net (and companion app called Tenato) that will help with notes in the fretboard.

[Moose408]

I do look at the video to determine which finger goes where if it isn’t obvious. The tab isn’t going to give you any indication of which finger to use.

[Moose408]

There is zero indication that they are aware of it and are working on it. It has been this way for the 7 months that I’ve been here. It would be great if they WOULD acknowledge it. Perhaps in the weekly email, or perhaps just post here on the forums (although I’ve also never seen Tony or his crew posting here).

I even tried to contact support about the slow site and got zero response.

[Moose408]

I also use an app called Tenuto which is an app by MusicTheory.net. I use it for learning/drilling myself on notes on the fretboard, notes on the staff and for ear training.

I also use the StaffWars game to learn the notes on the staff.

[Moose408]

I use Modacity to come up with my weekly practice plan. Makes sure I am covering all bases and not over practicing others. I have 7 practice lists, one for each day.

So for example Monday has
Finger Stretching
TAC Day 1
Chords
Notes
Arpeggios
Scale – E Blues right now, but I change this as I master a scale
Rhythm
Song – Enter the Sandman
Song – Stuck in the Middle with You

Tuesday
Finger Stretching
TAC Day 2
Scale – Am Pentatonic
Chord Transitions
Scale – D Major
Power Chords
Song – I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll
Strumming Practice for Stand by Me DUxUxUxU
Song – Stand by Me

and so on….

I put in 15 mins for TAC and 3-5 mins for each of the other tasks.

[Moose408]

They disappear at the end of the month.

You can save them to your favorites if you want to go back to them, but you have to remember the name the lesson as it doesn’t sort them or have any other identifier.

I and others copy all of the challenge to a spreadsheet with a link to each lesson.