[Moose408]

If you are doing the daily challenge the day it comes out you cannot move ahead. You have to wait for the next day.

TAC is the start of every day’s practice session, after spending a minimum of 10 mins on the challenge I then move on to my other practice items for the day. I have another online school that I use that always has skills for me to practice and I have lessons from my in person teacher. So never a lack of things to work on.

I discovered that I do need to write down my practice schedule for the week or I will end up skipping skills or spending too much time on others. So I rotate through 2 skills each day. The skills are picking, chords, arpeggios, rhythm, aural, notes & scales. At the end of my practice session I work on songs.

So a typical day will be: TAC Daily Challenge, 2 skills, one or 2 songs.

[Moose408]

It certainly helps to have the hand anchored. I’m used to use my pinkie finger on the pick guard and will still use it for tricky songs that require a lot of precision string skipping. My in-person teacher has been teaching me to use my curled fingers and have them resting directly on the strings that I am not playing. I pivot the hand up and down depending on whether I am playing the upper strings or the lower strings.

As for improving accuracy I practice picking every single day. I have routines doing all down picks, all up picks, inside picking (up on top string, down on lower string), outside picking (down on top string, up on lower strings), string skipping, etc. I initially started at 60 bpm and am now up at 120 bpm for most exercises, It is a difficult skill to get good at.

[Moose408]

There are not really courses at TAC. Instead there is the daily challenge. Each week there is a new challenge that teaches you one or more skills/techniques. Each week is a new “course”.

Each daily challenge will expose you to new techniques and the idea is to try to play the daily challenge as best you can for 10 mins and then move on. Each challenge repeats every year, so the idea is when it comes around again you will progress a little further.

Given how long you have been playing some of the challenges will not be a challenge at all, but there probably be some challenges that introduce techniques that are new to you. Perhaps it will be palm muting, percussive strumming, accented chords, etc. Hopefully there are things you have not been exposed to before.

[Moose408]

For me that was just dedicated practice. I set aside five minutes of every practice session to just work on chord transitions. No strumming, just slowly moving between the two chords that I want to learn the transition for. I then speed up over time. I might use a metronome and try to transition on a given beat or set a timer for one minute and see how many transitions I could do in a minute. There are a few transitions that I’ve been working on for over two months. Eg. E to F#m and A to C#m. Setting aside dedicated practice time makes a huge difference.

[Moose408]

I have not. My playing significantly improved from the course Beginner Guitar Academy. It is a unique hybrid course. Very structured program with video lessons, but you have access to the instructor anytime you want. You can ask any questions, send a video of something g you are having a problem with, etc and he will respond, typically with a video. You can also schedule 1 on 1 video calls with him.

The other thing that sets BGA apart is that you must submit progress checks and level assessments before you can move on. It makes sure you have developed the skills needed for the next level and have learned what you were supposed to learn. He said he got the idea from the colored belts in martial arts. You have to prove proficiency before moving to the next level.

I do think that augmenting TAC with some other means of instruction is important.

[Moose408]

A year ago I was asked that and had nothing, so I have spent the last year rectifying that and now have a few songs I can play. I don’t consider a song done until I can sing along with it and play it from memory. I want to be able to “perform” the song, not just play the notes.

Here is my current repertoire

– Mad World
– Stuck in the Middle With You
– Hotel California
– Friend of the Devil – fun and easy
– King of the Road
– Cat’s in the Cradle

Here are ones that are ready as soon as I memorize the lyrics
– Horse with No Name – Just added this as singing along to the strum pattern tripped me up for months
– Have You Ever Seen the Rain
– Teach Your Children

Here are one’s that I struggle to sing because of the vocal range. I start voice lessons this week

– The Weight
– 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
– Mrs. Robinson

[Moose408]

Are you referring to 30 Days to Play or the Daily Challenge?

[Moose408]

At the top of this page https://tonypolecastro.com/family-forums/ there is a search box.

tonypolecastro.com

Just a moment...

Just a moment...

[Moose408]

Thanks for pointing that out. Fixed.

[Moose408]

Reminds me of a story from one of my photography instructors. He asked the class to raise their hand if they could draw. Two hands went up to which he replied “I didn’t ask who can draw well”. He then told the following.

He was driving his 6 year old daughter home from school when she asked him what he did that day. He replied “I taught my students how to draw”. She incredulously asked, “when did they forget?”.

As kids we know how to draw, sing, act, etc. and we have no expectations of how good or bad we are, we just do it. As we get older we start to critique and self-edit ourselves and suppress these skills because we “don’t do them well” when we should embrace who we are what we can do. We have the ability to improve the skills if so inclined or we can just embrace who we are an go with it.

I recall a post by @Loraine where she was hesitant to post videos of herself playing but then realized it brought her joy and she was doing it for herself. Some where good, some where rough around the edges but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. We all need to be more like Loraine.

[Moose408]

I think it is lack of confidence as I don’t think I can sing worth a spit

That’s exactly the point. You did not know how to play the guitar so you signed up for guitar lessons. If you don’t know how to sing you sign up for vocal lessons. 🙂

The difference is probably that we all have an expectation that we should know how to sing, but that is not the case as most of us have never been taught.

My teacher says she gets a lot of students where they spend the first 3-6 months just working on pitch and learning to hear the notes. Humming along as I play guitar as definitely helped me with my pitch but there is still work to do.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Let go of your insecurities and expectations and go for it!

• This reply was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by  Moose408.

[Moose408]

Sounds like it might help to practice the chords individually. Doing the knee slap test, where you form the chord then put your hand on your knee then form the chord, rinse repeat. No strumming. Adding strumming will actually slow down the learning process in the brain.

Also try the “folded corners” method for placing you fingers, place the fingers in order 1-2-3, then 2-3-1, 3-1-2, 2-1-3, 3-2-1…..finally place them VERY SLOWLY all at once.

Another technique that works well for transitions is to do air transitions, very slowly move your fingers into position while in the air between the two chords. Really exaggerate the mention and go super slow.

Above all don’t get frustrated. It just takes time, but focused practice like described above can shorten the time.

[Moose408]

I googled “vocal coaches near me”

I realized afterwards that I could have asked my friends in musical theater as a lot of her students are from there and they tend to be the ones who care about singing well.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by  Moose408.

[Moose408]

HD-28E.

Bought a used one in June after a 6 month search. Wasn’t looking for a HD or a E but the price was great some went for it. Didn’t get a proper setup until September and it was like a whole new instrument after that.

[Moose408]

On the spreadsheet if you click on the cell “August” it will take you another spreadsheet tab with each of the individual lessons.