Moose408
Forum Replies Created
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So sorry to hear that Loraine. Healing mojo sent.
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The motto here at TAC is progress over perfection.
In the beginning many of the challenges are going to be well challenging. You are not expected to perfect them before moving on. You are expected to try them for 10 mins, do the best you can and then move on. The first time through you might only be able to do the first line or perhaps on the first measure. That’s OK. The challenges come around again and the next time you will get a little further. I’m on 9th time through on the Ain’t no Sunshine benchmark and this was the first time I could get through the whole thing, although still not perfect. The first time through I could only do the first line.
It goes against our nature to move in before perfecting the exercise but that it how it is designed. And it gets results if you trust the system.
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I hit the strings with my first knuckle, not my nails. I think of it like knocking on a door. Same hand shape and hit.
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Progress over perfection is the motto.
There have been many challenges that I could not get through the first or even 2nd time through. I’m now starting to see challenges for the third time and some of the ones I struggled with are now clicking. There are still ones I struggle with.
My advice is to try for 10 mins. If it is really difficult just work on the first line or heck even just the first measure. Sometimes that would be all I could get through. That’s ok. It part of the process and over time it will start to click.
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He means to learn the scale so you recreate it. That could be whatever works for you, the pattern, the notes, the intervals, the string/fret positions, etc.
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The advice for anything you get stuck on is slow it down and isolation.
Do it painfully slow, so slow that you don’t make a mistake. When you can do it 3 times in a row without a mistake speed it up. I use a metronome and will speed it up 5 or 10 bpm at a time. If I make 3 mistakes in a row I slow it down by 5 or 10 bpm. Keep it slow. By doing it slow and concentrating it tells the brain that this is important and it will start remembering it.
Isolation. When learning a strumming pattern ignore the fretting hand and focus on just the strumming hand. The brain can’t learn 2 things at once, so isolate the 1 thing you are trying to learn.
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First don’t be too hard on yourself, you are only 2 weeks into your guitar journey and learning the guitar is hard. It can be frustrating but just realize that when you are frustrated you are often learning. It took me 9 months to get a consistent clean C chord. Patience is your friend. My motto is I suck at guitar, I will suck for a long time, it’s ok to suck.
Now for some concrete things you can do to improve your chords. Slowly place your fingers on the chords, then pick out each string and if it buzzes or is muted do micro adjustments with your fingers until it rings clear. Do this with each string and when you have them all sounding good do one strum and hear what it should sound like. Then remove your hand and repeat. Do this for 3-5 mins for each chord every day. Some you will notice improvement in a week or two, some chords it may be months. Don’t get frustrated just do the routine.
Also play around with your thumb position on the back of the neck. Every one is different based upon our anatomy. I have to put my thumb in the middle of the neck or sometimes lower to get the finger spread needed for some chords. Experiment and see what causes the best sounding chords for you.
Hope this helps and enjoy the learning journey.
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If you scroll down you should see a calendar. Just click on the day you want.
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I’ll give you a different answer than the others based upon my experience and definition.
A year in I did not feel like a guitar player because I could only play 3 songs from memory. Two years in, I had been practicing everyday but still only knew 3 songs. I then spent 2 months just working on learning songs. I am now up to a dozen that I have memorized and feel like I could perform in front of somebody. I finally felt like a guitar player and the coincided with hitting 500 hours of structured practice.
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Isolation is your friend. Ignore strumming and concentrate on just your fretting hand. Slowly finger the chord, put your hand on your knee and repeat forming the chord. After a few minutes of this exercise, add a single strum after you have placed your fingers. Then pick each string and reposition your fingers to eliminate any buzzing or muted notes. Do this all slowly. Finally add the metronome as described above.
Most chord transition challenges come about because you have not engrained the shape in your brain. The above exercise will help.
When you move on to transitions go back to slowly switching back and forth between the 2 chords.
Above all be patient. I have had a couple chord transitions that have taken me months to master
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I started with a Yamaha guitar and it served me well for several years. It was under $250
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Actually 2 years ago. Sad that things haven’t improved.
It is not that hard to make a fast web site. I worked on web sites since there were web sites. It sounds like Tony’s web site guys are just incompetent or they are not willing to spend the money on proper hosting.
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Share away!
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The 1 and 3 beats in most popular songs have a stronger beat to them so the 2 and 4 beats can be modified
For most rock songs it is the 2 and 4 beats that are emphasized. Playing full strums on 2 & 4 and small strums on the 1 & 3 simulates the snare drum beat.
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Do you actively practice rhythm and strumming? I started scheduling rhythm practice 3 times a week (for 5 mins) a couple years ago and now have pretty decent rhythm. You aren’t going to improve at things you don’t practice.
Tony is VERY good about explaining the timing for the daily challenges, but because you are often focusing on several elements in the challenge the brain will tend to learn the one you are focusing on most intently which is most often the fretting hand. To get good at rhythm you need to isolate just the strumming hand. On the daily challenges try taking a few minutes of muting the strings with your fretting hand and just work on you strumming hand doing the timing that Tony has laid out.