[gmhendersonme-com]

Yeah…. the emails are always a little behind. I think I’ve completed most of the skills courses as well, and my TAC home page says I haven’t enrolled in any of the skills courses yet !! You should start the Daily Challenges right away… today ( a Monday ) is always the best day to start.

[gmhendersonme-com]

As Pete said, modify if you have to! BUT, do not ignore any of your fingers, especially the pinky. It’ll come in handy as you progress through your journey. At the start it’ll feel like it is not an actual part of your body, but the more you use it, the more it will behave!

[gmhendersonme-com]

What are you trying to learn today ? There really isn’t a lesson that I’ve come across that you are supposed to learn in 1 day. The lessons repeat over the years … depending on where you are on your guitar journey, you try to learn what you can. If you perfect it right off the bat in 1 day, you can probably start giving lessons !! The Friday challenge, I was able to get the Am chord with the pull off and the triplet, but I can’t yet transition smoothly to any of the other chords. It takes time. The whole idea is to make a little bit of progress every day.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by  gmhendersonme-com.

[gmhendersonme-com]

None of the open chords seem to be a huge problem, unless it’s a little used chord that I have to think about. I don’t play that much to use every open chord that often. While the barre chords can be difficult, I do find that trying to get to the Bm chord more difficult than the F barre, perhaps because I’m still within the first 3 frets with it, but have to move beyond that to get to the Bm. I am trying to use my middle finger as the scout to find the position first, then get my ring and pinky and barre down 2nd. It seems to help speed up the transition rather than trying to get the barre down first.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Do the 5 Day Routine before you jump into the Daily Challenges. It’s essentially a Daily Challenge Week, but Tony holds your hand through the 5 lessons. He explains it a bit better about why each day tackles a core competency for the guitar and what you are supposed to achieve as you go through the daily challenges.

[gmhendersonme-com]

You may need a smaller guitar, or just keep working at your manual dexterity. Also, note where you place your thumb on the back of the guitar… it can help you reach up a bit higher on the fretboard by moving it lower on the back of the guitar. Good luck !

[gmhendersonme-com]

Take as long as you need…. the first week, you may want to keep repeating the 3 lessons 2 or 3 times. If you’ve never played before, take small bites…. it’ll take some time for your fingers to toughen up. The 30 day challenge does NOT have to be completed in 30 days ….it can be longer or shorter. And you don’t have to “master” anything. Do your 10 minutes, mark complete, and that’s a win. If you really like a lesson, practice it on the weekend, or when you have a bit more time. Don’t get frustrated with any of the techniques…keep working on them and then one day, it’ll just click. Good luck!

[gmhendersonme-com]

I see a lot of people posting that they finally get the results they want about the 3rd time through !! Some of the Daily Challenges I get right away, but the majority, I’m happy to get the first 4 measures.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Guitar stores are your friend ! If they have knowledgeable employees, you may be surprised at what you may discover.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Learning guitar is quite daunting and takes time to get to where it sounds like a musical instrument. A week is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Having fat fingers really isn’t the worse thing in the world in the realm of guitar playing…lots of excellent guitar players have fat fingers ! However, as a beginner, the best thing you can do is give yourself the correct tools to work with your fat fingers. Classical guitars have wider necks, so the strings are farther apart. Seagull makes wide neck guitars as well if you don’t want to go to a classical. Use light gauge strings so as to require the minimal pressure to fret the note. Technique is also important ….get to the tips of your fingers. Lower your thumb on the back of the neck, get your palm real close to the bottom of the neck ( allows maximum curl in your fingers ) and make sure you fret the string just under your nail. As you progress, the callous will build up and it won’t be as large as the tip of your finger. Go to YouTube and find work arounds…plenty of info there . Good luck !

[gmhendersonme-com]

I don’t find I have that much trouble with the formation of the chord itself, but rather making the transition smooth. I find if I place my middle finger down first, the barre and the ring / pinky combo just naturally go to the right strings and frets. ( My ring and pinky work better together than separately). What I was always trying to do before was get the barre in place and then lay down the Am shape ( or even the E shape for the F chord). This lead to some clunky strums as I would sometimes miss the placement. I guess it’s just how my fingers are wired that the middle take the lead in the transition and the other fingers follow.

[gmhendersonme-com]

I’ve had only one glitch with the counter. At 49 playing sessions ( I just started before Christmas ), it decided to stop for a day and not count Day 50. It also stopped my consecutive day streak at 44. I figure it’s too much trouble to get them to fix it and I’ll just move forward and not pay too much attention to the counter.

[gmhendersonme-com]

My callouses are right on the finger tips…. seems the index finger is the worst. This is different than years ago when my callouses were more on the pads, but Tony’s instruction is really helping me refine my technique. ( it’s probably why I enjoy playing so much more now !) The only problems I have with pull off are on the B and high E strings, since they aren’t wound. I’m trying to to rotate that index finger a bit so it flicks as I pull off rather than catch the callous and “pluck”. The other problem is the shape of my finger tips…. the tip of my finger naturally is LOWER than the fingernail, so I have to be careful to keep the nails as short as possible, or I’ll catch that on the pull off / roll off.

[gmhendersonme-com]

I’m having the same problem with my callous, especially on my index finger. If I try to slide it off, the callous catches and plucks the string rather than giving it a little flick. Hopefully it’ll smooth out after a while.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Yeah….my 30 Day Challenge is still there ! Must have something to do with how he promotes his course to the masses that 30 Days is on the landing page.