[jumpinjeff]

To what degree are you feeling this. Is it just noticable, a nuisance, or is it present enough to be worrisome? Both numb and feeling cold (but not really, as a matter of trying to differentiate between actually cold to anyone’s touch and bluish, indicating a circulation issue) and heat sensitive lead me to think there is a nerve thing going on. Have you ever experiened carpel tunnel syndrome? It could be too that if you have been hitting it hard for the last two months after a hiatus your fingers may not be ready to do what your mind remembers them doing. That would be playing to exhaustion repeatedly and as the matter of practice for the months. Not the end of the world as long as you get it figured out!

[jumpinjeff]

Hi Shellwish, welcome. I am going to start with my standard joke that addresses this…..Everybody starts guitar with short fingers, even people with long fingers. Do not worry, short fingers will not prevent you from learning and playing guitar. Many short fingered guitarist have made fantastic careers inspite of short fingers. The biggest obstacle most of us face is finding a way to make playing a daily habit. Showing up 7days week in and week out regardless of circumstance is the key. If you do that you will find the way to make your fingers twice as long….(hint, it has every thing to do with your shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand position.) I meant that to be kinda humorous but strangely true as well. Try to keep the thumb on your fretting hand at the apex of the curve on the back of your guitar neck. This puts the flat of your fretting hand lower creating space for your hand to rotate forward, allowing you to extend your fingers higher on the fretboard so you can reach the bass notes or stretch laterally depending. If the top of your thumb is anywhere near the top of the back of the fretboard as in, your thumb could touch the Bass E string, move it back to the midline apex of the neck to give your fingers the superpower reach. My thumb often migrates there when I am not focused and then I must make that adjustment. It is as if it wants to rest there or something.

You can do this. Make a habit and play, play, play.

[jumpinjeff]

How is the rehab on your wrist going? I was reading a post the other day and thought Loraine would have a useful answer! Someone talking about striking two string simultainously. I am curious about your wrist and its function improvement (or lack of but hopefully not that). I am always in a seemingly perpetual rehab mode for one joint or another. Darn that L4/L5 disk! Guitar has allowed me to do more physical rehab once I got the slow stretch method figured out, the sessions become as much a rehab stretching effort as it is a musical adventure. Would love your perspective!

[jumpinjeff]

I used a big therapy ball for years. Not sure it helped or hindered. Now I use a wood seat armless chair. I wait for my butt to hurt and that is my cue to get up and stretch….Hips, back, shoulders, neck, elbows, wrists, and fingers. This method has yet to let me down, it has proven surprisingly advantageous. The wood seat is the key. I can only sit so long.

[jumpinjeff]

Start with your Pic @Jorgemac . Why do you think having your pic on the sight is a reward?

[jumpinjeff]

yes, yes! point being you do know what a third is and that little bit of info is so valuable to a player, and possibly you did not know that before? The inside out, backwards, upsidown thing comes with more time in FW and more time with your guitar in your lap. I think your plan is perfect if you take out this little part, “and do the challenges I feel like doing or think I have a real chance of improving on.” It seems good at first glance but here is where that mindset gets cumbersome, it puts you in the role of teacher as you decided what you need to get better. This bogged me down and yes I did what you are contemplating. I will suggest that you get better by doing things you don’t think you can do. It is why I do finger style exercises even today…I am a flat picker through and through but the mental stretch makes me better at the thing I love doing. Why does this work? I dunno, but it does, admittedly I am a sucker for triumph over adversity stories.

These are all things to consider. None of it is set in any stone and truly I think the only wrong a person can do is by stopping playing. Every thing else is a matter of trial and error. Keeping on TACs schedule of stuff to learn is an easy way to go on auto pilot for the plan of guitar growth. My motive for staying on a consistant track comes from being first year guitar player for 45 years as I was my own teacher and I never got past year 1. That memory still burns. : ) Now I take my medicine not because I like it but because it keeps me healthy (the resulting skill bump surfacing in surprising ways over and over again). And I have to admit that even the worst tasting, leaves me walking taller and stronger.

[jumpinjeff]

You know what is said about free advice?

[jumpinjeff]

The first way I knew FW was making a difference for me is when I was able to identify what a third was and know why it is important. The odder thing is I am still studying the same thing with completely different understanding. Today my study comes in the form of play in real time applications as I play a CFG progression for the “millionth” time but hear something different on the “million and first” run through. On the millionth and second run through you realize all the notes are stacked on top of each other and if you turn them inside out and backwards you don’t ever have to move, only possible with FW into (or the like) I would suggest it is already working on you. Ask yourself this question, does what I say make sense to you today and if yes would yourself from 2.5 years ago understand?
As for the Challenge. It is the easiest way for me to stay in the habit of playing. Even on weekends I will start at TAC. It is my warm up, my exercise and then I go out into playing whatever it is that holds my interest for as long as my fingers hold up. I can’t find an easier habit that has yielded more results for less money. Why not show up and just listen to the intro to the lesson and check out how folks are doing? (as you may be able to tell I am a big fan of the rolling stone gathering no moss. TAC keeps me rolling.)

[jumpinjeff]

You bring up a valid point @scott-twoagmail-com : what is the goal. More specifically what is your goal. My goal was to learn guitar to the point where playing became intuitive instead of learned and memorized. This was an integral part of my learning process. What was hard for me to see at the get go was what I was going to need to get to my goal. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I would encourage you to focus in on “your” goal. By doing this you can measure your progress against yourself to see how you are progressing. This shows if you are benefitting from the track of instuction! In the overall scheme this knowledge is important because it actually explains all the relationships between the notes. Bottom line is I found it important enough to study for at least a decade but it was in line with my goals.

[jumpinjeff]

I had the same experience you are facing now….It took me a good long while to turn what was knowledge in my head, that theoretical barely understanding, into sounds that went direct from my heart to fingers to my ears. You will get it. I promise….somebody made that promise to me and I thought they were nuts but sure enough it connected and the struggle became intuitive intent. The great thing about TAC is the model of how to have fun while you are putting in your time in the saddle.

[jumpinjeff]

Nice! I am with you. Play on!!!

[jumpinjeff]

100% spot on observation right there. It was not an easy thing for me to put into practice. I was sure I needed to get a whole presentation start to finish to make the lesson worth while. What I did not get is the whole point of chunking the lessons. Take away one thing, just one thing and next time you will take away another and that makes two and in 3000 sessions, that is alot of one things…too many to list…my roladex brain now spins like a wheel in the sky intuitively accessing these lessons in total at any given time as I play. Take the leap of faith trust in the process. It worked for me. I will admit it took longer than I thought. : )

[jumpinjeff]

Bingo!!! You have a great way of saying what I mean but in 1/3 the space!! This is the crux of my success, finding, using, participating, in TAC’s systemic method for guitar progress. It is not the end but it will take you 90% there. I can almost see that 90th percentile horizon…or at least I know where it lies,…I think…

[jumpinjeff]

It is both a mental exercise and a physical exercise. Sometimes when things appear initially unclear, after different exposure to the same concept (presented differently) clarity happens like a light bulb turned on. When in doubt, keep going. we can fix anything later.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by  jumpinjeff.

[jumpinjeff]

I feel you: my phone has a rotary dial. : )