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Keep playing that one TJ. We will play it the next time we get to play together, it is one of my favs.

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Hi @StickyFingers , I have found that the manner in which I stretch is as important as the given stretch exercise itself. This is especially true when it comes to fingers. Stretch slowly and stretch for the release not to feel the stretch. Think of silly putty. Slow and you will stretch more than you thought; fast and you will get a lack luster result. Be patient, getting those fingers limber is not an overnight, over week, or even over month thing. I heard Micheal Watts talk about stretching his fingers and he said it has taken him his whole life to get his fingers to do the weird things he wants them to do.

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@Guitargeezer-Jack fantastic observation regarding consistency and a win for sure when you see its incalculable value as it relates to progress. 👍👍

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Hi @Notn2bars : It is a variation. It helped me open my mind to see how many possibilities there are. It is not mandatory but rather an option. The three finger G chord is like a baked potato, solid staple, but as I started to add other tonal flavors with different shapes it was like I found Mashed potatoes and hash browns and poutine, and potato salad and twice baked potatoes, french fries, curly fries, tater tots and etc. Okay… now I am hungry.

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Yes, by covering the low E string you make an F# note the third note in Bm triad (chord comprised of three notes) also known as the 5th of the chord. Otherwise you would mute of not play that low E string.

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Hey There @Skyman I wonder how you know you should be further along than you are. From what you are saying it sounds like you are further along than most at your stage of the journey. Point is we just don’t know…we are where we are. As far as practice goes….I make play my practice. When ever I pick up the guitar I am playing with it and even when I am executing drills in order to get to where I want to go I am still playing around with the drills. It is a mindset thing that has kept me super engaged in the journey for the last 7 years…I think I will keep it up. The only thing that doesn’t work is setting the guitar down. Many things lead to that but I have so far been able to avoid falling into the pits that lead to putting it in the corner and not playing. I love the daily exercises/lessons and still do these every day. It is the finger gymnasium that has led me to progress beyond what i could have imagined and the best is I don’t ever have to think about what is next…I log on and do it. More time playing less time contemplating. Keep it light and keep it fun. I wish you continued fast progress toward your goals!

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Hi @pasdave , I sure did have flexibility issue when I first started out. Then I started a stretch regimen that I continue to do to this day and it it one of the most important things aiding my physical development on the fret board. Check out the Skills Courses on the left menu bar, there is a stretching course Tony did that is solid. I will leave you with this idea: thing of your fingers as silly putty, stretch slowly and they will stretch for miles, stretch fast and they will Snyaap, not really but you get the idea….

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Sorry @Geordie I can neither confirm nor deny. I never used tabs except when first starting out and couldn’t figure something out by ear. It was my method of last resort. I found doing it by ear accomplished two things: first Ear Training; Second, it accelerated my learning process on the way to intuitive playing. Have you tried just listening and getting it by ear?

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Hi @mkjohnsons slipping?….I thing you are one step behind the DoDah Man…truckin right along. I relate to the idea of getting the songs down cold but it takes time and effort. Start weaning yourself of the song sheets, one verse at a time. Get the songs down and then start playing as in messing around with them. Play them with the artist and then play them on your own. Helps me keep it tight. And lastly find someone to play with in IRL. I had a chance last month to play with Sherpa and TJ and the benefit of this is incalculable. I had an opportunity to crash and burn on a song I had been wanting to learn for a while and after having taken it off the rails with them it somehow got locked in correctly. You have the most important thing down, keep it fun keep it light. Set your goal, make it realistic and pursue, achieve, then set another goal, reflect on the feeling of the goal achieved and carry on. I learned a Robert Earl Keen tune, Gringo Honeymoon, and I thought I would never be able to get it. There were a thousand verses and the strumming stumped me for the longest time but…I just kept slogging away one verse at a time and darn if I didn’t get it down. Two years in the making. Never thought I was a quick study but once I get the bone in my teeth I am not going to drop it.

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Smoothtalker OM. South African luthier. May be on the edge of getting too crazy. If I were going to plug in I would consider this one top of the list for general purpose playing.

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ya, I dunno, I am just a dude who did it the hard way for a long time and then Tony’s message started to sink in. I get that the hard way is sometimes the only way for those of us with thick skulls but Tony’s way if you pay attention is not so tough. If I can help someone see the solution I am just doing what dudes did for me when I couldn’t see it and yet it was right there. Trace @Ovid73 once told me to play until my fingers hurt then stop until they don’t hurt and then play again. So simple. That is the words of a mentor.

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I see what you did there @Guitargeezer-Jack 😆

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@Cadgirl astute observations there! Tony’s canon continues to reveal it’s usefulness and brilliance even years down the road. I can still find theory gold nuggets and I have been at this a while. I still have physical breakthroughs in speed and accuracy. I will do a lesson and accomplish something I have never been able to do before. The more I learn and bring to a lesson it seems like the lesson reveals more to me. It is one of reasons I stick around.

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FG700s solid guitar @Ping ; any guitar can do anything, some do certain things better than others but the difference at the get go is not as important as getting your fingers exercised and stronger, more flexible too. That comes from doing the daily lessons and starting and following through with your minimum 10 minutes a day program. Any guitar works as long as it is correctly set up with sting gauges you can be successful with. I play 12 fret guitars I play short scale guitars, I play long scale guitars I even have some guitars with wider nuts and some with narrower nuts. We are more adaptable than we give ourselves credit for.

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Cool @mkjohnsons , to that end (again just me) get the changes down, get the rhythm down, add the lyrics. When I first started I was opposite because the songs I knew, I knew from the lyrics only, I was taking my interpretation of the lyric and applying the rhythm to the lyric in my head. This was most unsatisfying for me and worst of all it made it impossible or really tough at best to play with others. I had to relearn everything I thought I knew in the above order to successfully lock in songs the way they were written.