JohnWP
Forum Replies Created
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Maybe guitar specific. My b and high e string are the two I usually don’t have to adjust when tuning.
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Going to start in person lessons this year. Class on Friday afternoon so I will use TAC each day and then on Friday I will have a list of things to cover and get some pointers on. Last 10 months with just Tony has been awesome, but now it’s time to ratchet it up another notch.
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I can find plenty of 3-5 cord songs I would love to be able to play that don’t use barred cords. No need to make this harder than it already is. I understand that to make his lessons complete Tony has to cover them. I do include working on a mini F cord w two barred strings in my daily routine and that’s enough for me.
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This week is certainly a hard week for lots of us I am sure. Barred cords are not easy for even experienced players. I am giving it a few minutes and then moving onto something I can actually see myself doing like smoother cord transitions and strumming practice with a metronome. Don’t let this week get you down! It’s just five days in your guitar journey.
Btw.. google “Horse with No Name” , 2 chords. I bet by the end of this week you will be playing along and have your first song under your belt.
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America’s “Horse with No Name” can be played with just two cords that are both very easy to make. It’s a great first song to learn with an easy strumming patter that you can change up once you have the basic pattern down to make it a little more interesting. https://youtu.be/XUZyjCqyf74?si=a5fJrWpRQc0wRsc6 First time I played along with this I was like OMG I am playing music!
Next up would be to find a 3 cord song you like and work on that. It’s all about making those transitions from cord to cord quickly and smoothly. After that just keep adding to your repertoire of songs and the number of cords in the song.
Tony teaches skills and techniques, but learning to transition from cord to cord takes time and effort. I am certainly not there yet, but I do believe there is light at the end of the tunnel somewhere. lol
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You can go back up to 45 days and see the challenges again….
Go to the Daily Challenges page from here and see the “View Previous Challenges”.
Edit… For so reason when I press the Daily Challenges page from here I have to refresh the page to see the View Previous Challenges, but that may be because I am on an iPad…
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This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by JohnWP.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by
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Don’t have any tips except to say I had issues with the c cord as well, but now after a few months of playing I am finally comfortable with it and have moved onto trying to perfect the f cord.. Good luck though!
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4+ months in and I would say my answer is “NO” to each of your questions. FYI… I play every single day for at least 10 minutes if not more. In the early days of the daily challenges I was rewinding the video like you over and over trying to figure out what Tony was doing, which fingers he was using, etc. Some days the best I could was one measure or just click complete and call it a day.
But on the other hand I now know the names of the strings, know how to read a tab, can do hammer ons, pull offs, staccato technique, slides, strumming patterns, bends, a power cord, several scales I can play from memory, alternate tunings, and I have about 13 cords I can play (but not the F cord!). And probably a few more things i didn’t mention. Btw… before I started I didn’t know what most of those words meant and certainly not how to do them! Last week I changed my guitar strings all by myself and the guitar still plays! I also have one 2 cord song I can play along with and I am working on a song that has 5 cords in it which is my 90 day goal.
There are certainly days I get frustrated (yesterday for example) and have to remind myself that I have so many small wins to celebrate and that this is a journey.
So don’t get yourself down, but focus on the small steps you are taking. They will add up.
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Frustrating for me is when Tony says, “This is what you will be playing today” and then plays something that sounds so awesome. Thirty minutes later I am lucky if I can play the first two measures of the day’s challenge. I know small steps count, but it’s hard when we are all using the same material no matter what of our abilities….
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A couple weeks ago I was going to take my guitar back to the store I bought it from and ask them to prove to me it could actually make music. LOL.
I am now 46 days in and sometimes I hear something coming out that almost resembles music. I rarely get past a couple measures of the day’s challenge, but I mark it complete after 10 minutes and then play longer. Scales are by far my favorite and I am up to about 6 cords I can do easily and 2 ( C & D) that I struggle with almost every time. But I know one day I will get them.
Btw…l did find another video of how to play along with America’s Horse with No Name with only 2 cords. I felt like I was rocking along with them the first time I got my fingers to cooperate. Very glad no one else was in the house that day. LOL. Way more fun than playing the air guitar as a teenager!!
64 years young and I “play” the guitar every day now.
Kept at it and remember to celebrate the small steps!!
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by JohnWP.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by
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My favorite three right there!
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Not liking Blues might imply someone doesn’t like Rock And Roll to you, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it…
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Remember that Tony only asks that you give each days challenge 10 minutes. So it’s not hard to keep up if you keep that in mind. The goal isn’t to master the skill on the first go around. It’s not even about doing everything he shows you on a single day. Some days you may play just a single measure, some days a single line, or some days just a few notes with a new technique. It is not about mastering something right off, it’s about consistently showing up. Remember the daily challenges are for everyone regardless of if it’s their first day or their fifth year of playing. You aren’t expected to do everything the first time you try.
But just think if you were to play just 10 minutes every day at the end of a year you would have put in 60 hours of playing. How many people buy a guitar and never ever put in that much time in let alone do it in a year? I bet a lot.
I am sure Tony’s method isn’t for everyone and I hope you can find a way to make it more enjoyable. But if not I hope you do find some way that helps you progress and have fun doing it. Good luck!!!
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Remember Tony’s comment where he said Winston Churchill said “perfection is the enemy of progress “. You can spend months learning how to play the perfect G cord. But after months all you have accomplished is the ability to play one chord perfectly. Tony’s approach is to expose you to a multitude of things over and over. Do what you can now, have fun with it, and grow as you go. It will work.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by JohnWP.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by
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Absolutely! I bet if you thought about it you have too. I sometimes look back at some of the things I did in the first 30 days and I am amazed at how far I have come. No giant steps, just a bunch of tiny ones.
I know that the daily challenges cycle back around and I am looking forward to when I do some of them a second time.