Kim-Fitz
Forum Replies Created
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I’m using a Mac and I use safari. I never used to have distortion when changing playing speeds. Now I log in using Google Crome and that has helped a lot. I don’t know what changed but it is a problem.
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Hi Patti,
Hang in there. It will come. It’s going to take time for your fingers to strengthen, limber up, built calluses and develop muscle memory. Please don’t expect perfection. You may not get a clean sound when first learning or you may think you will ever reach the frets. Eventually you will!
I looked at the first week of 30 days to play to see what you were learning. As for you reaching the frets, you can lift your index finger off the 2nd fret when you are moving your ring finger to the 4th fret. It’s kind of a rocking motion.
Tony will build on what you are learning. Once you learn the first 3 chords G, C, and D in week 2, you will learn strumming patterns in week 3. You will be strumming the chords learned in week 2. Week 4 guitar solo is really just learning a scale. It is kind of repeating week 1 only on a different pattern in different location on the guitar neck.
I would suggest to keep moving along and not getting too stuck on a day. You can always repeat the 30 days to play. Also once you learn the 3 chords in week 2 there are lots of song you can learn to play with those 3 chords.
Good luck and have fun! Kim
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Nice job. I like to song too.
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Nice job.
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I don’t think there is one. Just what you like personally. When I started TAC about 3yrs ago, I had never played with a pick. I had only strummed with my hand and finger picked the guitar, so I ended up buying a variety pack of picks to try them out. It was very frustrating using a pick at first. I kept dropping the picks and they would turn in my hand and I would hit the wrong strings a lot. I kept switching picks all the time. But I stuck with it and got better. Now I enjoy using a pick. I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to 3 different picks I like to use most of the time. The longer I have been using a pick the more I find I don’t need to use as soft a pick for strumming, and a thicker pick is easier if I’m picking a lot of individual strings. I also found that different brands of picks can have the same mm but don’t feel the same softness or stiffness as other brands. That is even true within the same brand but is a different style of pick within the brand. Hopefully others will chime in as well. I’m curious if they always use the same pick mm.
Hope that helps. Kim
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Forget what I said about following the tabs. Tony is not following what the tabs say regarding which finger/thumb to use. Usually I don’t find an issue with following tabs while Tony is teaching. This one seems messed up to me. The part I said about the the tuning is correct though.
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OK. I haven’t gone through this skills course but I looked at it to see if I could help. I think the confusion is because the music is in another tuning. I didn’t notice that at first until Tony kept saying to rest the thumb on the G string which he placed on the A string.
Normal tuning : strings= 6th-E, 5th-A, 4th-D, 3rd-G, 2nd-B, 1st- E.
Drop G tuning: Stings=. 6th-D, 5th- G, 4th-D, 3rd-G, 2nd- B, 1st- D
What I would do is look at the tabs. The tabs will show you what fingers and thumb to to play on what string. The index finger plays the 2nd fret of the B string (2nd string) and then hammer on the 3rd fret of B string (2nd string). Then the middle finger strikes the 1st string which in normal tuning is the high E string. Because you are in open G tuning the 1st string is tuned down to a D which is where the confusion comes in. Tony is calling the 1st string a D because it’s has now become a D per the open G tuning. Hope that helps. Kim
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Hello MMMURRAY,
I think you are in the right mindset not worrying about being perfect and moving along.
The fingers are just going to be sore for a while. I would maybe try <font face=”inherit”>playing for a shorter period of time each day but still work through the discomfort. You could take a </font>break<font face=”inherit”> for a day or two but you really just have to play through this. Your fingers will eventually get less sore and you will begin to build calluses. Also don’t press so hard on the strings. Often when starting out people press really hard on the string to try and get a clean tone. Instead concentrate on accurate finger and hand placement. As your hand gets stronger and muscle memory kicks in, the tone will be clearer and less muffled.</font>
I would continue the 30 days to play and practice what Tony is teaching. Once you know the C,G and D chords, you can look up songs online with these 3 chords. There are a lot! It’s way more fun to practice the chords while playing a song. Then learn there E, Em and A and Am chords. Theses are all easy to learn. You may want to go through some of the other skills courses before starting the daily challenges if you are just picking up the guitar for the first time. Hope this helps. Kim
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Hi OldBear49,
You should just start the daily challenges. It’s ok if you can’t complete the challenge. The idea is to attempt them. They are not meant to be mastered. If Tony’s lesson is too much for you, then just focus on a tiny bit of it. For example you can just work on one string and finger for the hammer on not the whole lesson. Also don’t spend hours on it either or you will just get frustrated. Give it the 10 minutes time he suggests and move on to something else you like to play if you have time. Even if some of the weeks challenges are harder than others hang in there! The point is, to pick up your guitar every day. The few minutes you are exposed to a new technique or the little bit of time spent on skills will pay off. In a few months you will be surprised how much you have improved and enjoy playing your guitar.
I’m in my 3rd yr of TAC. Although I did play some before joining, I can say the daily challenges have kept me playing regularly. My fingers are so much stronger! I can finally use a pick without dropping it all the time 😆. Which is actually amazing to me because I hated using a pick and only strummed with my hand picked with my fingers. But I hung in there and am so glad I did. I’m now using new techniques and leaning songs I thought I’d never play.
Good Luck,
Kim
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I learned something new! I didn’t have a clue what you guys were talking about🤣. I’m so computer inept. But I checked it out and this is great for looking at the tabs and video together. Who knew??😜 Thanks, Kim
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Hi,
When reading TABS the TAB lines represent the open strings of the guitar (E,A,D,G, B, E). The bottom line of the TAB is the low E string /6th string of your guitar and the next line up is the open A string /5th string of your guitar and so on. The top TAB line is the high E string/1st string of your guitar. The #s on the TABS represent the fretted string to be played. So if the top TAB line has a 0 on it, you pluck the 1st string/high E string open. If it has the # 2 on the line, then you would finger the 2nd fret of the 1st string and pluck it. If there is no # on the line you don’t play the string. If several of the tab lines have #s on them all lined up under each other in a row, that’s when you would play those strings together or strum them. You can look online you can find lots of info about reading TABS.
I’m not sure which week and day you were struggling with, but if you can tell us which day’s TABs you were confused with that would help. I would just take it slow. Sometimes you can skip over the part you don’t understand and comeback to it later. I had to go over some lessons several times. Also I think some of us will have to go through the course a few times before things start to sink in. Hope that helps some.
Kim
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Nice! I really enjoyed that. How long did did it take you to work that out?
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If you are talking about the daily challenges, yes you can go back and play a missed day. Just click on that day and it will load up. Today I missed yesterday’s daily challenge and did it along with today’s challenge. After the month is up you can’t do that. You can save the challenges though and then play anytime by adding to favorites. Just click the heart below the video right corner and it will highlight. Then go to your favorites and you can play it anytime.
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Just in case you don’t know, you can save the daily challenges to favorites by clicking and on the heart under the video. That way you can come back to it whenever you want to work on it. After the month grouping of lessons is finished you will not be able to access them again unless you save them. They will repeat eventually though. There are TABs for the lessons as well which is next to the heart.
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Glad to help