[N-lightMike]

Well, @kirk62 ;

I have spent some time already today leaving comments on other threads. So, when I saw that you had quite a few responses, I thought I’d give it a pass. But, I decided to share your post with my wife since this is the perfect example of how people respond when they first come to TAC.

I was just sharing with her about my learning the TAC method over the last 4 1/2 years. I didn’t understand at first and felt exactly like you do. Slowly but surely more and more of the “idea” sank into my think skull with the help of others like @jumpinjeff and @the-old-coach . I don’t mean to leave anyone else out, I just didn’t take the time to read all the comments since I’ve already spent so much time on the forum today. But, I saw their names and always like reading their comments.

Anyway, what I said to my wife moved me to want to say it to you. Let me continue, first, with the “back story”. As I started to explain, I was telling my wife about my own journey of discovering how this all works. Though I had gotten far better at guitar, had had numerous discussions with other TAC members here on the forum, it was still difficult to find the words since all of this is so counter intuitive.

But recently, I actually read the 2 of the books that Tony based his TAC method on: Atomic Habits, by James Clear and Grit by Amanda Duckworth. Those books helped me to see the science all of this is based on and I became more convinced than ever this is the “right” way to learn guitar.

So what is that? Why did I read my wife your comment? Because we adults forget how to have fun like a kid. It’s really that simple. A kid doesn’t complete a lesson successfully in the way you described; he doesn’t “get it right”. He doesn’t care. The kid doesn’t retain anything he’s been learning. But he simply doesn’t care. So why does the kid keep going? And perhaps even more important, why does the kid keep getting better?

This is so simple. The kid keeps coming back BECAUSE HE’S HAVING FUN!!! I’m not kidding you, it’s that stupidly simple.

Ok, but why does the kid keep getting better? This is so simple it’s trite. The kid keeps getting better BECAUSE HE KEEPS COMING BACK!!!

Tony read these books about how we learn and how we can be successful. He decided to quite face to face instruction and create a guitar learning site that used these principles. You can read these books for yourself, or you can “trust the process”. But here’s the bottom line.

You have joined a site that teaches guitar based on scientific research about how we learn and how we are successful. What do you have to do to benefit from this?

Ok here’s the “secret”. Have fun. Log in tomorrow and “try” to do the lesson and HAVE FUN. STOP trying to do the lesson well. It doesn’t matter. It takes time. You’re NOT gonna do it well at first. So STOP IT!!

Instead, find something in the lesson that is fun and focus on that. And maybe notice something you could improve upon and write that down so you can work on it the next day before moving on. Or not. But move on.

Have fun and keep exposing yourself to guitar challenges and you will get better. Oh, and remember the first part? Have fun? If you do that, you’re having fun in the mean time so it doesn’t matter that you’re not doing it well or that it takes time to learn. Just have fun and keep coming back.

Will you get better? Yes, lots of members to prove that point. Will you eventually start understanding more and therefore retain more of what you learned? Yes, lots of member to prove that point.

So, the main secret? Have fun. The secondary secret? Keep coming back. The tertiary secret? Stop any type of judging or measuring or even thinking. Just play.

If you can remember how to be a kid, you will learn guitar and have fun doing it. It took a lot of scientists and a lot of clinical studies to figure out what the kids knew all along. Go figure. Just remember how to be a kid and you got this.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hello @jumpinjeff ; @albert_d ; @Bill_Brown ; and @the-old-coach Mark;

Nice thread Jeff. There are many ways to find a purpose for our playing. You, Jeff, have searched for sound that pleases, that you can have musical conversations with. That journey has led you to a place where this happened for you and you can share it with us as something we can see as a possibility in our journey.

But yeah, I understand Albert’s reaction, as I have trouble believing that would ever happen in my household. For me, you hit the nail on the head with your reply to Albert: “Put out a tip jar so she realizes you’re working also”.

Society needs many different things to survive and flourish. We humans have an aesthetic need, so we must have art and music. But we can’t have art and music if we don’t have artists and musicians. It’s so easy to watch musicians and think “they aren’t working”. And then you hear musicians talk about not “having to work”.

But wait a minute, any one in any job can feel like their not working if they really love what they do. It’s not about “what”, but about how you feel about it.

The lesson I’m going to take away from this “most excellent” thread is that I need to “work” harder. I need/want to get to the point that my wife and other relatives would want to have me do my work of playing music while they did other work, such as washing dishes.

MG 😄

[N-lightMike]

Here’s the thing @KPops ; @Moose408 ; and @marti-01 ;

We don’t learn when we can play something well or easily. We only learn from “adversity”, or “challenge”, or stretching ourselves.

So thank you so much for your post KPops, you worded that perfectly. It’s the process, not the learning of specific techniques. Through the process, our general, overall guitar skills get better and better. And we are having fun cause we don’t stay on one thing to the point of boredom.

It has been said in a very simple way that we learn from mistakes. That’s why “beginner’s luck” is useless. When we “accidentally” do something well when we first start learning a new thing, we can’t replicate it because we didn’t learn anything. We don’t start learning until we “miss”. Isn’t that interesting. It gives a whole new perspective to learning something, especially guitar.

Many people, even after being with TAC for a while, never see the superiority of the TAC method over other sites that teach songs or teach techniques. So what? You never feel like your a “real” guitar player, much less get beyond copying someone one else’s sound. That whole idea is to let go and just play. That’s what TAC teaches, is HOW to BE a guitar player. It’s a lot more than just technique or specific songs.

(PS – I’ve been with TAC for 4 1/2 years now, so I do have a little bit of perspective. I’ve also tried numerous other sites and even face to face instruction. My opinion is that TAC is the best there is.)

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Wow, Mark @the-old-coach ;

I can’t believe you’ve been with TAC for 3 years. That means I was only about a year and a half when you joined. So I really haven’t been with TAC that much longer than you. I feel like an old timer, but that’s probably not an accurate perception. I’m still learning at a rate that tells me I’m not as advanced as my perception thinks.

But the cool thing is, there are no measurements or grades or levels or tests or any such thing. We both can play way better than we could when we joined. Oh, and we write our own songs, and that’s huge. That’s a true gift.

Thanks for posting. It is good to look back to see how far we’ve come. I don’t think I ever got around to posting a 4 year TACiversary. Now, I’ll just wait for my 5 year. Or maybe not. I’ve got an idea. I could post a 4 year TACiversary that shows me playing a song from a couple of years ago and one playing now… an original song. That might be cool.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hey @Guitargeezer-Jack ;

I’m really happy to hear you have been doing this regularly for 2 years now.

We learn guitar… ok, that’s cool, but why? What’s the point? We must find a “point” at some point in time. 😁

I have done a search for “elderly care” facilities in my area, but never followed through. I do the VOMs on a regular basis, both as a participant and a host and even the coordinator of a weekly VOM. And I write original songs, which gives me quite a bit of musical activities, since there are a number of different phases involved in this process. So, that’s my purpose. I feel like there is a sufficient reason for what I do to keep me motivated.

But it looks like a big part of your purpose is in playing for the elderly. That’s perfect since it is an new extension of what you did in the first place. And, you also did family before learning guitar, but now you have a new way to interact with family. So you obviously have a “full” musical life. That’s so cool.

I’m a little sad I never got back down there to visit you, but you have a great acoustic life, and I have a great acoustic life, so it is what it is. I know much more about you because I visited you in real life than if I just knew you through TAC.

But here’s a thought. I might be motivated to come for another visit if the purpose was to play with you for one of your elderly care gigs. What do you think? Would you be willing to learn a few of my original songs? I have some that could be very appropriate. And of course, I’d have to learn some of your cover songs. But the good news is, one of us can just sing and play our song. The other one would just have to play some back up harmony. Or, figure out a solo to play which would be another cool challenge.

Let me know.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

@the-old-coach

🤣🤣🤣

[N-lightMike]

HaHaHa, Mark @the-old-coach , I feel your pain. I have allowed the limitations of this platform to irritate me so badly that I have all but quit participating in the TAC forums. But I’m the loser when I respond like that. Besides, I need to learn to handle disappointment better. In fact, that is a song topic I need to cover.

One trick I do now is to copy what I’ve written onto my clipboard. Then if I lose it, it’s easy to just paste it back in and re-post it.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hey Mark @the-old-coach ;

You said:

“Our little town of Montesano has many, MANY fastpitch softball State Titles as a result of literally decades of this coaching philosophy. Hundreds of coaches thru all the years– same philosophy.”

This is proof that this method works. None of the kids are going to apply themselves hard enough to win a State Title unless they are “having fun”. They have to “want it” badly enough to come back every day, listen to the coach, be willing to make adjustments, and work hard. The motivation isn’t the “goal” of winning a State Title. Everyone one has that “goal”, but only one team reaches that “goal”. The motivation is the sheer joy of playing, and playing well. Of improving and feeling that rush when you realize you’ve gotten better. It’s self feeding. Just like you said.

This method has been used forever for kids. We adults have “forgotten” how to be kids, so we have trouble using this method. But it works. The proof is all around us.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hey @Adventure_Girl ;

Thanks for leaving a reply to the comments. You said:

“Having fun with it. Actually yearning to spend time with my guitar each day, even though some days I have to push to get to it.”

See, that’s simple, but it’s also effective. Having fun is it’s own reward. Getting better over time is a bonus. The hardest we ever have to work is that last part, “some days I have to push to get to ‘it'”. What’s it? Having fun. So sometimes we just don’t connect to the fun we’ve had in the previous days and we have to “push”. But then guess what? We “get to it”, the fun. We still have fun.

Over time, “actually yearning to spend time with (our) guitar” happens more often, more consistently.

Your comment, Adventure_Girl, is exactly why this is the best method of learning guitar. It works with our emotional make up, not against it.

Hey @kirk62 , I hope you came back and read Adventure_Girl’s comment.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hey Mark @the-old-coach ;

The forum won’t be the same without you… and not in a good way so don’t go there. You have always brought so much to the discussion with your questions and comments. I’m sorry they weren’t able to help you with getting a lifetime membership.

I don’t do the lessons very much, but I do check them out everyday to see what’s being taught. Even with JMG I’d feel lost without TAC. I hope you can make it back sometime.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Sounds like a great idea, @albert_d . Let us know how it goes. 🤣

[N-lightMike]

Hey Mark @the-old-coach ;

These are some really good specific suggestions. You well know the power of the forum if we participate by asking questions and replying to the questions of others.

So, @kirk62 ;

I responded to your overall frustration. I did not give you any help with the specific problem of learning a C chord.

I felt that you needed to have a different outlook so you would keep going and the C chord would happen eventually.

However, if you want specific advice on how to work on the C chord or any other chord, start another thread and ask that question specifically. I’d love to help.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Thanks for sharing your experience, @Moose408 . We’ve all experienced much the same things along our journey. It really helps others, even those who’ve been at it longer, when we share what we’ve been through. 😉

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

I love your comment @Timbothirroul . You followed the KISS rule. Very simple. When it’s tough, that’s when you’re learning. Oh, and make sure we keep reminding ourselves. Always good advice. Thanks.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Always love to read your take on things, @jumpinjeff . I left a reply below if you care to check it out. Take care my friend.

MG 😀