[N-lightMike]

Hello @Carnelia ;

So, 10 minutes. That’s it. You succeeded no matter how imperfectly you managed to do the lesson. Now, if you have the time and want to spend more than 10 minutes, that’s fine. But remember that you also want to spend time doing a technique warm up, and stretches, and something fun like playing a song or noodling, and working on something you want to do everyday like a song or a technique you are learning. Now that’s all in addition to the lesson. None of these pieces should be so long that you get worn out or they take away time from your responsibilities in life.

Playing every day can be difficult. But the reason is because we have a life and other things we want or need to do. So the tough thing is to play in small enough chunks that guitar playing fits into our life. Also, to improve, we must work on multiple things… everyday. Again, the secret is small chunks.

Small chunks allows us to be consistent, and that’s what leads to progress. What interferes with progress is spending too much time on something because we won’t be able to sustain that. Another thing that interferes with progress is trying to master a lesson. Guitar takes time to learn. When we try to master a lesson, we are trying to get better instantly. It will only take you 5 or 10 minutes to play a lesson as well as you are going to that day given your current level of ability. Then, you can spend a little more time having fun with it. Having fun, that is, with what you were able to do. 8 or 10 months later, when the lesson comes around again, you will notice that you can play it better even if you never tried it again.

To really understand the purpose of the daily lessons and how we can use them to the best advantage, go through the 5 Day Guitar Routine Challenge in the Skill Courses section. Here is a link:

https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/5-day-guitar-routine-challenge/

So, the simple answer to your question is: “Yes”. Each week, start new. Even day to day, you will only carry over so much. If you spend time going back over day 1, and day 2, and day 3, and day 4, by the 5th day you simply won’t have enough time.

I hope this helps.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hello Darren @Moonhare ;

I am so very impressed by your video and your progress. The cross-over skills that you brought to TAC are very obvious. I love that you showed us in this video how you, with your understanding of music, put pieces that Tony teaches us, together into something to practice and play around with. I see your experience on the keyboard has given you finger independence and you are not shy about using that to try new things and push yourself. Another template showing us how we can have practice sessions that are more fun and more effective. And then there are your recording and video editing skills. But we don’t need to be as good as you are at the technical end, or even have a set up as good yours, to learn from what you have done. Most of us have learned to make simple videos. And it’s not that hard to learn how to do simple video editing. Your video demonstrates how much this could help us document our journey and help us to improve.

I say Bravo. I wish to watch this many more times so that I can learn as much as possible from your excellent example. Thank you for this amazing, instructive video.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hello Jack @Guitargeezer-Jack ,

Congratulations. Wonderful wins. TAC is so effective and rewarding. And music in general is so beneficial, especially as we get older. This all sounds terrific.

I’m sorry I’m late to the party. I still don’t participate in the TAC forum as often as I used to. I’m glad I caught your TACiversary though. This makes me feel like I should put more emphasis on the TAC community.

I love that you are starting to lean towards finger picking. That’s what I’m really into. I have learned to do whatever I want without a pick. This turns out to be what I was looking for on my guitar journey. One day, I may start including a flat pick or thumb pick again, but for now, finger picking without picks or finger nails is what I want.

Are you still playing your electric? Do you use a pick for that, or have you tried finger picking the electric? Have you done any more with song writing? Maybe we could get together again sometime?

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hey @Dean-Staff ;

Congratulations on getting a great start to your new guitar routine. Congratulations also, on your strong desire to play guitar. That can keep your guitar journey going. Start learning theory and then you can work on the relationships among the notes in your mind while you’re at work. Then, you never leave your guitar journey. Work on finger independence exercises. Buy one of those fretboard exercise things. They are sorta like a guitar without a body. Then you can practice making chord shapes. There are a lot of things you can do to be into your guitar routine even when you’re not at home or don’t have a guitar with you. Buy a travel guitar and take it with you and play it on your lunch break.

But, fight the tendency to get discouraged. No one can defeat you except you. A quote from the Zen Guitar book is “the only enemy is within”. If I were to recommend one thing to get you into the right head space I would recommend this book. Read it on your breaks. It will inspire you to the point nothing will completely stop you.

But reality is, some things can stop us from actually playing guitar for a while. That’s why we have to find ways to stay in the game until we can actually play again.

You’ve already gotten some great advice. I hope this helps also.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hello @Mrfredsporty ,

The 30 Day to Play is an introductory course. The other skills courses can help you in specific areas to move ahead faster. But the real meat and potatoes of TAC is the Daily Challenge. As Darren @Moonhare mentions, it is not the aim to master these lessons. The Dailies give you something to work on every day and cover the range of guitar skills throughout the week. Over time you will notice you guitar skills improve across this range of skills. When the lessons come around again, you will do much better, including lessons you felt were way over your head and you didn’t practice or think about anymore. The process really works.

But before you jump into the Dailies, Tony has a 5 day program designed to help you understand what these daily lessons are all about. It is the 5 Day Guitar Routine Challenge. It is one of the Skill Courses. I have provided a link below.

https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/5-day-guitar-routine-challenge/

I hope this helps.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

So, no smart phone, Mark? The laptop can do it because it has both camera and mic, but I’m not experienced with that. I’ll have to experiment with my own laptop. Hopefully, someone who has already done it will come by.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Hey @KevinAppel ,

As I read the first paragraph, I’m thinking, so what is the question? I’m not seeing any confusion here. This guy is totally on track. (But hey, thanks for starting the thread so I got to read @jumpinjeff ‘s explanation. 😄)

So, now, to try to answer the unanswerable question: how does it all fit together? First, I just gotta say that’s one of those questions that’s so basic my brain just kinda freezes up. It’s sorta like asking why the sky is blue. Ok, so maybe state the obvious first? It’s already together. No need to fit anything.

So, Jeff was using an analogy about what he was able to see. And I think that’s really what’s going on. It’s like you’re in the Amazon jungle. Someone has pointed you in a direction. You feel like you’re lost, but you’re not. You are moving in the right direction and you have some feedback to let you know that. Yet, you can’t see anything. You can’t tell where the end point is or how far away it is.

There is no over riding ah-ha moment like you know “the answer” ever. But there are numerous moments of reveling in the wonder of it all.

I think the real problem is, we can’t know how to get something if we don’t know what it is. I didn’t know enough about the guitar or music to even clearly understand what I liked much less figure out what I wanted. I used a pick on the TAC lessons for over 2 years before I realized I don’t want to use a pick… ever. Why? I still don’t know the answer to that one, but now I know it is a purposeless question. I see the what, I don’t need the why.

But I have never really “figured” anything out. I realize what I want by getting there or at least close to it. So, I adjust my focus to make that thing I want to be higher priority. As I move forward I find the treasure I wanted all along. But I didn’t know what that treasure was till I found it.

And all of this amazing wonder happened because I was determined to do only 2 things: keep moving forward and have fun while I did it. That’s it. So, my latest mantra is:

Play On!

I hope this non-answer gave you some answers. 🤔

I wanted to tag @Emjaye , @Imust@aol.com , @the-old-coach because you stated you were interested in hearing the perspective of others on this thread.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

Wow, that was really good @BethL , and that’s what it’s all about in my mind. To use music to say things you need or want to say. It helps you and it helps us. This is a really cool song and it’s really fun to listen to. Thanks for posting.

MG 😀

[N-lightMike]

That was awesome, @Daniel_Morin , thanks for showing us how it’s done. 😎

[N-lightMike]

@Cadgirl 👍

[N-lightMike]

@tailsawaggin 👍😊

[N-lightMike]

@Guitargeezer-Jack 👍

[N-lightMike]

👍

[N-lightMike]

<div>You are so welcome @the-old-coach </div>

🙏😊

[N-lightMike]

Hello Janice @jsurgnet@nexicom.net

There are many things in life I find annoying. If I looked at them, I would literally feel bad all the time. So I try to overlook them so I can feel good most of the time.

As far as where the videos are, I do not know what videos you are referring to. There are an awful lot of videos on this site.

MG 😀