N-lightMike
Forum Replies Created
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Hi @dtboss ,
Since the site change, the individual lessons no longer have multiple videos. Instead, there is a speed button to decrease or increase the time. I don’t know how well that will work for this particular lesson. Perhaps you can drill yourself now that Tony has shown you how to practice in this manner.
Let me know if you have further questions. This may not be the answer you are looking for.
MG 😀
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Hello @jim33 ,
I agree with @Loraine that we just have to do the best we can and slowly but surely things get better. And there are usually specific exercises we can do to speed up our progress.
Try this: place you hands palm down on a flat surface with your fingers splayed out. Then try lifting them one at a time. Try doing this in certain patterns. Also, try it in a rhythm. At first, it will seem nearly impossible and your hands will tire very quickly. But if you do this daily, after only a week you will notice definite improvement. This will help a lot with finger independence and stretch on the guitar.
MG 😀
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Hi @Sheryl14 ,
There seems to be 3 instances of your topic. I responded on another one of the instances. I see that you have already had @Loraine visit and share some encouragement. There was a slow down there with the site change, but now that the load speeds are back to normal, activity is definitely picking up.
I think one of the important things Tony teaches us is to keeping going the best we can. There will be the inevitable road blocks, but we don’t have to let those keep us down. You have started again, and that’s a big win.
MG 😀
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Hi @Sheryl14 ,
I was one of the cheerleaders. But with the site change I found myself focusing more on my own guitar practice and playing. At first, the slow page loading speeds were just more than my patience could handle, but when the speeds picked up, I was slow on the up take. I can only say I’m sorry.
The good news is there are other cheerleaders who are still active. @Loraine spends time visiting the forums and encouraging others. @jumpinjeff still comes to the forums and encourages others. And the are many new cheerleaders. @Bill_Brown responds to many threads giving encouragement. And there are others though I can’t come up with any other names off the top of my head.
I’m very sorry, Sheryl, that you have been suffering hand and finger pain. I glad you are able to get back to playing guitar. And I understand the feeling that you are starting over. However, you have had some experience that you didn’t have before. And you have some knowledge and some muscle memory even if it’s rusty. It’s true that your playing was on pause for a little while, but you didn’t actually start over. What you did was to show perseverance and pick up the guitar when you could that’s a big win.
And in the future, because there will be other times when you can’t actually play or practice for one reason or another, remember there are ways to continue improving even when you can’t play. You can practice finger independence by placing your hand palm down on a flat surface with you fingers splayed and lifting them one at a time. Try to do it in patterns and/rhythms. You can review rhythms you know in your head or by tapping them out. You can “strum” against your leg to practice patterns and/or rhythms you know or even learn new ones this way. You can review or memorize song lyrics and/or chord progressions. You can review or learn more about music theory. And you can always listen to guitar music and try to find songs or techniques that you would like to learn.
You are doing great just being here and reaching out. Please let us know how you progress from here.
MG 😀
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Hello @FredO_STL . Some people are able to bend their ring finger up so much at the first joint that they can have the high E string ring out from their index finger barre. However, most of us, especially those of us who started playing guitar as adults can not do that. However, we can easily get the high E to be muted. It takes effort to get the high E string to ring out from the ring finger barre. But if you put that effort into raising the ring finger it turns out it is quite easy to get the high E string muted.
I hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to ask further questions.
MG 😀
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Very glad to re-visit this tune @Daniel_Morin . It’s such a beautiful tune. This is really special. Usually, diminished chords sound very discordant, but the way you have used them, they sound beautiful and mournful at the same time. Thank you for sharing your musical genius with us Daniel.
MG 😀
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Sharing our experience is what used to make this site magical. Thanks for sharing your own struggles @Bill_Brown .
And sharing encouragement is another thing that made this site magical. Thanks for coming by @jumpinjeff . Like you, I am trying to do what I can to give the kind of support that TAC was so loved for.
I sincerely hope that you might find some encouragement and maybe even some kind of solution from these responses @Sheryl14 .
MG 😀
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I do hope it helps. It’s amazing what very simple but subtle adjustments are needed and what a large difference they make.
MG😀
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👍😃
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Here’s the wonderful thing about our guitar journeys, @Ron-N . We can do what we want in whatever order we want. The important thing is to continue to have fun and make progress.
That having been said, if you spend enough time trying to learn music theory from books or free videos, you could eventually learn pretty much everything Tony teaches. There are 2 big differences. Obviously, the FW course will greatly speed your progress. Second, you may not find some of the simple, direct understandings that Tony presents anywhere else as every one develops their own way of seeing things.
As @Michael-K73 points out below, “free” courses is a pretty misleading claim. No one teaches a thorough and logical development of music theory in free courses. The truly free courses will only teach a tidbit here and a tidbit there. You will find that after the free trial, you have to pay. Or, to see more videos in the series, you have to pay to join their Patreon community. There are a number of different ways the different sites and instructors set up their payment structure, but one way or another, you simply won’t get a complete, continuous course without paying.
The most important point I was trying to make regarding Tony’s FW course is that you will have enough understanding to be able to learn from all those free tidbits. You will have a framework of music theory to plug these tidbits into and therefore fill out and expand your understanding.
My experience is that Tony’s music theory course is the least expensive way to get to where you want to be. Most people won’t feel the need to learn any more theory but will have enough theory knowledge to understand the many free guitar videos they may watch in the future. And if someone wants to learn more theory after Tony’s course, they will have a foundation to build from. Most pure theory courses are too advanced to be of any benefit without this basic foundation. The problem is that you need some definitions and understanding to follow the first simple explanations. All the concepts and definitions are so interconnected that it is hard to make a simple beginning. That’s where Tony’s course is so unique. But hey, if the cost is too much, it’s just too much.
MG 😀
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Hi @FredO_STL ,
I’m glad you have gotten this down. It really is simple and easy though at first it seemed on the impossible side and then the spoken explanations made it seem possible but difficult, as you said, needing precision.
You will find this to be true over and over again during your guitar journey. Some things will take a very long time. Some things may never come. But don’t ever give up because most things will be in this category that just take a subtle but simple tweak to open the door to a skill or technique that seemed nearly impossible at first.
The most important thing is to realize we can make pleasing music and have fun at any time during our guitar journey no matter how little skill we have.
MG 😀
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Hello @NW7 . Again, I think @Bill_Brown has covered the question very well, but again, I would like to add my own personal experience.
I bought the music theory book. And then another one. And another one. I haven’t counted them, but I know I have well over 10 of them. Pretty much all of them were guitar specific, but some were more general. I took music courses at a community college from people who were academically trained musicians with personal experience in performing. Some of those courses were guitar specific.
Here is what I learned: a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated tidbits that at times even seemed to contradict each other. Music theory, it turns out, is NOT that complicated. However, for a number of reasons, it appears VERY complicated when taught academically. The only way to see/hear the simplicity of music theory is to teach it through and on a musical instrument. In the world of guitar players, music theory is especially difficult as there is so much music theory misinformation among guitarists. Again, there are a number of reasons which I won’t mention here so as not to muddy the waters.
Now, here’s the point. I am a true intellectual. I always did well in school. I was sure that I understood all the music theory I digested from both books and courses. However, it never seemed to add much to my abilities as a guitar player. Then, I took Fretboard Wizard.
Ah-Ha, Light Bulb, understanding that transcended my brain and somehow reached my fingers. Words just can’t capture what Tony does. NO ONE teaches the basics of music theory in such an intuitive way as Tony. NO ONE teaches the basics of music theory with as few words and intellectual concepts as Tony. This is the course that opened the world of guitar musicianship for so many of us here at TAC. NO ONE has taken the FW course without having light bulb moments.
This is my opinion, but it is based on my experience and the expressed experience of many others here on TAC. This IS NOT a TAC commercial. I get no benefit from singing the praises of TAC and the FW course other than the joy of helping others. I hope that this helps you.
MG 😀
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This was a very well thought out reply @Bill_Brown . As you said, the other sites and teachers have good content and offer things that beyond what Tony’s course contains. However, NO ONE teaches like Tony, again as you have already said.
Here is what I would add @Ron-N . I was not able to pick up the extra concepts that other sites and teachers tried to impart until I started seeing things the way Tony teaches music theory. AFTER I took Tony’s FW course, THEN I was able to benefit from other sites.
My suggestion is in line with what Bill has already said: go through Tony’s course as many times as it takes to understand what he teaches. Once you truly understand the material Tony covers, then go expand your understanding on other sites.
MG 😀
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Thank you so much @Ted_D . I appreciate the well wishes. I’m sure that we will continue to improve through this next year. That is something TAC brings to our guitar journey very reliably. And the wonderful thing about this community is how we all learn things from each other that we hadn’t managed to pick up from the lessons and videos we have watched. I’m so glad to be a part of this.
MG 😀