[the-old-coach]

David— That was sooo good…… so relaxing, so soft, so sweet……..

[the-old-coach]

Rocktopus says– “I did not make any progress at all”….

Wait a minute….Oh, but you DID! You gotta work your brain and hands a bit to improve! You gotta really push your noggin for it to absorb it all. Your brain does its best work storing this stuff up—– when you are asleep….. It WILL catch up.

Think about it…….. Your callouses didn’t come from easy guitar-workouts. They ONLY come when you have “pushed” your fingertips thru some pretty hard workouts. They get tougher and better only because of the work.

That’s exactly the way you want it to be…….. challenging…….. difficult at times……. pushed right to the edge of your ability. THAT’S when improvement happens!

You likely made a TON of progress (you’ll see!).

TOC

[the-old-coach]

Give it that 10 (or maybe 20?) minutes and move on……… regardless of how “good” you did on it.

………but wait………..

Give those 10 or 20 minutes your absolute, undivided, completely-focused attention. During that time…. NO distractions, no noodling, no nothing… except pure focus and concentration. Period. Then walk away from it.

Go onto noodling, whatever.

Your brain will process and store the good stuff…… in your sleep.

[the-old-coach]

I have read that when your complete attention starts to “fade” (and/or you mind begins to wander……..even just a little……. STOP). They say this happens pretty regularly to many adults at about 20 minutes of hard concentration.

So “the fix” is to move on to something different. Your brain can only take in sooooo much……. of one thing…… at one time.

You don’t have to quit learning/practicing/playing (at that point) for the day…… again, just do something different– (until the next day, and your brain has had the sleep-period it needs to store what you learned during that 20 minutes).

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by  the-old-coach.

[the-old-coach]

Mike—- Do your stretching warmups!

Pinkies are not really independent little buggers- (but they are more than the darn ring-finger). Maybe play some chords to which you can “add your pinkie” to. Example- play a regular C chord…… but then add your pinkie onto the hi-E at that 3rd fret. Gives your C a new sound, but in the process, you are tricking/teaching your pinkie to act independently.

This can be done with several different chords…

Just a thought….

[the-old-coach]

Remember that there can be no “one-size-fits-all” when we all start out in TAC, because we are all at a different starting point; we all have different levels of experience when we show up here.

What seems very difficult and/or confusing to one…. might seem too easy for another…. and BOTH can cause confusion,problems, and maybe anxiety at the very start of entering the world of TAC.

My advice?…….. be cool……… let things happen (especially at the very start) instead of trying to make things happen. Explore all there is to offer within the TAC website, and find the “TAC-groove” that fits you.

It’s a great sight and a great system…. at the start, you are just a car trying to merge onto the freeway. Allow yourself to blend-in to the flow…….

[the-old-coach]

Hate to reply to my own post(s)……. but my own self-consciousness always seems to think of things I should have put in…….. after I post. Upon re-reading it (and after it was too late to edit it) I realized that in the last line I used “sight” instead of “site” (or website)…… duh…….

[the-old-coach]

Welcome!

The Daily Challenge and “daily lesson” are the same thing.

Make sure to start with “30-Days to Play”.

Really explore all the TAC site has to offer– (all the Skills courses for example…)

DON’T be in a rush— your brain will take it all in— better— if you let it have the TIME to take it all in

You will get lots of great advice right here in the Forum— (so don’t be a stranger here)

GET RID of your own self-expectations…….. and focus on the FUN!

[the-old-coach]

I believe that TAC has its “lane”; its “purpose”……. It’s not meant to be everything-guitar-learning. I was a member of TAC here for three years– and I loved it– and believe it is the best place to learn all the basic, well-rounded skills needed to give your guitar journey a solid starting-point.

Keep it, use it in “partnering-up” with additional sites to learn whatever specialized ideas you have in your own guitar journey- (playing songs, writing songs, music theory itself, classical playing, recording and posting your own performances, whatever.

TAC is a solid stepping-stone, of/from which you will always have built-in skills and knowledge, which you can take with you in whatever direction you want to pursue.

[the-old-coach]

Jeff— This is the coolest post you have made here! Simply hilarious……. and simply…. true. The most improvement comes from what starts-out as the hardest task.

[the-old-coach]

Maggie– great post! I also think the real fun/ the most fun in guitar comes when you just “get lost in it”…… turn your brain off and just play and have fun.

Added benefit— your brain is watching and taking all of that in, too…..

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 6 days ago by  the-old-coach.

[the-old-coach]

Perfect— it’s how you look at things. Move frustration from being an inhibitor to a motivator. Who wants to hear about someone who has climbed a small mountain? The difficulty is where the excitement is.

[the-old-coach]

Perfect

[the-old-coach]

Vinny– Another perfect add-in to this thread! Remember— other new members are watching-along, and this is all really helpful to them…. (we were ALL there once!).

[the-old-coach]

Excellent reply, Scott