[the-old-coach]

Dirk_R–

Wow, that is awesome.

You must’ve been pretty cool-headed about it DURING the performance to clearly remember how well you did….. a big win just in itself.

Man, I hope someday to be able to muster up that kind of confidence and courage.

Thanks for sharing– it kind-of “pulls the rest of us up” a notch. This is great stuff!!!!

theoldcoach

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  the-old-coach.

[the-old-coach]

We were recently in Tampa, Florida.

While walking around downtown, we came across a big cast-bronze marker commemorating a Jimi Hendrix concert at that exact location in 1968.

Toward the bottom is a Hendrix quote- (in larger letters)-

“Find yourself first

And then your talent

Work hard in your mind

So it can come alive”

Maybe this doesn’t apply to this thread…….. or does it…….?

Go back to the beginning.

The windshield in your car is WAY bigger than the rear-view mirror– but you still need to glance there once in a while.

theoldcoach

[the-old-coach]

This is great news! Life is the schlitz sometimes, huh?

As PhilB says- Good to see your name back in here😀. You’ve always had an encouraging word. It’ll all “come back fast”, I’m confident.

yer old pal-

theoldcouch– (not necessarily a mis-spelling)🤨

See ya’ “around”……

[the-old-coach]

During my practice session today, I went over into YouTube videos, looking for some actual examples of the point I was trying to explain in the original post in this thread.

Wow…. there are SOOOOO many “How-to-play this song” videos in there!!!- thousands. I couldn’t even begin to pick one out!

It’s amazing to me that even though the videos for any given song can all be different- (and they all sound great)——- It’s the same song! It might be in a different key– (and/or maybe MANY things changed that I mentioned above).

So, I use that to remember that even though I might play a song a bit differently than someone else…… that’s OK. Maybe I like “my version” of it better! And if I change my mind and change it her & there– (experimenting/noodling)…… that’s OK too!………

There isn’t a “you have to play it ONLY this way” requirement🤔.

This is one of the GREAT things about the TAC method. Here- we’re NOT learning how to play one song…. (even though the TAC-way may take longer and is harder)….. we’re learning more broad-based, to be able to play ANY song.

Any way we want to play it……… simply…….. because we KNOW how that song’s music-structure WORKS- (vs just “memorizing” it).

Any thoughts?

Sorry yet again about being so long-winded- (and I promised myself I’d work on that😕).

theoldcoach

[the-old-coach]

Kinga-

Wow, this is a big subject- LOTS of ways to think about this, and LOTS of threads on this subject– search around here in the Forum– you just may find exactly what you’re looking for in someone else’s thread…….

My own thought is to go back to the start. Re-read your own Profile and GOALS that you posted the day you signed up for TAC. Get all that straight in your head– ****exactly**** what you want to accomplish in the LONG run.

I bet you probably started in TAC with those clear ambitions and goals in your head.

1. Go back and find them. Like a giant “reset button”.

2. Don’t compare yourself with anyone else– including YOURSELF and “where you THINK you should be by now”.

3. Give yourself a break on this– learning guitar is difficult….. Forget about big-guitar-things happening overnight. Enjoy that fact. The best parts of the old movie “Vacation”– BY FAR– where the adventures while DRIVING TO WallyWorld…….. not when they GOT THERE. Enjoy the trip!

4. Always– ALWAYS– have fun with this.

theoldcoach

[the-old-coach]

Like Albert said…….. “it only keeps getting better”!!!

Tru-dat

[the-old-coach]

Sorry to all about my enthusiasm and all my “blah-blah-blah”………. “I did this/ I did that”.

I was in kind-of a hurry today when I posted about all my latest “fantastic accomplishments😏”, and when I got the chance to go back and RE-read it– I realized I was probably a bit “over the top” sounding.

I’ll be the first to tell ya’ I still have a LONG way to go. But I am havin’ fun with all of it, and have a pretty-good handle on where I want to end-up guitar-wise. There’s an end to how much I want to LEARN out there somewhere, but I don’t see an end to how well I want to be able to PLAY what I’ve learned. Does that even make sense????

Anyway– Think I was just excited and enthusiastic about discovering something new😃- (and every new lightbulb moment is pretty cool)- because learning to play guitar seems to go so S….L….O….W…. most of the time.

Heck, maybe someone else can get something out of my BS— (believe me, if –I– can learn to play guitar— anybody can).

Anyway, I’ll work toward fixin’ all the enthusiasm, excitement, and blah-blah-blah….

theoldcoach

[the-old-coach]

Hey, y’all—

Well, today I did “the whole process” again. This time it was the song “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not- (by Thompson Square). Chose this song because we got to see them perform this in one of the Broadway bars in downtown Nashville ~10 years ago…. from about ten feet away! (Zach Brown was in the crowd about ten feet behind us- drinkin’ beer- I got pics and videos!).

Anyway- did “the whole thing” using this song….. Told Alexa to play the song, figured out the key, major recipe for the notes, built the matrix/got the chords, listened for the chord changes, gave each chord in the progression it’s “Nashville Number”, and played away.

Interesting part- the song was actually in Key of A flat- (which in itself is unusual(?)- BUT- (checking my work)- the Ultimate-Guitar TAB showed playing it with a capo on the first fret…. and then just playing “regular” open chords- (G-C-D /// 1-4-5).

So…. I had to think about that for awhile- because I wanted to– and was– actually playing those 1-4-5 chords in the key of A flat- (no capo)- using all E-shaped barre chords- (A flat, D flat, and E-flat— at 4th, 9th, and 11th frets).

So I just played the song thru about ten times using only/all barre chords, glancing ONLY at my own chord matrix columns……….

Hard to put into words– but a DAMN fun “lightbulb moment” today.

THANKS to TAC— and all who I’ve learned from here in the TAC Forum!😀😀😀

You all were right— when “it” starts to happen— all the lights come on!!!!

theoldcoach

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  the-old-coach.

[the-old-coach]

Carol— This is a GREAT explanation! I have been thru FBW twice– yet never had a CLEAR “grasp” of what you explained so clearly…….. WOW……… Thank you!!!!

[the-old-coach]

Thanks for responding, K-man!

As I read your post here, I couldn’t help but glance up at my long-winded ramblings.

I promised myself I’d knock it off with the blah-blah-blah….. It appears I have failed miserably at that.

Doing better at learning guitar than learning how to tone it back🙄

[the-old-coach]

Jeff- Your reply means a lot.

Being honest, I have to say I’m having fun…… mostly “in my own way”…….

I’m an investigative, curious, person by nature- (in case you haven’t noticed). I really enjoy the diggin’ into something I’m not necessarily knowledgeable about.

Crazy/goofy example……… My brother & I had lots of minibikes/ dirt bikes/ go-karts, etc, when we were growin’ up, and we used to tear them apart and then just put them back together— just for the fun of it— and…. to see what actually made them work. And we didn’t just take the engine OFF, we took the engine APART. Everything…..

You LEARN A LOT by tearing something apart and seeing – (and thinking about)- how it really works😉…..

So….. even though learning…. and also practicing…. guitar, is “work” in some sense…….. I thoroughly enjoy the “task” part of it.

Am I peein’ all over myself like a puppy as I make my way down the hall to a guitar session???…… no.

Do enjoy the practice sessions???……. absolutely.

I get the fun out of it by—-

1. Discovering “new” things- (guitar light-bulb-moments).

2. Seeing results– that mostly come from studying, and just plain old **thinking** about guitar-stuff…… and LOTS of repetition. (I can MAKE that stretch, or pull off that scale, or clumsy chord transition, that I couldn’t a month ago!!!)😎.

3. Just plain hearing the sounds I’m making that are coming from an instrument that makes NO sound until I play it.

These three things are the dessert!

I like the vegetables, too!

[the-old-coach]

Again……..Nailed it…….

[the-old-coach]

Nailed it…….

[the-old-coach]

Well played, albert_d……… Well played………

And I agree😎

[the-old-coach]

You are fearless…………. and I am envious………..

I’ll get there– and your original post– and these responses in here– will help!

theoldcoach