[the-old-coach]

Daniel-

That was fantastic. So thaaaaaat’s how it’s supposed to be done…..

I watched the video– twice– in awe. I had the same expression as the big white dog behind you.😉

Congrats on your 4th TAC year!

You have set down a new goal those following you- including myself.

Fantastic.

Mark J

[the-old-coach]

Reggie-

First off- welcome to TAC!

You are likely to get lots if advice and answers to help you get up & runnin’.

You came to the right place!— your best friend right now might very well be this- (your)- TAC forum! Look around in here a bit and you’ll likely find others who have had the very same questions as to how to get started- along with big welcomes and many answers and helpful advice.

There is kind-of a “Uh-oh…. whuddoo I do now- how do I get started?” confusion-period. Maybe it’s because we are all at a DIFFERENT spot in learning when we first come in the door. What might be the right advice for one person might be way ahead-of or way-behind for another. You’ll find your spot in there naturally.

Poke around in here- it’ll come to you….. And I have a feeling there will be some excellent guidance comin’ your way.

Have fun with all this- and really ENJOY the sounds that YOU are making!

You made a great choice…. Again- welcome to TAC!

Mark J

[the-old-coach]

Ping-

Sounds like you’ve made the first step in figuring out these “chord-things”, by identifying which string buzzes on which chords. What you have written is very detailed– and that’s good. Your brain KNOWS what the problems are- and will work to correct them.

My suggestion(s)- I have two- (and they are based on my limited ability and experience- and this is nothing new or earth-shaking….)—

1. Slow down and GET THESE BASIC CHORDS RIGHT. To the point of being automatic. No matter what the combination. No peeking at either hand. Close-your-eyes automatic. There’s NO magic bullet, and no shortcut– it takes time, effort and repetition. But— you WILL begin to see improvement, and you will deeply enjoy that sense of accomplishment. It’s only you- you have done it- and you will own it.

Enjoy the trip. It’s not about the destination- it’s about the ride.

2. So much of learning guitar is like going up a ladder- getting “this” step right makes the NEXT step easier. Many times the lessons build upon each other- (a “crawl/walk/run” thing). This is NOT to say in any way- do NOT go to “the next lesson until you have — “mastered”— a lesson, because I think TAC is also designed to give you a “well-rounded” program that provides a good foundation in an “all-around” sense. So even if you haven’t maybe gotten a lesson “perfected”- keep movin’ on…… but DON’T hesitate to look in the rear-view mirror once in a while- (favoritize or print out a lesson that was tough) and go back to it from time to time– it’ll get easier. You learn way- WAY- more from 6, 10-minute sessions than 1, 60-minute grinder.

You know if you need to do more on a lesson or not. Be humble enough with yourself to get it right.

All that said- Welcome to TAC!!!!

Hope some of this made sense to you.

Mark J

[the-old-coach]

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by  the-old-coach.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by  the-old-coach.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by  the-old-coach.

[the-old-coach]

Well- that was a mess– Oops.

[the-old-coach]

Wow- that is great stuff there– a BIG win!

I’m not there yet- but working on it….

A buddy of mine who has played in various local bands in our area for ~30 years recently said to me- “The hardest thing about the first time you play and sing in front of people ISN’T the actual playing & singing– (you’re ready for that!)– it’s the realization within you that you are willing to make a complete fool out of yourself…….. and……..you are OK with that……. Once you have accepted that- it’s easy from then on”.

As I said- I’m not there yet. Actually, a lo-o-o-ong ways off. So I admire what you are doing- (and I don’t think I’m alone🙂).

Thanks for starting this post- others are following in your footsteps.

Mark J

[the-old-coach]

Hello all- and thanks for your responses!

Upon re-reading and re-thinking my original post- maybe “slipping backwards” wasn’t the best title for it.

It was meant to be a reference to falling back into old habits- in my case, it was just playing away on a tabbed music song- (and thinking I was doing great!)- when what I really want to do — instead– was learn to play that song **without** any “help”.

It truly was kind-of a “rut” for me— for years. Saying to myself that I was really learning to play songs… but….. not really.

Like the kid in the high school band who could play away for hours off the sheet music in front of him- (yes, I remember all those Christmas and Spring concerts watching my kids & g-kids!). Anyway- was he learning the notes?– yes. Was he learning the SONG?– maybe— sort-of. Could he play that song **without** the sheet music in front of him?– Not on a bet.

One of the reasons I joined TAC was to get out of the dependence and false-sense of improvement that playing only TABs put me in.

I know discussions generally along this line have popped up now & then in here.

My particular question was about the TAB-bed music and how that should NOT be an easy “go-to” for me to fall back onto- in my quest to figure out the best way for me to learn how to memorize and make songs available to play straight from my head– all on my own— (no chords, no lyrics, no nothin’)- out of the blue.

I figured that there is NO better place on the surface of the planet to get help figurin’ this out, than right here, within TAC.

Maybe someone else is dealing with this same thing?

Well- once again- it appears that rambling-on is my thing.

Thanks again for any more help & advice….

Mark J

[the-old-coach]

Timo67-

I gotta agree with Carol.

Your story- and persistence- is pretty incredible.

Here in TAC, there are a LOT of us who have or have had self-consciousness issues of playing anywhere near others. Your story is a fantastic inspiration to all of us who’ve ever felt that.

And as Carol said— your dad is probably smilin’.

The nuts & bolts of your playing will come easily to you… Your story is BIG WIN material! Thanks for sharing that.

Mark J

[the-old-coach]

Ron–

My two-bits about these finger-stretching exercises: when you are doing all those finger-stretches—- try to keep your- (fretting-hand)- arm fairly straight- (like in many of the pics). If your arm is bent you lose a LOT of effectiveness.

But— be careful with these, especially at the start. Kind-of “ease into it”. Believe it or not, you can mess yourself up if you just start reefin’ on things.

As far as a “warmup routine”- there are some great suggestions already here in your thread! I agree with Moochas Poochas that the 5-day Finger-stretch Challenge is great- (my favorite is the “Vertical Stretch” exercise. In my own “warmup” I go thru a half-dozen or so various lessons that “get everything movin'”, and the Vertical Stretch is one I do EVERY day.

Mark J

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by  the-old-coach.

[the-old-coach]

Ping- (and Mike?)-

In the light of the great responses so far in this thread– and then re-reading my own post– I feel like I may “have some ‘splaining to do”.

When I said “slow down and get these basic chords right……..”, I may have sounded like I meant to halt all progression until you have those “mastered”. If that’s the way it sounded, I’m sorry- that’s not what I meant at all.

I should have phrased it to come across more like “Slow down, because you WILL need to get these basic chords right”. “Realize that it may take time- you’ll know when you NEED to have these perfected- because when doing the Dailies– even getting any kind of effort together will REQUIRE you to have these “down””.

Frustration will settle in– either in struggling with learning the chords themselves inside & out now– or when NOT being able to enjoy doing the Dailies because you don’t know the chords needed in them. As I said– don’t necessarily hold everything up while trying to be perfect at one thing– but if I had to choose, I tend to lean toward climbing the ladder one step at a time.

A very wise man once said- “expectation is where fun goes to die”. Remember that this is “Tony’s Acoustic Challenge“. How boring would it all be if it was all just too “easy”- (like, say, a straight, flat, boring, golf course– yawn). Enjoy the challenge, and that “difficult, edgy, stretch/exercise for your brain”, that comes with a good challenge. It makes the successes- (large and small)- taste that much sweeter!

That said– Seems like in here there are sometimes two different trains of thought on how to “learn” things- and even how to approach the Daily lessons.

(Very generally paraphrasing here)- I’ve seen posts that advise going slow with an emphasis on being VERY accurate; others feel more that the best way is to “give it your 10 minutes and move on”.

I personally REALLY respect the viewpoints of the great people here in the Forum- regardless of where they stand on either side of this issue.

Sometimes one “method” works better, for whatever, than the other way. I think I try to have some kind-of balance.

But my own brain whispers to me to crawl…… Then walk…… Then run.

Anyway- I hope my earlier post didn’t confuse you. You will find your own path.

Mark J

[the-old-coach]

😃👍

[the-old-coach]

Hello Crarod-

They are “Falcor Flies Again”, “Merlin’s Mutant Brother”, and “KC1 in C mixed”.

To Nicole- another way to “save” the lessons is simply print them out, and keep them in a 3-ring binder of some sort. You can then still practice the TAB without your computer.

No matter how you “save” those lessons– be mindful of the ones at the VERY END of the month- make sure you do whatever with them BEFORE the Sunday/midnight before that first Monday of the new month.

Mark J

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by  the-old-coach.

[the-old-coach]

Nope- haven’t seen that one yet.😯

As I said, just wrote the post, and hit the post button, then- (to make sure it was posted OK)- I read thru it again, and discovered a spelling error. So I hit the “edit” button, made the correction, then hit “post”……..

POOF gone

It’s happened before to me if I recall correctly, but it’s been months ago.

That’ll teach me to fix spelling errors🤨.

Thanks- Mark J

[the-old-coach]

Cadgirl-

I responded to your post- but then had to edit my own response. When I hit post to re-enter my response…. it went POOF! and disappeared.

I’ll try again later.

Thanks- Mark J

[the-old-coach]

Punder-

It’s all gonna come rushin’ back to you.

In the meantime, I hope your shortened sessions still give you enough time to get lost in the music- even for just a few minutes- and take your mind off all that. Cool little vacation(s) so to speak🙂.

Carry on. Be well. Your guitar journey is waiting patiently.

Mark J