petelanger
Forum Replies Created
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Definitely have to temper those expectations. In the beginning you might only be able to do a few notes of a challenge, perhaps a measure here and one there. That’s totally ok, just try to learn something. Look for a little nugget you can take away, something you didn’t know yesterday or you couldn’t get the last time…..endless possibilities for a small win. After time, those insurmountable things shrink a little, you’ll see!
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Nice playing @Marty75. Unfortunately the Eagles (or those who manage their catalog) are notorious for being ruthlessly unforgiving. The time and admiration that you invested while learning to play their music represent one of the truest forms of flattery and it doesn’t hurt the Eagles in any way, on the contrary it opens up listenership to a wider audience.
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Welcome to TAC @laurie-d-jacksongmail-com
Just yesterday another new member posted here about having small hands. I will link to that thread below so as not to have to repeat myself.
So 2 days? Have you been playing all day long for 2 days? If so that is counter productive. The program is minimum 10 minutes daily. You can go a bit longer but after 20 minutes you should definitely take a break. You can only absorb so much while doing something completely new like learning guitar. The movements are completely unnatural and are not replicated in most anything we typically learn to do in our lives.
I’ve been playing for close to 2 years and started with TAC 18 months ago. I got decent command of the C chord probably about 3 months into my journey
the G chord about 4 -5 months in
the B7 was right after that.
Many of the chords that I thought I had under my fingers at this point I really didn’t because while transitioning into them or making modifications to them I would be muting strings all over the place, especially the D, E and C chords.
It wasn’t until about 6 months ago (a full year after joining TAC) that I was able to play an F mini (barre chord) with any consistency.
Don’t be so quickly discouraged, you are only a few days into your journey. It will take a few years to learn guitar, at least for most people not 16 or under!
link to yesterday’s thread “I have small hands and just can’t get a clear G chord“
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@dewilsonarbgmail-com how long have you been playing guitar? When someone reports that they just can’t get a clear X chord, we really need a bit more context and background story to give a good reply.
When I started i learned the E, E-, A, A-, C, G, B7 somewhat in that order. The first 3 I got down pretty quickly although I later realized I was doing some muting on the E minor that I had to correct. The C and G gave me trouble for a long time, it was probably a good 4 months before I could play a clear G chord and at least 3 months on the C.
When you practice, are practicing transitioning between chords? If not, you might as well start because that’s what guitar players do. We rarely hold down the same chord for a very long time.
The G, the Cadd9 and B7 are very similar and I would practice transitioning between those. It does take a good amount of time for your fingers to get used to forming the chords
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Welcome @kpbowstkyahoo-com
So many ways to mute, when muting a single string an easy way is just to apply a very light touch with your fretting hand. If you are fretting a chord just release the chord without moving your fingers. This produces a dead note, no tone at all.
Sometimes we want to partially mute but still get a note. This is typically done by palm muting near the bridge. Tony will teach all this in the daily challenges throughout the year
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I can’t imagine what might have happened for you to stop abruptly after registering almost 500 sessions.
You might have an interesting story to tell over here: https://tonypolecastro.com/category/blog/guitar-stories/
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Yes, the videos are all 1x speed and you can play back at 0.5x, 0.75x…..up to 2.0x. I had the same thoughts when I started TAC, was looking for those “other” videos.
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Welcome back @KayMesser
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Weird! It doesn’t work for me either, seems like a broken link. I never went through this course so I don’t know if it’s always been this way.
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When you’re learning to sing along it’s best to simplify in the beginning then increase the difficulty once you are comfortable. Just do single down strums instead of the strum pattern and practice singing along that way. Once you have learned to sing along with your chord changes, begin adding in more complexity to the strumming.
Go to the 7:00 min mark of this video and Tony describes the process:
https://tonypolecastro.com/lessons/lovely-place-2/
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Yes, 2 years, sometimes I forget that it’s ’26 already @Moose408. Explains why I wasn’t affected by it last year.
It’s such a shame, Tony is serving up “Duck breast à l’orange” with “Vanilla crème brûlée” deserts at Mel’s Rusty Spoon Diner.
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This is an old thread from a year ago. There’s a current one right here:
https://tonypolecastro.com/family-forums/topic/site-speed-update/
Oddly I was not bothered by lagging page loads at the time that one was started last January. It wasn’t fast but acceptable until recently. Tony has assured us that the issue is being worked on.
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Let us know the outcome!
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That’s great! And welcome to TAC @dewilsonarbgmail-com you will find people here are very willing to help. It might take a day or 2 for many to chime in so try to be patient!
To get back to your initial problem: small hands. Almost every beginner things there is something physically wrong that is holding them back. While it’s possible for there to be an actual issue, in many cases people’s hands are just fine. If there is a real handicap, there are all sorts of ways to overcome most any obstacle.
At this point I am capable of most of the shapes to be more than adequate, but I often think my fingers are waaaay……..slow! I’m staring my left hand down as it’s crawling like a snail from the folk G to A minor, and my brain is giving the hand the what for (hand you better get your act together!) I’m sure I’ll get faster although I’m not going to be shredding like Eddie Van Halen.
Some pointers that could help:
1. Positioning: you want to get your hand in the optimal position to form the chord that’s giving you trouble. If you feel your hand is too small maybe you aren’t getting your palm far enough under the fretboard. Pushing the palm forward so you get the palm further allows you to wrap your fingers better, so they’re coming at the fretboard with a better angle. You want to get as perpendicular as possible. Often it’s helpful to raise the neck even up to eye level: it can be more comfortable, more favorable for many of the chords and easier to see.
2. Are you keeping your fingernails short? I trim my fretting hand nails about 3 times weekly. Some players just file them every day but I prefer the old clippers.
3. Warm up exercises, take a look at this mini course: https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/guitar-players-daily-stretch-guide/
4. Don’t press more than you need to. When fretting any chord, get as close to the fret wire as possible. Experiment pushing down and then letting up while you pick the string. Feel the pressure when the note is no longer clean, now press just a bit harder. Beginners tend to press WAY TOO HARD and this causes pain and poor technique.
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If there isn’t anybody in the forums (that is your fellow members) helping you out, you can request help. The yellow circle right bottom corner of the home page is where you start. Don’t bother chatting with the bot, that doesn’t get you anywhere. Click in the top left (see red arrow) to reach a human (Victoria)!
