petelanger
Forum Replies Created
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reach out to support! There is a button on the home page bottom right.
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Good stuff @jorgemac !
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When I started, knowing nothing I gravitated to the classical position (I’m right handed so the guitar on my left leg). But since I wasn’t playing classical I set the guitar on the right leg and it feels more normal now, but I catch myself strumming and picking near the end of the guitar neck when I’m not looking so I have to consciously move my picking hand towards the bridge.
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I have a feeling you are a much more advanced player than I. Nonetheless I want to chime in on this topic. I started doing chord progressions, not with my eyes closed, but in low lit and dark areas and trying to look away from the guitar for the past 4 months or so (about a year after I started from absolute beginner). I will usually follow the chord progression of songs, without strumming them while I’m watching TV. Depending on the chords before and after I may use a different shape to make the transition easier. It always helps if you can leave one finger planted while minimizing the movements of the others. If that’s not possible then perhaps the shape can remain largely in tact and I just have to move it 1 string up or down and just a touch up or down the neck.
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@rdrmac that’s quite a threat there! LOL, not to worry!
It’s hard to get that intricate control over your fingers that guitar playing requires, that’s why not everybody plays guitar. The movements that you will be learning in the next few years are unique and just as delicate and intricate as a surgeon’s. We typically learn to move fingers in unison when faced with a new task and the hand typically is opening to release or closing to grasp. The guitar adds a whole new layer of movement to each finger. It’s going to take time but eventually those fingers will obey your command more and more.
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PageFlip Butterfly – Hands Free Page Turner
I just received my foot pedal today and started testing it. So far I’m delighted, it works perfectly to advance the page in pdf files and in OneNote (where I have stored all the tabs for TAC).
As an added bonus, it has some control over TAC video playback:
in both Learn and Play mode it will advance or rewind the player in 5s increments.I didn’t expect it to work at all interfacing with the TAC site so this is an added benefit. After numerous months of running into the same limitation on a daily basis (having to stop playing to operate my mouse or tablet) I finally said enough is enough and ordered something to deal with it.
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Navigation is a bit of an enigma, I understand that you are confused. TAC doesn’t really focus on teaching songs, but there is a song vault associated with the old website. It is no longer linked to the current site so you will need to bookmark it.
https://hub-lkx8655w8n.membership.io/
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I grew up and lived in Montreal until age 25, I can totally relate to your song. So glad I was able to leave that all the shoveling (and muck on the windshield!) behind. I’ve been in Florida since ’88 and only had to drive in snow a few times since, usually when on vacation but it did snow in Jacksonville in ’89 which was interesting, because there are no plows or salt trucks here.
Good job writing the song! What a milestone, congratulations!
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@cocuotogmail-com , @kwvalentine1961gmail-com , @jorgemac
Early on I printed out my TABs and even put them in sheet protectors in a nice TAC binder. I soon found this impractical though without a music stand and I don’t have room to keep a stand setup in my office where I TAC so I started to just save the them as graphics into MS OneNote, which has been working well for me. Now I’m experimenting with putting them on my tablet.
I also just ordered a foot pedal to turn the pages. It’s arriving tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes. I went for the one that is endorsed by dozens of professional musicians, the “PageFlip” so I’ve got my hopes up it’s going to work well. The pedals are programmable so there’s a chance I might be able to use it to at least stop and start our TAC videos, which would be a home run for me.
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Absolutely correct, posture is very important. You many want to have a look at the stretching exercises in the skill courses, one of many great series in there.
Here’s a link: https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/guitar-players-daily-stretch-guide/ -
Steve, it looks like you may me going through 30 Days to Play. In that series I think you can move forward any time you like.
I wouldn’t worry about “mastering” any challenge in TAC. Just give it your best for at least 10 minutes and then mark it complete. It doesn’t matter if you actually go through the entire challenge or not. The skills involved are taught repeatedly and will come back around.
If you want to go back to an old lesson, feel free to do so! I have several favorites that I go through regularly. As long as it’s fun, keep doing it. You can set up your schedule the way @Moose408 has done, but just beware of it turning into work! He uses words like “practice” and “work on” which are very much in the realm of work. We actually frown on work around here, we play guitar! But it is ok to struggle a little bit, because when we struggle is where we are actually being pushed and learning the most.
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Get a string winder, you’ll be clad you did! I have a bit that goes into a cordless drill but you can buy a crank kind as well.
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It really depends on the use and if you wiped them down regularly to remove oils and sweat from them they could last for about a year with light use. I have 3 guitars so I do have one with a year old strings on it that I don’t play as much as the other 2. But many people will change them after a few months. Performers probably only do a single gig on a set of strings.
If they show visible signs of wear or have lost their ring and sound dull, change them! After you have some experience with your instrument you will just know it’s time because the guitar just doesn’t sound right.
There is a lot more that could be said about string changes, but there’s a starter. I just learned that a specific set of strings can make your instrument really come to life (as if those strings were manufactured specifically for your guitar).
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❤
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Thanks for noticing my efforts, @Skyman911
I try to do what I can. I think TAC could be really fun with a little more participation. If we could just get some of contributors from the Daily Challenges to find their way over to the forums. I’m pretty sure a lot of them don’t even realize what’s available over here.