petelanger
Forum Replies Created
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@alajg5yahoo-com yes, that is completely normal to panic the first time trying a daily challenge. Not all of them have the same degree of difficulty, but some of them are can be very difficult. They are meant to challenge players at any level. Beginners can’t possibly be good at playing the same thing experienced players are interested in doing. When I first started, often times all I could do was a single measure.
Relax, you are poking your nose down the black diamond trail in Jackson Hole Wyoming. You may want to slide down on your butt without skis the first time.
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There are a lot of us old guys (and girls) on here, I’m 66 and started TAC a year ago, started guitar about 18 months ago. I’m still a beginner but I’m amazed at the things I’m capable of now. Guitar is a hard instrument to learn, it just doesn’t come quickly. Just like you’re not going to knock a Nolan Ryan fastball out of the park if you had never played baseball. You would be fortunate not to get injured and it would be miraculous if you made contact with the ball in your first month of trying.
Everybody is at their own level and will learn at their own pace, no two are the same. Try to be a slightly better you tomorrow than you are today, that is the only thing you should compare yourself to.
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I had a big long answer typed up for you, but then I thought to myself I have no experience in teaching that lends me authority to recommend what I prescribed. They were just drills that I thought of, And you mentioned that there was no point in doing drills if you’re doing them with mistakes.
We have to learn to trust our picking hand to go where it’s supposed to go, that can only come by doing. The more regularly we can do a thing, the more frequently we can do it without error.
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@just-tim what @Philb said, just do what you can. Understand the Challenges are designed for players at multiple levels so naturally newer players will need to approach them on a more basic levels while the advanced folks can work on nuances way above our skill levels. Most of the Challenges will have a progression in them, the easier stuff is at the beginning of the lesson. That may be all you can do sometimes is play a single measure or only a few notes in this measure or that one. It tends to get more technical and/or just plain harder throughout the week.
I always try to find some small gain, I call them nuggets: a little portion of the challenge that I was able to do in the end that I couldn’t in the beginning. It will amaze you as you watch Tony introduce the challenge and you might think to yourself: “No way, that’s so far out of my wheelhouse!” and then 5 minutes later you are starting to get it under your fingers! Once I have had a little light bulb moment like that I have my takeaway. Always mark complete, you don’t have to play all the way through to call it complete!
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Welcome to TAC! Have you found the intro courses? I’m not exactly sure where you are at. Have you completed the 30 Days:
Here: https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/30-days-to-play/After that you go to https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/5-day-guitar-routine-challenge/
If this is too elementary for you perhaps you want to jump into the Skill courses
https://tonypolecastro.com/skills/After 30 days you will get invited into the Daily Challenges
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Congrats on your milestone! Sweet consistency!
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Beautiful!
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So my comment above is kind of off topic so here’s my follow up. Tony often asks for input from students to reply with examples where the technique or skill being taught is used. It would be nice if those replies would actually be read by someone and feedback given.
@J.T.
I support the idea that you suggested. That would be the next best thing to actually having an interactive site with communication between the instructor and the student. Tony could remain absent from TAC and would only have to record a dozen or so new videos with the content mentioned above.
I would also suggest that J.T. change his username because it can’t be referenced. The system cuts off after the first dot and doesn’t see the rest of the username. It references @J. which is a different user who is no longer active.
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Where the biggest struggle is in the guitar challenge (the part you keep flubbing over and over, just can’t seem to get it under your fingers = dislike for most players), there lies the biggest opportunity for growth. And it happens without you needing to perfect the challenge. Just give it a solid try and do the parts that you can.
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Love Bread! My fav song by them is “Aubrey”. Then “Guitar Man”. This song is probably the #3
I do notice some improvement in your vocals Loraine! Good to see!
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I too have lost a number of streaks for unknown reasons. And it’s true that it’s a small thing, but keeping the streak alive is a tiny motivator too so I understand when a member is thrown a little when it vanishes.
I’ve made a point of clicking on the Acoustic Challenge logo at least once a day; this takes you to the home page where you can verify your session count and streaks.
Keep on TACin’!
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Also, keep in mind that you can convert to lifetime anytime during the first year of membership. I did this after about 10 months. You have to buy the lifetime, And then they (Victoria) will refund you the cost of the annual immediately. So it effectively costs you $100 to go from annual to lifetime. I realize it’s annoying that you can’t enter the daily challenges immediately, but a couple of weeks up or down will not be of any consequence in the long term.
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I know what you mean. The videos themselves are often more than 10 minutes. I saw that my sessions were going 30 – 45 minutes. So I’ve kind of tweaked my routine that way so as not to be on it for so long at one time. I don’t waste time pulling my guitar out, my mini sits on a stand next to me at arms reach in my office. Soon I’ll have it hanging on the wall behind me along with it’s friends Mr. Electric, Mrs. Fullsize Acoustic and baby Mandolin.
I’ll spend 5 minutes or so just watching the main part of the LEARN video (this is usually at the beginning. I might skip over parts where he’s chit-chatting or explaining TAC which I already understand. I might not even grab my guitar and if I do I might noodle on it for a few minutes on a small section of today’s challenge or something from the past and then set it aside. I’ll come back later in the day to actually tackle today’s Challenge.
If I have opportunity I will repeat the second session once or twice during the day while watching more of the learn video. In the evening while watching a show I might grab one of the guitars and go over parts or all of the weeks Challenges.
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Thanks for letting me know, @BarbaraM ! It’s gonna take a big number of complaints, apparently. I imagine they have a per incident contract with their IT company. That can cost a lot of money to engage Support so it has to be worth it.
I gather from my time perusing over this site that lots of people post in the Challenges but rarely or never in the forums. That’s why I have been writing about the issue there. I think people might not be aware this is happening because probably a large percentage of people don’t post more than once a day. Then I suspect others don’t notice the message never posted
I have a functional workaround, probably adds 10-20 seconds to every comment after the first of the day. It’s not ideal, I won’t comment as much as I would with no barriers. I would like to see it corrected but I suspect that it won’t until the site gets the next major overhaul.
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Fun idea! I might have to start learning how to play it and then move on to the Beatles “Birthday” song.