[petelanger]

When I first produced a clear F chord my hand looked like this:

[petelanger]

It’s going to be a journey for milestones such as this mini barre and many other barre chords. Most of us just aren’t going to be able to do this during an evening of trials. It’s going to in the order of many months, perhaps double digit months. But you can still play Old Man, just leave out the barre and fret the B string. Try not to strum the high E or mute the E if you can manage it. (If you strum the high E then you’re playing an F major7 which works at times but not always)

For the first 3 months in the TAC program, I used one of those 2 options. You may be able to rock your index finger so that the E string is muted, playing just 3 strings.

[petelanger]

It took months of trying and I still wasn’t able to transition to it, because I had adjust my fingers for at least 5 seconds before all the muting was cleared up. In the years since I can form the F mini in a much more relaxed manner (without the pretzely death grip). Over time you learn the best position of you index finger near the fret wire, how much pressure is required on each finger, how you have to bring your elbow close into your body. And your brain knows how to do all these things simultaneously much more quickly so you can do it during last weeks’ challenges (Old Man benchmark).

• This reply was modified 4 weeks ago by  petelanger.

[petelanger]

Here is a resource of chord charts that I have used in the past:

https://www.standardguitar.com/guitar-chords-chart

[petelanger]

Often they are missing, but for Old Man the TAB sheets actually include the chord diagrams.

[petelanger]

Here is a TAB representing what I described. I’ve labelled the notes with the finger placements i m r p.

The 1st line is C major, second G major and the 3rd line is D major.

[petelanger]

Unfortunately the answer to your question involves getting into music theory and might confuse you even more. There’s a trick on the fretboard that might make things simpler again so I’ll give you a bit of theory and then give you the trick afterwards.

All Major Scales are made up of 7 notes:

The Formula for major scales is always:

W – W – H – W – W – W – H (where W is a whole step and H is a half step)

or: TONE – TONE – SEMITONE – TONE – TONE – TONE – SEMITONE

whole step is 2 frets and half step is 1 fret

The root of the scale is the first note, and that’s what we call the scale

So for the D major the root is D:

D w E w F# h G w A w B w C#

Here’s the little trick:
Now for how you can play it of the fretboard without knowing any of the above and just memorizing this pattern on 3 strings. But you have to start on the top 2 strings for this to work, otherwise the pattern would shift on the B string since it’s tuned to a 4th instead of a fifth.

The pattern is you play 2 notes then drop to lower string play 3 notes and drop again to play 2 more notes – that makes 7 notes just like all scales have. *

start with middle and play:

– m – p drop
i m – p drop
i – r p

if you memorize this pattern you can use it for all 12 major scales, all you need is to find the root and go from there: middle pinky – drop, index middle pinky drop, index ring pinky

For the D major you can start on the 5th fret of the A string. you start with middle and use pinky for the next note (skipping the fret your ring finger should be on. Hope this makes sense! You have to maintain your fingers in the same fret through the whole scale. Then the formula will work.

* if you play the final note to complete the octave then there are 8 notes, sorry for the confusion. In the D major we go up another half step and play D again (an octave higher than the first D)

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by  petelanger.

[petelanger]

I’m going to be honest, I’m usually not a big fan of Improv day. I don’t hate scales but I do not like a whole bunch of scales that I am being invited to memorize, and my soloing isn’t inspiring myself very much.

Now that I’m 21 months in TAC, I am familiar with some of the patterns. I’m also trying to learn the theory behind everything so that they would begin to make more sense to me. I’m just still not at the point where if I fret somewhere I would have an expectation of the pitch I will get.

I am a fan of Tuesdays, guitar lick day is almost always great. I think my order is:

1. Tues

2. Thurs

3. Mon

4. Fri

5. Wed

This order applies to Neil Young week and most other weeks. Fridays might rank higher or maybe I could put it like this

1. Tues

2. 3-Way tie: Mon, Thurs, Friday

5. Wed

[petelanger]

Sorry that you have to overcome so much to do that thing that we all love to do. Stories like yours help me remember how blessed I am, that I’m able to care for myself and my 93 year old mother who is like you, often not able to get out of her easy chair for more than a few minutes at a time.

You are correct in recognizing that your path is unique and that what you have done thus far is already worth celebrating. Hope you continue to enjoy your guitar journey to the fullest in your second year!

[petelanger]

I really desire to turn this around and make Wednesdays as good or better than the rest of the week. Reading this thread again inspired me and it also jogged my memory so that I recalled having some arrows in my quiver that ought to help.

1. Getting more familiar with the scales is a start and that’s naturally going to happen the more often they come around.

2. Get back into the ear training that I started in February and for some reason put on the shelf. Perfect pitch is very rare but most anyone can learn relative pitch. I need to keep developing that muscle.

3. A good solo is just as much about good rhythm as it is about pleasing notes. I need to work on applying rhythmic patterns when I’m doing improv.

That’s all I’ve got right now.

[petelanger]

@Braden , what a perfect perspective! Thanks for that, you rock, Dude!

[petelanger]

https://tonypolecastro.com/exercise/a-shape-familiarity/

[petelanger]

So many ways to make chords. If you talking F-mini which is what is shown as the F chord here and for many other challenges, don’t be discouraged as it is something most struggle with. It took me close to a year to get fairly consistent with it.

For the B chord I use an A shape barre chord and it’s not terribly difficult for me, however, many people struggle with it a lot. So you’re in good company.

Don’t worry yourself too much about what you can’t do, turn your focus towards things that you have learned since starting. I find myself getting surprised a lot being able to do stuff that was impossible just a short while ago. Am I a great player? No! But I have come a long way thanks to TAC!

[petelanger]

ROFL!!! 🙂

[petelanger]

This ^^^^ !

So true, the death grip, did this as well and while it wasn’t causing a sore wrist, it is detrimental to playing. When we’re learning we have a tendency to press very hard, trying to eliminate the buzzing or thuds. Getting the finger closer to the fret wire means less pressure will still work. We need to find that sweet spot where it’s a clean note but minimum pressure. This is still something I focus on everyday, because I still press to hard when making certain chords, like the D major.