[Skyman911]

@jumpinjeff , @Loraine , thanks for your perspectives. That’s kind of what I like about TAC, is I can get my 10% of practice in everyday, and then spend 90% playing and trying to put it all together. Like Loraine said, a good balance. And jumpinjeff is absolutely correct, playing is practice.

[Skyman911]

@justblaze2788yahoo-com I’ve been playing for about 4 years and totally understand. I just started using a pick again about a year ago. I almost throw it out the window everytime I play with it. However the frustration level is getting less. In the beginning the pick was so hard for me, I just quit using it, and strummed with my thumb or index finger to avoid that frustration. I’m trying to embrace the pick more, as I don’t want to limit myself. Finding the right pick does help. Thinner ones are easier for beginners. Also, I always had too much of the pick exposed. I’ve been trying to only have about 1/4 to 1/8th inch of the tip of the pick exposed when strumming.

I also work on some drills. Mostly strumming to a metronome, going slow and making random chord transitions while I am strumming.

Hope this helps a little.

[Skyman911]

I was taught four different variations of the G chord depending on the song and chord transitions. Trying to remember what variation to use gets challenging.

[Skyman911]

I could see the joy on your face. So good to see you playing again. I’m sure you still have a long road ahead of you, but at least you can play.

[Skyman911]

Also Rob Fennah, and Guitar Hero 2 Zero.

[Skyman911]

That’s freaking awesome. I quite TAC the first time I joined after about 6 months. I was pretty green, and most of the challenges were so difficult for me, I got frustrated. Then I did two years of private lessons. Well, I rejoined TAC just over a year ago. There really is so much here for the value, and you can take the lessons as far as you want. I don’t do private lessons anymore, but also check out other ways of learning. There is so much out there. A lot of crap as well. Keep on jammin!

[Skyman911]

Nice. Is that a GS Mini Hog you’re playing?

[Skyman911]

I had one of those. It did make for a great travel guitar. I also loved the beer salute!

[Skyman911]

Practice, practice, practice. Palm muting skill don’t happen overnight. Just keep on trying.

[Skyman911]

For me, trying to find someone to play with. I’m 4 years into my journey, and play by myself 100% of the time. I think I’m almost good enough to start playing simple songs with others, however trying to find them is challenging. None of my friends or family plays.

[Skyman911]

@langerking, changes in humidity usually will change how a guitar tunes up. When things get more humid, the wood naturally expands resulting in sharper notes. Less humidity usually results in flatter notes due to the wood shrinking. Much more prevalent on solid wood guitars. I’m in Utah where the humidity can drop to less than 10% in the winter. So, I see changes in how my guitars tune based on the relative humidity, even when keeping my instruments in a humidity controlled environment.

[Skyman911]

@flyinghorse188gmail-com, what worked best for me to work on fast chord changes is doing the “hover” drill. So, make a chord, whether a C or G or whatever chord and hold the strings down. Then, lift your fingers off the strings ever so slightly and just let them hover over the strings without touching them. You will see your chord shape quickly distort after a few seconds, and maybe right after you lift them. I go as long as 30 seconds or more if can. Do this with each chord you are trying to learn. This builds muscle memory, and before you know it, you’re making the chord shape before you even fret the chord. I would do this while sitting on the couch watching a movie, or anytime I had some spare time. You don’t need to worry about playing, just working on holding the chord shapes. I saw a lot of improvement after only one week of doing this. I still do it when learning more challenging chords such as barre chords and such. I hope this helps.

I also created a chord practice chart, and would change between A – C, A – G, A – D etc, and would work through all the chord transitions, and would time my self with a metronome. When I got back to the A’s again, I could see my improvement as I could switch faster than the last time I worked on my A transitions. I would do this for all the major chords,

[Skyman911]

I’m going to turn 64 this year, so we’re pretty close. I’m also a late beginner. You’ve got a nice solid routine there. You are correct about TAC just being a tool. I try to have a number of tools in my toolbox.

[Skyman911]

I checked out (meetup.com) groups in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, and found no active groups within range as well.

@BarbaraM, do you want to work on a song together via Zoom?

[Skyman911]

I use this G variation often. I still use the standard G shape however. I also sometimes play the A chord with my pinky, ring and middle finger leaving my index finger for chord enhancements.