[Skyman911]

My only opinion on this is, “committing to 10 minutes a day”. In my personal experience, If I didn’t commit to playing everyday, I would have had long gaps between playing, and probably would have given up. Commit to 10 minutes, and then go as long as comfortable. Some days that might be 10 minutes or a couple of hours. But do at least your 10 minutes. Most likely you’ll play longer and be glad you committed to playing.

TAC also isn’t my only avenue for learning. I’ve had a couple of years of personal instruction with a number of teachers, and have checked out a couple of other online courses. I still think TAC offers the best bang for the buck even with some of the quirks.

[Skyman911]

Frustration is a natural part of the process, and frustration will continue to happen at various stages in your guitar journey. I don’t think we would get better without frustration and perceived failure. For some, it motivates them to get better, and they work a little harder, and play a little longer. For some others, they give up. If you’ve been playing for over a year, you’re past the point where most people quit. I would call that a major win. I try to accept the fact that I WILL get frustrated. Whether working on a complicated song, chord, or combination of both. I’m cursed with being a perfectionist, and when I get this way, I just walk away for a minute, just being aware of my frustration, but not dwelling on anything. Once I’ve allowed the emotion to peak and recede, I jump back into it.

I’m just over 5 years in. Almost three with TAC. I do remember how I felt the first couple of years. It was pretty difficult, I was lost, but I got through, and I know you can too. The magic is about to happen.

[Skyman911]

Start jumping into the daily challenges. Some will be more difficult than others. Just do your best for at least 10 minutes and move on. I would encourage doing more than 10 minutes if you can.

[Skyman911]

I only pick with the flesh part of my fingers. I’m never going to grow my nails out to pick. I know it’s popular for some. I guess if I need the extra tone, I’ll go to finger picks. I personally think it looks a little cringe when some men have long shaped thumb and fingernails on just one hand. However, I paint my toenails, and some find that a little cringe as well.

I do play around with a thumb pick on occasion.

[Skyman911]

Hell yeah! Nice job. I’ve only had the opportunity to play with others a handful of times. If you can keep meeting with this group, do it. This will accelerate your playing ability and confidence at light speed. I played with a couple of strangers when I was in Baja. It was awesome, and the more we played, the better I got because I got more comfortable. One time was in a larger group setting, and we were playing “That’s the Way The World Goes Round” by John Prine. We had the crowd singing, and got a nice applause when we finished. The guy I was playing with was pretty advanced and carried me most of the time.

I agree 100% with what jumpinjeff advises. Try to play without a songsheet, or tablet to try and follow along with. There’s so much going on, and to mentally try to process the song sheet or table will just confuse in my opinion. Take in the moment, be the guitar. The second time around will be completely different. Please let us know how it goes. I’m real exited for you. And a bit jealous. 🙂

[Skyman911]

I’m guessing @Loraine will have some insight here. She broke her wrist TWICE! She doesn’t give up and seems to find a way to work around her dexterity difficulties.

[Skyman911]

I’ve always wanted to try this one. Love this song. Thanks for posting, and giving me some inspiration to go after another song!

[Skyman911]

This is a very good question, and I’m not sure I really have an answer. I understand what you’re saying, and I also wonder the same thing. I’ve tried to find songs that include some of the techniques as I just can’t throw them into any song I’m wanting to play. Fire Lake by Bob Seger is a fun easy one to do a nice basewalk on for example. Another thing I try is simple hammer on’s whether strumming or fingerpicking to add some embellishments to each chord. I’m looking forward to hearing what others have to say on this topic.

[Skyman911]

So glad to see you posting songs again. Great job.

[Skyman911]

Most will have different perspectives. For me, I think I have ADHD, and have a hard time working on something for a long time. I just get bored. I always have a new song I’m trying, and most I don’t get down before my boredom kicks in. I’ve forgotten more songs than I currently know I think. I usually have two or three new songs I’m trying at a time. This works for me, however I still get discouraged that I don’t have the patience to really get a song down perfectly. I’m all over the place it seems. But I’m fingerpicking, flatpicking, strumming and playing. None of them perfect per se.

[Skyman911]

Let me ask you this, does your guitar neck fit your hands? What guitar are you currently playing? My first guitar had a large chunky neck, and it was difficult to get my fingers to hit all the frets. I didn’t realize when I first started that there were so many different neck shapes and thicknesses, AND scale lengths. I went with a slimmer neck and shorter scale, and the guitar was soooo much easier to play.

[Skyman911]

@petelanger, I didn’t get the impression at all that you were advocating some of us to play shorter sessions. Your posts are always positive and encouraging. I also don’t consider myself anywhere near advanced. : -)

[Skyman911]

I’m sure this gives you a better connection with your guitar than using finger pics. This is what makes guitar so great. One can personalize their playing style to fit their current needs.

[Skyman911]

This typically comes down to the lack of curl in the fingers, and the pads contacting the strings. Pretty common for beginners, and it will improve with practice. Try to work on getting more curl, and a better angle so you’re only touching the strings with the apex of the fingertip. I’ve watched the string dents in my fingers change from when I first started. They were crooked, and a bit low on the fingertip due to lack of being able to curl properly. Now my string dents/marks after playing seem to be right on the very tip and mostly inline with the finger.

[Skyman911]

@jorgemac, interesting you mentioned this. That’s kind of what my boredom does. It makes me try different things. Chord voicings, different strumming patterns, capo in different positions. I noodle a lot and try different Travis picking patterns with different chord progressions. I should probably start writing some of them down since I’ll work on some real cool sounding progressions, and the next day completely forget what I was playing. Similar to TAC, I’ll come back many times and play old songs I hadn’t played for a while and see how things have progressed. I think sometimes stuff just needs to “simmer” for a while in order to develop. I can kind of tell when a song still needs to simmer for a while, and when a song is ready for the heat to be turned up and rock. I always have numbers songs in the hopper. Last week for example I worked on some of the following songs.

New songs
Bad Luck – Zach Top
Broken Wing Bird – Kashus Culpepper

Old Songs
A Day in the Life – Beatles
Across the Great Divide – Nancy Griffith
That’s the way the world goes round – John Prine
Rocky Raccoon – Beatles
In Spite of Ourselves – John Prine

Seems like I’m always working on Dust in the Wind, Landsline