[Skyman]

@Moonhare, first, congratulations, second, thanks for that inspirational video/post. I’m a new guitarist, and fairly new to TAC. You have motivated me to be more diligent, and spend more time with the TAC program. I’ve done the days to play, finished a few skills courses, and have a few more in progress. To be honest, probably haven’t put the real effort, and taken it as seriously as maybe I should. Sometimes it takes a smack upside the head to really listen. Thank you for being that smack. I’m going to take this a lot more serious, and hope to post on my anniversary the fun I have had on this continuing journey. Cheers!

[Skyman]

@joemama, I feel your pain. I’ve been doing this for a year and a half now. Practice a minimum of an hour a day, sometimes longer. I’m also taking some in-person lessons once a week for a half hour. I get frustrated as well, and wonder myself when I’m going to “get it”. The destination seems so far away from where I’m at now. I’m trying to take the advice of some of the veteran members and just concentrate on the small wins. This has helped me a bit with my frustrations. I also find for some reason, some days I’m just better than other days. I try not to get too down on those rough practice days. I’ll just set it down, grab a beer and chill for a bit and try again. I sometimes feel a bit pathetic only knowing a few basic songs after this long. Hey, at least I’m having fun eh?

[Skyman]

I really enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing.

[Skyman]

Actually, any Taylor IMO is easier to play than most. They have a unique neck profile, and fantastic action. I thought my hands were too small when playing my Recording King. Similar to the Yamaha. Amazed at the difference between them. I have two Taylors now. An AD17 Grand Pacific, and a Big Baby Taylor. I also go back and play the recording king. So much harder to play. The Taylor Academy series offers great value, and are super easy to play. Just my opinion if you want to stick with a full scale guitar.

[Skyman]

@Regis, my teacher taught me something that has helped tremendously. He had me write down the chords I wanted to work on. For me, since I am a beginner, I am working on A, Am, B7, C, D, Dm, E, Em, G. He then had me make a chart for each chord. Each chart was a chord progression chart. For example. Working on the A chord chart, I would switch between A, Am, A B7, A C, A D, A Dm, A E, A G. Then my B7 progression chart would be the same, and do a progression for each chord. I practice these with a metronome and keep a log of how fast I can do each one clearly. Speed is not the goal, but good solid changes. It doesn’t matter if you can only do 10 beats per minute. With practice it will improve. The main goal of this exercise is to get you comfortable with uncomfortable chord changes, and also makes you practice chord changes you would normally not practice. B7 to Dm for example, when I first started to practice this, I could only change at about 15 beats per minute. I’m now up to 40 beats per minute, and all of my change times have greatly improved. You can work on a different progression each day, or each week, depending on how much time you want to invest. You can build different progression charts as you introduce more chords, and drop some of the ones you start to feel very comfortable with. I will also practice progressions of songs I am working on as well.

[Skyman]

I would recommend the 5 day guitar routine challenge. This spells out your suggested daily routine. From there, try each daily challenge the best of your ability. I would also recommend what you are also doing. Play around with the skill courses. I’ve got three skill courses I am currently working on. The real goal is not to try and master each skill and move to the next, but spending a minimum of 10 minutes working on each skill/lesson and move on. You can of course spend as much time as you really want, and you can always go back and work on prior skills. 10 minutes is just the minimum commitment. I hope this helps.

[Skyman]

@speckpgh, good advice I think. I’m personally doing weekly in-person lessons along with the TAC program. Where I “think” I’m doing something correctly, a teacher can hear and see what you aren’t doing right, and help make corrections. This I believe will result in not picking up bad habits early. He’s also done things like taping my ring and middle fretting fingers together to get a better “feel” of how my finger positioning should be. I thought I was doing things pretty good until I was shown what I could not see. I know the in-person lessons aren’t possible for a lot of people, and that is why courses like this are so popular. Maybe even a one time consultation would be of benefit. I wish you success, and know you will press on.

[Skyman]

Welcome. I’m fairly new here as well. I thought the 30 days to play was pretty straight forward to follow, and @Loraine offered excellent advice. I got kind of lost after I completed the 30 days to play. However the very helpful folks in this group helped guide me. You will get a lot of great advice and feedback here. Enjoy, and I look forward to hearing of your progress.

[Skyman]

@brandon b, you can’t go wrong with the 214. It is a workhorse. I was looking at the 214 and the 314. Ended up with the AD17. I also have a Big Baby Taylor. Love the Taylor guitar feel. Now I want a GS Mini. I think I have a disease. 🙂

[Skyman]

Can you share what model you ended up with?

[Skyman]

I think I am weird. I fret the B with my pinky, the G with my ring finger and the D with my middle finger. For me, it was too crowded using my index finger on the D, and could not get consistent sound. I don’t think my fingers are fat either? It also allows me to switch to the E chord. And if the song is a back and fourth E to A or vise versa, I can leave my index finger on the first fret of the G string for quick chord changes. Similar to what Tony does with the G to D switch. He leaves his ring finger on the third fret of the B string when switching.

[Skyman]

You can find acoustic guitars with similar neck profiles as an electric.

[Skyman]

@Marquita. Sage advice. What a nice positive post.

[Skyman]

What type of pick, and thickness are you using?

[Skyman]

I’ve tried all types and thicknesses, and still try different ones. It seems like I always end up with the Dunlop Tortex .58 thickness pick for strumming. Flexible enough, but also makes nice string sound. FWIW.