[dr_dave]

Strong, clear and spirited. Very nice performance.

[dr_dave]

Very nice, Nolan. I hope you had a nice audience for that.

[dr_dave]

Nicely dine, Mr. Scoggins!

[dr_dave]

Beautiful, Marty. Really well done.

[dr_dave]

Wow – the Serendipity Singers. That takes me back to the Am radio era of my life. The musical contrasts between the beginning of the 60s and the end of the 60s is jaw-dropping for me.

TJ, yes folk-singing is your sweet spot, and it probably is mine as well. Great post. Stay busy with it, my friend.

[dr_dave]

Wow, Daniel. I’m always impressed by what you achieve, but this is jaw-dropping. Great stuff here.

[dr_dave]

I didn’t even download an app. I do a Google search on “metronome,” and the one that pops up in the search results page meets all my needs. I use it frequently. Apps have lots of other features, but I don’t generally need them. I’m OK with simple clicks.

[dr_dave]

I can’t believe Administrators would refer you to Mentors. There were Mentors at one time – people who essentially pledged to be active in the Community (forums) and jump in to answer questions and help others. It was mainly aimed at making new people feel comfortable navigating the site.

Mentors were not necessarily “old hands.” Some people became Mentors within about a month or so of joining TAC – at least it seemed that way.

I was a Mentor. There actually was a page that listed the Mentors, but I always had trouble finding it. I tried to find it now in the remnants of the old Community, but I was unsuccessful.

The Administrators axed the Mentor program when they rolled out the new site back in late March. That’s whi I find it highly unusual that Administrators might refer you to Mentors. Some of the people who used to be Mentors are still trying to be helpful. Maybe that’s who the Administrators mean.

There has only been a little lesson content added since I joined 4 years ago – to the day, actually. Happy TACiversary to me. I almost got to midnight EDT without even noticing. That didn’t happen on my previous TACiversaries. I used to be pumped up and write about all the geeky guitar fun I had and all I learned, but I don”t think that is going to happen this time. My enthusiasm took a big hit.

Since I joined, I think at least as much lesson content has been deleted as has been added. The TAC method is to cycle through the same daily exercises and make new discoveries in them each time they appear. I am not expecting more lessons or deeper explanations to be added.

[dr_dave]

I think what you see right now is pretty much what it is going to be. If they were planning to introduce new content or bring back a few of the challenges that disappeared, I think they would have said something. I’m interpreting the relative silence from TAC Admin to mean they are where they want this to be. I’m a lifer, so I still do the dailies.

[dr_dave]

TAC mentors were invited to a “Town Hall” last Fall, during which Summer (along with Victoria and Mia – is Mia still part of TAC team? – can’t tell the players without a program!) told us that change was coming. A lot of mentors shared their opinions about what made TAC great and things they feared losing. Most of what most mentors said appears to have been disregarded. Mentors’ opinions were not solicited per se, but since it was a Town Hall, we offered them. Members’ opinions were not solicited in general, and they didn’t even know about the Town Hall that the mentors had. Maybe a few individual members were consulted – I have no way of knowing that because if it happened, I was not one of them. I participated in the Town Hall and I am still amazed that the changes were this extensive and that so much content was removed. I do not want to sound bitter, rather factual.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by  dr_dave.

[dr_dave]

“I asked administrators to address my “curriculum” questions and the former active Songs tab, but was told all changes were made after surveying members,…”

Sounds like they say these changes were “member driven.” It must be a “silent majority.” I did participate in. A mentor “Town Hall” when the need for change was discussed, but I did not get the impression it was member driven. I also didn’t envision anything that resembled the change that materialized. I would venture that most of the people who participated in that Town Hall are likewise shocked.

[dr_dave]

By the way, the next quarterly goal setting workshop is in July if you like that sort of thing.

[dr_dave]

They don’t have monthly parties anymore. Now they just have the quarterly goal-setting workshop, which by far has ben my least favorite of the guitar parties since it was first introduced.

One reason it may seem easier for some folks to navigate is simply because there is a lot less here. A lot of the stuff I liked is gone. But this site was never supposed to be about what I like. It’s about the daily lessons and a few special topics courses, plus the add-on Fretboard Wizard (and I’m curious how well the forums will integrate with FW – one learned a lot from others’ FW posts in the old format). It works for those things, but it doesn’t seem like a fun place to hang out.

To me, it seems as if they hung out a “No Loitering” sign. Since the main reason I participate is to have fun and I get a lot less of that now, I don’t visit forums often. Pretty much I do the dailies, maybe look at a few posts and move on, which I think is what they want us to do.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by  dr_dave.

[dr_dave]

Good luck on your guitar journey, Sarah.

[dr_dave]

It seems to me that he’s playing a Bm but only the top 4 strings, such that there’s an F# in the bass on the 4th string.