Loraine
Forum Replies Created
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Awesome job Stevie! Iremeber when you first started? Glad you’re back — Keep up the great work!
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Welcome to TAC!
Here’s a link to the Quick Start Guide. Follow it from 1 on (just click the steps). https://tonypolecastro.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TAC_User_Guide-v5.pdf
When you open the website up each day, it takes you to your personal page. It will show you the last thing you worked on, in case you want to jump back into it. It will show you a link to begin the daily challenge for that day. It gives you a counter of playing sessions, consecutive days, etc. Just an FYI, you will be able to view the prior lessons for this week, even though they from July, but today is the start of a new month. But 8/1 is part of the full week’s lessons. Typically, you will not be able to go back to a previous month’s lessons, unless you have favorited them (click the red heart – they save in your personal favorites). You can also click the links for the daily lesson, skills courses, etc on the menu on the left.
The reason you don’t want to go back to a previous months lesson, is because your focus should always be forward. Tony teaches progress over perfection. Put in the minimum 10 mins daily, mark a lesson complete, even if you will be working on it more. Just don’t get hung up on it. Lessons tend to roll around again, and there is plenty of opportunities to gauge your progress.
Keep it simple, ask questions, have fun, and I had to learn to laugh at myself.
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Welcome to the TAC community April. I laughed when you and @Bill_Brown said you preferred the 3 note power chords, because I prefer the 2 note power chords. I think it’s easier for me to easily and quickly get to the 2 note. It can be difficult not to curve my fingers after not having played the power chords in so long, but they are meant to be played flatter. My fingers want to turn all the time, because my hands are smaller, and because the neck angles away, and I have to stretch my fingers, it is the only way I can play them if I angle sometimes. All my barre chords are angled too. It’ssimply what works for me.
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Hey Stew, that was great. You’re sounding more and more awesome each time I hear you play. I’m so envious you can play finger style. I’m relegated to being a rhythm player, and you are the lead. lol
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Hey Tim, Congratulations on completing the 30 days to play course. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment when you complete it.
After taking the 30 Days to Play, it’s suggested to take the next 6 chords, the 5 day routine, and the stretching course, and to jump into the daily challenge. Some feel the challenges are too difficult in the beginning, but it’s suggested you at least try the daily for at least 10 minutes, then mark it complete. You can still work it, but don’t get caught up in perfection. It’s simply about trying. You will get better at it.
Check out the skills courses and choose what interests you. I always suggest starting with the Jumpstart courses for fingerpicking and flatpicking, because yo’ll learn some simple bluegrass songs, and then the strumming course. One would think strumming would be easy, but it is pretty challenging to most.
As Tony preaches, and as others have said, have fun. I’d add, be kind to yourself on days you might struggle with a concept or tool. It is a challenging instrument, but you will get better by trying consistently.
Make sure to celebrate your achievements and small wins. 🙂
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Way to go Anne. It is so fun and exciting when we learn new notes or chords, what experienced players might have forgotten what it was like at the beginning. It is super exciting. Keep at it, and keep posting your wins.
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@jorgemac I like Cordoba for the wider neck. The necks are wider and more comfortable. I’m not very good at knotting the strings when replacing them, though.
Let us know what you end up purchasing. Photos are required!
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Hi @mezzok The menu bar is on the left side of the page. If you’re on a phone, it will have 3 horizontal lines at the top,left. To open the menu, just click the 3 bars.
The daily challenge typically opens up when you enter the site. It will sa6 Welcome …. Has a link to Today’s challenge, has calendar to view previous challenges (can only view the current month challenges.” Will then have your stats.
Click on Start Challenge. It will open to that days challenge. The benchmark song will typically be the 1st weeks song. This month, it is American Pie. Click on the month Guitar Routine at the top and it will open to list all the lessons for the month.
There are 4 benchmark songs, Ain’t No Sunshine, Wagon Wheel, Hotel California, and Old Man. Each month will include one of these. The purpose is to compare your progress over time.
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Ronan, welcome to the TAC community! You have some great influencers there. I really wish I could play finger style, and I’m envious of those that can. I have essential tremors in my hands it makes it very difficult. But I would love to hear you play sometime. You have the right idea and making yourself accountable. When you commit yourself to commenting or playing for others, you actually increase your knowledge skills and abilities and you do become accountable and a better player.
Thanks for the intro, and I’m looking forward to seeing you more on the forums.
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@dszmakgmail-com I hear ya! Many of us, in the beginning especially, I have unrealistic expectations of 1. how easy it’s going to be, 2. That I should be playing songs shortly after beginning to learn the guitar, 3. Just about anything else you can think of. And I’m not saying any of this put you down or be mean, I’m just saying that many have those same unrealistic expectations because they don’t know better.
Your few savants when it comes to learning to play an instrument, especially the guitar or most stringed instruments. The guitar is a difficult instrument to play there is so many factors at play within hand eye coordination the two hand coordination that placement of fingers on the stretching the Learning not to mute strings Learning to play difficult chords Learning to transition between chords Learning rhythm Learning tempo timing scales unbelievably vast amount of foundational skills which is what Tony teaches. It’s a lot and I’ve left tons out you know the list goes on and on and on.
I agree with both @Skyman911 and @jumpinjeff – they be to back just a tad and the expectations, try to keep it simple, measurable, attainableäpü‘üü, but most of all maintain having fun. Frustration just totally wiped out fun. So the question is what is frustrating you let’s get rid of it. To sum it up it sounds like you’re frustrated that you’re not further ahead and that things are difficult, and transitioning between chords it’s not smooth or fast.
So being frustrated that you’re not further ahead could be solved by developing a realistic three month goal that might incorporate transitioning between chords smoother and faster.
So the goal might be that you’re going to work on transitioning between 3 chords, name the 3 chords (hint, take the 1st 3 chords of an easy 3 chord song – google easy 3 chord songs). When will you practice? For how long? What will be your strategy, to practice and get better? I agree with Jumpin Jeff. Slow it way doown.
Here’s how I do it. I set a metronome at 4:4 beats, and I set the speed to between 20 and 40 bpm. On beat one, through three, I get my fingers placed, and on beat four, I strum. Then I usually beat a 1-3 to transition to the next chord and on beat 4 I strum. Do this for the first two chords until you can do so smoothly at least 10 times in a row without error. Then increase the speed 10 bpm and repeat the process keep repeating with the same two cords and increasing 10 bpm after being able to play 10 times in a row without error up until you reach the BPM of the song. Then take the 2nd and 3rd chord, and do the process all over again. It actually moves quite quickly, and you’ll be surprised that you’re able to transition between two cords quickly and a short amount of time. This process works great anytime you are working on a new song and you need to transition between chords. Just keep taking two chords that are next to each other in the song..
anyway, sorry for the length, which I’m guilty of too often, but I’m trying to be thorough and answering your questions. So ask away, and there’s always plenty of people to help, and many with different processes. Choose the ones that work the best for you.
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Thank you forr saying that about my vocals Pete. It means a lot. I play Guitar Man and Aubrery too
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I appreciate you saying that about my improvement. A master class with Reba would be fun.
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Thank you, and you are correct…It us impossible to have just 1 favorite.
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I would suggest you send a recommendation to support. Victoria can pass the recommendation onto the team. If they get enough people saying it’s not user friendly to them, then they would realize a change might be necessary.
Click on the support link on bottom left. Start a chat by sending a message. Victoria will respond pretty quickly.
This is what the forum page looks like to me. I’m on an iPad. The menu is clearly showing. If it’s not showing, there will be the drop down indicated by the 3 horizontal lines. Or the screen that typically opens up when I open the app is the daily challenge. The screen has a clear link to the benchmark forum.
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Hi Donna.
The benchmark songs will be found in the daily challenges. The daily challenge typically opens up when you enter the site. It will say Welcome …. Has a link to Today’s challenge, has calendar to view previous challenges (can only view the current month challenges.” Will then have your stats.
Click on Start Challenge. It will open to that days challenge. The benchmark song will typically be the 1st weeks song. This month, it is American Pie. Click on the month Guitar Routine at the top and it will open to list all the lessons for the month.
There are 4 benchmark songs, Ain’t No Sunshine, Wagon Wheel, Hotel California, and Old Man. Each month will include one of these. The purpose is to compare your progress over time.On the menu at the left side, click on Daily Challenge ( typically the first screen that comes up is at your daily challenge screen, Click on Daily challenge, click on where it says the month and at the top center and all the lessons for the month will be listed.