[Loraine]

@jumpinjeff Hey Jeff, I’ve only met my guitar teacher 2-3 times. I do virtual lessons, and they’re great. No lugging guitar out, dealing with the elements, traffic, etc. I absolutely love working with him. If anyone is interested, he offers a free class, so you can get acquainted, and you can see his style. He plays a boatload of instruments. He does everything from classical to rock. I’ve gone to see his band play. I’m amazed at his ear and his eye to what I’m doing. He can listen to a song once and know which chords are played, timing, strum or pick pattern, etc. He often corrects UG. It’s been a very enjoyable journey with him.

[Loraine]

Hey TJ, which lesson is missing a video. I can see why Lesson 1 might confuse you, but there is a video. Highlight and coy link and go to Google. And paste it in the bar at the top and hit enter. If you continue to have issues, I suggest you reach out to TAC Support. The link is on the bottom left of the menu bar “Support”

[Loraine]

You could rent a guitar, or just go in the guitar room and goof around. You could study some theory. Did you sign up for Fretboatd Wizard with TAC? ThAT would be a good place to start. You can also just google guitar theory, CAGED system. I DID THIS WHEN I couldn’t play – Simply watch the daily videos .

[Loraine]

Well done! You didn’t seem to nervous, and you relaxed as you played.

I’ve done virtual open mics online, but I haven’t done the live open mic yet. My first is scheduled 1/30.

[Loraine]

OMG, I loved this! You obviously played well before you wrote the song, but the lyrics just make that song what it is, and it is really good! I had to laugh because I work from home and I just got a really good new office chair and the arms go up on the sides. I’ve got a guitar right next to the desk, and I often flip those arm rests up, grab the guitar and begin playing. I get lost in it and I’m defitely not thinking of work or getting anything work related done. Haha

[Loraine]

@MNG I really appreciate the introduction I’ve seen you just recently on the forums and enjoyed your posts. I became a lifelong member shortly after joining several years ago and I still am on the site daily so that’s a testament to Tony’s teaching method. I think Tony brought the magic of guitar to life for me and I still get lost in that moment and still enjoy learning new things. Keep up the great work that I’ve seen.

[Loraine]

Kyle man, love the question! I think there has to be a balance to some degree but I’ll be honest. I spend much more time playing than I do with so-called drills. I actually don’t think I’ve ever done a drill, or maybe I have and I just don’t see it as being a drill per se. I practice different types of strumming or attempting finger picking or finger style trying to learn different versions and I guess a drill would be me doing trying to do the finger style over and over and over typically getting nowhere ha ha. Also. Learning to transition between chords is a form of drill that ai do. Any new skill learned involves practice before it becomes something that just becomes natural to do.

My guitar teacher is simply awesome. He and I have a great relationship and there’s a balance between practice and playing. He’s never questioned TAC or felt threatened by it, and we supplement the lessons here sometimes. I feel that TAC is more my practice whereas my guitar teacher allows me to play more. There are times that we slip back into things such as doing more theory or if I’m struggling with something he’ll give me some suggestions to be able to do something better and it might involve some form of drills, I guess you would say, but I don’t necessarily see it that way because I’ve gotten to the point where I pick up things so quickly that it doesn’t feel like a chore. There have been times he’s actually said it’s gonna be really boring. You just need to do it over and over and over and I found that I don’t have to do it for very long before it becomes muscle memory, but I can understand the monotony and boredom of doing such things so That would be a complete turn off. If that’s all there was to learning the guitar. In fact I don’t think I’d be playing at all if that’s what it were.

My teacher often will pull me back a little bit just to show me the proper way of doing something because left to my own accord. I would just be out there like I am so often but just slap playing something instead of using the correct chords or timing using a metronome – Things that make a difference in what and how I’m playing something. Now I will say that I could probably benefit from more of those drills, but I decided a long time ago that I’m not in this for anyone else I’m playing for myself and for my own enjoyment And if anyone else just happens to be within hearing distance and likes what they hear then that’s an added benefit. I don’t plan on getting rich or famous or doing any type of pain gig. The most that I do is an open mic or going to a song circle at a jam club And I know I’m not that good and I know that my vocals aren’t that good and it’s just something I’ve had to swallow my pride on and put it all out there good and bad, and I just know that I’ve gotten better because of it.

I was about to quit guitar probably going into my second year at the end of my second year because I didn’t feel I was any good and I wasn’t making progress and I started to lose enjoyment and just wasn’t having fun. It felt very monotonous; it felt it was taking more and more effort. I was going to actually stop after a meet up that was happening in Florida with a few of us that had met through TAC. A list of the songs that we were going to play was sent, and I decided to spend probably three weeks working through the songs and just trying to be able to play some of them. All of a sudden things just started to click and I found that I was able to play quite a few of the songs And I started having a lot of fun. I think some of the people at the meet up were surprised at my playing on several of the songs. I haven’t looked back since. I just found such a joy, and I literally have hundreds of songs that I have played. It just keeps getting easier and easier. I’m still not the greatest player and I still have really horrible vocals, but I’m working on them, but my joy was all of a sudden being able to play the songs that I had picked up the guitar for.

[Loraine]

Welcome to the TAC community Ron! Congrats on completing the 30 days to play, and 5 day routine. Don’t forget to take the next 6 chords and stretching courses that are all part of the getting started routine.

Most people begin the daily challenges, but this is your journey. I personally recommend the daily challenges, and when you can (weekends are great times) check out the skills courses. Take whatever interests you. There’s no set pathway. Everyone is different. I personally recommend the Jumpstart to Flatpicking and fingerpicking and the strumming courses.

[Loraine]

It’s highly unlikely you’re deformed -lol. More than likely your fingers haven’t learned independence. Fingers share tendons, and it is difficult to teach them independence, but it’s not impossible.

One way to teach them is to start a little higher on the neck (just because it’s less of a stretch). Place your index down, and leave it in that spot the whole exercise (do not lift it). With your middle finger, place it on the fret next 5o the index.; then lift it and place it on the next fret and then back to the fret next to the index. Then lift again and place it 2 frets out.; lift and back to next to index. Again lift and go 3 frets out. Try and get to 4, without hurting yourself.

Next, take your ring finger and do the same exercise. Then your pinky.

Once you’ve done all that, lift your index, and replace it with your middle finger. Again, do not lift it. Begin with your index and do the same exercise, then ring and pinky.

Same exercise with ring and then pinky being anchors.

Once you’ve done can do this with all combinations, start over, but move up 2-3 frets. It will be a little more challenging, because the frets are wider. Repeat until you reach the first fret. With your pinky.

You can always switch it to where you begin with the pinky and not the index. What this is teaching is finger independence for every combination of fingers, and it helps with stretching fingers.

[Loraine]

@StephDee Welcome to the TAC family! Congrats on your first full week! It is so exciting to get through the challenges and be energized by them. You’re right not to get hung up on perfecting it. TAC teaches progress, rather than perfection. The lessons come back around in benchmark weeks, where you can reflect upon the last time you went through it til now and see your progress.

[Loraine]

Haven’t heard that one in a while! I can’t say I’ve ever seen bends done on the neck like that before. I would think it would be difficult and hurt like hell. You have fingers of steel. lol. I envy those that have learned the percussive slaps. I still struggle with those. Great job all around!

[Loraine]

@iAmSlayton Welcome to the TAC family! The attitude will get you to your destination. Remember, it’s a journey, not an end all. You will never reach perfection, as it’s like a snowball’s chance in hell – impossible and not achievable. Simply have fun, 10 minutes at a time, and keep moving forward and focus on progress over perfection, and you’ll succeed.

[Loraine]

Something to be very proud of.

[Loraine]

I liked it both times. This song fits your vocals.

[Loraine]

Hey @FrancisR Welcome to the TAC family. Sounds like you’re off to a great start. With regard to scales, you’ll learn the open scales C, D, E, F, A, G, B major and minor scales and the notes that make up each scale, what notes make up the fretboard, the shapes (CAGED), and the natural intervals between notes, which notes in a scale are major, minor, diminished. You’ll learn which notes of a scale typically make up 90% of all songs, you learn ear training to find the first note of a song, and then you can typically find the rest of the not based on the formula of what notes typically make up a song.

So you will learn the basic structure of open scales however that’s just touching upon the beginning of what you can learn about scales in the different types of skills that I mentioned interesting when you start looking at the Modes.