[Loraine]

Hey @pulpfrau58yahoo-com Welcome to TAC! You’re in good hands with @petelanger ! I agree, there are no rules with TAC, per se. This is your journey. If you’ve given a good go of the lessons, then I agree, keep the flow going. Just give the lessons the minimum 10 minutes, mark complete, and keep practicing, if you like. Just don’t overdo it.

The lessons become more challenging, and you may need a little more time on each. Just have some fun with it all. Don’t shoot for perfection. You’ll progress as you continue forward.

[Loraine]

Hi Barbara, if you are new to guitar like never picked up a guitar before, I would suggest waiting a bit to begin taking Fret Board Wizard (FBW). I would suggest giving it a little bit of time for you to get settled in and understanding the guitar and terminology and at the beginning you’re so focused on trying to simply make chords and strumming, picking, etc. But that is just a suggestion. I did not know anything about guitars when I first started and I don’t think I could’ve understood some of what was being taught, or I understood it when I took it, but I didn’t know how it applied actually. I was more a book knowledge type thing. It took me quite a while for things to all of a sudden click and for me to have those aha moments and really understand the theory of the fretboard. I actually enjoy learning about the theory. What’s great about FBW is you own it for life, as @petelanger said. We can go through it as many times as you like in fact most people I won’t say many people go through it at least once a year you pick up something different each time..

That being said, FBW will open up a lot of doors in your playing as well as just understanding guitar theory. You’ll pick up quite a bit of information from it. I found that it took time for it to suddenly click in my head. I don’t remember if it was six months down the road or a year, but all of a sudden I started having these aha moments or what I call moments of clarity and things just fell into place with my understanding.

[Loraine]

Hi Barbara, welcome to the TAC family!

I’m in 100% agreement with @petelanger . You’ll soon learn that Tony teaches progress over perfection and as Pete pointed out if you give a lesson a good 10 minutes market complete and that does not mean that you can’t play longer, but don’t shoot for perfection. Just give it your best like Pete said. You’ll be amazed that you will learn and excel following this practice

Once you get into the mainstream lessons and the daily challenges, the same will apply. There are four benchmark weeks in the year during these you will set goals for the next three months and you will be able to reflect back on previous benchmark weeks. These are songs and lessons that you will see repeated. This allows you to see any improvement that you’ve made this goes along with other lessons throughout the year too, but it’s focused on more during these benchmark weeks. So basically at the end of three months you get to look back see if you’ve met your goals. What areas you excel in what you did well in what areas and were challenging to you that you’d like to work on more. That might be what you choose to focus on in the next 3 months, or you might have another goal in mind.

When you complete the challenge you’re currently taking, then do the next 6 chords, the 5 days skill challenge, and I highly suggest taking the stretching in the skills section. You can take Skills Lessons in any order you want. It’s your program, so be curious and look around.

Have fun with it!

[Loraine]

To finish my thoughts, you have been such an inspiration to me Terry, and I have loved watching your journey. I have no doubt that you’ll make it through this and come out stronger and more creative and more talented in the end

[Loraine]

Welcome to the TAC community!

What you outline is a common issue. Most can’t reach their pinky out. There are stretches you can do, but you’ve received great advice. Lift your hand up to reach the fret with your pinky, or consider a short scale guitar that makes it easier on those that might have a similar issue, arthritis, smaller stature, etc. Be kind to yourself, don’t fret too much (play on words there), do the best you can, without hurting yourself, and remember that as you continue to play, your finger span will become more agile and you’ll be able to stretch further in a year than now, and so on. Make sure you are warming and loosening up before trying any stretches that are difficult.

[Loraine]

I’m sorry this happened Terry, because I know how important playing guitar is to you. Take it from someone who’s been dragged through the mud several times with injuries that put me on the sidelines to playing I can feel for ya. I’ll say this though. You’re allowed to have a pity party, because that’s just human nature.

I thought back to when you started. There’s no doubt in my mind, you’re a talented person that has many outlets. You’re a songwriter. You’re a guitarist. You were a performer. You’re a storyteller. You’re an entertainer on so many levels. You’ve put together singles and full sets and publish them you might even have CDs at this point. I don’t know, but I do know that you have the electronic versions on Spotify and other places you pick up on things so quickly and find so much jubilation (i’ve always wanted to use that word in a sentence ha ha) and have so much exuberance. It comes through every cell of you’re being. So what can you do?

You can do the fretboard wizard, which I think is a great outlet, if you haven’t done it in a while. You can do the harmonica, which I think is another great artistic outlet. You could continue your songwriting. If you don’t have keyboards go purchase an inexpensive keyboard at I used hand store. I purchased one for $20 at Goodwill. The guitar follows the same notes, chords, scales as piano. It would be very easy to learn the notes, scales and chords on a keyboard that you would typically use on the guitar, and you can put together some compositions.

Keep your chin up buddy guys reach out to me and direct message if you start getting down because trust me I’ve been there a lot of people have helped lift me up during the last several years so I’m there for you too. You got this!

[Loraine]

I took fretboard wizard right after starting the guitar. I had never picked up a guitar in my life. I’m going to sound like I’m a walking contradiction here. I was overwhelmed in some areas, but I enjoyed it and I learned a lot. I didn’t know how to apply it necessarily at the beginning, but what was kind of cool was over the next year all of a sudden things just started clicking in my head and things began to make sense. I call those, aha moments, or moments of clarity. It will happen with anything you go to learn. If you’re not familiar with something, learning something new may not make a lot of sense initially, but you will understand it as you move forward.

I don’t see an issue with taking it early, necessarily, because of my experience with it and I think if you’re like me, you will have the knowledge in the back of your head and then all of a sudden you’ll run across something or have a lesson for like the fifth time and then all of a sudden, you’re like oh my gosh, I get it. So that’s my two cents.

Oh, you own it for life so if you purchase it now and go through it, it’s OK. You can go through it again and again and again each time you can pick up something new from it even if you leave TAC, you own the program, you can come back here anytime and simply click on it, even if you’re not a paying member

[Loraine]

Hey, keep me in mind if you give away your Ernie Balls. I use them on several guitars.

[Loraine]

Appreciate it Braden! I’m so grateful to being able to still play .

[Loraine]

Hey @stevep Steve! It is so good to hear from you. How the heck are you doing? Im dropping into Scones every once in a while. If you ever get a chance, drop in and say hi.

I’m part of the BlackBerry Smoke cult – haha. I probably see them 2-3 times a year. I’ve had VIP passes and met them. I actually play quite a few of their songs. I really appreciate your compliment on my strumming to. Broke my wrist and hand over a year ago, and I’ve had 3 surgeries. Wasn’t sure I could keep playing. It’s definitely more difficult from nerve and arthritis pain. I still have a big issue, because the wrist and hand bones are displaced and pushed to the right from the force of the fall. There’s another surgery in the future, but it is more difficult and painful each time.

[Loraine]

Haha, I’m having fun finally playing some of the faster songs. Always appreciate you listening Braden.

[Loraine]

Thanks as always, Pete she did have a lot of great songs and what’s funny is I had never seen her in concert until this year. She was part of the outlaw music fest with Willie Nelson, which I go to every year and she played for two full hours. Bob Dylan played for two hours. Willie and his son played for two hours. I can’t remember who else was there, but it is my favorite festival every year. It starts at 4 PM and goes till like midnight.

[Loraine]

Thanks Pete it’s good to be seen and to be playing again. However I will say that I’m really struggling after this third surgery there’s so much scar tissue now that it’s very painful because it pulls and it’s hard for me to stretch to make chords and I still can’t put enough pressure on my barre chords.

You are correct Blackberry Smoke is a southern rock band out of Georgia. They’ve been around for a very long time. I think they’re all in their 50s at this point in their life. Charlie Carr is the lead singer and is the most famous from the band. He is on so many shows in a magazines and a very talented guitarist and lyricist. and He is well known throughout the industry for his guitar collection. The drummer Britt Turner passed away about a year ago I think from brain cancer it was very sad. The band has a whole has a cult like following.

[Loraine]

Really appreciate you listening , Phil. Thank you

[Loraine]

Blackberry Smoke has been around for a long time. You may have heard of Charlie Carr. He’s the lead singer and he’s a very well-known in the industry is a guitar collection like you wouldn’t believe you might be familiar with their song One Horse Town. That’s probably one of the most famous. I play that one too. I play a lot of their songs actually.