[Loraine]

Congrats @benten !! Welcome back! It’s tough to come back to something, but you did it. Keep it simple and build your practice routine. Soon you’ll find it’s not a struggle and that you enjoy it.

[Loraine]

Hey @abrew67gmail-com I have a tendency to grip picks too hard and to strum/hit the strings hard. It doesn’t have anything to do with the pick. Check to see that you don’t have a death grip on the pick. Practice on muted strings strumming with a feather-like strum – barely hitting the strings. Then try it without the mute. Missing the strings a few times is notmal when playing/strumming, so don’t worry too much if that happens. Another recent suggestion was for me to get a pair of drum sticks. During idle time or times of mindlessness, hold the drumstick and use it to rock your risk back and forth, as if you were strumming the guitar. It teaches you to hold the drumstick loosely and to only strum with your wrist. It develops muscle memory of the motion and the softness from the motions of strumming. It takes time, practice and patience to overcome a habit of heavy strumming. Be kind to yourself. 🙂 Good luck.

[Loraine]

How do you know whether you can post something publicly or not?

[Loraine]

What is Vimeo?

[Loraine]

I post a lot of songs as public. The AI checks for copywrite and puts a key on a recording indicating how many copywrites there are and tags the video, but I would think as long as to state it’s a cover and mention the artists name it might be okay. How can they shut your account down? Am I being naive about this? I ask, because I rely on You Tube to hold my videos and keep my analytics.

[Loraine]

That is so weird @marty73. You should definitely contact them for an explanation and immediate reinstatement along with all your videos. I always thought storage of my videos on YouTube was safe.

[Loraine]

I love playing this song. Very well played. Your vocals are getting stronger. Thanks @DiscostewLA

[Loraine]

I am so envious of your fingerpicking. It’s flawless. I just started playing this. I’m not anywhere near ready to share. I really enjoyed your performance. Thanks @Marty73

[Loraine]

@Richie-B Welcome to the TAC community. moose gave a great answer, and I wholly agree with it. Keep the momentum going forward. You will get better.

[Loraine]

Thanks for the observations on my strumming and overall improvement. I’m having a blast right now playing songs, and just having fun helps me improve. A friend suggested I get a drum stick and simply move it just as I would if strumming the guitar. I haven’t been doing it long, but I’ve noticed my strumming is getting back on track. It’s a great way to loosen up my stiff wrist and hand, and to actually hold the pick more loosely. It teaches timing to, because the drum stick, if held half way on the stick has the same momentum back and forward.

[Loraine]

Thanks Kevin! I think these are one of my favorite kinds of songs to play and sing – great campfire or open mic songs to get audience participation in parts.

[Loraine]

Really appreciate that @-Rick- ! I love goofy songs and tongue twisters .

[Loraine]

Thanks so much @rpierce2266gmail-com . It is a fun song to perform and for others enjoyment. I sent it to my girlfriend and her granddaughter to make them smile and cheer them up over something they’re dealing with.

[Loraine]

Love the pic John. It’s always cool to see a larger photo of someone. Is that your band? How long have you been playing. What’s your favorite genre to play? Fingerpicking, Flatpicking strumming, hybrid?

[Loraine]

@rvgbrusagmail-com You offer some good introspection. 10 minutes a day will make you a better player than you were 10 minutes prior, and cumulatively it will add up and move you forward. However, and you hit upon it, it will take practice and more practice, and even when you’re a professional like Tommy Emmanuel, you learn each new piece by breaking it down into small chunks and adding to it as needed. Tommy talks about the process in a lesson I watched, or maybe even a TED.DAU podcast . I think people approach guitar as simple to learn, which it definitely isn’t.. It does gets easier, when you have built the foundation, which is what TAC teaches. It gets easier, is challenging in different ways, but you’ll pick up on playing and performing faster, easier, with more accuracy. It may seem like a daunting task, but don’t give up before the magic happens. All of a sudden you’ll be a more rapid incline in skills and you’ll be noticeably better skilled and capable. Ride it out, love the journey, have FUN. You will have hit plateaus and you’ll need to pull upon those times where you moved forward rapidly to carry you through the plateaus to the next level of rapid improvement. It’s simply an all out fun journey!