Loraine
Forum Replies Created
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@jberry6mac-com Welcome to the TAC community! I understand not using a pick with a classical before, but you might want to purchase some to take full advantage of what TAC offers. Tony teaches not only fingerstyle, but also flat picking and strumming with a pick, and using just your fingers will be difficult on many lessons.
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@CatMom Welcome to the TAC community! There are arguments (just a use of the word, no real arguments) about whether you should use only an acoustic, or whether you can use an electric by itself or alongside an acoustic. There’s absolutely nothing that says you can’t use an electric on TAC. I play electric and acoustic, and I use electric a lot to practice, because it can be easier to learn and play on, and I think using it can benefit your acoustic playing later. Get the skills down and then transfer the skills to acoustic.
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@dfmarcus63 I’m not sure I agree with you wholly, but the focus of TAC has always been the foundational skills. The old TAC was missing how to tie all the skills together to play songs, except for some bluegrass songs that Tony taught in the song vault, but the song vault was discontinued with the new site. There aren’t different levels, such as beginner, intermediate, advanced. Everyone sees the same daily challenges. There are many newer lessons and weekly focuses being introduced, as you stated, but they are interchanged with the older courses, which had been around for quite a while. TAC switched their format from more bluegrass to more popular music, but they are still covering a lot of the same elements, just in a different way than previously. Tony is explaining the site better, how to begin building a healthy foundation, and is spending more time on teaching how to use the tools to improv, build a good lick library, chord transitions that aren’t simply switching between a set of chords but on doing so through actually playing the final product of the weekes efforts while having smooth chord transitions – because that was a link previously missing. I think that when TAC went from the old site to the current site, which was 2 years ago, their focus was to get back to basics with the newer player to teach the foundations of guitar, which was what TAC advertised.
The courses have always rotated back around every 8-12 months, so that is not anything new, and certain technique lessons are repeated more often during the year, because the techniques apply to what is being taught that week. Having been here 18 months, you will have experienced the lessons rotating around and being interspersed with the newer lesson formats.
If you have specific examples that you’re referring to or concerned about, please contact support and ask Victoria to either address your concerns or ask that she have Tony possibly address them at a later date. I’m sure I’m not doing it justice here.
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@ShirleyM1120 & @CeeDubya Welcome to the TAC community. Both great questions. @Niv gave a great explanation to the 12 bar blues. As for the tabs not matching what Tony’s playing, that happens occasionally. I think that the tabs are developed separately from the videos, and he may not have had the tab to reference when doing the video, or his notes were written at a different time than the tabs – could be a number of things, but you can play it either way. Tony’s or the tab. I tend to just follow the tab.
Cee, as for the 120, that refers to bpm, or beaTs per minute. If you have a metronome app on your phone, or you Google metronome, you can put it to the 120, and depending on whether the music is time stamped 3:4, 4:4, 6:8, 8:8, etc., which tells you how many beats each measure is typically quarter (4), eighth (8) or 16th, bit it can be a 3 or 32. Here’s a site that explains it better than I do. https://www.musicradar.com/how-to/ultimate-guitar-tab-guide The time stamp will tell you how many beats there are per measure. The bpm tells you how fast to play each measure. The easiest way to practice at the correct time stamp and bpm is to use a metronome, which you would set up by inputting the time stamp and bpm. It then taps out the bpm. It’s a tool that I suggest using . It will help greatly with playing songs correctly.
https://www.musicradar.com/how-to/ultimate-guitar-tab-guide
musicradar.com
The ultimate guitar tabs guide: how to read tab and symbols explained
Learn to play acoustic and electric with our guide to this easy-to-read notation
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Welcome to the TAC community @TakeDown ! You did pick a great week to join in, with such an iconic song to boot. That’s such a great lick, & to be your first one is extra special. It’s an identifiable riff from the get go, and it’s fun to play.
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You’re too funny! Great job on the lick. It was fun and addictive.
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That’s awesome @leslieldenning ! Remember to use your other fingers to help with the bends. It takes pressure off the one finger.
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@Wyatt I know exactly what you’re talking about. We may have callouses from regular fretting, but then a new and fun skill is introduced, especially with a fun week like this one, and we do feel it in our fingers, because we’re using a different part of our finger pads that may not be as calloused. I had one or two fingers feeling sore for the same reason. Just don’t overdo it to where you get nerve or tendon damage. If it overly hurts, then take a rest. Use ice if necessary.
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@danny_jo Just saw your post. Glad you’re back at it. I’m not sure I could go months without a guitar. Have you considered purchasing a small travel guitar? They’re smaller and easily carried onto airplanes and travel well. There are some that actually breakdown to smaller pieces which makes them even more mobile for trips. Also, many sound quite good for being smaller.
There are actually 2 things to do in MN in the winter, if being out in the frigid temps and snow isn’t for you. You mentioned hockey, and the other is possibly watch less t.v. or even quit watching t.v. and just play more guitar. Lol. I rarely watch t.v. I actually can’t remember the last time it was on. I got rid of cable years ago, and I read the headlines online. You get more details that way versus a newscast. Advertisements are 67% of what is on cable now. I refuse to pay to pay to watch advertisements. — Had no intentions of airing my grievance with t.v. Just kinda happened. Haha
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@Fret_Nothing You’ll find lessons, typically on Mondays and Wednesdays that you’ll want to incorporate as warm ups. They may be as simple as a pentatonic scale or some other scale, or it may be a speed lesson, or individual finger dexterity, or building finger strength, or even string awareness exercises. Mark those as favorites by clicking the red heart under the video. They’ll be saved to your favorites under your profile and can be accessed anytime. The stretching is a must to warm and loosen muscles and tendons before and after playing. This helps avoid injury from over use and strain. I believe the stretching video is in the Skills section under Getting Started.
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@hoopfan1yahoo-com Hopefully the previous explanations made sense to you. If not, let us know. Another tip is to highlight all the lessons of the month from the menu at the left of the daily challenges. Then right click your mouse and hit print, print to pdf, print selection, and then save the list to your computer by the month and year. Then you’ll have all the names and days of the lessons. Makes it a lot easier to find a lesson from a previous month that you want to revisit if you’ve saved it in your favorites, or if you look under someone else’s saved favorites. You’ll know exactly where to look for the name of the lesson.
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@Duane58 Great win. They are fun, and yes challenging. I personally have difficulty because I have tremors in my hands, but I keep trying. The more I learn to relax, the easier it is and the faster I can pick. Keep at it. It’s a great skill to have and opens so many doors to playing.
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@ElloranJ That’s awesome – Congratulations! Keep at it!
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Welcome back @Thomas258 ! A lot has changed in the 2 years you were gone. I think you’ll like the new lessons and weekly focuses. Several weeks are geared towards actual songs, and that helps apply some of the material. I agree that improv is a big factor in being able to play at the drop of a hat. You’ll want to also have a really good understanding of the fretboard and notes that make of chords, etc. I’m not great at that, but Fretboard Wizard is a great course for learning some of that. If you don’t already own that, I suggest considering an investment into the course. Once you purchase it, you own it for life. Most people revisit it at least annually. Something new is always learned when taking it.
Don’t be a stranger in the forums. Ask questions, make comments, help others out if you can. Have fun, and keep on plunking!
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If you previously purchased Gretboard Wizard, you should be able to simply click on the link for it in the menu. Even if you leave the general population of TAC, you still own it, and you would simply sign into TAC as usual and click on the link. If you have problems accessing it, click on the support button at the bottom left and message Victoria. She’ll be happy to verify whether it was purchased and assist with IT access issues to the course.