[Loraine]

That was such a cool story. Gotta love little brothers, eh? If you’re gonna have to play for someone, it’s probably best to to play for relatives (I’m talking more aunts and uncles than I am cousins, because cousins being the same age can be iffy – at least mine who are brutally honest and not so nice all the time). No matter who it is it can be very scary and it can be very difficult to concentrate I give you a lot of credit. I play for others, and I stll shake a lot.

[Loraine]

Hey Bill, I am so sorry for your loss. I have relied on the guitar to help me through quite a few unexpected things over the years. I think it is amazing that it is such a comfort to so many. Just the conversation with your dad regarding the guitar’s relationship to your parents was very sweet. And the fact that you were able to creatively think through a solution to help you through a difficult time. I wish you and your family all the best.

[Loraine]

I love it when a chord I’ve struggled with all of a sudden rings out clear. It is such a relief and satisfying feeling. Congrats!

[Loraine]

I always love a great referral to a good site. Out of courtesy to Tony and TAC, my suggestion is to let people know that you found a great site, and invite people to direct message you for the info.. thanksr.

[Loraine]

Hey Stevie, I’m sorry that happened. I can understand the disappointment when you rely on something to help you keep track of that. Try contacting support maybe they can reset it. Can’t hurt.

I personally haven’t looked at that counter in a couple of years. I am committed, and I pick up my guitar daily, unless I’m hospitalized or something is out of my control. I haven’t made it to the website every day, so I’m sure it resets. I think the total sessions is more reliable and indicative of your re important, because it shows a larger commitment.

[Loraine]

@Slatewear I hear you loud and clear, and I know exactly what you’re saying and where you’re coming from. The reason I say that is because I felt the same way. I felt like a deer in headlights for the longest time. I felt that others were running hoops around me where miles and miles ahead of me and money had started at the same general time that I had.

But here’s what I learned. There were many times that I would never be able to learn the guitar. I decided several things it wasn’t all at once either I decided I was going to trust the process and do the best that I could with the lessons. I did the daily challenges, but I think my main focus shifted a little bit and went more towards the skills courses. I didn’t feel as threatened by the comments that I would read and some of the feeds after a lesson. I put myself out there to others that didn’t know how to play and started asking their opinions and questions and how they got to where they were at what types of things they did. So many people really help me out, but I still felt frustrated I still felt I was behind. But that was me that wasn’t them it wasn’t something that they were doing right now I was doing wrong it was me projecting that they were better than me me projecting that no one was as bad as me or no one was as slow as a learner as me

I agree with @jumpinjeff to hang in there, but you do have to still have fun you can’t just keep being frustrated and feeling unable to Play the guitar because that’s why you’re here.

So my suggestions are:

1. don’t compare yourself out. Why did you want to learn the guitar in the first place? Remind yourself why put a big sign up somewhere put things around that make you remember why.

2. Take a step back do some skills lesson lessons my suggestion would be start with the jumpstart to finger style and flat packing and then the strumming course

3. In the old TAC, there was an add-on that you could purchase called the song vault. Tony tight lessons at the beginner intermediate advanced levels and they were mainly bluegrass songs but it allowed players to practice their skills what they learned in lessons, and to play songs. When Tony Ree fabricated Tony’s acoustic challenge, he and the crew decided that that they wanted to go back to basics, Focus on the foundational skills, and he wanted to Focus more on the aging baby boomers, so there were many things that were not transitioned into the new program. But the song vault he put out on a public site so that the people that had paid for it could still access it. Since then it’s been shared very openly with players like you new players and people that hadn’t been involved with that initially. Here is the site check it out you may find that you enjoy trying to play some songs Tony takes you step-by-step you know section by section and just with the easy ones. https://hub-lkx8655w8n.membership.io/

4. Just trust the system. Here’s an easy way to think of the 10 minutes per day and that the concept is right on the money. If you practice for 10 minutes and someone new comes in the door as a new member you have 10 more minutes skills than they do, and that means that you can help them get started Learning what you’ve already learned or practiced if you play 10 minutes per day seven days a week that’s 70 minutes over an hour and you will be 70 minutes more proficient then you were seven days prior to that the program is set up to where you will see the lessons again at some point and trust me you will remember how you were the first time and what you struggled with and I think you’ll probably be surprised that you’ve gotten better that things come easier to you the second time through, so that’s a testament that you are progressing. It’s funny I heard Tommy Emmanuel say one time that nothing comes easy to him that he has to put in practice he has to break down songs into little pieces and it may be focusing just on two or 3 quarts in their progression you know in a row and working it back-and-forth back-and-forth back-and-forth and then moving on to the next thing he doesn’t just put everything together right away it’s the same process that we’re going through that he has to go through and I found that very humbling when I heard him say that, because I consider him one of the greatest acoustic fingerstyle players.

5. I nearly quit guitar at the end of my second year of trying to play and it wasn’t but a short period after that then all of a sudden things started to click into place. Cell the biggest nugget that I can pass on to anybody is don’t quit before the magic happens or the miracle happens or whatever it is or how it happens for you.

Good luck

hub-lkx8655w8n.membership.io

TAC Song Vault

All your favorite song lessons in one place!

[Loraine]

Hi Paula laughing because I just typed an explanation or answer to your question but I’m dictating and I looked at my dog and started talking to my dog everything typed out and then I must’ve hit it and it disappeared so now I have to start all over Lucky you!

If I am reading your question correctly it sounds to me as if you’re asking how can a C chord have a different shape of the neck then what you’ve learned. The answer to that lies in fretboard theory, which is covered inTAC’s Fretboard Wizard course. I suggest everyone take the course maybe not right when you’re a newbie but if you purchase it you own it for life and most people go through it quite often and they pick up something new every time it is not a full theory course it covers what you basically need for foundational knowledge.

You ask a great question, because it’s very confusing why an open C chord, or any other cord at the top of the neck that you learn when you first start all of a sudden becomes a C chord, but in a different location and it doesn’t look the same.

The simplest explanation is that there is something called CAGED Theory. Each letter in CAGED is a chord name. So you have a C chord shape, A chord shape, G chord shape, E chord shape and D chord shape.

You play an open C chord that you learned, using a pattern to get to wear the next C chord on the neck you would then Play it but it would be in the shape of an A chord. A confusing issue is the fact that the shape doesn’t necessary look like you’re playing. That is because you’re open C chord has five notes in it, but you’re only fretting three of those notes The other 2 are strummed as open strings, so a total of 5 notes in a C chord. To understand how many strings you are strumming you need to know the root note, and that is another part of theory that needs to be learned in order play songs correctly. So the shape will be different because of the number of notes that are in the chord, and because of the shape the next C would be under the CAGED system. Using the tools learned in theory or or fretboard wizard, you will learn the rules of how to get to the next chord or shape. The next C chord , after the A shape, would be in a G shape.

This process applies to all the open chords, so if you have an open D chord, the next would loop to the C shaped chord, etc.

Confusing, but it does get easier have a mantra that I was told by my best friends when I lived in Chicago. “Baby steps, Loraine, Baby steps”. I tried to use this so I do not have too high of expectations which can lead to disappointment I basically know that if I do the steps and put an effort into it through the lessons or taking theory or fretboard wizard that I am going to learn the guitar. And address tony’s philosophy it’s you will get better putting in a minimum of 10 minutes per day but you will progress faster if you do a little bit more than 10 minutes his progress over perfection just continue the lessons even though you may not understand them or feel you can do them do your best after 10 minutes mark it complete. You can work on it longer, but do not let it hold you back. You want to continue to move forward there are many lessons that rotate back around and there are the quarterly check ins

I know this sounds like hell of a lot of information, but I was trying to simplify it as best I could so people could understand if anyone has any questions the forums are the best place to ask them there are so many knowledgeable people out here more knowledgeable than me a lot more knowledgeable than me. Ask away keep plug along and don’t forget to have fun!

[Loraine]

Brings back a lot of memories! Great job Kevin. Enjoyed this, and I’ll be checking it out myself.

[Loraine]

Awesome job Stevie! Iremeber when you first started? Glad you’re back — Keep up the great work!

[Loraine]

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.

[Loraine]

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.

[Loraine]

Thanks so much @stevie!

[Loraine]

Hey @goabbogmail-com Welcome to TAC! Congrats on 6 weeks! The lessons introduce a new concept every week, so they are independent in that sense. Pay attention to the skill introduced in Mondays lesson. That will be the major force for that week’s lessons. The scale will be independent of that, but it will compliment the foundational skill introduced. The weekly lessons, annd therefore the independent lessons are dependent on each other for the purposes of having a full tool box of foundational skills that will cover most basic skills necessary to learn songs and play different styles.

[Loraine]

I’m right there with you regarding size of guitars I prefer. I have a lot of guitars, but my 2 go tos most of the time are a dreadnought and a grand auditorium. I love the rich sounds of the larger guitars, and I’m more of a strummer and rhythm player. I think they’re easier to play. They are taking their toll on my fretting arm and hand right now. I broke my wrist pretty badly the first week of last October. I’ve had two surgeries since, and I have a third one scheduled in September and it is extremely painful to fret the guitar I can’t do it for that long and there’s some days I just can’t do it at all cause it just hurts and burns too bad I’m just praying to God that they’re able to alleviate some of it. I’m so bummed that I’m going to probably miss playing for 3 to 4 months again but surgeon does surprise me on occasion— we’ll see what he says

[Loraine]

@albert_d Great explanation. I haven’t been able to do lessons because of schedule and things I’m on a timeline for. Would you say that the chords art power chords too?! I do note over chords, but that discounts the notes on the D..