[woodsmith47duck-com]

Hi all!!! I don’t come to the Forum area much right now as I am just starting out, as I am a very new beginner(ish). I started with the 5-day challenge, back at the beginning of December 2025 after seeing a FB posting for this course by Tony. Since I was 10 years old I had always wanted to learn guitar. Back then discipline was not a thing I applied, being a kid…lol.

Over the years I kept coming back to the guitar yet never got into the rhythm of practicing. That changed when I was 12 when I told my parents I wanted to learn trumpet. They got me my first trumpet and got me lessons. I went into that like a lion, and practiced everyday for 30 minutes to start, and built that up to an hour a day, everyday. Moving forward, I played trumpet for 25 years before my daughter took an interest in the trumpet and she used mine. During those years I always thought of getting back to the guitar and when I was 43 my kids got me a guitar for Fathers Days, not a fancy guitar, yet a nice one as far as I was concerned. It is a Horne, and I still have that guitar today. I tried to get back to teaching myself, yea right! I learned the basic chords, C, E, Em, A, Am, F (hard), G, and D. Never really got beyond that, then my son picked up guitar, but I bought one for him to use so I still had mine. He took lessons for about two months, hated them, yet when on to teach himself guitar, had friends that played and he is pretty good today at 43. I took over his lessons, yet after two months didn’t like the style of teaching and stopped. Then life went on and the guitar sat, with the occasional picking it up and playing one note, one finger songs, more Christmas music than songs of the day. Having played trumpet I had an ear for music and would figure out some songs, using one finger mostly. Then taught myself the John Denver song, “Lady”, got pretty good at it, yet, life got in the way, again, and the guitar went back to it’s corner.

Jumping forward to last December, I saw the FB Reel by Tony. I had retired five months earlier and I figured I’d give the 5 day challenge a try. It was fun and relatively easy, so I took the 30-day challenge, and on December 28th decided I was hooked and signed up for TAC to see how I would do for a year. I am sticking with it, liking the Daily Challenges where Tony teaches songs, just measures at a time, yet I enjoy this and the one that I like the most right now, weelll, the only one I have been dabbling with is Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive.”

So, it’s been eight weeks now and I am still here with the guitar and practicing, not every day as I’d like, yet I do try for four days a week minimum, sometimes five, and I practice 30 or more minutes a day instead of the the 10 minutes Tony suggested. I have two grandchildren that take my time some days, hence the not getting to practice everyday. Last week, 9 February, I started the Technique lessons, the first one “Better Barre Chords.” This section is the hardest for me, no surprise, and I have a touch of arthritis in my left thumb which makes barring a tad of a challenge, and Tony is right this will take time and yet I will push through with it and I figure one day I will be there. The good thing is there are so many previous lessons I can go back to as often as I’d like and work on them.

I will admit there are days I ask myself if I want to keep going, and the answer is always YES!

I agree with a lot of what others have written in this forum area and with TerriG. It seems overwhelming having to learn something new every day, yet as she stated, listen to what Tony says, give each lesson a go, then definitely go back to the basics and work on those skills. I don’t think I am following the paths correctly though, lol. I did all the skills first, and am just now starting on the technique lessons. I distract myself poking around and trying other lessons. Then I stumbled onto the Daily Challenges where Tony is teaching you actual songs, kind of like shiny things catching my attention.

The fact that TerriG said she is now in her third year is a promising sign for me that I can do this too! Now, as Tony also stated, I am not comparing myself and my results to what TerriG and others have accomplished. I know I have a long road ahead of me, yet I am on this path and planning to stick to it. I really want to play guitar and be good at it, maybe not as good as others, yet as good as it will be for me. So hang in there billsandbeaks56, just take your time and work a the pace that is best for you, don’t give up.