Here are two more interesting emails I have got lately.
I hope you find the emails and my thoughts useful…
Email #1…
“I have only been in the DTAA (Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy) 24 hours and have learnt so much.
I am following plan 4 and getting on with The Sound of Silence, which has already greatly improved after doing the exercises to stop looking at my fretting hand and feeling the strings and frets instead.
I am looking at the TAB, not my hands, and have actually got rid of the interruptions when changing chords.”
Joanne
That is a great start.
I mean, in reality, most people make progress over weeks and months, no matter what resource they are learning from.
To make a significant improvement, in just 24 hours is great though.
It just goes to show what can be done when you have focus, the right lessons, and most importantly, you apply those lessons diligently.
For example, it sounds like Joanne was suffering from the “head wobble”.
This is when you look back and forth at each hand constantly as you play (very common with struggling beginners).
Curing this can be one of the keys to making your songs more musical right away – yet at first, it feels as unnatural as breathing underwater.
Anyway, I am delighted Joanne is putting things into action right away and I hope that inspires all of you out there.
Onto email #2…
Email #2
I got this email a few days before Christmas…
“Dan…yesterday, I finally got “Deck the Halls” down to where I can play it for others and feel real good about it.
When you gave this to us as the November lesson of the month, I jumped right into it. Of course I’ve been working on other guitar songs and techniques along the way.
At first, I realized it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. But after about 7 weeks of practice working on it a bit each day, I finally “got it”.
It still amazes me how the “muscle memory” eventually kicks in on every piece of music and technique we work on.
And those 3 or 4 challenging parts of the song are no longer a challenge at all.
Now, I look forward to playing those so-called challenges and look upon them now as fun! But best of all, this song has made me so much more confident in tackling other fingerpicking songs!
Thanks for the lesson.”
Don
That is so cool to hear.
There are many little mini-lessons in this email from Don that everyone can learn.
(In case you don’t know, the lesson Don is referring to is a bonus lesson I released back in November for Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy members.)
Mini-lesson #1 here is do not underestimate a song. You may feel like you can learn a song in four weeks, but songs take time, and often longer than you think they should.
Mini-lesson #2 is patience – muscle memory is a wonderful thing, but you need to build it up methodically and correctly – if not, muscle memory can be your enemy and not your friend.
Mini-lesson #3 – once things “click”, it often all starts to come together quite quickly, yet the early building blocks take the longest. That is why you need to be super patient and methodical at first.
Mini-lesson #4 – flip the troublesome areas into a fun challenge that you will conquer.
All of those are important lessons.
Probably my favourite though is what Don said about flipping hard challenges and making them something to enjoy.
Break your challenges down into tiny chunks, and like a mountaineer climbing Everest, make it your mission to get to the top, win the challenge, and be unbeatable!
Definitely worth keeping that in mind as you practise tough stuff.
Anyway, both of those emails are from members of the Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy. To join them, and get on the road to success like they and many others did, you can check it out below…
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. If you join before January 1st, you will get 3 brand new lessons on a variety of topics.
These include how to improve your rhythm (without ever needing a click), a series of powerful dexterity exercises, and a simple way to plan for a successful 2022.
P.P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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