I don't know if this is a case of "thanks" or "blame" - or if they're effectively the same thing, but I really want to thank Guitar Tricks and especially Lisa McCormick.

I'm a somewhat experienced musician, but had never played guitar (or any stringed instrument for that matter). Seven months ago I took the plunge and picked up my first guitar (which was recently followed by a second... and so it begins...) and started working through the Fundamentals 1 course. I finished it up about a month ago and have started Fundamentals 2 (though I'm still trying to completely get "With You I Am Whole" cleaned up at full tempo).

Along the way I picked up music and tab for some songs I'd like to play. Many of which are my heroes and it will take a bit more time to get there, but over the past 2 or 3 months I've noticed a funny thing. Not all of those songs are out of reach any longer. While the strumming pattern is a bit tricker (and I'm still putting "up" and "down" arrows on my music to remind me which stroke to use), "Zombie" by the Cranberries actually has a lot easier chord progression than "With You I am Whole."

I feel like I'm finally starting to "get it" and transition from rank beginniner to someone who can actually play a few songs - that people would actually want to hear! Given that "in person" lessons are still off the table because of COVID, Guitar Tricks has filled the niche perfectly - and helped keep me sane with a wonderful new world of music I'd always appreciated, but had never been able to play.