How have you improved?

[Toby Walker]

For every one thing I learned, every measure of improvement, I must have had at least a few dozen failures, and I've learned a lot.

..... thoughts from my camper on I 90, near Madison, WI.

[lowrider]

Your post looks like my finger-picking. For every time i got through one of your lessons cleanly there are at least a dozen times not. Well the clean versions are getting more consistent but they are a growing minority.

Just getting ready to pull out the guitar right now. Love your new CD ''Mileage'' is that like as in ''It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage''?

Enjoy Madison, I here it's a great town!

[guitarmac62]

I believe I'm improving every day. I don't call my playing mistakes failures, they're just "mis-improvisations".

[Kerbie]

I improve when I have time to play and go backwards when I don't. I need more hours in the day...

Toby, you better watch out for a pack of Badgers up there...

[rick-slo]

Get better and get worse. At this point depends on recent practice time. Also learned about some things that I don't want to spend time learning.

[Mr. Jelly]

The longer I play the guitar the less improvement I make. Every style I learn I run into sounding like me. I take it to be like an accent like one would have when speaking. It would be my guitar style. Somethings I keep and others I just don't want to use. So I don't.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by guitarmac62

I believe I'm improving every day. I don't call my playing mistakes failures, they're just "mis-improvisations".

I must be more advanced than you. My mistakes become "tonal experiments"

[jaymarsch]

I think my biggest improvements are in my rhythm and timing and in performing my songs.

When I started on this path of a singer songwriter about 10 years ago, I underestimated just how challenging it is to sing and play guitar at the same time and do so musically and expressively. Add the performance part and it takes a lot of practice to do all parts justice.

I am gratified that I can see improvements.

Best,
Jayne

[TBman]

I started working more on my right hand speed and technique so, yes it's kicking my butt on some days. It'll pay off in a couple of months, maybe sooner. I think the improvements I've been having are coming from taking my time when learning something and not rushing things.

[srick]

You've heard me say this one before:

The connection between what my ears are hearing and the sound that my fingers produce has gotten better. Plus, as my touch has become lighter and my fingers have gotten nimbler, it is easier to transition from position to position. Still need to work on rhythm!

Best,

Rick

PS - One more - My musical vocabulary is increasing g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y

[Silly Moustache]

Earlier this year when my cancer treatment ended our weekly "rehearsal" get togethers with Bob and Ian, and my club sessions and gigs were cancelled, Bob said to me - "you're a grumpy old git but the only time I see you really happy is when you are playing and singing - I know you won't be able to sing but please don't stop playing the guitar though all the treatment".

I resolved to keep two guitars out in the lounge to pick up and play whenever I felt like it.
None of us knew how tortuous the treatment and the side effects would be so I didn't /couldn't play - pretty much from end April to about a June, and I'm still having a hard time.

I have lost a great deal of musculature, and, of course, my callouses, but when I started playing again (Bob now comes around once a week) I remembered something I'd been told by a professional mando player - which was to teach yourself to fret as lightly as possible whilst applying the pressure/power with the picking hand as necessary. (I've always been a bit heavy with the left hand).

So, now, I'm "reteaching" myself to fret more lightly than I have in the past.
And, yes, I'm still getting the callouses back.

[Tone Monster]

First good to young Andy is recovering, my prayers with you kid.

I am having fun with Stephan Grosmans MJH book and playing along with orig, recordings. Great way to advance!

[Mandobart]

This question could mean two (or more things):
1. In which ways have you improved? (as a player, singer, teacher, gigcatcher, etc.)

2. What have you done specifically to become a better player, singer, teacher, gigcatcher, etc.?

The time frame context could be important as well. Are we talking over a lifetime, decade, month, week...?

In my case, I took a step change in my musical pursuits almost 10 years ago when I started participating in a few local musical organizations - participating in weekly and monthly song circles, attending and volunteering at annual festivals and networking with other musicians. For number 1 above this led to playing music much more frequently, singing a lot more, learning to play new instruments and actually applying the theory I learned many years ago to playing in a group setting and successfully accompanying and playing lead on songs I'd never heard before. My biggest improvement over the past decade is in my ability to play by ear and sit in with virtually anyone and play along.

For #2, the improvements in my playing have resulted from consistently playing music with other people, cross training on other stringed instruments (fiddle, mandolin and mando family), preparing for and completing many public performances and analytically/logically applying theory to shortcut my previous trial and error method of learning/writing new tunes.

[mattbn73]

Most of the really profound improvements in my playing over the last four or five years have definitely been non-linear, unintentional, or indirect I guess. I thought I was working on playing jazz, but it really ended up being about TIME and subdivision, which helped my overall playing in other styles probably as much or more than jazz. Later, I really tried to work on cleaning up some left-hand technique for about a year , and "accidentally" improved my right hand technique more than anything I've ever done.

It's weird how very often your intended target almost doesn't matter. The journey is the thing.

[JGinNJ]

There's more than one way to improve. Sitting at home practicing is one way I've done plenty of, and there's no failure in that.
Playing with others is another- I've done that even though it wasn't my bag musically- like strumming 3 chord rock, or picking bluegrass songs I didn't know. But I learned how to follow along and pick up new songs quickly, and it was fun socially.
Figuring out and performing a short solo set, or a couple of sets of jazz with a bass player - and identifying my weak points in the process, are others.

What's really helped the most in the last year was seeing a teacher every month or so. I took lessons for a long time as a kid many years ago, but this has really built upon that knowledge.