Setting a Goal. What's yours?

tovo
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Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:57 pm

A wise old fellow told me once, "Son if you don't know where you are going how will you know when you get there?". At the time I probably didn't appreciate his wisdom. My own Father used to say to me "be smart without running". Never even knew what that meant. Had me perplexed for years. I only figured it out recently.

Anyway, I digress. I think most of us recognize the value of setting some short, medium and long term goals. As we tick those goals off we probably need to set new ones.

So, what are your guitar goals? To be able to play a particularly challenging tune? What happens when you get there? Do you want to play in public? Do you want to be a master of theory?

For me, I feel I am quite good at setting short term goals. For example, my Sister is a massive Beatles fan and she is currently traveling in Europe. I set a goal of learning a particular Beatles tune while she was away (she gets back on Saturday) so I can play it for her. I have achieved that to a reasonably comfortable degree and feel I have accomplished something (No...not Norwegian Wood!)

But...long term I don't really have much idea and I feel I should.

Can you discuss your goals? Do you constantly set new ones or do you just play and let it sort itself out?


jayswett
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Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:03 pm

A long term goal that I've had for a while, but sadly have not yet begun to realize, is to get through ALL of the Acoustic Genius series. I get distratcted with the short term goals of learning various songs. These short terms goals are fun to achieve, no question, but in terms of becoming a well rounded, accomplished guitar player, I firmly believe that understanding the theory behind the playing is essential. This point is debatable, but I'm sticking with it.


tovo
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Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:35 pm

jayswett wrote:
These short terms goals are fun to achieve, no question, but in terms of becoming a well rounded, accomplished guitar player, I firmly believe that understanding the theory behind the playing is essential. This point is debatable, but I'm sticking with it.
I'm with you Jay. My own theory knowledge really blows, and I know all the resources are here to fix that. I just need to get off my butt and DO it.


AndyT
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Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:57 pm

I have short, medium and long range goals. I allot time to practice them based on which one they are.

Short Range goals get the lions share of time at 15 minutes a day/ 5 days a week.
Medium Range get 10 minutes a day / 5 days a week.
Long range get 5 minutes a day / 5 days a week.

This way I spend 30 minutes a day doing stuff that will actually make me a better player and the rest of the time I can just have fun with different songs and things.

Short range goal might be to get my chord changes up to 120 per minute.
Medium range might be getting my barre chords all learned. (Not mastered yet, just learned)
Long range could be something like 'Be able to play all barre chords and change them at 120 per minute.


jimcjimc
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Tue Aug 10, 2010 5:33 pm

Tony,
good topic - after I joined the target program in December, I wrote down the following goals:


1) My goals for 2010:
a. Basics, e.g. left hand position, holding the guitar – just go through all of the lessons
b. Finger picking – land slide
c. Barre chords – lay lady lay
d. Left hand difficult chords – time in a bottle
e. Also look at one new song lesson per week
f. Consider uploading a video

So, how am I doing:
(a)I went through many of the beginning lessons and a lot of the acoustic genius series - and I keep trying to work on strumming with the "right" fingers
(b) I haven't worked on finger picking in a while - I still can't get it to sound musical
(c) I do work on barre chords whenever I practice by doing the chord sequence of Lay Lady Lay - I am making progress but still need more work on barre chords
(d) I think when I made this goal, this Jim Croce lesson had just been released - and I wanted to play it, but it contains some chords that seemed too much of a stretch for my hand - I haven't worked on it
(e) The idea of this goal was to go through the old songs in the target lessons one per week - I was doing that for awhile, but stopped - since then there have been so many new lessons released, it can be overwhelming - I try to ignore them - if not, I find myself jumping from song to song and feeling like I am getting nowhere
(f) Done - one video and 2 videos in the contest - a very worthwhile part of the program


BobR
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Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:04 pm

Tony,

You always come up with things that make me think. Thanks for that. My goal is to set some goals. I think a while back I set some goals but with all the stuff here I find myself jumping from song to song especially when a new one comes out that I like. Unfortunately that's most of them. My short term goal is to post a video soon with some vocals. One of my longer term goals is to be able to play at an open mic. I go to an open mic a few times a month to watch my buddy play and thought I might try it. kind of scary but what the heck.

Good Topic

Bob


Chasplaya
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Tue Aug 10, 2010 11:26 pm

Whilst I have played to an audience as part of a band, my goal is to be proficient enough to do a solo set and sing in public, the latter is the difficulty, singing!!. This is a long term goal.

Short term is to master technology so I can record a video of me playing, now I know I've kinda done that but not with my guitar plugged through my amp so that's the agenda. I could play without the amp but I also want to use this as a trial for eventually playing solo and amp and effects will be used most likely. Last goal is to get my wife to do a duet, her on keyboard singing (this is pie in the sky)


willem
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Wed Aug 11, 2010 1:22 am

A piece a carrot pie mate?? My main goals for 2010,,many Beatle songs,just playing them i will be happy and on the long term,sing to them.

I love when Neil add a lesson where he put two or three guitars together in one,,then try to be more then a campfire strummer..long term goal i think..sometimes when a lesson come up i say''yeah that one i want realy'' then when i try it i realise i was'nt ready to do that skill(Dooby Brothers),,so an other long term goal...

I'm very curious to myself how far i will come when i stick to the guitar!!!


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neverfoundthetime
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Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:16 am

Good idea to update this question which has been asked in different forms at TG before, if I remember rightly. I'm not going to read the other answers 'til I've written this as not to let my self be swayed.

I've never been interested in playing bits of a song so I always want to be able to play and sing a song all the way through even if that means churning out a simple camp fire version. Most of my songs are like that but I try to get the feel, the strumming or the picking up to a respectable level. I have about 200 of those by now. What I've been learning at TG is how to be more accurate and to play much more exactly. I'd have been happy with a just-about version before. Now it has to be closer to the real thing in timing and effects. I've learned to play riffs and fill-ins and now try to incorporate these things into my songs so I guess my goal has moved to perfecting many of the songs I've been sort-of playing for years. Otherwise my goals tend to be focussed on particular songs like Fire and Rain which I'm not really progressing on although I've always wanted to play this. Procrastination always gets you to where you don't want to be! I did finally nail down the introduction of The Boxer this morning which I very nearly had right... but not quite... and the alternating bass which I used to cheat on. Anyway, for me, it's small goals and steps I think I can reach in a reasonable amount of time and learning songs i've always wanted to play or get hung up on like DLTSGDOM. ;-)


abiliog
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Wed Aug 11, 2010 11:45 am

Hi Tony,
Good thread this one.
How do I deal with music goals, how important they are, do they change over time?
Learning how to play guitar and learning as much as possible everything there is to know about music, it is a wonderful hobbie for me.
I am having so much fun in my short musical journey, that my goals, despite having them,
are intended to just help me to find some learning discipline along the way.

When I started practicing, I thought that, if I do practice one hour and spend another half daily learning music theory, after a year I should be able to play some easy songs and understand the theory involved. I was wrong obviously and also realize that I wanted more.
I have started practicing two hours a day and have extended to three years the middle range goal, to be able to play a couple of songs and be comfortable with some theory.

Although I can see some progress after a year, two to three years seemed to short for what I want. So I redefine them again and this is how they look like now:

This month, I started to practice three hours a day :S.

My short range goal (end of the year):
To learn from the Accoustic Genius Series as much as I'll be able to learn.
Be able to play a few more songs and meanwhile, trying to play Romanza (with all the notes included :laugh:).

My middle range goal(two/three years):
Develop my skills and be able to play barre chords comfortably, be able to distinguish intervals by ear, learn how to play a few chords along the fretboard in it's multiple shapes.

My long range goal:
Play every song I want to.
Be able to learn and write a song by ear. The new problem here will be my ability to hear as the years go by...
Am I dreaming? That's what I always do, unless I am sleeping...

Abilio


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