2014 and New Years Goals

So, at the beginning of the year I'm wrestling with new goals and looking ahead to what is to come (which is a lot).  Last year I was successful at cultivating a beginning solo career, starting a new worship at my home church, and making a name for myself as a teacher and performer of swing music (in my town at least).  For the next year, I've got a tall hill to climb if I am to really "make it" as a musician.

2014 Music Goals

• Planning:  Stay ahead of my planning for worship service(s) <- I may have as many as four total by the end of the year to plan for!
• Practicing and playing: 1,000 total hours logged
• Professional development: Find a mentor to help me better understand the local musician market.
• Blog more about music.

I've got a few more personal goals too, but these are my big music ones.  In particular, the goal of 1,000 hours of total practicing and playing time is a big one.  That is just under 3 hours per day!  Which can get very grueling very quickly. 

Incidentally, if you have an 8 hour job, this may not seem like much.  But, consider the physical, emotional, and intellectual cost of each of those hours in addition to the hours of planning and preparation that come before each.  Being a musician is like being a fighter jet.  For every hour of flying (playing), you have to put in close to ten hours of maintenance (planning).  Maybe not one to ten literally, but there is a lot of off fretboard time to playing guitar professionally.

Breaking it Down

So, estimating 3 hours a day is rather generic for this.  But, as I've often learned, every day is different.  A better way to look at the amount of time is how much per week I should look at.

1,000 hrs / 52 weeks = 19.2307...

So, we could say about 20 hours a week either practicing or playing.  That seems reasonable.

Just to keep it clear, I'll define practicing or playing as the time actually connected with the guitar and working either on technique, tunes, etc or playing gigs, jam sessions, bar mitzis, etc.  I won't include planning worship, setting up gear, running a sound system, or other non fretboard stuff.

However, there is a lot of music practice that happens away from the fretboard.  Things like building scale knowledge or reading books/articles about technique and developing the drills and exercises to teach them to yourself.  That stuff definitely counts!  And song writing!  Don't for get songwriting!

Blogging More

I'll probably use the blog to track myself through this process along with an overall progress bar.  Plus, this will give me a spring board to bounce ideas on practice regimes and exercises to maybe help others get a good idea of ways to better themselves on guitar and ukulele.

In addition to that, I have a big series of lessons coming up for the Nukesters and I'll be blogging that lesson along as well.

Over all, this will likely be a post heavy year.  I hope you enjoy every minute of it!

~Danny