Measuring
Your Progress
By
Mike Philippov
Many
students wonder about how they can measure their progress. After
all it is natural to want to know if our hard work and the hours
of practice are paying off. It is common for students to feel
frustrated thinking that they are not making progress. Having
gone through these periods of frustration myself I would like
to offer some ways that you can measure the effect your practice
is having (or not having) on your playing ability.
First
of all, making progress learning an instrument can be made analogous
to growing up. A child cannot really notice whether or not he/she
is growing but after awhile, looking back it is obvious how much
maturity and growth has taken place. Playing an instrument is
exactly like that. When we start, we are anxious to make progress
quickly and we become frustrated if it does not come. It is important
to realize that progress takes TIME just like growing up does.
If we keep at it and continue to receive proper instruction (through
studying with a teacher, books, or going to a music school etc…)
looking back it is often surprising to notice how much better
of a player we have become. I often ask myself when I play: “Can
I play more easily, cleaner or faster now than I could 2, 3 or
6 months ago?” Preferably the answer to the above question
should be YES, which means that right now I am a better player
than before. This means that growth HAS taken place even if we
did not notice it.
So
in general you want to compare your levels of ability about once
every 2-6 months but certainly not every week. Troy Stetina described
the way most people try to observe their improvement with an analogy
of looking at the hour hand on a clock. The hand moves much too
slowly. However, if one looks at it after 3 hours it is amazing
how far it moved. So the bottom line is, keep practicing, find
the music that inspires you to learn it and work on it without
worrying yourself with the constant worry of “am I making
any progress?” A lot of times, the “worrying”
will just get in the way and waste the time that you should be
spending practicing anyway.
In
general, steady progress will come at a predictable rate, if the
following conditions are met:
1.
Proper instructions are given, to be followed during practice.
(Preferably by an excellent teacher who knows what he/she is doing.)
2. You actually DO what is instructed.
If
these conditions are not met, then the rate of progress will be
much slower (or there won’t be any progress at all) than
it could have been otherwise. Again, using our analogy of a child
growing up, if the child does not receive proper guidance from
someone (parents) then he/she will not develop into a mature adult.
In our case, if the student is not receiving guidance from an
expert teacher, then he/she will not develop into a good guitar
player.
A
big mistake that a lot of players make however is comparing themselves
to OTHERS! I remember very well listening to my favorite guitar
players tearing up the fret board and thinking: “Wow, they
are so much more advanced than I am” and I would get really
depressed and frustrated. Bottom line is, no matter how much you
may admire someone like Yngwie Malmsteen or Jason Becker, you
have to understand that these players have already invested many
many years of practice into the art. So comparing yourself with
a virtuoso would be similar to a fifth grader comparing him/herself
to a college student. The student in college had to go through
the same growth process in order to develop his intelligence to
the point where he could succeed in doing college level work.
Guitar players go through exactly the same growth process. And
growth occurs overtime.
So
if you are comparing yourself to someone, it should be yourself!
Write down your short term goals, such as: “In two months
I will be able to play this arpeggio 20 bpm faster” and
come back to it in two months time and test yourself. Did you
improve? You may or may not have reached your goal exactly, but
you will be able to notice whether or not some progress has taken
place. If after several months you still feel like you are stuck
on a problem or you fail to get a certain technique down, it is
time to ask your teacher for help. If you don’t have a teacher,
get one!
Another
good way to measure your progress is recording yourself. Record
a phrase that you are having trouble playing cleanly now and then
record the same thing again a few weeks later. Does it sound better?
Is it feeling easier to play? Hopefully you will be able to answer
yes to these questions, if not, then something is wrong with the
way you are approaching your practice. When you play back your
recording, REALLY listen with an ear of a perfectionist. Do not
let yourself get away with some “little” mistakes.
Remember its the paying of attention to details that separates
the wannabes from the pros.
So hopefully this article gives you some insight on how to measure
progress. Remember, progress takes time so don’t rush the
process.
You
can contact me at mikephilippov@yahoo.com
I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. I reply
to all e-mails.
Visit
Mike’s sites:
www.mikephilippov.com
www.enigmatheband.com
www.myspace.com/grimthesweeper
Mike Philippov All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
