2021 Goals!

[Batbia]

Hi guys! Well, January is basically over, but the year is just starting, so I thought it would be cool to post my first thread here!
I would like to know what are your goals for this year! Play a specific song? Dominate a specific technique? Buy a new guitar? Get rid of tabs? Complete a certain number of lessons? Just be able to play guitar in general and have a lot of fun while playing? Write new songs? Share with us!

Here are some things I expect I'm able to do by the end of 2021:
★ Play either Fade to Black or The Unforgiven by Metallica, or Buried Alive by Avenged Sevenfold
★ Play and sing at the same time

I don't know if I'll be able to achieve any of these goals this year, but I'll surely give it a try!

Can't wait to know your goals!

 

[Christian Schulze]

Certainly a challenge! Happy that this is your first post. Keep em coming!

My goals for this year are to:
-Know my fretboard in and out.
-Hear chord changes (in order to play with them)
-Get a bit more into the shredder zone
-Nail Planets

Good Luck this year and Happy practice!

 

[idssdi]

Those are some cool goals!

Personally I'm to get myself acquainted with music production so I can start writing and releasing some music that's actually well produced. At the moment I have an idea for a jazz record and an idea revolving around modes so would be pretty cool if I can get those done by the end of the year. I also would like to get into orchestration and electronic music.

As far as specific songs go I have a list of songs that's way too long to fully get into but I'm almost finished working on Daphne by Django Reinhardt at the moment and after that the next five songs that I'd like to work on for my guitar playing are
-Purple Rain
-Regret #9 solo
-Lay Your Hands On Me
-Simulation
-Belief

I also would like to work on my singing voice which for now I prefer to do by singing songs while paying attention to my breath and tension etc. Songs I picked for that are
- purple Rain
- the middle bit of Exist
- Mercy
- Love Yourself.

No clue whether this is doable within a year but I probably will keep faith until like december or so.

 

[Brian Haner Sr.]

I am working diligently on my piano skills - namely stride hand jazz. I would like to become proficient enough to do some gigs. Unfortunately, this will take more than a year. lol. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Chris Johnston]

My Number 1 goal for this year is more of a business goal, but it's to grow my student base to be as full time as possible. The pandemic took my live entertainment work, so it's a rebuilding year for me for Teaching

Guitar wise I want to continue to improve my sense of melody when improvising & keep cleaning up my playing

 

[Brizsa.]

My biggest goal is to work on my posture while playing. It HURTS to practice for too long and that shit ain't cool.
I do so many finger exercises and often feel like i'm not improving because I'm generally so uncomfortable sitting and playing lol.
Apart from that big one, I'd love to be on here more (doing lessons, participating in the competitions, and posting in the forum). I do a lot in private and have never been involved here but would like to.

 

[Gemma G.S.]

- Learn the fretboard
- Learn Afterlife, even if it's just the riff, because that is quite literally my favorite riff of all time. (and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, not to be an ass-kisser; seriously, it's just so goddamn good and I love it)
- Try and set up a practice schedule; this is quite difficult when you work in grocery , but I'm going to do my best there.
EDIT: I thought of another goal - learn more lead/solo stuff!! I've been focusing on rhythm just to get my sense of groove down, and I feel like i'm getting the hang of it now that I've been practicing with the metronome. So, I would really love to get more into leads and expand my knowledge!

Also, yay first thread!!

 

[iridecently]

Love this thread idea!
My big goal for this year is to get comfortable enough in my playing where I can bring my guitar into my teaching. Honestly, this is probably more of a confidence thing than anything else
Other than that I'd like to work on learning the fretboard and chords, because right now playing notes feels like more of a guessing game rather than actively knowing where notes are and what notes make up certain chords

 

[Matt Wildcat]

I think my biggest goal would be to learn the fretboard and improve my theory overall! I know some of it vaguely, but I only know a few notes and minimal scales. Other than that, I had a small list of A7X songs/solos I'd like to attempt that aren't too crazy, like Gunslinger, Seize The Day and Victim, and I might even do some Volbeat, because I've been seriously getting into those guys!

 

[ari.mac]

My biggest goals for 2021 are:
- Learn a song by A7X (I just know the rhythm.part of Hail to the King at the moment) or Linkin Park (or both!)
- Learn the fretboard
- improving my rhythm playing
- improving (getting good at )my legato that I just started studying
- learn some solos and maybe write one of my own!


Great post. We will come back here next year and see what we were able to achieve

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Make new friends because it's pretty clear i dont have any anymore lol.

 

[chris_is_cool]

My biggest goals for the next year:

For Improvisation:
- Improve my sense of "spontaneous melody", i.e. coming up with good melodic ideas on the spot.
- Directly linked with the last point, work on learning stuff by ear.
- Also strongly related, my fretboard knowledge is already somewhat "good" in the sense, that I can easily translate a scale formula (like 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 for minor) onto the fretboard, and I know the notes of the fretboard somewhat well (could be quicker). BUT I really want to deepen my fretboard knowledge to the level, where I can translate melodies from my head to my fretboard with just as little effort as I can sing them, without accidentally hitting non-intended notes in between.
- Of course, work on my feel and phrasing (always super important).

As for techniques:
Obviously I want to improve on all of them, alternate picking, legato, tapping, sweeping, you name it. My sweeping is terrible at the moment, so of course economy picking is awful as well. Also get a little bit closer to shredding speeds.

Songs:
Which songs I want to learn and want to play, in parts or entirely, changes all the time anyway. About 1/3 of the songs that I start learning, are actually hanging around for longer than 1-2 weeks with me, so there is no point in actually making a list right now, that is obsolete next week. That being said, if I'm able to play Eruption at full speed this time next year, that would be nice, kthxbye .

 

[beatrix]

my musical 2021 goals are:
•improve my guitar skills, theory and shredding
•learn the afterlife solo
•start writing some shit on my own
•improve with drums
•keep delving into some bands

 

[Alicia Willis]

Make new friends because it's pretty clear i dont have any anymore lol.

oh no! Thats not true at all ! you've got all of us Calvin !
Although, it is always fun and exciting to expand the friend group and find like minded people you truly get along with in real life. I hope you find what you're looking for !

 

[Alicia Willis]

I love this thread so much and seeing all of the different responses, so if figured I'd add my own.

My 2021 goals are to REALLY learn theory. Its something I struggle with because, well to be honest, my brain just doesn't like it or understand it 90% of the time lol but I aim to fix that.

My second goal isn't actually guitar related, but its to sing in a way I don't sound like a dying cow lol. My goal with music is to become a songwriter and it would help tremendously if I could sing and play my own material to get my point across. I don't want to sound like Mariah Carey or anything, just enough that I can sing my own lyrics and it not bring stray cats to the yard,.

 

[ari.mac]

I don't want to sound like Mariah Carey or anything, just enough that I can sing my own lyrics and it not bring stray cats to the yard,.

SAME!!

 

[idssdi]

I love this thread so much and seeing all of the different responses, so if figured I'd add my own.

My 2021 goals are to REALLY learn theory. Its something I struggle with because, well to be honest, my brain just doesn't like it or understand it 90% of the time lol but I aim to fix that.

My second goal isn't actually guitar related, but its to sing in a way I don't sound like a dying cow lol. My goal with music is to become a songwriter and it would help tremendously if I could sing and play my own material to get my point across. I don't want to sound like Mariah Carey or anything, just enough that I can sing my own lyrics and it not bring stray cats to the yard,.

Ooh, we talked about the singing the other day. Are you getting lessons?

 

[Alicia Willis]

Ooh, we talked about the singing the other day. Are you getting lessons?

Do YouTube vocal warm ups count as lessons ? Lol. If so then yes !

 

[Jamie London]

Musically my main goal is.. I want to learn how to play harmonica while playing guitar. I’m a huge Neil Young fan and I’ve always thought it was so cool to watch when he does it. Same with Terry Reid and so many others. I already have such a hard time singing and playing guitar, I just get lost and off track so it ain’t gonna be easy but I’m committed

Also to upload more in the riffs section, I was doing pretty good there for a while but then fell off a bit haha

 

[Calvin Phillips]

oh no! Thats not true at all ! you've got all of us Calvin !
Although, it is always fun and exciting to expand the friend group and find like minded people you truly get along with in real life. I hope you find what you're looking for !

The pandemic is making it hard enough. I mean in the ways of real life friends. I lost many good friends over the last 2 years. There are many holes to fill there.

My anxiety doesn't make it easy to meet people either so it is an everlasting challenge.