Discipline. Do you have any, or do you just wing it?

Arjen-

Here's an opinion:

I think it's pretty clear from your recorded postings of songs, that you have gifts for 1) writing, 2) composition, 3) arranging 4) working within your instrumental limitations (very important), 5) recording, 6) mixing, and a few other things. You possess the fundamentals of musicianship, and already apply them well. I suspect you will grow to become better, but have made an exceptional start in your 18 months.

My conclusion is that your 'winging' is probably a little more disciplined than you believe it is -- or you are compensating your personal chaos with a very good natural talent. I will go further and guess that your winging may be important to your creativity. It works well for you.

As far as musicians judging others: They do it all the time. Honesty is a good thing in this. Encouragement with constructive criticism is best. (Hueseph is very good at this.) It doesn't require slagging. It can be difficult to get good feedback from a website -- takes a while to know and gauge the persons commenting. Nevertheless, I bet you can tell who is giving you the most valid feedback here or elsewhere.

-=Greg

Okay -- We have the wingers and the disciplined and, no doubt, those in between. That tells us how people classify their practice/non-practice regimens. What about results? How is your particular routine serving you or hampering you? 'Dog says he wings it and will never be a good musician. Yet from his posted recordings, there are more than a few people here who aspire to play as well as he plays. So, what skills do you have and not have as a result of your habits? How good a player do you think you are? How good do other players (of what experience level?) think you are? How good a musician are you? Others' opinions? (As Arjen's posting illustrates, players and musicians are not necessarily the same.)

Good question. I don't consider myself as being even close to good. I can accept that and continue to enjoy the lifelong journey. I will never be technically precise because of my physical limitatins with the damaged picking/strumming hand, but I will still strive for perfection and be happy with any gains. Shoot for the stars and settle for landing on the moon. I can do some things failrly well, but I certainly will never be a studio musician. I don't think I sound all that great by myself, but if I listen to a recording of our band, I think that together we sound pretty good.

Thanks for the kind words Greg! :) Unfortunately, my exceptional start after 18 months isn't so exceptional when you know I have been going for no less then 40(!) months, I started the day I joined GN. I honestly wouldn't know how my winging could be structured but maybe it is and I just fail to see it. In any case it is true that I generally perform better when I do not have clear-cut goals and a map to guide me there, whether it is about music or something else.
As far as musicians judging others: They do it all the time. Honesty is a good thing in this. Encouragement with constructive criticism is best. (Hueseph is very good at this.) It doesn't require slagging. It can be difficult to get good feedback from a website -- takes a while to know and gauge the persons commenting. Nevertheless, I bet you can tell who is giving you the most valid feedback here or elsewhere.

All true. But what I was trying to say was that, for example, Hue could give me very usefull and constructive feedback without saying what he really thinks about it, either because that just won't do any good or because he is simply too kind for that. Kindness and brutal honesty sometimes don't match.

Again, thanks for the kind words.