Hi all,

It's always inspiring to chat with and hear the musical thoughts of this great community !!! I used to have these motivating chats decades ago at the "local music shop", or in "homeroom" with my high school friends that also loved music, played instruments, and liked similar bands. This forum is the closest I've come to that over the years for maintain my enthusiasm by sharing with like-minded musicians.

On that note - and since I'm trying to reach the next level in my musicianship, I thought I would put this question out there, share a little of what I'm doing, and quite possibly learn an be influenced or inspired by things you might be focusing on to bring your musicianship up.

First off - I know I need to learn more songs, internalize them, get them to musical memory, and play them more frequently. Somehow - I get lost in the paralysis of analysis of music rather than the joy of playing it - it must be my personality, I'm more inclined to study and analyze than play. But I know I must force myself to immerse myself in playing songs.

After that - I always noodle in front of the TV (yeah - I watch a lot of TV), but try to learn something musical with my instrument as I watch. This is my current "noodle" exercise:

I'm a guitar player that finds it really challenging to hear and recognize chord progressions - and to more quickly "hear" a next chord that fits. I have a friend that can do this. I'm trying to put the time in to get closer to his skill level in this area. Just knowing and hearing the difference in I-IV, I-V, IV-I, and V-I changes is difficult for me - especially when going to roots an octave apart for example open C -> G (root on 6th) vs C -> G (3rd pstn, root on 4th). So my current "focused" somewhat "academic" musical exercise has been playing through the cycle of 5ths with all major chords e.g. C G D A ...etc in the open position and memorizing the sound. When I finish this, I plan to do the same thing with 4ths, e.g. C F Bb Eb...then to do the same thing with all minors...Now, I know that this is less musical than doing the cycle of 4ths diatonically - which works well with the exception of the half-diminished chord (Am Dm G, C, F, B half dim Em ) - I guess that's why 2-5-1 often change keys to avoid that 'section' of the diatonic pattern.

Eager to hear what you're doing, or constructive comments or tweaks I might make in my current practicing.

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