How To Actually Get Better In 2022

The start of the new year is a great time to commit ourselves to something and make a conscious effort to improve our habits and set some goals for ourselves.

Just don't set bad goals.

You know, the ones like "I want to get better at the piano". This isn't going to help you at all because it's so vague and unspecific.

In this video, I walk you through a step-by-step process to setting goals and giving you the best chance possible to make 2022 your biggest year of growth as a musician.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

00:00 - Intro
00:41 - How To Set GOOD Goals
01:47 - Write Them Down
02:06 - Create Actionable Steps
03:06 - Commit To A Regular Practice Schedule
04:01 - Summary
04:22 - 'How To Practice Productively' Course

[LGKM]

I swear to god if I ever end up a professional musician, this man is owed royalties. Top notch videos every time. Appreciate you
(will see you over in the academy soon enough my man)

[enochpeter]

I was a self-taught rock keyboard player for many years. Last year's goal: learn to read music and study jazz. This year: start gigging as a jazz piano player by fall. I'll be 66. There's a Monday jam night where I live, but I've never gone. I'll be there next Monday. Thanks for the tip and everything else! Here's to a great year!

[dannuttle]

I had already done this. My goals for this year:

1. Play at the company holiday concert in December
2. Learn at least three songs for this, and have them down rock solid, including improv: Christmas Time Is Here, Oh Christmas Tree and (super jazzy) We Wish You a Merry Christmas
3. Expand improv skills over a jazz blues
4. Work on flourishes using chord arpeggios
5. Continue to drill the open voicings I know in all keys, add new ones, grow fluent at switching them around in any given song (already made some progress on this)
6. Drill on the Barry Harris dim6 scale in at least C, F and Eb

That ought to keep me busy.

[ramseybrown]

I want to start by learning five new chord progressions and getting them down. I know it’s pretty basic but it’s a start.

Thanks for making this video.

[DojoOfCool]

Excellent advise especially breaking things down into small achievable goals. The trouble with focusing on a your big goal is it takes a long time to get there you start thinking you're not making progress and that can lead to not working as hard or even giving up. This is a good time to keep a practice journal so you can track those small goals. So when you feeling your not making progress you can look at your journal and see all the small goals you have achieved and that you are making progress towards the big goal.

[tristanpina]

Big goal of mine is to be able to improvise better and make my solos more connected and feel more satisfying

[fivelines]

1. Be able to improvise lines over any key
2. Learn 5 jazz standards on piano and be able to improv over them
Saxophone goals:
1. Learn 5 Charlie Parker solos and play them at tempo cleanly
2. Be able to go “outside” different keys and resolve while improvising

[thisisever]

this year is gonna be so amazing for me with guitar and piano. i’ve been getting better or practicing guitsr more getting back to how i use to play

[SteeVane]

My goal for this firt quarter is to learn 10 different chord progressions and be able to write songs using any of them

[imsononphysical]

I like to divide my goals into monthly ones, so this might be a little different,

February Goals:

•Record and log my practice progress in a journal and song study/Arpeggios on video
•Learn atleast 3 songs this month that aren't from the Alfred's book
•Practice Arpeggios
•Build Rhythm+ practice with metronome more

[thisisever]

my goals this year (i’m not the best with music vocabulary bare with me)

learn the fretboard on my guitar. (for some reason the keys on a piano are easier to memorize and it’s not even my main instrument)
learn at least one new scale a week (there’s so many😂)
practice with other players
be able to improvise on guitar and piano

i basically practice the same on piano that i do guitar. learns. few songs. know how to play some scales. know chords or what makes up a chord etc. i’m just tired of feeling so limited even tho i know how it play it all. i’m trying bro write

[njokuchisomjoseph]

My goal on the piano this year is to learn how to play on all keys and be comfortable while doing that

[johnnicholls]

Writing down my musical goal(s) for the year sounds like a useful way forward. Thanks for the helpful and evidence-based suggestion.

So let me try writing down just one goal for the moment...

- Perform (ie sing) 'The Long and Winding Road' with my music course ensemble in week 6 of this year's first trimester (which is in mid march, 2022).

[RatBagDad]

SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Based. - Page 1 of person centred support theory. Be it drug rehab, homelessness, victim recovery, whatever. Pick a type of one-to-one support and this is the backbone of how support plans are structured. This video is full of great advice that can be applied to many aspects of life and used on yourself with complete success, but only if you are willing to properly commit to it.

[dheshpadiachey]

Amazing video, just what I needed, thank you!

[recon]

This video is most uplifting....thank you Simon.

[TonyhardFr]

Sors-nous une belle musique avec des belles d'accord

[LiMCRiMZ]

This year I want to break out of my comfort zone when it comes to voicing. Sure, I know how to *find* any voicing for a chord I'm about to play, but I often default to the same ones (the "spicy" ones, if that makes sense). I'm hoping to find a balance between fancy technical playing and simplicity in my music this year, and I know as long as I stick around this channel I'll be achieving it in no time.

Here's to a great year for learning and exploring sound my piano pig friends 💕

[kieron]

My goals:
Get semi-perfect pitch (1 semitone off)
Play half La campanella
Play Moonlight Sonate 2nd and third movement

[grownupbeats]

i want to learn music theory so i can get better at production