I was wondering how everyone here measures the progression of their skill. Also what is your goal as a musician?

I have never taken lessons or had official instruction so the only way I know how to measure my skill is through playing different songs and styles.

When I first started playing I could not form open chords. Once I learned those I moved on to bar chords, then it was diminished chords, ear tuning, and so on.

Right now I am working on perfecting pinch harmonics. It is a pain because I am used to holding a pick differently then I am supposed to while attempting this harmonic.

Sometimes things get really frustrating when I cannot perfect a technique or song.

I have to step back and look at how far I have come from the guy that didn't even know how to hold a guitar let alone play one.

My dreams are simple. Eventually I would like to retire from my job and move back to Chicago. There I will be free to be the guy playing guitar under the bridge at the Bears Stadium for fun... and spare change.
This is my dream of happiness with my instrument and music in general. :D

marry nagissa-done
have kids-done
beat the hell out of kyouu-not done

oh damn i love this tomoya okzaki fella. lolol i love it hehe

for me i guess 2 of my goals for piano are playing in a really refined restaurant and playing a grand piano in a beauitful park under some cherry blossoms heheh

to be honest i dont care one bit about skill. kinda annoys me how people go on about skills. i just play the songs i love for fun. and asi slowly get better and better i play the harder songs that i love.

Tomoya Okazaki seems to be a bit of a pensioner-troll if he/she has children :P

Or ya know, is a teenage parent.

@drxlight: I'd love to be a cocktail pianist too! I went to london last week and passed a bar called 'The Pianist' and it was like, a classy evening club with a live pianist. Was awesome. I want that job xD

OH YEAH!! I went to Austin, TX a couple weeks ago and stopped in a pub called... Howling Moon or something like that.

It is a dueling piano pub. It was pretty damn AWESOME. The two guys played pretty much anything from any era. So much fun. I am no pianist but I think that would be a great weekend job.

Dueling piano?

are they like duets? :|

Dueling piano, like ya know, ya take a grand piano and smash it on people's heads?


Fun times, fun times...

http://www.petesduelingpianobar.com/

Two pianos, two performers, they try to outdo each other with different songs. They play EVERYTHING from classical, to Rock, new age, to Rap, it's pretty fun.

Oh yeah the one in Austin is Pete's Dueling Piano Bar

The one in San Antonio is called Howling at the Moon

damn that sounds awsome. yeah i would love to do that as a side job. have to try get into it aye. hehe but for now im just a tiler hehe

Hm... Since I'm playing multiple instruments, it actually depends. But let's just focus on my flute. Uh... I'm going to play it until I die and I'm going to actually play in a professional band that needs a flutist.

For my guitar, guess I'll have to start a band since my two younger sisters are planning to start one with me. One of them is playing the bass as the other is on the drums. :P Gotta wait a couple of years then...

For the piano, I guess I can just... well... play at home, letting my family enjoy it.

For the saxaphone, same with flute.