How do I measure progress (WOT)

WOT = geek speak for 'wall of text' ;-)

Sorry for ramble you are about to read (and thank you for reading), but I am really trying to figure out if given the amount of time I have put into learning guitar, if am I making good progress or should I be further along than I am. Bottom line is that I am having fun, and I do see an improvement every time I practice, so I chalk that up to "I must be doing something right!!".

I started playing the guitar back in August 2012 (bucket list item when I hit 40). I work from home (software developer) and I have my guitar on a stand hooked up to pedals and amp so I can practice every morning. I make it a point to pick it up every day, some sessions are longer than others, some may be like 15 mins. But I always make it a point to hold that guitar and practice something whether it be a riff, chords, scales etc.

I had a guitar instructor in the beginning, but we did not click and I spent more time watching him play than actually learning stuff. It became expensive and very frustrating, I almost gave it up. I spent some time on Jam Play and YouTube videos, but felt totally lost. I joined guitar tricks in Jan 2013 and love it, I feel like I have direction now and feel like I am making great progress in the fundamentals courses.

When I practice I record my practice session. I bought a recorder which will automatically start recording when it hears sound a certain decibel. So I am able to record everything, I then pull it off the device copy it to my computer. I try to wait until the end of the month to really listen to them, since that is when I can clearly see if I had made progress or not.

My question is, how do I know where I should be given the amount of time and effort I have put it. I can see progress, and I know that is key and everyone progresses at a different rate. For example, two months ago I could not do any chord progressions smoothly, but now I can do a bunch with different strum patterns and maybe stumble on an F or C chord, but for the most part I have my basic chord progression changes working good, and when I strum it actually sounds nice.

I practice scales, I actually love scales, warm up with them, change picking patterns. I feel scales warm my fingers up really well for chord changes. I am really trying to memorize the fretboard, I want to be able to just look at the string and fret and know instantly what note that is.

I can play along to a few songs, not perfect but I can keep up pretty good, I can play the intro and rhythm part to Hendrix -Manic Depression, Poison-Talk Dirty To Me, AC-DC - Back In Black, Black Keys - I Got Mine. I can't play any of them complete since I cannot do the solos yet, but when I play them in front of friends they know what song I am playing.

I wanted share some recordings, please be gentle I am still a beginner.

practicing chord progression recording: http://tinyurl.com/atd4fwx

trying to figure out Gary Clark Jr - Travis County rhythm by ear: http://snd.sc/XFREwP

Trying to play Manic Depression: http://snd.sc/ZzoEUI

Thanks in advance for any advice or input.

I like your idea of recording practice sessions. I think I need to start recording some of my practice so I can hear objectively what my progress is.

First off, I think you need to define some goals. They could be "I want to be able to cleanly play the major scale at 120 BPM", or "I want to be able to play the chords for Back in Black cleanly", or "I want to be able to play barre chords cleanly". You should make them realistic, meaningful, and measurable. This way, you will be encourages to keep going by feeling as though you've accomplished something. You should set some long term ones too like "by the end of the winter, I want to be able to play Life in the Fast Lane clean through". You may not hit them all, but you'll get closer to them...which is progress.

If at the end of the week you can do something you couldn't do earlier in the week, or you can do something better that you did earlier in the week, you've made progress. Progress is progress!

I find I'll have leaps of progress followed by small incremental progress.

Like you, I have days where I'll practice a lot and really dig into some lessons - sometimes up to 2 hours. Other days I'll fiddle with my guitar for 15 minutes. I try to pick my guitar up every day. I think that's a good practice.

I haven't had a chance to listen to your recordings, so I can't comment on those.

Hope that helps.

+1 for all Maggior's advice. Clear, defined goals are essential for progress. Another thing I'd aim for in your case is recording your guitar on your computer if you can, or just how you're doing it now, with the goal of recording something that you want to play perfectly. So for instance, make the goal of learning "Back in Black" just the rhythm part, download a backing track of it and record the guitar part when you feel you can play it without mistakes. This way you can listen back to yourself not just practicing, but actually playing something that you believe you are able to play correctly. If listening back, you hear mistakes, then you know what you have to work on. If you don't hear any mistakes, and it sounds really good, then you know you're progressing, and have something to show for it... a little milestone if you will.

thanks for the tips, much much appreciated!

I think one of the things I still struggle with is the memorization the notes of the fret board. I dedicated this week to focusing just on that. A made some small goals for myself.