Thanks haghj500 for the listen and the comments!! I did recently go back and listen to some of the stuff I started with and there is definitely a difference. Actually, the difference is more evident in something else I did recently which was a blues jam in a similar vein to what I started with almost 2 years ago.

Surprisingly I didn't cringe listening to the 2 year old recording. There are things that I do in the recent recording that now come off smooth and confident. In the old recording, those same or similar phrases sounded more hesitant and slightly disjointed.

There is still much work to be done, but it's nice to be able to hear progress. Speed is coming more easily to me and I'm getting brave and using it successfully here and there. I'm starting to add notes here and there outside the pents. I'm getting better at landing on "good notes" and using a melody as a guide for improvisation.

I'll post this recent blues jam since it seems there are still some folks hanging around here that are interested.