If you’re like me you’ve probably pondered the question “Am I a good musician?”. I know that for me, I’ll just get to the point where I think I’m a really good musician and then something will happen and humble me back down. I’ll go hear a great band or jam with an unbelievable guitarist and I’ll be back in the practice shed trying to get better at what I do.
It’s not a bad thing to get humbled like that if it motivates you to do better. We all feel like giving up from time to time but what makes you a great musician is rising to the challenge. I’ve always been able to use those times where I’m blown away by another musician and use them to make myself better. You can learn so much from other musicians that it’s in your best interest to search out musicians that are already great to see if you can learn from them.
Another way of answering the “Am I a good musician?” question is to remember it’s all perspective. You’ll most likely always be better than someone else and you’ll most likely always be worse than someone. There are so many different aspects to being a musician that you can truly excel in one area and be weak in another and do just fine. You may be an incredible lead guitar player but barely passable as a rhythm player. That’s okay because you can use your strengths to get you through while you keep working on your rhythm playing.
I think the best answer to the “Am I a good musician?” question simply lies in your ability to try to improve yourself. Are you practicing regularly? Trying to learn new things? If so, then I believe you are a good musician. Because the best musicians are always trying to get better. So if you’re trying to get better then yes, you are a good musician.
What if you practice diligently and improve, but never really succeed? For example, if you practice every day all summer and still can’t make the region orchestra?
Well SadViolist, the point I’m trying to make is that if you are improving, then you are succeeding at something. You’re becoming a better musician and I think that’s about the best you can do as a performer. Since art is so subjective it’s really up to you to gauge your success with how far you’ve come since you started as a musician. If you can’t make the region orchestra this year, after practicing all summer, can you at least say that you are better after all that practice than you were before? If you improved yourself then I consider that a success. -Matt-