Astronomer

Do you mean, knowing which notes are sharped and flatted in different keys? I generally know this by memory, but before I did I went by the Cycle of Fifths when I practiced all my scales/ block chords/ arpeggios, etc.



It's a good little chart for remembering theory, and the order of C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, Ab, Eb, Bb, F, C is seriously permanently imbedded in my brain. It's also a good chart to use in showing which minor scales correspond to their sister major scales. Have you been using this chart at all? If you have then good idea.

As for the hour a day, I don't really consider an hour a day a long time to be playing an instrument each day. If I play my bass for just an hour, it's seriously not enough! All up I probably play for a couple of hours a day.

That being said, when I was in primary school and taking classical piano lessons my teacher said I had to practice at least an hour a day, like it was some magical key amount of practice time to learn an instrument or something. To master piano though, I think it took me years. And I still have so much to learn.

But everybody is different. You can't really ask, will I be competent at playing this instrument in 2 months? Because some people pick up instruments really quickly and some people don't. It really depends and I don't think there is a solid answer to that.

I can totally relate to your frustration though, and I experience it on a regular basis. I just want to be 'good' at particular instruments instantaneously and feel shit because I just feel like I am rubbish.

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