Not getting anywhere with hobbies

spatialsound13

For the past five years or so I've been trying to make music, but as much as I put everything I have into it, I've not gotten any better in those five years, I'm still at more or less the same level as I started. It's gotten to the point where I'm only finishing one track per year at most, because I'll start something, realise it sounds just as low quality as everything else I've done, and not be able to make any more progress.

I've had friends whose music skills skyrocketed within a year or two. I even introduced a friend to production and two years later they were getting offers from promoters and such, and I'd been left behind. It's incredibly disheartening to think I've put so much time and effort into this and yet I'm not even improving.

natalie_b

Hey spatialsound13, I'm sorry you feel discouraged at the moment. Five years of making music, that is amazing! I hope you feel proud that you have been working on something you love for so long. It's easy to give up on things and you haven't, even when it sounds like it has been difficult to keep trying. I understand the feeling of frustration when you don't think you have progressed, but you will have in many ways, even when you can't see it. Have you shared your music with others? Friends or family maybe? Sometimes it can help to see other people enjoying what you've created! 

Anch0r33

Hey! I thought I'd come in - I'm big into competitive sports so I figured I could give some parallels. 

I've done judo since I was about 8 years old and I've always always always medalled at nearly every tournament I've fought at. I've medalled at British championships for every age group except senior so far. You get to know the people well because you fight them a lot and train together etc. 

I'm yet to get an individual British gold medal, yet people I train with get gold's regularly. A lot of it in sports is down to hard work but some is simply down to natural talent and the will to stick at it. 

I want to share something about two twins that I know. They're identical and have done judo from the same age, trained exactly the same. But because they fought in the same weight category, one of them had to win. It changed a lot, sometimes it was twin A and sometimes it was twin B. Essentially it came down to the luck of the draw and the day. Little things like the order you fight people in can really be draining. Even though they train just as hard as each other, one HAD to come out ahead. Sometimes it's just luck and it sounds like the people you know may have stuck luck with their music. 

That doesn't mean you won't get lucky if you stick in at it. 

I'm going to share a quick one about me as well. I've fought this girl regularly for years now. I've beaten her every time. Then at the last British I fought this girl I'd never fought before. Our fight went on for 7 minutes (fight length is 5 but it was a draw by the end so it went to sudden death). I ended up losing on penalties. Then I directly had to fight the girl I'd beaten every time before. I lost very quickly. Does that mean I'm not good anymore? I beat this girl twice after this loss as well. 

It's all about circumstance. Sometimes opportunities arise that normally wouldn't. For that situation normally I wouldn't have a 7 minute fight, so that opened up the chance for the other girl to beat me. 

It doesn't make you a bad artist, it just means the circumstances and luck haven't been in your favour whilst the circumstances have been different and the luck hasn't struck you yet. 

Stick in at it, enjoy everything you do and put emotion into everything. You'll get there, it might just take longer