There seems to be a lot necessary things a person has to learn to bring one's own personal Music creation up to the next level .... 
 
As a guitarist ,
I'm constantly having to find the time to keep sharp on my guitar playing while I'm over here watching hours of u tubes and Groove 3 videos centered at teaching me how to get better at using a DAW ...
 
I'm curious to hear how folks around here balance all the different learning curves they encounter in their musical journey.
 
Singers, Songwriters, Guitarists, Keyboard players, Electronic Instrument players , Drummers, Bass players and any other group of musicians including Producers, Beat Makers ..ect ect...This topic is open to all aspects of your music ....
 
How do you maintain your musical growth as a developing  Artist while you spend time getting better at learning and using your  DAW ?
 
By all means , please feel free to discus any aspect of your personal music experience and how you have grown .
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny

I'm FAR more comfortable with learning a DAW, but that makes sense; computers are my life.
 
I think the balance comes in when you realize that there's far more right brain (creative) involved with learning an instrument and far more left brain (logical) when learning a DAW.  Unless you're a very balanced (so-called "Whole-brain") type, you're going to struggle learning one more than the other.

craigb
I'm FAR more comfortable with learning a DAW, but that makes sense; computers are my life.
 
I think the balance comes in when you realize that there's far more right brain (creative) involved with learning an instrument and far more left brain (logical) when learning a DAW.  Unless you're a very balanced (so-called "Whole-brain") type, you're going to struggle learning one more than the other.

that's cool Craig
 
I keep forgetting which brain side is which ...either way , even when you are playing an instrument I'm sure that the logical side comes into play ...at least in my case if I'm working on learning on a new technique ...
ex...finger-style w a pick or learning something on the guitar in one key and then having to work it out in various keys on the fret board ...
 
as far as the topic went I tried to keep it simple ...this VS that is not my thing usually at all  ...
Both the instrument and the DAW have hundreds of subdivisions of topics and things to learn ...
That's kinda what I'm interested in ...How people deal with that and make personal progress...
IMHO ....it's pretty deep waters ....heck even with SONAR , with all the VST instruments ,plugs and dodads there never seems to be a shortage of new things to learn ....
 
all the best,
 
Kenny
 
 

craigb
...there's far more right brain (creative) involved with learning an instrument and far more left brain (logical) when learning a DAW.  Unless you're a very balanced (so-called "Whole-brain") type, you're going to struggle learning one more than the other.

 
I try to use both sides whatever I'm doing, whether it's creative or technical. I don't claim to be well-balanced though.

I was a musician for 20+ years before getting my first DAW.  I found that the confidence with my musicianship helped to define where my recordings were lacking.  I could trust that the music was played properly, so any deficiencies were likely in the recording or mixing techniques.
That gave me the information I needed to investigate the DAW-related processes to get closer to my ideal end product.  
 
Then I realized that a talented engineer/producer could do much better than me, so i give him the recorded tracks and a note saying "fix/mix it!"  With age comes the (occasional) wisdom to recognize my limitations.  

What slug says, except I had been programming business applications for 15 or so years before I started with MIDI sequencing and had been recording to tape (analog and ADATS) and then moved on to audio recording in a DAW.
 
And thus the DAW concept was not entirely foreign to me. And yes I have learned new ways to skin an old cat but thankfully not with shell shock.
 

I had the musical side together before I started into the recording side.
 
It was, for me, a simple matter of finding the most efficient way to work with the DAW so that it didn't interfere with the creative process.   Find the easy path and things work out.   I tried purposely to avoid getting too deep into the technical aspects. It's easy to chase rabbit trails and before long, you've wasted an hour or more, accomplished little to nothing, and lost the creative spark.
 
My goal in learning the DAW was to make it as transparent to the process as possible. This is especially true in the tracking stages of the project.  Now... once the tracking is done, then, it's more acceptable to me, to spend greater amounts of time on the minutia in the mix.

kennywtelejazz
Both learning activity's seem very necessary to bring one's own personal Music creation to the next level .... 
I've been wrestling with this one myself for a long while ....
I'm curious to hear how folks around here balance both learning curves  .
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny

I don't really think I've got very far with either, and probably never will now. Just being realistic. I listen to stuff I did 7 or 8 years ago against later recordings and there isn't a huge difference, to my ears. I suppose sometime you just reach a plateau.
 

So, I'm a month shy of 10 years in this forum and where I dove full fledged into DAW recording.
 
I'd say my engineering skills have improved from then until now. My playing skills, nah. Mainly because for every hour of playing I do I probably spend 4-5 hours at the engineering process.
 
I must agree with my mayte Jaymes though, I've probably hit my plateau in all areas of music and so now I can just enjoy the ride and try not to be too critical of the results.
 
If I was 40 or even 30, that would be a horse of a different story. I'd be pushing like mad.

I thought I could juggle the two well but in reality I can't do both well at the same time. I've picked up a new instrument to learn in addition to what I already knew.
 
My intention was to do some of one and then some technical recording. I have the bent to immerse in whatever I'm doing and when I get in that groove I have a tough time pulling away from it.
 
Sad to say I've been putting lots of time into the instrument and letting my recording skills slide. I know it's the only way I'm going to be a better player. I look at the clock and two hours went by, I'm dead tired and say to myself, " I'll do the other stuff tomorrow". Tomorrow comes and I do the same thing again. I'm in a learning rut of sorts right now. It borders on an obsession.
 
On the plus side, I'm doing very well for someone who hasn't been at my instrument for more than a year. Having prior instruments and training might have helped some....but I'm nowhere near my goal yet. Progress is small and slow lately. I'm into some of the more intensive learning curves on the instrument now and it's slow progress, sometimes seems like one step forward and three steps back. Doesn't help that there are people who are years younger than me that can do what I struggle with easily...I have to remind myself they started when they were 6. By the time they're 16 they're pretty good at it.
 
I get into the same "rut" with recording. I get overly immersed in the finer points of the technicals and let my chops slide. So far I haven't realistically been able to be intensive with both at the same time.