Practicing

Basically, the more amount of time you spend with an instrument, the better you get. Now some ways of using your time have a greater payoff when it comes to getting better (and for details on that, see The Delayed Gratification Practice Method).

For adults and kids who are toward the beginning of their musical expertise (or at the beginning of their musical expertise on a particular instrument) there is a wide range of choices that can be made for practicing:

Play songs you already know. Play your new songs you are working on Find something hard in one of your songs and work just on the hard part Figure out how to play something Make up a tune on your instrument Play along with a recording or video Make a recording or video of yourself playing a song Listen to a recording of your own playing and find one thing you would like to work on based on that recording (then work on that one thing) Play around with a technique, such as playing banjo rolls on open strings or playing random notes while working on vibrato Set a goal of a song you want to learn and begin working toward that goal Work towards a goal you set awhile back Work on a song that you heard someone else play and that you want to learn Add something new to a song you know (a new lick or something) Work out a harmony part to a song you know Make up a tune and play it until you can remember it