[RussMason]

I have been playing a long time, and I still marvel at hearing old cassettes of me playing songs that I still play. It's not even me on the old tapes; it's a younger player who hasn't quite got it right, but still pretty close.

Recording yourself on a regular basis provides a valuable lesson for how we develop as musicians. As well, it's possible to 'track' the development of a song as it evolves over time. And sometimes the early versions have something good that got dropped along the way.

I still like cassettes for quick recordings. Yes I have some good recording gear, digital decks that have mics and a mixer and phantom power. But using it is cumbersome. The little Sony cassette recorder is a lot easier for an audio journal: just push the record button and start to play. The dynamic range of the guitar is OK for cassette - nothing too high or too low or too loud. And, as I implied earlier, it's fun to go back and listen to tapes made long ago.

The importance of practice.

My old teacher gave me a formula, which has served me well.

Make the difficult easy
Make the easy habit
Make the habit beautiful

What I do - and what you probably do also - is when I pick up a guitar I play familiar chord patterns, songs, riffs, and so on. I play the same things I have played for years as a warm-up, but I always play them slightly differently and discover new ways to voice them.

Today I was playing an old ragtime song and discovered a little embellishment I could play in a simple A chord (lifting off the middle string, briefly, to give an A7). I have played this song for years, but today I made it a little better.