For context, I came back to playing guitar after a 20-year break. I’m now in my mid-thirties, with a family and small children, and I’m trying to stay consistent by practicing every day for at least half an hour to an hour. I have a teacher once a week who guides me on what to focus on next and what to practice, and over the past year I’ve seen a lot of progress.
I can improvise using the pentatonic scale — badly 😀 — and I’m now adding some basic arpeggios and trying to use certain modes where I can, through exercises my teacher gave me. I dont want to just plan minor pentatonic over everything🥲.
What I’ve noticed is that I struggle the most with following chord changes while playing a solo, because I’m still too focused on the fretboard and on changing positions on the neck. At some point I lose track of the key.
My teacher tells me that I need to listen to music constantly and focus on the changes happening in songs, but even with effort, that currently feels impossible to me.
So my question, in short, is: how far can someone progress on their own, without a band? And how much does playing with other people help during the beginner-to-intermediate stage, especially when it comes to developing rhythm, timing, and overall feel while playing?