Find musicians that are better than you. Play with them if at all possible. Start a band! Have you ever heard of D.I.Y.? It stands for "Do It Yourself" If you're a drummer, get together with your guitarist friend and start a jam session. Are you a bass player? Find a drummer, get together and work out some grooves. It doesn't matter what instrument you play, find someone else to play with. Learn some songs together or better yet, WRITE YOUR OWN! Record your practice sessions. It will make you more aware of how you sound as an individual as well as how you fit into the group. Here's the other half of the equation: Put on a show! Play your music for people. Playing music with people for people is what it's all about.

Listen to different types of music. Go check out live music! There is no better way to appreciate music than to hear and see it performed live. If the majority of music that you hear is on your radio and/or in the grocery store then there is a lot that you are missing out on. As far as I know, every culture in the world has music. That's a lot of music! With the Internet it is possible to instantly hear songs and see videos of millions of artists from all countries, genres, time periods, you name it! Utilize this incredibly powerful resource and add to it if you can. Your local libraries also have great music collections!

• List of Music Styles - Wikipedia
• Youtube
• Pandora Radio

This rule isn't quite as essential as the first two as there have been countless successful musicians who never read a note in their life; however, music notation has stood the test of time and has proven it's worth as a universal tool for communicating performance instructions to one's fellow musicians. Many music traditions found in the world have developed some form of musical notation. The great classical symphonies and operas could not have been written and performed without such a highly developed system of musical notation. Much of the music that we know and love today would be lost forever if there hadn't been a form of written notation to preserve it as the phonograph, the earliest device for recording sound wasn't invented until 1877 by Thomas Edison. The earliest music notation found dates back around 4000 years! Learning how to read music is something you will never regret. It's a skill that you can only get better at the more you do it!