As early as possible in your music education, learn to play while playing towards what you really want to finally play, what interested you in music in the first place, what you are really familiar with.
It’s not your fault if you quit learning guitar when generic exercises or songs unfamiliar to you were forced to you in a syllabus that was not flexible and not made for you.
Also you are completely correct if you tried playing Indian songs with just notes and felt unsatisfied. Consonants are tallied with strikes, while the music becomes live by paying special attention to the sustained and connected nature of our music.
With me, while learning this song, you will gain vertical skill growth, since we are not just remember and repeat kind of people - we understand the real principles that make music work, while using the…
Song as a tool
Using just the first phrase of the song, we learn:
what is expected as the sound of a good slide
the underlying mechanics of executing a good slide
what to do, what not to do
how to use up-down strokes to increase striking efficiency (fast parts need this especially)
how to manage the fingers efficiently to play smooth phrases and increase fluency
where to strike, where to slide - the consonant strike tally needed to make our playing sound the way it is sung.
The second line of the song can be used as a benchmark on skill improvement. A particular set of slides that will clearly show you your skill level or improve it.
Practice the basic best practices of practising well: speed comes before clarity.
Learn how the basic tuning relationship can be used to find different places to play the exact same melody, thereby improving your ability to execute fluently.
Learn how the same slide can be played at different speeds to sound the way it is mean to be. Make a mistake in the speed and the playing will not sound at all similar to how we want it.