Squonk
I recently went away camping for a week and took my trusted Yamaha nylon along.
I hadn't really played nylon for a while and it was great to sit outside and have a jam on this wide necked beast!
This is the thing - once back home , and I got my hands on my electric and acoustic guitars again ? I played with such freedom and inspiration, I felt like I had improved rather than being rusty!
I did play the Nylon a lot, so I suppose that tackles the "rusty" question.
But having the short break seemed to inspire more passion than I normally have.
Anyway, not too sure of what point I am making, but I can make the following Point:
Camping is good stuff!!! and it seems as though it's good for your guitar playing!
MikeM
I agree completely. Only 2 months after buggering up my arm and besides some niggling issues I'd say my plectrum work is better than before!!! Usually the vigor and lust after missing your guitars for a couple of weeks can whet your appetite to spend long hours on em ?
Dinosaur-Snr
+1 MikeM! This is very true, absence makes the heart grow fonder. ?
Bob-Dubery
Squonk wrote:
I recently went away camping for a week and took my trusted Yamaha nylon along.
I hadn't really played nylon for a while and it was great to sit outside and have a jam on this wide necked beast!
This is the thing - once back home , and I got my hands on my electric and acoustic guitars again ? I played with such freedom and inspiration, I felt like I had improved rather than being rusty!
I did play the Nylon a lot, so I suppose that tackles the "rusty" question.
But having the short break seemed to inspire more passion than I normally have.
Anyway, not too sure of what point I am making, but I can make the following Point:
Camping is good stuff!!! and it seems as though it's good for your guitar playing!
It doesn't look to me like you had much of a break from guitar playing. So the moral that I draw from your story is that guitar playing is good for your guitar playing.
inflames
Jip, taking a break at anything is a good thing.
It makes you miss your instrument, it almost feel like a adrenalin rush when you get home and pickup the guitar!
Squonk
Sorry Bob
I wasn't too clear in my post
Taking a break from steel strings, but maybe you are right "Guitar playing is good for my guitar playing" .
Maybe playing Nylon every now and again also helps your steel string playing!
Maybe the adjustment in the size of the neck, Maybe I missed my TAK?
But whatever it was, I enjoyed the camping!
Keira-WitherKay
define a break..??? ? a week away is not a lot in the big scheme of things.....
but NO i would say the more you play the better you play ...
there's that thing that you need to log 10 000 hrs of doing something before you can become good at it ......
and it's true steve vai practised 10 hrs a day to get to where he is.sergovia ,paco di lucia, you name em all played constantly and in reality put in more hours than their peers which all showed when they rose above the average guitarists .... natural talent only takes one so far all the rest is time spent actually playing ...... and let me add playing constructively ......
heheh maybe it just feels like you playing better after a break cos you forgotten how you sounded ........ i often tell students to record themselves......every month don't listen to em too often just store it away and 6 months later if you been taking lessons or just working on your technique go back and hear what you thought was your best 6 months ago .it's proof how quickly we can develop.......... and most thought they had only marginally improved only to be shocked at how weak they were in comparison 6 months prior after hearing the recordings ....
Malkav
I'm gonna have to go with Keira on this, it's really not in your best interests to stay away from the instrument for excessive amounts of time. In my own experience I've found that if I take a break for a week or more immediately I struggle to play in the way that I prefer - Then again I choose to be one of those horrible fusion shredders so keeping my technique up is a big deal ?
I honestly just think that because so much of the physical part of guitar playing revolves around muscle memory it's best to keep it as ingrained as possible. Now if you're taking a break to get perspective and get your head into a better place for your playing then I suppose the approach makes sense, I just generally try and do that by going to really nice places and trying to gather inspiration from where I am - trusty acoustic in hand ?
I guess there's no real way to gauge what will and won't work for everyone, take for instance John Petrucci and Brett Garsed - two players who I admire (I'm not trying to bring up any comparisons or start a debate about them) as an example Petrucci recommends practicing like a tank and sitting with a metronome for hours (which is what seems to work for me), on the other hand Garsed recommends being as lazy as possible (in his own words) and just trying to play what's in your head, his approach is built around econnomy and fluidity while using all of your fingers etc to make the work load on either hand as minimal as possible - This approach obviously worked for him and I don't doubt it would work for other people as well, it's just interesting that two players at the peak of technical proficiency have such different takes on how to come to mastery with the instrument.
I'm not saying everyone should aspire to be a technical wizard like these two fine players, just using them as examples - I personally love both their styles and recommend checking out their music and instructional offerings, however it isn't everyone's thing and I'm not trying to start a pro technique/anti technique debate - just speaking from the examples I know.
Bob-Dubery
With most things in life you need to practice. Keira's point is a good one - the best guys have all put in the hard yards. Sure they have great natural talent, but they put in the mechanical, repetitive practice as well. It's not apparent, but you see/hear the results - when you listen to Jimi Hendrix, or you see David Beckham take one of those amazing free kicks, or you see Shane Warne bowling a flipper. All those guys have great talent, but they all put in a lot of hard work as well.
I think there are time when a short break is beneficial in the long run. Richard Thompson (yes... I know I rabbit on about him a lot, but there's a point in this case) says that if he's on the road and there's a day between shows he might not play for that day in order to allow some kind of physical recovery and to get his muscles into different positions, but he never lets things slide for much longer than that.
You've got to put in the practice. You don't get good at things by consistently NOT doing them, and, to go along with what Chad was saying, it seems to me to be the case with most things that if you're not working at improving then you're going backwards.
MikeM
I think you fellars are missing the point. In the long run of things what's a 1 or 2 week break in a year? I play for enjoyment, not to compete with people. If I take a 2 week gap but come back with more enthusiasm, that's great in my books. Making music is not about enduring practice.
Dinosaur-Snr
I completely agree, I think I read an interview with Dan Auerback from The black keys and he commented that he does not actively practice 24/7. He just jams with Patrick and writes songs. Dont get me wrong I think its really important for a muscian to hone his skills but for most people practcing 10 hours a day isnt practical or possible.
On that note: I need to start honing my skills. :-[
singemonkey
I made a jump this year when I left the guitar for 3 weeks to go on holiday. When I got back, things that I'd been struggling with had become trivial. I feel like things somehow consolidated themselves.
I wouldn't want to leave it much longer than that though.
Malkav
MikeM wrote:
I think you fellars are missing the point. In the long run of things what's a 1 or 2 week break in a year? I play for enjoyment, not to compete with people. If I take a 2 week gap but come back with more enthusiasm, that's great in my books. Making music is not about enduring practice.
We're not missing the point, a 1 or 2 week break in a year might be fine for you. I personally want to be able to play the ideas in my head, and those ideas are hard, I have to practice religiously in order to get the enjoyment I'd like out of my own playing. As I said this isn't necessarily how everyone wants to or is going to look at it, it's just one part of the argument. Remember as much as you don't want to be a tech monster, is inversly proportionate to exactly how badly some people on this forum do ?
singemonkey wrote:
I made a jump this year when I left the guitar for 3 weeks to go on holiday. When I got back, things that I'd been struggling with had become trivial. I feel like things somehow consolidated themselves.
I wouldn't want to leave it much longer than that though.
I normally practice 6 days out of the week and then rest for 1, just to give my brain and muscles time to catalogue the new concepts I've been learning. It's all really what works for you though, and maybe you just needed that time to process all the stuff you'd been struggling with ?
Dinosaur-Snr
yip I agree, I get riffs and songs stuck in my head, I feel if I take a break once in a while it spurs some creativeness in my playing...
singemonkey
I like to troll Chad from time to time, but I really wish I had his discipline. I heard from someone that's he's a phenomenal player.
Malkav
singemonkey wrote:
I like to troll Chad from time to time, but I really wish I had his discipline. I heard from someone that's he's a phenomenal player.
Life wouldn't be as fun if everything were rounded edges ?
Seriously though, that someone lied - I have a maor amount more work to do in everything from technique and theory to just developing a better harmonic vocabulary, I'd say I'm about average to slightly below really ? but I'm working at it!
Seventhson
I take a day off each week of playing. But I can not stand not playing. I love playing every day and that adrenaline never goes away for me.
Am I weird?
Jack-Flash-Jr
Seventhson wrote:
I take a day off each week of playing. But I can not stand not playing. I love playing every day and that adrenaline never goes away for me.
Am I weird?
No, just cool!
I find playing another instrument puts the guitar in a different light again when you pick it up. Try it! (Even if the instrument is chopsticks on a tin...)
