So I started playing again and...

Willem186

I have just recently got myself a guitar again and its been amazing fun, tis been year since I last played seriously, as I did not have a guitar.
What I noticed is that my fingers and brain had some cooldown time, and things I thought were impossible to play are now coming along really well, I reckon a break from intense 10 hour a day practice sessions has done more good than a year of mindless playing.
I think a good idea would be to give your poor fingers and melting brain a rest every now and then, it works wonders I promise! ?

BMU

That is a very interesting observation, I've found the same thing. I think the subconscious takes the time off to properly absorb and organize all that information. I've laid off playing for sometimes as much as 3 years at a time, come back and within a week or so, after working the rustiness off, found I'd surpassed my previous playing level.

PS 10 hours a day dude? Holy smokes!

aubs1

BMU wrote PS 10 hours a day dude? Holy smokes!

Geez, That's 2 hours a day more than Jimmy Page did at the height of Led Zepellin's fame!!!!! He did 8, I can only find max 2 hours if I'm lucky. Wanna hear how that pays off in 6 months time......way to go man!! ? ?

[deleted]

Willem186 wrote I have just recently got myself a guitar again and its been amazing fun, tis been year since I last played seriously, as I did not have a guitar.
I think a good idea would be to give your poor fingers and melting brain a rest every now and then, it works wonders I promise! ?

BMU wrote I've laid off playing for sometimes as much as 3 years at a time,

Are you guys serious.... I could never. If I go 48 hours without playing I start getting withdrawal symptoms...
Sorry guys, but i CANT agree with that... unless you just a random casual player ? That's also cool.

10000 hours are needed to be great at what you do. taking 3 years break isn't going to help that much! I don't understand how that can benefit in anyway.

Different strokes for different folks

I am not shooting your topic down, just that I could NEVER do that.

So what you saying is guitar is like riding a bike? ? Enjoy the comeback!

[deleted]

There was also a time in my life when I never went anywhere without my guitar. That served it's purpose at the time and I'm glad I made use of that desire when I had it. Once I started performing it lost it's charm BIG TIME. I took a different job and applied music in a different way. I virtualy stopped playing for myself. And I don't regret that one bit. Some times you do something out of fear like fear of losing time, skill, opportunity, status and that was what had happened to me. I've learnt to put my life into a bigger context. There's a bit more room for me now to play AND not play. I don't think my playing has suffered because of it.

Willem186

I was in school when I was playing that much, had nothing else to do, its about 4 or so hours now... 8)

[deleted]

I was in boarding school. More like boreding school.

Willem186

@Brent, what I am saying is that you need to take some breaks from playing guitar, extended breaks, it gives your brain and body time to sort through the copious information you learn, and categorise it so that when you come back to playing it feels natural, to play 10 hours a day for 3 years is rather hectic, I found that after coming back, things were much more fluid and the learning process much quicker, I find that I am not hitting guitar plateau's nearly as often, playing pieces that I thought were out of my league, thanks for the comments.