Longest guitar break? Help me.

[Feynman]

Looking for some shared regrets here.

It occurred to me about a month ago that I hadn't picked up a guitar in roughly ten years. 

Life has calmed a bit, so I have decided that I want to get back to it.  Picking up the guitar a couple of weeks ago was well beyond disappointing.  I can barely hack beginner pieces.  Any knowledge of theory I had been building seems to have run out my ears.  I'm missing strings, flubbing notes...well, you get it.  It's frustrating.  At one point I was pretty good at some things - not HFC-good mind you, but I could find my way around a nylon string guitar in a non-embarassing way.  I didn't start guitar until I was 27, but I worked consistently at it for a long time, and it was satisfying to see the progress.

I found a local teacher who I think has what I want and can help me out, and my first lesson is tonight.  I'm a 54yo man, and I'm nervous about this.  I find this odd.

I know some things will come back relatively quickly, and some things are gone, and that's fine.  I'm at where I'm at, and that's okay.  Clearly it would have been better to at least keep my hands on the guitar a little from day to day. 

No real point here except to flog myself in public and ask you to do the same (or warn you not to do what I did).

Anyone else do this?  Did you recover from it?

Clever and inspiring witticisms appreciated.

 

Edited to add:  ...and my shoulder aches, and my fingers don't stretch so well, and my fingertips hurt.  Woe is me.  Thanks for listening.

Edited July 16, 2024 by Feynman

[velorush]

What's your hurry? Not to get all Zen on you, but it's a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the process and stop with the goofy comparisons - even to your former self.  But if you must, you're better today than you were last year - you didn't even have a guitar in your hand last year.

One cool thing I noticed after a prolonged times away: I played differently coming back. 

Yes, the lack of mechanics / muscle memory (forgetfulness) was frustrating but ease up on yourself and have fun.  You're not putting food on the table with a guitar, so the only pressure involved is self-induced (for cryin' out loud). 

If I am permitted to quote Jordan Peterson here, "treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping." 

[The Shark]

It ain't riding a bike.  I had a severe shoulder injury requiring two surgeries over about seven months twenty years ago.  All the band members were marrying and having children, so we were on hiatus for about four years.  I didn't play at all for four months.  I was shocked at how much I lost.  

The good news is it came back very quickly.  I don't know about ten years, but I'd just be happy that you're back into it and moving forward.  Lower your expectations and the anxiety will disappear.  Your path forward is exciting.  Good luck.

[bry4321]

I was in a similar situation. Because I was never any good in the first place I didn't have much skill to lose over the years. First 3 or 4 chords of Stone in Love came back in no time. 🤣 I am trying to carve out more time to play. I was going to say "practice," but that has negative connotations to me when I just want to "play" -- make noise and have fun. I don't expect too much from myself. Not that I recommend that attitude to others! Congratulations on taking lessons. Let us know how that goes. 

[Steve Haynie]

I own gear.  I look at it.  It has been months since any guitar has been played.  Every once in a while it feels good to pick up an instrument to attempt playing again. 

It would be wonderful to find someone who wants to play the exact songs I want to play.  It would also be nice to have a million dollars in the bank. 

Sometime this year my amps will be cranked.  The fuzz pedal that was gifted to me will be stomped.  Everything will be wonderful.  Maybe it will last more than a week next time. 

[django49]

If you can, find someone locally with similar interests. I have always done better when there is someone else, with us each encouraging/stretching the other. Much more so than trying to be a guitar hero in the guest bedroom. 😉

For me there is a great local "jam class" that gets folks like me together to focus on LISTENING and playing with people. I always come away a bit better, even if lately I have been playing less than before. An extra benefit, they provide some opportunities to perform in front of people.

[Jimbilly]

I was about 12 years away, a bad bicycle crash changed my "free time opportunities", - I can't really race bikes anymore, but I can pick up guitars/basses again.  I've got some physical limitations I didn't have before: some hand joint chronic inflammation (both hands, but very slowly improving) and I have to sit periodically due to a collapsed vertebrae, but other than that, yeah, you feel pretty rusty for a while. But then things start coming together again, and guitar skills come back much more quickly than something like sports fitness, which would take years to get back. 

  Find the fun in it: hanging out here helps, find some fun songs to learn, and find or reconnect with some people to jam with.  

  Much like physical therapy: pick up the guitar regularly, do some exercises, put in some hours.  Imagine you used to be a runner, and wanted to get back into it, you'd start slow, you'd put in a couple of hours every week, and you'd start seeing improvements in probably 4-6 weeks. Think of it that way, and enjoy seeing the improvements.

[Bennyboy-UK]

The one in Parisian Walkways is pretty long.

[hamerhead]

4 hours ago, Feynman said:

...I'm missing strings...

Well, first, you oughta fix that.

 

Although if you're missing all 6, it should be easier.

[beezerboy]

pint of whiskey always makes me sound better....

[hamerhead]

BCRGreg advise: pick the guitar up right after you shower. It'll build callouses faster.

Think about all the really great athletes you knew in high school. How many of them are still active in any way today? I mean, aside from fetching a beer at a commercial break. Most of them have aged out.

The thing with guitar is (unless your hands are totally non-functional) you never age out. It's always there. You can always make some sort of noise on it. You can always maybe even learn some new stuff (or un-learn some bad stuff). That's the beauty of it - as long as you stay passionate about it, it's always available to you. There's no race to win, no chicks to take home (anymore), no competition of any kind - just you and that damn aggravating set of strings all tuned up and ready to see who's boss.

Be the boss, Mitchell.

 

[RobB]

Geez, Mitch. I'll bet you're fun at parties.

Bootstrap it, son! Stop with the hand-wringing and start with the playing. Getting a teacher is a positive first step.

[gorch]

Honestly, I have lost track with the pandemic coming in. All day home office cleared my mind and any desire to go downstairs picking up a guitar. It's not 10 years but still enough to fall out of playing routine. Will is there, but I still struggle continuous play time. Last year and this year I had booked either guitar camp and a band camp. Both were very nice and brought me forward. Unfortunately, I found another hobby in working out renewable energy solutions for the house that led me into smart home solutions. That's a big time-eater I can tell you.

[crunchee]

When I saw 'guitar break' in the topic header, I was thinking along the lines of the DLR statement at about 2:30, and not about putting the guitar down for a prolonged period of time:

 

I'm guessing that not playing for awhile qualifies as being in a rut, sort of.  My advice is to go back to what attracted you to guitar music in the first place, listen to old favorites, and find new favorites that do the same thing for you...and hopefully, you'll find something that'll inspire you to play again.

Above all else, playing music's supposed to be fun, not drudgery.  So have fun!  Good luck!

Edited July 16, 2024 by crunchee

[Hackubus]

Back in Jan 21, my friend contacted me about doing a reunion Memorial Day one off gig for our old band that had been busted up about 13 years.  Somehow I agreed.  At that point, I hadn't played in a band for about eight years.  For the next 3-4 months, I woodshedded our agreed upon set for about 2 hrs minimum every night. (we were only going to be able to manage about 3 in person practices together for this thing) I got SCARY GOOD.  I've never played this well before or since.  At the time, I was going through a bit of a serious depression, some marital problems, all that good stuff.  It was a good get away and my schedule at the time was able to stand it.   Played the show, for sure was the best live gig I'd ever played, lots of people coming up to me to compliment me as a player (people I didn't even KNOW!), which had never really happened before.  
Felt great! Put the fire back for sure.  

Sure as shootin', after that gig...two weeks later I was back to playing like crap yet again.

[Biz Prof]

While I didn't stop playing guitar completely, I went from gigging 2-4 times per week to nothing when I quit my college-era  band in early 1995.  I didn't join another gigging band again until late 2017--a 22-year layoff from serious playing. I found that the muscle memory never diminished, however my finger dexterity was a mere fraction of what it had been at the pinnacle of my heavy gigging days.  I've gotten quite a bit back, but at 53, I'll simply never be as fleet fingered as I once was.  In fact, my left hand fretting and chording technique changed radically.  I use my pinky a ton more in both chording and playing runs.  I also have a stiffness in both hands that I attribute to age.  The telltale sign: I used to be able to play the Freebird solo note-for-note without breaking a sweat.  Now, my left hand begins to go numb on the mindless, repetitive, weedly-weedly Allen Collins licks.  I guess that's probably not the worst thing in the world.

The good part:  I now fingerpick better than I ever did as a young buck and I've actually developed a solid slide technique.  And that stuff gets more attention and reverence than any of the weedly-weedly stuff I used to sling.

Edited July 16, 2024 by Biz Prof

[a.bandini]

Mitch, echoing the zen-ideas:  The idea is to have fun and get better, one small step, one day at a time. I laugh when my playing sounds good, and I don't laugh at much else any more.   Playing guitar is a source of joy; not sorrow or regret, at least for me.  I'll never be a good guitarist, or a good golfer, or a good whatever, but I can keep improving every time I put the time and effort into the endeavor.   

Stick with it. Don't judge yourself by the best-in-the-world, or the best-in-the-HFC, or those on You-Tube.  Instead, consider whether or not you are getting better.  It is the best most of us can do.  

Edited July 16, 2024 by a.bandini

[mathman]

I played in a band with friends until I was about 28 playing mostly pretty regularly.  Then I got married, went to school, got a job, moved away and  yada yada yada, didn't play much. Around 2003 or 4 at age 43 or 44 started playing again more, got into computers and got an apple eMac g4 and that started a new chapter of recording, playing, learning and such.  Kept at it up until the last 4 or 5 years and not playing nearly enough anymore.  Hope to change that.  Life happens. Still pick up the bass or guitar once a week or so on average but need to play more.

If you don't have some one to play with a computer can be the next best thing.  If you need resources like backing tracks or other ideas, let me know.  

 

[Russell Beard]

And this folks, is why I belong to this group of malcontents and wherebegoers.  This is why I log in once a week or so and see what is up.  Occasionally you see a thread like this one and it just makes you smile. There are so many good folks here, all slathering over those few Hamer's that will never be made again.  Really appreciate the guys who run this board and the ones who encourage and answer questions. 

I quit gigging a dozen years ago and I really don't miss it. I miss some of the people I played with, but I have found plugging into my computer and playing with the latest track I am ga ga about brings me tremendous joy. I seek those moments of joy, in playing, in writing and occasionally, some of the people I meet.  If you are not doing this for your own slice of joy, then don't.  

The lessons are an amazing idea, public flogging is not required.... respect

[murkat]

don’t play, paint.

[ArnieZ]

At my best I was almost good😀 My level of enjoyment has never really changed. I play because I enjoy it. I love the sound, I love making the sound. I care not how how well , or not I can play. It’s for my pleasure, if anyone else enjoys it, all the better! In all these years it’s never left you ….. Enjoy

arniez

[Feynman]

You guys are the best - thanks.  I just got home from my first lesson.

He's a rather different teacher from any before. He perceptively identified where I need initial help and what to work on at the start, and I agree.  Hard to summarize an hour, and you wouldn't want me to anyway, but I like him so I've got a teacher now. 

He has a Buscarino, so bonus points there.

Things are looking up.

Edited July 17, 2024 by Feynman

[stonge]

It's called "playing" music for a reason; find something you like and dig into that. There's probably a six year old kid on YouTube that can smoke all of us (anybody remember EvanD at the HFC jams?), so don't bother competing against that. Have fun and don't waste time with apologies for doing so. 

[cmatthes]

Mitch will be a banjo whiz in 6 weeks.  
 

Mark my words…

[LucSulla]

6 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

While I didn't stop playing guitar completely, I went from gigging 2-4 times per week to nothing when I quit my college-era  band in early 1995.  I didn't join another gigging band again until late 2017--a 22-year layoff from serious playing. I found that the muscle memory never diminished, however my finger dexterity was a mere fraction of what it had been at the pinnacle of my heavy gigging days.  I've gotten quite a bit back, but at 53, I'll simply never be as fleet fingered as I once was.  In fact, my left hand fretting and chording technique changed radically.  I use my pinky a ton more in both chording and playing runs.  I also have a stiffness in both hands that I attribute to age.  The telltale sign: I used to be able to play the Freebird solo note-for-note without breaking a sweat.  Now, my left hand begins to go numb on the mindless, repetitive, weedly-weedly Allen Collins licks.  I guess that's probably not the worst thing in the world.

The good part:  I now fingerpick better than I ever did as a young buck and I've actually developed a solid slide technique.  And that stuff gets more attention and reverence than any of the weedly-weedly stuff I used to sling.

I lose stamina more than anything else. I've always been a guy who has to play for an thirty minutes to an hour to really have my hands interested in ripping, but when I'm gigging often, I'm good to go for hours after that. When I'm not gigging regularly, it's cramp city by after two hours. 

Last summer, I had a three night run in Memphis at a place where we were playing four hours a night with no breaks. I had gotten back from working in Europe for a month that same week, and I took nothing with me but a Baby Taylor. I find even practicing for an hour a day is still not enough to keep my hands in gig shape; really only gigging does that for me. But a month of just noodling mindlessly on an acoustic in the apartment before bed or on bus transits. . .

The day of the night two, I had no idea how I was going to get through the night, but I somehow did. As long as I was playing, my fingertips would just numb out a bit. 

Night three - My calluses were so soft that I had to glue the skin down on my index and ring fingers. Got through that too, but it was a slog the last two hours.

Final note - Freebird always wears my hand out. Sitting in that same position playing the same four notes over and over and over and over just kills me. I've taken such a bad attitude toward it that often, I just play the couple of licks everyone knows and spend the rest of the time seeing where you can wedge in diminished scales or shit like phrygian dominant scales, often to horrifying effect. Some of it is to just try to find something interesting to play over those three chords, and some of it is blatant trolling. I realized that as long as I weedly weedly something fast, the drunk frat bros are still going to say, "Man, that was the greatest thing I've ever seen!" 

God, I hate playing that song. But I like money. 

Am I a whore?