Taking Breaks

[Jacksons Shred]

I've been in a major stump the past 2 months. This happened to me once before for about the same amount of time. The past 2 months I've been super super busy and really haven't been dedicated to playing. I really feel as if I burned myself out from forcing myself to wake up at a certain time in the morning, practicing till X, and just revolving my day around "practicing".

Though I can tell that my chops are a bit rusty, I really can't help but feel better about myself and playing. I feel like some things tightened up and I feel like I have such a bigger appreciation for MUSIC as opposed to Guitar. I also feel like I've eliminated whatever bad habits I've had when it comes to picking or legato. If you're practicing the same exact thing over and over and over again, it's very hard to break that habit. If you walk away for it for a bit and come back, it's a bit easier.

Shawn Lane said he hated to practice, and that he'd only pick up the guitar if necessary but he spent most of his time listening to music and he felt it helped him. I think I can honestly agree with this. Though I don't advise ignoring guitar, I think I benifted from it a little bit.

Has anyone else ever been through something similar? A long guitar hiatus? Forgive my rambling, I'm just a bit excited about being excited to play guitar again.

[Endrik]

The biggest progress I made was when I played less and listened more. It was a real transition period. I used to play a lot and play really fast but I wasn't really going anywhere. I played in a band and had many big gigs but I wasn't satisfied with myself, I was searching for something. Then I got pretty sick and had to take time off, I had a lot of free time and instead of practicing scales for 10 hours a day I started listening to a lot of different music. The music was on 24/7. And I wasn't just listening to it, I paid a lot of attention to the nuances and all kinds of small details. I deconstructed music to little details to really understand what made it so good.

And not only I paid attention to the mechanical elements but to the things which are hard to describe. The emotions and how to express them. Music is a language and you really have to put everything you got inside into it to make it speak.
That's why seeing a video of Miles Davis performing at the Isle of Wight had a such a profound effect on me. The way how he expressed himself with his instruments was just mind blowing, you could see he didn't think about anything, his mind was totally out there and letting all the primal instincts and feelings come out. None of the rules and comfortable licks and shit like that really mattered. It was music in the purest form, the playing was there and it came straight from the heart.

And then I slowly started applying those discoveries into my playing. That's when I truly developed my tone and feel. That's when my music started to speak for me.
There's always something to improve but I'm happy that I can make every note count instead of just playing a bunch of organized shapes.

[toxikdeth]

Im actually kinda in one of those situations now
well actually im not on a guitar break ive just been listening to music alot more

[Cygnus X1]

Absolutely.
Working on technique is something I need to do.
And I do it at completely random times.
Hit the books and go for it (after warmup of course).
Whenever life gets in the way and I pick back up again, I find that time spent comes back, especially where I needed to change or grow.

Not something I do on purpose, it just happens.
Times when I am winding down, grilling, whenever I don't have something more important to do...I have a beater to play.
Don't care how it looks, it gives me the freedom to just play it!

Those are the times I think I have grown the most.
When it didn't really matter.

Edit to add: Take up keyboards also. It has helped me, along with just listening.
Endrik is right, but I have found watching the funniest comedians doesn't make me any funnier to listen to.
I already have a "style".
I just need to expand my vocabulary.

[Jacksons Shred]

Endrik, you really hit the nail on the head. I don't think I'm nearly as developed as you are, but I understand exactly what you're saying. Listening more and as Yng would say "Play with your ears". I think practicing scales so much put me on such a auto pilot, it did help with tons of stuff so I don't discourage it, but listening and REALLY listening has helped me so much. Thinking about what a guy is doing before going in and throwing down the shapes is extremely fun and helps so much. I was jamming today on some basic chord progressions and I really felt as if the guitar was truely singing for once. Instead of some little phrases here and there that I really liked, I felt as if I was hitting everything I was thinking of and it made me very happy.

Cyg, I've really been wanting to take up piano/keyboards. It seems like tons of fun!

I'm very glad I'm not alone on this one. I was really starting to worry about myself, going from 8-15 hours a day of pure practice to practically not playing for 2 months unless teaching was starting to worry me. Though my chops are rusty, my interest is through the roof and my appreciation and love for music is back and reminds me why I started playing guitar in the first place.

[Endrik]

I guess it's your transition period now. And it's a lot of fun because you are gonna discover so many cool things.
You are only gonna improve, from the videos I've seen you can really play and you got better each time. What's important is that your vibrato and stuff like that improved. That means you got what it takes and now it's going to be a cool journey, your creative side will grow.
The mechanical period is important too. It develops muscle memory. When you put the guitar down for a while you can easily get the chops back in shape pretty quickly because of that. You know how all the shit is done because you've done it all before.
After both of these periods there are no limits. There's a bunch of cool ideas coming out of you and you have the ability to pull it off. That's it.