Rest???

Hey fellas,

I wanted to get your guys take on rest, meaning taking a day or two break and not playing at all. I've been playing for 8 months now, I've been completely obsessed, playing at least a couple hours every day. But a couple weeks ago I had a really bad flu, and I couldn't play for 2 days. When I picked up my guitar again, it felt like I was better out of nowhere. Then I realized it might have been because my hands were fresh and not sore at all.

Now that I've been playing every day again, right now I notice my left hand (fretting hand) is extremely sore, especially in the middle of my fingers and in between them. But I practice speed exercises, spider exercises, arpeggios, etc a lot.. basically stuff that's really demanding on my fretting hand.

So maybe I need to take a day break, like every week or every other week?

Any input would be appreciated!

~Rusty

I have dealt with similar things in the past, and although it's tough, I highly recommend resting if you are feeling consistent pain. Discomfort can quickly lead to fairly serious issues that could potentially take you out of the game for weeks or months. Just like training muscles, your hands and fingers need time to adjust. It's never a good idea to try running a marathon after sitting on the couch eating Cheetos (which are delicious) for a decade. Slow, steady progress will beat a flat out sprint nearly every time. Take some rest days and don't push you speed work and spiders to the limit all of the time.

Now I just need to take my own advice...!!

I forgot to add that one very likely reason that you felt better after a few days away from the guitar is that your brain had time to process the things that you had been learning. Muscle memory takes time to imprint on your nervous system. As with nearly any learning, short, focused sessions beat out marathon sessions a great majority of the time.

Originally Posted by: voncanoI forgot to add that one very likely reason that you felt better after a few days away from the guitar is that your brain had time to process the things that you had been learning. Muscle memory takes time to imprint on your nervous system. As with nearly any learning, short, focused sessions beat out marathon sessions a great majority of the time.

'Tis true!

Making this discovery on my own led me to the conclusion that if I never practiced I'd be a rock god! ;)

I know it's so hard to not play for a day! I don't know why the guitar is so addicting, but it is. Maybe I'll just do picking exercises while I let my left hand rest. That'll let me get around this whole "take a break" notion...

For me, if I wait a couple days, I find the magic returns, but if I wait any longer than that, then I feel sloppy or like I am slowly loosing my chops.

Picking up on the marathon analogy, once you are in shape to run a marathon, you don't need to run one every single to remain in that shape. Shure you need to run to keep in shape, but not a marathon.

Also, when you train, one day you might lift and some light cardio, the next heavy cardio and light lifting, the next a long bike ride. Your guitar practice should be like that too - add variety and don't be going full tilt every time. Concentrate on speed one day with a bit of theory. The next day, maybe have a long theory session and just do a few speed runs to keep things limber...and so on.

Variety will also keep you from burning out.