Frustration Is Part Of It

Yep, sometimes it's better to put the guitar down and back away, hands in the air and go walk the dog... (sorry about your sore neck, though)

Originally Posted by: pointmanrb

Growing pains suck. One of ' those ' days. First, walking the dog and he saw an enemy and the unexpected jerk left me with a stiff neck. Not good for a newbie who still looks at his hands. But I decided that's a good thing as I'll just keep going without looking. That worked ok. Just barely but a good lesson. Then decided to put a pick guard on the guitar since I noticed some marks. Now it could be my imagination but the sound seemed to change. Took the guard off and fought to remove all the sticky. Aargh !! Does sound better like it used to.

Practice was horrible as I just couldn't seem to get anything right when changing chords. The sound quality was like it went back to the second week of the journey.

Put the guitar back in the case and walked away. That's needed from time to time.

So, there's my ' poor pitful me ' rant for the day. It's growing pains, but it sucks !!

In addition to my knees going to heck, over the last few months, I've had a stiff neck that was just b out the same as yours I would wager. No idea why, but it was really stiff. On top of the that, I have a recurring issue with my wrist/index/pinkie (that is not carpal tunnel). Long story but it happens once in a while. Granted, I've been playing for a long time and time away is not really time lost in the same way it is for someone just starting out.

I think taking a little time away in't a bad thing, so long as the heart grows fonder and you're compelled to come back and play. Frustration never makes for a good player. If you're boddy is saying no, listen. You did.

I hadn't played for a few weeks until a day ago. Last night I had the jones to learn a new song and worked on Steely Dan's Josie. Had I not let my hands recover, I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.