Increased shred-speed after months of not practising?

[Adam_7773]

Sometimes I get lazy and put my guitar down for periods of a couple of months, during which I don't practice at all. When I pick up the guitar again for some goold old shred, I find that I am actually able to play faster than I did during my practising-regime a couple of months earlier. Has anyone else experienced this?

I wonder what causes it... must be something about how the muscles in the fingers work, or something. Maybe one can put this into some kind of system and use it to get better and better! :)

[Grep]

Just a thought, and maybe totally wrong. But maybe you're accumulating tensions in your playing as you practice a lot, thus slowing you down. When you come back after a while, you've forgotten the practiced tension, and play more effortlessly.

Could that be the reason? From what I know about learning, practicing and tension in general, that would seem to make sense.

Grep.

[EricV]

Must be something like that, yeah. It´s a common "phenomenon"... a lot of people have that, where they don´t play for a couple of days (or longer), and when they pick up the guitar again, they play faster (or feel like it) and a bit more relaxed.
Usually, that effect disappears after a little while. Don´t think it would be a good idea to turn that into a strategy, though. "Quit playing and become a true virtuoso that way!" =)
Eric

[Adam_7773]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

Yeah, I was curious to see if this was only in my head, so actually clocked myself with a metronome, and I actually manage playing at faster speeds, though marginally, with less effort.

[eastwood]

:p Must be something like that, yeah. It´s a common "phenomenon"... a lot of people have that, where they don´t play for a couple of days (or longer), and when they pick up the guitar again, they play faster (or feel like it) and a bit more relaxed.
Usually, that effect disappears after a little while. Don´t think it would be a good idea to turn that into a strategy, though. "Quit playing and become a true virtuoso that way!" =)
Eric

Oh Eric thats so true, I spent a week in Dusseldorf last week and I took a beat up telecaster with me. To be honest I would have been better off if I hadnt bothered at all as its so radically different to an ESP super strat type thing.

But 1st day back warming up was hard work and maybe took me 2 days to get back to where I left off.
But initially after the warm up, things felt 'quicker' but as you mentioned they seem to wear off.

But the Mrs (whos there 100% of the time when I play) never noticed any difference apart from that she said I sounded not so much like 'Daz' :p

Daz

[Revenant]

I bought an Ibanez acoustic steel string guitar aobut three weeks ago. The strings on my LTD-M1000 electric had broken and I couldn't get myself downtown to get new ones.
So I played only acoustic for three weeks. It was a rough transfer,
However, when returning to electric I was surprised to say the least.
My first bend almost broke the high E string. I thought "whoa! this is like bending jelly!" but after a few hours I was in control. Then, my speed at the electric had increased tenfold from the resistance training provided b the acoustic.
You should try it :)

[EricV]

Yeah, a lot of players recommend to do at least some practicing on a steelstring in between. I do that myself, and it´s quite helpful IMO. Sure have to readjust regarding bending, but I also like to work on picking etc. on the steelstring...

Eric

[joeyd929]

Not sure why but everytime I switch to accoustic for a few days the electric is a breeze to play...Someone told me it's not a good idea but if it works why not??

Guess it is the same concept with baseball players....ever notice when they practice batting they hold two bats? If they can swing two bats then one is a piece of cake..same Idea probably..

[forgottenking2]

The main reason why some people are against this practice (switching to higher tension/action instrument) is for the inceased risk of RSI (Andrew Green is one of the preachers against this). On the other hand, guys like Jody Fisher swear by it, he has an exercise where you play the 1234 sequence very slowly using "maximum pressure" to build the strength of your hand. I think it comes to knowing yourself. In my case, since I already have a story of injury and the cold (well, it's not that cold in Texas but it's colder than usual) weather is getting the better of me, I find it better to play little and do other type of work (ear training, score writting etc) and build up my stamina in the spring and summer, hopefully it'll get to were it's completely healed.

So do what you think works best but pay attention to what your body is telling you.

Good luck,

-Jorge

[EricV]

Yeah, I can perfectly understand that switching to a "higher tension instrument" may be a risk regarding injuries. However, if you make it a common thing, it should be ok. I constantly switch between an acoustic with 11s and electric guitars (usually with 8ths), and even though I may do less major 3rd bends on the acoustic (:)), I never had a problem
Eric