How long will it take to regain my ability?

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Hey guys!

I'm on a skiing trip in Colorado and I dont have my guitar! I'm extremly worreid that after a week when I get back I'll lose alot of my skill

how long will it take to regain my skill?

Sidenote I practiced about 5 hours a day every day and when I return I will play the same ammount as before!

Help me!?!?

[Malcolm]

As soon as you get back go straight for your guitar, let's see you have been away for one week, IMO you will regain your skill level in 4 and 1/2 minutes.

[MusicMadMax]

I'd go one step further and say that the break from playing might do you some good and you'll play better when you get back.

[TheAristocrat]

I'm with Max, that's what happens to me. Once you reach a level you don't just lose that skill. After many years of not playing violin, I slipped back into the groove inside a few days.

[fingerpikingood]

you never lose the skill the brain part. and even the break away can stimulate creativity because you get out of your groove, and also physical ability as your body rests and recuperates.

but too long away, and you will lose strength. it's like anything. if you want to compete in the olympics, you need to be in top physical shape, you can't just take months off and expect to be back where you were right away. you lose some muscle power. but the commands your brain sends to your muscles comes back real quick.

so it depends on how much you are conditionned how much a few months will take off. if you're casual player you won't lose too much. i took a really long time off guitar, it took me a few months to get back where i was.

one week, as stated above, will not hinder you, in fact, it will likely improve you.

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Originally Posted by MusicMadMax

I'd go one step further and say that the break from playing might do you some good and you'll play better when you get back.

Thanks guys!! I was worried a little but now I feel better

and yeah! I've noticed that it can help! I was sick a day and I was unable to play, the next day when I went down I found I was playing so much better! Thanks guys! Also on a side note is there anything I can do to help when I don't have my guitar? I've been reading music but is there anything else?

[Crossroads]

Originally Posted by Mikeman9412@gma

Thanks guys!! I was worried a little but now I feel better
and yeah! I've noticed that it can help! I was sick a day and I was unable to play, the next day when I went down I found I was playing so much better! Thanks guys! Also on a side note is there anything I can do to help when I don't have my guitar? I've been reading music but is there anything else?

One thing I do, is to play through scales and modes in my mind (ie without the guitar) - just sit quietly, relax (say in bed before going to sleep), and imagine the scale patterns on the fretboard ... in your head, go through all the interconnecting patterns.

Eventually the aim is to go to any note anywhere on the fretboard, name the note to yourself, and then start playing any scale or any arp in any interval pattern from there. Ie, so that you are not merely starting a well known scale from it's root note, but instead starting your chosen scale from any note within the scale (or even from a note outside the scale, ie as a passing tone), and then playing any intervalic pattern within any of the interconnecting patterns anywhere on the neck.

To make that more musical or meaningful, I do it for specific chord progressions. Eg, suppose I have a song which starts with the chords AbMaj7 - Gmin7 - Cmin7 - G7#5 - C#13sus, then maybe I'd want to imagine playing Ab-Lydian over the Ab-Maj chord, G-Nat.min over the Gmin7, C-Dorian over Cmin7, then Ab-Melodic minor over G7#(5), and B.Ma7arp over the C#13sus chord.

Anyone who's got to the end of Scott Henderson'd DVD may notice where I got that approach from - at the end of the DVD he plays over quite a complex tune called Peru. If you watch him as he plays through the examples over each chord, then you see he usually begins playing off a note in the middle of his chosen scale (often a root note, but not always).

So to play as fluently as he does, it seemed to me it's necessary to know all your scales and arps so well that you can instantly create a musical phrase from any note in the scale or arp anywhere on the neck (not just from a well known scale pattern in a specific position). The "musical" bit is down to you! (you probably need the guitar for that, to hear the sounds).

Another thing you can try (again in your mind), which is not quite so demanding, is to play scales up and down one single string (say the top-E string to start with), in any intervalic pattern (ie again not necessarily starting from the root note). And then do the same thing but switching between two adjacent strings (eg playing the same scale, but moving between E and B strings). Etc.

Again, anyone who's read the first few pages of Mick Goodrick's book will recognise that idea.

In both cases, the idea (obviously) is to make you really fluent with numerous scales/modes and arps over appropriate chords. So that, as Henderson says "it's instant recall, like if you see the colour red, then instantly you say "boom, it's red!").

Ian.

[Mikeman9412@gma]

Thanks! I'll try those! That brings up another point though...

I'm stuck starting on the root of a scale!

I mean I can sometimes just start in other places but mostly I always start on the root!

Any way to break this habbit? Or like learn to start in different places!

Btw i've memorized all the scales so once I start playing them I can do just fine but it's that first note that always seems to be the root!

[walternewton]

Originally Posted by Mikeman9412@gma

Also on a side note is there anything I can do to help when I don't have my guitar?

I'm probably chiming in too late - but my suggestion would be to relax, enjoy your week of vacation, and listen to some music...