The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Anyone here ever take a break from playing? Like an athlete or someone on vacation? I haven't played in almost a week. I don't feel like playing. I've just been enjoying time with the family and doing work around the house. I feel like a normal person who comes home from work and does whatever. I have not done this in a long time.
    Last edited by Kman; 10-17-2011 at 10:08 PM.

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  3. #2

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    I've done a week, but that's about my limit, and that doesn't happen often. Once every couple of years maybe. And it's not because I don't feel like it, I usually just don't have time.
    I'm a contractor/carpenter by day, and sometimes I just get caught up with work. Long work days or physically taxing work, where I'm just too tired at the end of the day. Sometimes I have bids to write up in the evenings, or billing.
    I also do the major repair work for our local guitar shop in the evenings and on weekends. Fretwork, neck resets etc. So that gets into my time.
    Usually, after one of these breaks, my chops go downhill but my creativity goes uphill. Not necessarily a bad thing.

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kman
    Anyone here ever take a break from playing? Like an athlete or someone on vacation? I haven't played in almost a week. I don't feel like playing. I've just been enjoying time with the family and doing work around the house. I feel like a normal person who comes home from work and does whatever. I have not done this in a long time.
    Whatever works is fine. I'm at the opposite especially since becoming a member here. Obession. There is tons of awesome stuff that's feeding my obsession and helping my playing. Matt's generous sharing is giving me loads to work with. Good luck with your hiatus. You'll probably come back with a new outlook when you're ready.

  5. #4

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    I believe it´s healthy to take a breake once in a while.

    I once read about how people fainted to classical concerts back in Beethovens time, not because they were hysterical, but because back then, you didn´t hear music all the time, so the impact was so much stronger.

    To day we listen to music all the time, at home, in the supermarket in the radio at work, an to some extend it must limit our abillity to really listen and appreciate the music.

    So sometimes i´m taking a break, were i not only doesn´t play, i also try not to listen to music. When i come back to my guitar, i can truely appreciate my own playing, simple chords and scales really resonates inside me when i´m playing.

    The same goes for chocolate.

  6. #5

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    I once was away for a month without a guitar (deep in the Surinamese jungle, I kid you not :-).When I got home and picked up my guitar, it felt so fresh and wonderful and I could indeed enjoy the simplest sound of just a ringing low E-string..... So yeah, I guess it's helathy to take a break every now and then, but I'll admit I haven't done that since.....

  7. #6

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    I only take a break when I have to- like a vacation where I can't bring a guitar. And I often end up wishing I had a guitar during my downtime.

  8. #7

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    There are some times where I don't play for a day or tow, but beyond that is a rarity. Like others have said, usually because I'm super busy with other stuff.

    For instance, this evening I've decided to not practice before my lesson, because I have a paper to write (the early history of printed music in France, for those of you dying to know). But after I spend 90 minutes with my instructor I'll go home and shed for another couple of hours.

    I don't remember the exact quote or who said it, but it goes something like this: "If I don't practice for a day, I can tell the difference. If I don't practice for two days, my wife can hear the difference. If I don't practive for three days, the audience can tell the difference!"

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by FatJeff
    If I don't practice for two days, my wife can hear the difference. If I don't practive for three days, the audience can tell the difference!"
    Louis Armstrong.
    Last edited by Extrapolation; 10-18-2011 at 04:22 PM.

  10. #9

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    Well, I played last night for the first time in about ten days. I played just fine. I played clear and with some good structure. My ears seemed a little more focused too. I can't wait to play again tonight and get back into everything. A break was good I think.

  11. #10

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    Yeah, every now and then I take a couple of days off. I get information overload or once in a great while sore fingers. Either way it helps the brain process and keeps me sharper in the end.

  12. #11

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    When it stops being fun and rewarding, it becomes a chore. If it's a chore for too long, you'll stop doing it altogether. The syndrome is called burnout and is a very real, very destructve thing. It's a good thing to take a break once in a while so you don't begin to hate the guitar. For a hobby, besides the guitar, I'm an aviation and automotive large scale model maker. I put so much detail into a model that it makes me nuts and is no longer a fun hobby but a chore that I "have to do". By taking periodic breaks now and then, it kills the burnout and makes it so I can build again. Same thing with the guitar. Don't fret over taking a break. Get it? Don't fret? -------------


    Chirp-------------chirp--------

  13. #12

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    Since I started playing 5 years ago, I have not taken a break for more than 2 or 3 days. It is borderline obsession with me at times so I have to monitor my feelings about playing. I have lofty goals and am fighting Father Time, so I feel I can't let guitar playing go for too long or I may regress.

    Not to hijack the tread, but what has amazed me is that I have met and heard of several individuals who walked away from the guitar after many years of playing. They spent all that time building a great skill, and then let it go.

    I am learning this because I plan to use it in my golden years.

  14. #13

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    I honestly think if I stopped playing altogether, i'd die.

    Longest I ever did was 10 days on my honeymoon. It wasn't until the flight home that I realized how much I missed it really, but that was a honeymoon...I've had trips for two or three days since then and I've been itching.

    Not that there haven't been times when I should have put the guitar down and walked away for a bit.

  15. #14

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    I think ol' Willie Dixon said it right, even if he wasn't talking about guitar.

    "Well, I can't quit you baby, but I got to put you down for awhile"

  16. #15

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    i believe you mean led zeppelin good sir

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Space Pickle
    i believe you mean led zeppelin good sir
    You are showing your age, spacepickle.

    Otis Rush recorded it first, and it was written by Willie Dixon in 1956.

    It is amazing how many blues songs that were originally American, were redone by different British groups (and more modern American ones for that matter) - and became big hits!

    Getting back to the thread's subject - the guitar never gets old to me, so I never need a break. But I am sure some life-changing event could shift my focus away for a moment or two, but that's what it would take right now (at this point in my maturity).

    G'Day!

  18. #17

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    I think pickle's post was intended to be a bit tongue in cheek.

    Besides, i'd rather listen to the zep stuff they didn't rip off, like "dazed and confused" and the intro to "stairway to heaven."

  19. #18

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    If anyone ever tries my guitar and plays the intro to Stairway, I immediately remove it from his/her possession. They never get to play my guitar EVER !!

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    I think pickle's post was intended to be a bit tongue in cheek.
    Ha Ha. Then 'Pickle got me!
    Good one! Ha! Ha!

  21. #20

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    indeed

  22. #21

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    "Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire." -Walt Whitman

    Yes, you are certain Walt Whitman said that. One hundred percent positive.

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by =DK=
    "Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire." -Walt Whitman

    Yes, you are certain Walt Whitman said that. One hundred percent positive.

    We'll probably see Brett Farve come back soon. Great quote.

  24. #23

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    When I choose to have a day off I end up working most of the day in a half assed in a "should I or shouldn't" state and get a 3rd as much done. A real day off might be better if (I had something to do). When it's planned there's momentum, I can work from morning till night with no reluctunce.