Practice on vacation?

[CaptainLemming]

Hello All,

I'll be on vacation next week with no guitar. What have some of you done to keep learning while away? I thought of bringing some books of transcriptions (Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery) and studying those alongside the recordings. That should do it it, no?

I'd really hate to go to my next lesson, fresh off the plane, with that deer in a headlight look I'm famous for. Lol. Suffice it to say I'll call myself a student but only on my best days.

Thank you All!

[mr. beaumont]

Is this the type of vacation where you'll have a lot of free time to yourself?

I had to take a long drive last year, and while my wife slept I hooked up my phone to the AUX and sang solos over iReal tracks. She woke up at one point and thought I ha completely lost my mind.

[pingu]

take a little acoustic guitar with ….

i got mine for £120
its fine for practicing ….

ps
i just looked mine up and
the price has at least doubled

but you can still get these kind
of guitars for about £150

[pingu]

for a bit more money
the Yamaha APXT2 travel guitars
are good

[CaptainLemming]

Is this the type of vacation where you'll have a lot of free time to yourself?

I had to take a long drive last year, and while my wife slept I hooked up my phone to the AUX and sang solos over iReal tracks. She woke up at one point and thought I ha completely lost my mind.

Not the type where I'll be alone, but with my family. So, yes! I think this is a great idea. I've had a couple solos under my belt over the years, I think with the help of the transcriptions I could do this. Thank you!

This reminds me of a time when early on my teacher recommended I listen to tunes and count it out to find the first beat, time signature, etc. So my wife and I were driving to work together, I was driving, and mumbling (the counts), and she looked concerned. She asked if I was alright and said I that I was fine, just "looking for the one". I had to explain myself the rest of the ride that morning, as that didn't help her feel much better.

Thanks again.

[CaptainLemming]

for a bit more money
the Yamaha APXT2 travel guitars
are good

Thanks All, we'll be flying and are already packed to the gills, unfortunately. Maybe the next trip, with the right plannig.

[nyc chaz]

My advice would be just kick back and enjoy your vacation.It's good to get away from doing the same thing everyday.It can even spur the creative juices when you get back.I saw Larry Carlton in the 90's and he had just returned from a 6 week vacation.He said he hadn't touched the guitar at all until the day before before the concert.I've seen him numerous times and that show was the best and most free flowing i ever heard him.

[Mick-7]

for a bit more money the Yamaha APXT2 travel guitars are good

The travel/compact guitar idea has spawned an entire industry now:

Travel Guitars: https://tinyurl.com/fmxj3exs

Pocket Guitars: https://tinyurl.com/2rrv329w

[AllanAllen]

I agree with nyc chaz. Just enjoy your vacation, the year is long and vacation is short. Enjoy the break.

[DawgBone]

You won't be able to tell stories of carrying a guitar in a gunny sack when you come home again, sounds like a pretty boring vacation.

Whatever happened to "have guitar, will travel"?

[Marc Grossman]

I wouldn't take a guitar on a family or even individual vacation.

[Mick-7]

"You won't be able to tell stories of carrying a guitar in a gunny sack when you come home again"

That he played beneath a tree by the railroad track? Let's leave that to Chuck Berry.

[pamosmusic]

I used to bring my guitar on vacations.

then I burned out and stopped playing for three years.

now I don’t.

(okay fine I usually bring an acoustic guitar, but honestly I don’t really use it. Life is long. I work hard when I’m home. Breaks are good.)

[JazzPadd]

As a casual, non-working lover of jazz, when on vacations but not with a guitar, I run through tunes in real time in my mind, like an inner jukebox, imagining how I’d be playing them. It’s akin to scatting, but quieter. The Mrs. can tell when I’m doing it, so I’m attentive. But I do agree with others, enjoy your vacation!

[starjasmine]

Every time I've brought a guitar with me on vacation, it sat in the case unplayed... which is an indication that the vacation did what it was supposed to do: give me a complete change of scene with other things to do. So I stopped bringing guitars with me on vacations.

Are you vacationing in a spot where you can see live music? Seeing great players is always inspiring and educational. Get out and experience as much live music as you can.

Can you reschedule your lesson to take place a week after your return? You might have a good week of reinvigorated practice after getting back from your trip.

If rescheduling is not an option, and you really want to try to continue learning, try following lead sheets as you listen to tunes. (Assuming that reading standard notation is part of your practice; if not, never mind!)

Of course, there's a ton of good tutorial stuff online, too...

HTH

SJ

[jazznylon]

If I had to do something without the guitar I would pretty much just keep my fingers in shape by doing some of the exercises shown here (plus rasgueados)

There's also the 'Guitar Fretboard' app which have a Training mode locating notes and intervals.

You can also combine the two things I mentioned above alongside listening to music. Chewing gum probably aids in learning and memory as studies sometimes show. Might as well sleep with the metronome on too maybe that'll help

Smelling Rosemarys while awake and asleep is a good thing for memory retention.

What else... oh yeah apparently looking at the color green helps with creativity.

And finally... walking backwards. Might seem overkill but I read it helps with learning as well

[starjasmine]

Classical guitarist Rey de la Torre suggested in his masterclass to use your left hand on your right forearm as a substitute for the guitar neck when you want to practice fingerings away from the guitar. Great whenever you have a few minutes as you are waiting for the bus, standing in line at the bank, etc.

[J.C.]

For me, vacations are to get away and do things you don't normally get to do at home. I don't take my guitar on vacations, but I usually do start missing it after about three days. By the time I get home, I can't wait to pick it up again...toughen them calluses back up.

[pauln]

Consulted for a project, flew to Idaho and
back to Texas, every week, for six months.
I played violin to keep my fingers in shape.

[DawgBone]

"You won't be able to tell stories of carrying a guitar in a gunny sack when you come home again"

That he played beneath a tree by the railroad track? Let's leave that to Chuck Berry.

Don't be such a killjoy. I'd busk or gig on my vacation just to help cover the drink tab.

[Tone Deaf Tony]

I bring a tiny guitar and even though I may not even unzip the bag, knowing it's there keeps me in a mindset where I'm not anxious about not having it. There's a mindset I have that keeps me in a musical space.
I don't know what level you're at so it's hard to comment on what might help you find an aspect of your musicality even when you're without a guitar.
Because you asked your OP, I'll assume that it's a serious question and you want to take your music seriously. Well, for me at least, the time I spend with my guitar IS my vacation. It's the balance of thought, imagination, creative process, meditative enjoyment, connecting with the world around me. Many of those things can be "kept on the back burner" even without a guitar.

If I had the luxury of free time and no pressure, I might bring or make a list of things that I feel weak on and find a non guitar way to practice:
Ear training-I might listen to background music, at a restaurant, in the market, on the radio, and identify the intervals by number or by do re me. Knowing the notes by sound, on the fly, is invaluable and neglected by too many teachers.
Mapping the fingerboard-One time I was on vacation and I took a blank piece of paper and wrote out the notes by number and made a map of the fingerboard. I was SHOCKED at how many gaps and connections I wasn't even aware of because my fingers were always calling the notes through kinesthetic habit. When I actually wrote the notes down, I could see how easy it was to play a melody across several strings, make octave jumps and shift from one position to another...visually. When I got back to the guitar, I felt like I knew it, and melody in a more informed way.
Harmonic identification-when you hear a tune, are you aware of the relative movement of the chords? Can you listen to a tune and easily identify the VI- chord within it? Do you know what a IV chord means? This awareness is key to playing Off Book, and when you can feel and intuit root movement, you can play more fluidly and with greater confidence.
Will you be walking? Do you have a vocabulary of rhythm and phrases? Your steps are a metronome. When you tap rhythms, you are learning to FEEL the music. This kind of feeling can take your playing to the next level because you aren't derailed by what your fingers are doing; you're establishing the rhythms that drive a good solo.
Look at clouds. Look at the movement of people. Look at light at different times of the day. Think about the fact that there are rhythms and there are ways dynamic life interacts with other things. Imagine how this translates to reading a chart or hearing a bar, or a tonal block, as movement within a block. You may not be thinking of these things in your "practice time" but if you want to learn to think and play with flow, these ways of thinking are things that you will become aware of...and practicing with too much focus when you're playing, might very well interfere with.

Know that playing and creating music is a dynamic act that takes many levels of comfort. Know that in the end, it's about feeling the joy of playing; a balance of what you know and what you feel. Knowing that enjoying yourself is only natural when your ears and eyes are open to the world around you.
And practice enjoying yourself. Bring the love back to your practice room.

[frabarmus]

Practice on vacation? Forget it! It's like walking on a very wet&slippery floor. I'll practice harder and better when I return from vacation. Anyway, last vacation I've had was in 2008!

[Jimmy blue note]

I was on my honeymoon. We'd had a long and unconventionally close friendship for many years. We decided to travel the British Isles on a BritRail pass and never plan any destination that didn't feel right.
So we wound up at the northern end of the train line, Skye bound, our back packs and my guitar. There was a hotel there and I got into a conversation with the owner. He asked if I'd like to play there for food and lodging.
I learned two things that day: I'm glad I had my guitar. I married the right girl.
We had the gig of a lifetime, met the bagpipers who had returned from a festival, met great people and played for pure fun, and got paid in the same spirit. That's the vacation I'll remember.

[darkwaters]

Practice on vacation? Absolutely not. I’m too busy seeing the sights and enjoying myself; and, most importantly, I’ll be with Ms. darkwaters, who’d be utterly heartbroken if I did that. I will bring a light tension Grip Master to keep my hand strength up. Nothing wrong with taking a refreshing break.

[pamosmusic]

Practice on vacation? Absolutely not. I’m too busy seeing the sights and enjoying myself; and, most importantly, I’ll be with Ms. darkwaters, who’d be utterly heartbroken if I did that. I will bring a light tension Grip Master to keep my hand strength up. Nothing wrong with taking a refreshing break.

Okay I’ve seen this thing pop up before and I have to admit it strikes me as an awful idea … I mean … wouldn’t this be tension city?