last 2 days I have no will power to learn.

I've seen a lot of your messages where you talk about your practice schedule and to me it sounds grueling. Keep in mind, we "play" music, we don't "work" music. This is supposed to be fun, a hobby shouldn't have schedules. I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't practice or have goals to reach, that's a way of motivating yourself and to keep moving forward. But keep it realistic and don't get upset if you don't meet your goal or you don't feel like practicing on Tuesday night and you watch "Wipeout" on TV instead (I'm not a fan of TV in general, but damn that show is hilarious).

Some nights, I don't touch my guitar but I've had nights where I played for 3 hours. I had a weekend a few weeks ago where I played for a total of about 7 hours Saturday and 5 or 6 on Sunday. I went to work Monday and tried to avoid typing words with letters on the left side of the keyboard cause my fingers were so sore (and I have callouses built up). This week, I've barely played at all, mostly because I got a new dog last week and she has been taking a lot of my time. That little break has got me rarin' to play this weekend.

You need breaks every so often, otherwise you'll treat it like a job and you'll get bored. Another thing about setting goals and motivation is to find someone to jam with. I've learned through my work the value of having someone else to be accountable to. I manage a team of software developers and if everyone is working on their own project and they don't make daily commitments to each other, things don't get done very fast (or not at all with one particular individual). But when we all work on one project and meet every morning and they each say "I'm going to get X done today", most of the time they get it done and if they don't, they know they'll have to explain why to the team. So if you've got somebody you can jam with weekly or monthly or whatever, y'all can pick a couple of songs and you'll be more likely to learn them because you made a commitment to your partner. And learning songs is a lot more fun than learning scales (you still need to learn them, but focus on the song first, then the scales will follow).

Two days isn't really long enough to tell - could be anything from a change in the weather to general ennui, or boredom. Possibly working on the same things over and over again will do that.....try and vary your practise routine, try something a little different.

Ballybiker's advice is sound enough - a break for a couple of days or so, you'll come back refreshed and eager to pick the guitar up again. However, it wouldn't work for ME - I'm one of those people who'll work and work at something till I get it right, I just can't leave a problem unsolved or a crossword unfinished. So in my case, I wouldn't put the guitar down - I'd play more, if anything - normal practise, plus extra time working on whatever's giving me a problem.

You wouldn't see a sportsman take a couple of days off from training now would you? Granted, there's no regular season for guitar playing - but even if you're an amateur guitarist, a little professionalism, a little self-discipline, and structured practise goes a long way.

If you approach guitar playing in an amateur fashion, your playing will sound amateurish - but if you approach it in a professional manner, you'll sound a lot less amateurish!

That's my opinion, for what it's worth.....

:D :D :D

Vic

Sounds like you are dealing with a lot of stressful, emotional things right now, so distraction from guitar sounds pretty normal. Shooting aliens might be a better stress reliever right now. :D

2 days? I've gone for months without wanting to practice. Not that I didn't pick up the guitar now and then, but hey, life intrudes sometimes. Don't worry about it. As long as you pick it up again and play you'll be alright.

I'm always nervous about taking breaks. Several times in the past, it turned into 1/2 year breaks. I joined this forum in something like '03. Those 4 1/2 years have probably meant 2 1/2 years of playing. take time for getting back into things 3-5 times and I've made the progress of a 1-2 year veteran.

I guess my point, as obscure as it appears, is that be careful of the breaks. None of us here want to see you let your guitars collect dust and see hours and hours of work go down the crapper. Find a niche in your life for guitars that allows you to also enjoy other fruits of life and you win!

Sounds like you are dealing with a lot of stressful, emotional things right now, so distraction from guitar sounds pretty normal. Shooting aliens might be a better stress reliever right now. :DBut wouldn't this be a good time to write a new song JW? While one is stressed out kind of?

Possibly, although I find that I usually write better about something stressful after the stress has passed. I have more insight into the situation and can write more nuanced lyrics. When I write in the middle of stress, they are usually angry and one dimensional. The song I recently posted on the songwriter club area is about my 2nd wife, but I didn't write it until almost 2 years after the divorce. That's what works for me, your mileage may vary.

I think Jumpin' Jack Flash is in Open D. That's a fun and fairly easy song.

Yeah Derek, learn something else. You mentioned Def Lep in another thread. Learn a couple of riffs.....for fun. Widen your pallette. Always a good thing to keep boredom out. Hell, learn some strummy songs that you can just sit back and dink with while watching TV or something. It takes me 1/2 hour to play Maggie May as I don't want to disturb my wife's TV experience, but it beats the hell out of commercials. I feel kind of naked without it.

It's all about balance, and will need adjustments made from time to time.

almost every song on the dylan album "blood on the tracks" was originally written in open e or open d with a capo.
shelter from the storm is probably the easiest to play, and one of my favorite songs. it's chords are fingered 054000 044000 020120 which are d, dmaj7, and g, then back to d. a lot of the songs on that album use little descending patterns on the 5th (standard tuning 'a') string.

I picked up my guitar 3 weeks ago after a 8 month break. I just had too much else on my mind. To my surpise I retained a lot of what I had learned in the past two years of practicing/playing.

Sounds like life is happening to me, no biggie. Besides I don't recall there ever being rules saying you couldn't take a break from playing guitar, well I hope there isn't any. :)

Would you guys recommend an easy song to learn in standard or in Open D? or not mess witht he guitar for a few days?

"Happy" by the Rolling Stones is one of David's lessons. "Shelter From The Storm" is in Easy Songs, as is "Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealer's Wheel (I know because I tabbed that one out!) and they're all in open D. As for a Dmaj7 chord - in standard tuning it's xx0222 or 200222, in open D it's easy enough to play as 044000 or even 040000.

And as for easy songs in standard tuning - pretty much the rest of the Easy Song Database is chock full of 'em!

:D :D :D

Vic

I took a two year break once...bad idea.
I took a two day break....much better idea.

playing your guitar should be a release from the pressures in your life now.
don't bother trying to study/learn something. just pick it up and play for the fun of it.
no pressure. major returns.

then put it away and don't think about it.

deal with life for a while.

I think Jumpin' Jack Flash is in Open D. That's a fun and fairly easy song.

According to my guitar magazine tab, it's Open E.

I think Jumpin' Jack Flash is in Open D. That's a fun and fairly easy song.

According to my guitar magazine tab, it's Open E.

Doesn't really matter - if you're in open D already, stick a capo on the 2nd fret. Simple as that.

Open D - D A D F# A D...root, fifth, root, third, fifth, root.
Open E - E B E G# B E....root, fifth, root, third, fifth, root.

:D :D :D

Vic