Starting again from scratch?

littlegreenman

Not really sure why I'm posting this at all. If I want back on the horse just do it, right?

Long story short; about 5 years ago I stopped playing pretty much overnight. Tendonitis, tinnitus and a break up all collided at once and I haven't really played since.

I'm feeling like I really want to get back to playing now though. Started to do some beginner's exercises and chord swaps to get the fingers moving again, but I'm holding off my old practice routine as it's probably too much (I used to swear by the Vai 30 hour routine!).

Anyone else had an extended lay-off? And how did you get back into it?

designerseye88

I went to uni back in 2007 and stopped playing for the next 10 years except for the occasional strum. Back in march 2017 i bought a new guitar and 6 months later i joined a band. 

Buying the new guitar started what is now an obsession with buying guitars (although I'm on a hiatus right now form buying). Joining a band was the best thing for me. It made me practice and aim for something, and i started to learn songs i never would have. 

sweepy

I stopped for a couple of years back in the late 80’s as as my style of playing was in no way blues or rock based and it limited me in playing out as I was a stubborn bugger and didn’t want to compromise. I caught Go West with Alan Murphy on the Tube and it opened up a way to use the legato technique I’d slaved over in my Holdsworth days and get back into it and the rest has been downhill

digitalscream

I stopped playing for about 10 years after I left university - I just had more important things to concentrate on, what with a wife and a kid and starting a career etc. I got back into it when I bought the green N4, and pretty much immediately got into a band and...yeah, that's been that since about 2006.

To be honest, though, I'm getting pissed off with musicians being unreliable asshats (along with everybody else I've had to deal with in the industry in my capacity as a band member), and I'm considering knocking it all on the head for good. I can't stand playing covers - it bores me to death - and the originals scene in this country is just plain broken and pointless. If I do take a break for another 10 years, I'll be way too old for anyone to take me seriously playing the music I like (if I'm not already), so that's basically guaranteed to be the end of it.

Currently trying to decide whether I'll be able to make peace with that in myself.

Kittyfrisk

"...I'm getting pissed off with musicians being unreliable asshats " 
So you thought interacting with loads more of them on a forum was a good idea because.... ?  

Roland

I stopped for eleven years while we went through the young children/career/house thing. Getting back to playing was interesting because my brain knew what to do, but my fingers weren’t doing it. After two weeks my dexterity started to return. It’s was then a steady progression, picking up when I’d left off. I’ve never been one for exercises, preferring to work out what the song needs and then practice that, so I didn’t have a practice regime to return to.

littlegreenman

digitalscream said:

I stopped playing for about 10 years after I left university - I just had more important things to concentrate on, what with a wife and a kid and starting a career etc. I got back into it when I bought the green N4, and pretty much immediately got into a band and...yeah, that's been that since about 2006.

To be honest, though, I'm getting pissed off with musicians being unreliable asshats (along with everybody else I've had to deal with in the industry in my capacity as a band member), and I'm considering knocking it all on the head for good. I can't stand playing covers - it bores me to death - and the originals scene in this country is just plain broken and pointless. If I do take a break for another 10 years, I'll be way too old for anyone to take me seriously playing the music I like (if I'm not already), so that's basically guaranteed to be the end of it.

Currently trying to decide whether I'll be able to make peace with that in myself.

@digitalscream ;I remember the green N4 from the MR jam somewhere near Brum back in the day, 200- and something. Tiny little thing as I recall, but then again only a tad smaller than my JS1000.

Was a pretty regular contributor to the forum jams back then. It was from those forums I got back into it after an earlier hiatus, having previously given up precisely due to not wanting to do covers.

I'm sure once I dust off the guitars and DAW and start composing again it'll be OK, so why do I have this fear of diving back in I wonder?

professorben

digitalscream said:

I stopped playing for about 10 years after I left university - I just had more important things to concentrate on, what with a wife and a kid and starting a career etc. I got back into it when I bought the green N4, and pretty much immediately got into a band and...yeah, that's been that since about 2006.

To be honest, though, I'm getting pissed off with musicians being unreliable asshats (along with everybody else I've had to deal with in the industry in my capacity as a band member), and I'm considering knocking it all on the head for good. I can't stand playing covers - it bores me to death - and the originals scene in this country is just plain broken and pointless. If I do take a break for another 10 years, I'll be way too old for anyone to take me seriously playing the music I like (if I'm not already), so that's basically guaranteed to be the end of it.

Currently trying to decide whether I'll be able to make peace with that in myself.

People take you seriously?     

professorben

digitalscream said:

I stopped playing for about 10 years after I left university - I just had more important things to concentrate on, what with a wife and a kid and starting a career etc. I got back into it when I bought the green N4, and pretty much immediately got into a band and...yeah, that's been that since about 2006.

To be honest, though, I'm getting pissed off with musicians being unreliable asshats (along with everybody else I've had to deal with in the industry in my capacity as a band member), and I'm considering knocking it all on the head for good. I can't stand playing covers - it bores me to death - and the originals scene in this country is just plain broken and pointless. If I do take a break for another 10 years, I'll be way too old for anyone to take me seriously playing the music I like (if I'm not already), so that's basically guaranteed to be the end of it.

Currently trying to decide whether I'll be able to make peace with that in myself.

I took a 6 year break from playing in bands, only playing occasionally at home for the benefit of the cat. 

Tbh did me the power of good, I stopped really caring about ‘making it’ or even what ever people thought ( or what I thought they thought) about the music I played, I rejoined a band I played with as a 17yr old, about a year ago (21 years after I was with them) and I’m having an absolute blast, playing music I enjoy, two fingers up to any one that thinks we are a joke (we are) and I’ve literally never had so much fun playing music, either gigs or rehearsals. 

I play music for me, if others enjoy it that’s cool, if not, fuck em. 

Grumpyrocker

I stopped playing much around 2002. Had a hectic (though not happy) social life and some of the things that happened resulted in me turning back on guitar for a while. And while after that I noodled occasionally but the death of my wife in 2007 and suddenly caring for newborn twins alone pushed guitar right to the back of my mind.

It was a few years later when I met someone new that I was encouraged to pick up the guitar again. I was asked to play in a band that was playing a large wedding. I went from hardly playing at all for a few years to suddenly learning an unfamiliar 20 song set. It was really good for me. And while I've only played live a few times since then - as my kids get older I know I'll be playing more. And guitar is one of my prime hobbies once again.

Though the irony is I spent more on it now that I ever had. Managed the first twenty years of playing - including lots of live stuff at uni - with just one guitar. Now I'm mostly a study noodler and I have six.  

digitalscream

professorben said:

digitalscream said:

I stopped playing for about 10 years after I left university - I just had more important things to concentrate on, what with a wife and a kid and starting a career etc. I got back into it when I bought the green N4, and pretty much immediately got into a band and...yeah, that's been that since about 2006.

To be honest, though, I'm getting pissed off with musicians being unreliable asshats (along with everybody else I've had to deal with in the industry in my capacity as a band member), and I'm considering knocking it all on the head for good. I can't stand playing covers - it bores me to death - and the originals scene in this country is just plain broken and pointless. If I do take a break for another 10 years, I'll be way too old for anyone to take me seriously playing the music I like (if I'm not already), so that's basically guaranteed to be the end of it.

Currently trying to decide whether I'll be able to make peace with that in myself.

People take you seriously?     

Only if they've never met me

proggy

I used to be a bass player and gave up in the early 90s, just got fed up with the hassle that came with being in bands. When my last band split up I put my basses away and never touched them again.

After about 8 years (late 90s) I was walking along Denmark Street one day and saw a sunburst Tele in the window of Rockers and for some reason I had to have it - went in and bought it and taught myself to play it.

Misty

I've played in bands for forty years, pretty much with no breaks. I've been lucky and played with some great guys on a long term basis, including the bass player, a good friend, for 25 years, and the latest drummer, another friend, for 10 years. But about seven months ago I suddenly got a brain tumour and was forced to stop gigging. Right now I'm doing my best to stay positive and working on getting back to normal. But, I have spent some time thinking of the gigs I've stopped doing, and almost decided that I won't go back to them, even when I've recovered. It's strange how things work out, I've realised that using the time ahead to improve my playing and concentrate on some different material is a good thing, and genuinely more enjoyable than just preparing material for gigs, particularly as I've got older (now 66). So although my plan not to gig any more seems a bit strange, the freedom it's giving me is a good thing, despite focussing on recovering from my brain tumour.
I haven't normally included personal info like this in information online but I've just thought sod it, why not.

Barney

Iv had the odd year off mainly to get my head around hard disk recording software when it came out ...I soon realised it was not productive for my guitar playing at all

I have had years looking for short cuts ..there are none......getting really annoyed and down about things that I couldn't do that other players could ...also not productive 

These past sort of  6 or 7 years I'm not bothered ...I practise more than ever ...work on things without trying to find a short cut that throws me off the lines....don't care the least in what anybody else plays  or dosnt play ..I can appreciate it all ..but just enjoy music more and what comes out is me  .no competition anymore just a love for playing guitar....

lysander

I’ve had several multi year breaks from the guitar due to lack of time and focusing on other instruments and it comes back quickly, just do it, you’ll see

pintspiller

I stopped playing around the time I got married and rarely played for about ten years. I contacted Steve Bray about upgrading my Fastfingers course from cassette to CD. 

I started again from the beginning and only progressed to the next stage when I felt I knew my stuff. After a few weeks of an hour each day, we were contacted by our landlord to say the house was being repossessed, so all was packed up, but a short time later I got a job in a local covers band as bassist and been playing with them in three or four lineups since!

Mark1960

I stopped for about 15 years when the kids came along, and didn't miss it at all, but kept my guitar and amp, then one Saturday night when there was nothing on the telly, I got the guitar out and had a little strum. Every few weeks did the same, then one day bumped into our old sax player who like me had had kids but kept his sax, and he said it was a shame to have the instruments and not use them, so we got together one evening, (probably sounded awful) and get back into it. After a few months we advertised for other band members, and VERY carefully selected the "right" people, and got the band up and running. Had a few personel changes over the years, but it's still very enjoyable, with nice people.

rossi

I stopped playing in 1983 ,mainly acoustic stuff ,and didnt start again until 2007.I bought a marshall mini amp and a Fender and havnt looked back,Far too old for a band I do play at open mike jazz events and blues jams .Just good fun .

rocktron

When my mother passed away in 2012, I lost interest in most of the things I was involved with, including playing guitar. However, I kept all my gear. 

After a long period of grieving, and it took me a few years to recover from my sad loss, I started to pick up my guitar(s) again and gradually got my fingers working. I was rusty. My accuracy and timing were off, not noticeable playing unplugged, but heard loud and clear through an amp. 

I started back on the Minor Pentatonic and Major Scale Patterns, and then used the various techniques - up/down slides, hammer on/pull offs, bends/release bends, etc - on licks and riffs using the scale patterns. I also had to practice fast chord changes - basic major and minor chords - my fingers weren't responding as fast as my brain could think.

I had to work on my vibrato and tremolo picking, and increase my speed on three notes per string. 

It all started to come together. What I found is that it is like learning to ride a bike in that one does not really forget how to do it. The difficult part was hardening my finger tips and building the stamina to play runs up and down the fretboard for extended periods. 

Once you get back into playing, it is amazing how much you remember and how quickly you start playing smoothly again. Put in the time and you will be rewarded.

Good luck..  

Grocer_Jack

I started in 1978 and played in tons of bands through the 80s, finally packing it in during Britpop as I felt too old (early 30s).  Had a family and sold all my gear. 2004 - a band asked me to join on organ (!!!) - initially had fun but missed playing guitar. I also realized that lots of the bands I knew from the late 70s/early 80s were reforming and the ‘too old’ thing wasn’t a thing anymore. I reformed my old band (a mistake in hindsight) but got a couple of other bands rolling and met some  great people to work with. Now 57 and enjoying it more than ever! 

midlifecrisis

stopped for nearly 30 years, took it up again when is was 46, now 57 loving it with a passion as im too old to take it too seriously but young enough to "get on down".