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Posted by: dark_dude Aug 30 2009, 12:22 AM

Was just wondering about this.

Is it important to rest your hands once a week (or once every so often) to minimise chances of injury? Or perhaps just to quicken progress. I'm not sure if I can liken guitar playing to the gym, but resting the muscles will allow them to become stronger.

Does this apply to guitar too?

Posted by: audiopaal Aug 30 2009, 12:25 AM

In my opinion this is different for each person..
I take a day or two off every now and then, but each to his own I guess

If it works for you, in a sense that you feel it helps your playing and/or giving you a new perspective on things you've practiced etc., I think it's good to do so

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Aug 30 2009, 12:41 AM

It depends from person to person and what your goals are. If you want to be professional guitar player, I see no reason why you would miss a day of practice/playing. Muscles get use to practicing and playing, you pace yourself and build your playing hours. I hope you don't jump to 12 hour a day playing if you never did 6 then 8 then 10 hour routine... The same thing goes for gym

Posted by: mattacuk Aug 30 2009, 12:43 AM

Speaking from my own personal experience, breaks are very important.

Its also important that guitar isnt your soul life focus, even if you are passionate about acheiving your goals.

Over practice can lead to sloppy practice in my humble opinion, yet not enough practice and you wont progress as you liked.

I typically practice very hard for 3-4 days (in a highly structured way), then rest a day, then continue the cycle. I used to practice 7 days a week and I found it very counter productive.

Going fishing really helps my playing,no joke

Posted by: leedbreak Aug 30 2009, 12:48 AM

I have found all you said to be true in my case, as well. Especially the last part

Posted by: mattacuk Aug 30 2009, 12:49 AM

You MUST be cool

Posted by: leedbreak Aug 30 2009, 12:52 AM

Yes, I am.

Posted by: lcsdds Aug 30 2009, 02:34 AM

I totally agree.....I seem to find that I do best with 3-4 days of highly structured practice as well. Seems like when I go too many days straight.....like 6 or 7 in a row that my playing becomes very sloppy and I get frustrated. Rest is very important.....IMO. On your rest days you could do something that isn't really demanding. Learn some chords or some new scales or transcribe or record. Hope that helps a little......


\m/\m/

Posted by: mattacuk Aug 30 2009, 08:25 AM

I belive most of the learning happens on the break day I think the brain needs time to process what you have learnt.

Of course this is just my own theory, everyone is different

Posted by: Emir Hot Aug 30 2009, 11:03 AM

Very well said Monte. This is how I would do it as well.

Posted by: audiopaal Aug 30 2009, 12:52 PM

I spend as much time recording as I practice new stuff, and trying to get my sound as polished as possible..
This is probably not the smartest thing to do if you wanna be the best, but I'll settle with "best sounding"

I practice new stuff as well, but probably not as much as I should..
When my Macbook Pro arrives, I'll try to use the webcam for REC recordings so that should probably help

Posted by: Frederik Aug 30 2009, 01:24 PM

+1 i agree on this, though is comes natural to me to only practise a lot 4 times a week due to school and motivation

Posted by: djohnneay Aug 30 2009, 02:18 PM

I only play/practice when I feel like it. Highly structured practice is not something for me I guess. When I don't feel like playing, I just don't pick up the guitar. What's the point in practicing if at that moment you don't want to be doing that at all ?
Lately, I've been practicing more songs and theory now but about 2 months ago I was all into increasing my AP chops and tapping. IMO, guitar playing is about fun and all your playing, including your practicing, should come straight from the heart. After all, it is something you WANT to do, you don't HAVE to do it, in contradiction to other stuff like school or work. I'm not saying practice shouldn't be structured at all, just keep guitarplaying fun for yourself, that's all that matters.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Aug 30 2009, 02:50 PM

I do think that rest is important. Not that much of a physical reason (to rest your hands) rather mental - to let your brain process what you have learned. I think it makes a learning process more efficient. Image you were going to school everyday of the week and had no rest - or worked 7 days a week non stop. You would eventually become less efficient at it because of fatigue (mental or physical). Hmm there was an article posted here in the forum about brain research and rest importance when learning to play an instrument.,,,

Posted by: wrk Aug 30 2009, 06:30 PM

I like the idea of learning by taking a rest ... but somehow i'm afraid that all these highly skilled people we look up to, did not develope their skills by taking rests ..

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Aug 30 2009, 10:11 PM

Hmm what is a 1 day rest per week or two weeks ? If you can keep up every other day of the week practicing efficiently I'm sure you will do great like your idols did too.

Posted by: Eat-Sleep-andJam Aug 30 2009, 10:19 PM

I was looking at what Wrk said, and I have to go with him on this.

I really try to play everyday, even if I just noodle for 15 minutes.

I dont think guys like PG, Steve Vai, Yngwie, got amazing by not playing for a couple days.

All those days are days you could have spent doing something productive to make you a better player.

Now taking a day off to maybe devote yourself to different aspects of music, " Lyrics, Theory, etc.". I think that is acceptable.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Aug 30 2009, 10:32 PM

Thing with music is that its not sports, you can progress by so many ways that don't necessarily involve having an instrument in hand. Reading theory, thinking about stuff you learned, listening to some new music, going to see a concert, reading a article about and guitar effect or learning how to record video, how to advertise your band are just some of many topics that if you devote time to will make you a generally better musician... I have noticed so many times that after hard practice week, I make a 1 day brake and just listen to some new music or something and let my brain rest, tomorrow I can pass the boundary that I couldn't just a day before rest.

edit: I can already see a new GMC comic based on this thread LOL

Posted by: wrk Aug 31 2009, 12:18 AM

I didn't meant to say that someone should not take a rest. I agree with VictorUK, everybody has to define for them self what they want to reach in whatever they do, but i believe, similar to every other things we learn or need to work on, as more time someone spend on something, as more he gets done.

I'm sure people have different views about this ... thats why i find this kind of discussion interesting

Posted by: David Wallimann Aug 31 2009, 12:30 AM

I recommend taking a day off every week..
Not only will it give your hands a chance to rest, it will also give your mind a chance to grasp what it has learned during these hard working hours.. Not to mention that it will keep you motivated, it's easy to get a litle burned out when playing daily without any breaks...

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 31 2009, 12:35 AM

Sure it does apply to the guitar, but except with the gym where you focus on the physical aspect (since it is really no-brainer work to actually use the gym machines), with guitar the aquired skill has to settle in the memory. In this sense I believe the rest is important part of actually progressing. No matter how frequently you practice, you will always play better after couple of days off.

Posted by: wrk Aug 31 2009, 01:17 AM

Hm ... up to now i thought we give our brain a rest when we sleep. Didn't know we need to consciously do something else to help our brain to process things. As i said at the beginning ... i like the idea of "i will play better after a couple of days off", but i just can not believe it's working like this.

Posted by: Santiago Diaz Garces Aug 31 2009, 02:09 AM

I think 1 day of pure resting is the best solution. What happens to me is that maybe a have something that I can't go through or just play it bad. Then, I just rest for a while and then, I can play it. Rest is so much needed as practice

Posted by: Mario87 Aug 31 2009, 08:41 PM

Yeah, when I started playing guitar I soon got the feeling that the weeks I didnt play guitar for one or two days because I was very busy, when I played again guitar, I did it a bit better than the last day! Specially in speed and control terms.

I talked about it with my friends and they didnt belive me at all, so Im practicing everyday lately.
But I have to do some research about this. Yesterday I played some speedpicking exercsises with metronome and today I want to play so badly! but I will not do it...

I think each one have to test this himself to see what applys better to his case. Probably it works different for each person and playing style.

Yeah, its possible

Posted by: Oxac Sep 3 2009, 11:39 AM

The thing is, yeah you can play a lick 10 times before you go to sleep, sleep, take a day off, try to play it again and you'll play it better than you did before because the brain process it when you sleep. But what if you took 30 minutes the next day and practised this lick 100 times. How do you think you would've played it the day after?

Posted by: mattacuk Sep 3 2009, 11:48 AM

On the flip side, do you think guys like Vai and Gilbert sit playing guitar seven days a week with no other life?

I personally belive they also have plenty of time out These "guitar heros" have familys, go on regular holidays/vacation etc.

I remembered when I first picked up guitar, and I was so overly concerned with "how many hours a day" people were practicing and the such. I belive ive personally progressed along way just through realising although you need to work hard and be dedicated, you need breaks and other passions in life as well

Posted by: Gus Sep 3 2009, 11:55 AM

i don't have this problem I automatically get rest when I can't play

More seriously, I think one of the most important things is to keep yourself motivated. And playing every day can have a counter productive effect on that: it can become overwhelming and boring to play guitar...
So, I'd say play as much as you can but take as many days off as needed. If it is 1, 2 or 3 days off it doesn't matter. It should just fit your personal goals and lifestyle

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Sep 3 2009, 12:22 PM

I don't mean to discourage any of you but taking day or more brakes is not the way things work out.
If you are in the starting phase, still learning about scale modes, improvisation, theory and harmony, practicing technique and moving tempos, then you definitely need to spend endless hours every day with strong practice routine.
What is 6 hours a day of organized practice? Nothing guys, you can all do, plus you get a chance to rest within the same day (remember day has 24 hours not 10). Speaking of guys like Vai or Gilbert, I am sure you will find out that they had 18 or 20 hour practice sessions and this is no joke. So the real question is how long can you keep doing this? My answer is you should set your goals and try to reach them. If you don't have any goals and just want to noodle for 10 hours a day or more/less, then its pretty useless to play that way as you will hit a block eventually. If you on the other say lay out your goals, divide your practice routine in categories, find or develop exercises for each category, stick to your plan and are persistent then you can definitely achieve things.
Why would you need a day or two brake in the week?
Ask all my friends at Berklee if we had a day of practicing or playing brake ? Or if you don't believe me ask Emir and guys at Guitar institute if we had a day off ...
The point is, in order to get something you have to give something.
You are giving your precious time every day and dedicating it toward guitar and music to reach some goal you have in mind. Without any goal that is just hobby type of approach and I don't recommend anybody who wants to learn songs or minor pentatonic to solo over everything to practice 5,6,8, 10 hours a day. The reason why this is not necessary is because you will very soon reach a block in your improvement and will feel burned out to practice further. This is why if you work on multiple things and have your goals set in various aspects of improving as overall musician not just guitar player, you can easily fill in 6,8,10 or more hour practice regime.

Andy (wrk) is right when he says that these guys didn't improve by taking day or two brakes.
I can tell you for myself that I had at least 4 years period where I was practicing daily anywhere from 4 to 10 or more hours. With years you will see that it will be harder to put that sort of time daily since you have other obligations in life (family friends girlfriend/fiancee/wife) so I am very happy if I get 8 hour session but try to do at least 3 hours of organized practice with private students and GMC work.

I hope this post was useful read for you

Pedja

P.S. Forgot to add that your practice routine should always include rests in between sessions. So you never play 5,6 or more hours straight. You rather play 45-50 minutes then take 10 to 15 minute brake and start another session. That is more than enough time for your brain and muscles to relax and move onto new practice session. It also more fun as you feel you are improving in blocks of practice sessions vs noodling for just sake of playing guitar

Posted by: superize Sep 3 2009, 12:29 PM

I take rest some day but i do not have a specific day when i dont play.....

If i one day dont feel like playing i dont play......

I have noticed that the paying sometimes gets better after a day of rest but i cant force myself to not play

Posted by: Koopid Sep 3 2009, 02:10 PM

I suppose it is very individual how you learn things. I totally disagree with Pedja that says you *have* to do things in a certain way.

I believe its all up to what you want to achieve. If your goal is technical (speed, accuracy) then I suppose a "sports" approach with training constantly is a good way. If your goal is more musical then I believe that listening a lot to music without the guitar for example is very helpful.

Personally I believe that in the beginning you have to spend a lot of hours with your instrument. Same when you want to develop new techniques. To get stuff in your muscle memory. I am 100% sure (whatever some of you guys say about HAVING to do stuff in a certain way) that taking a day or two off now and then helps *ME* develop.

Since so much of music is in the mind and not the body I truly believe that you can't teach your mind anything by just hammering in it hour after hour, day after day without taking time to analyze what it is your learning and letting it settle.

my 2 cents.

Posted by: TheOldOnes Sep 3 2009, 07:36 PM

All I know that is if I take a break for one or two day from practicing something that I have been trying to learn for the previous 3 or 4 days, I tend to show improvement as if I had practiced them during that break (and more often better than expected improvement). Certain aspects of my playing are better after a break than others - for instance, my sound tends to improve more than my technical playing because I think I tend to be more aggressive and attack the lesson with more enthusiasm. But sometimes it is the muscle memory kicking in which for me I find a break helps it get set after doing a lot of repetitions. However, I do think that each individual will eventually learn when resting may be to their advantage and when resting is not needed.

Posted by: David Wallimann Sep 3 2009, 10:12 PM

I'm all for a good rest after a few days of intense practice...
Maybe a day a week...
After all, that's what God did after creating the universe, he rested for a day!
We should take that as an example.. It works well for me and keeps me from getting burned out. :-)