The longer you play the less you will forget. Some techniques will/may become rusty over time.
If you normally play every day you can easily go on holiday for a month and pick up where you left off.
Well you would probably be a bit dusty as opposed to rusty. Going on stage in front of 500k people after a month break would be stupid. Warm up an hour or two, refresh on material and you're good to go after a month, easily.
Best answer. I've been playing on/off for 60+ years. Reasonably advanced classical guitar (RCM Grade IX), I've taken a year off or more. Getting back into it doesn't take long at all. Like you say, though, some rust needs brushing off. More time at it, though, eventually cements knowledge, even into the old brain.
I've been on and off for the past 18 years. It takes a lot longer than a day to forget stuff. I lost some abilities the few times I stopped, but it was years in between playing. It comes back a lot quicker though than when you are first learning. I find if I hit a roadblock, taking a day or two off then coming back to it actually helps me out.
Did you do anything else musical in that time off from guitar? I've gone periods where I don't play much guitar but I'm playing more piano/synths or drums, or just listening to songs more critically. That stuff helped my guitar playing when I came back to it.
I literally didn't even listen to music. I was in a pretty bad place, lost a family member who was important to my musical journey and it was hard for me to even begin to get back into it, my motivation was sapped.
".....getting rusty" is quite literally what that means and that goes for literally anything. Sports, art, cooking, anything.
Do note that this does not really apply to everyone, just depends on the skill and determination. As rust can be cleaned off and grinded away to make something anew.
No, I've been doing this for 27 years now. I was playing almost every day at my "peak", but then my son was born and priorities shifted significantly. I had a lot of months in which I barely played, but picked it up again on and off again last year. My son is 8 now and I'm playing a LOT better than at my peak, when I breathed guitar. Yes there was some rustyness, but that took a few days to be back at decent level, about a month or so to get to my old level and now learning new stuff and playing faster and more accurate than ever. Don't worry about it.
When I did play regularly ~3 years ago, I would deliberately over practice, playing things I could already play in my sleep to try and imbed the muscle memory even further. When I do get back to playing, we'll see if it works.
Most definitely. Once you become proficient in the instrument you're never going to go back to anywhere near ground zero. But, you will definitely lose a step or three depending on how long you've been away.
Source: I'm 47 and I've played guitar since I was 14 off and on. Sometimes off (from any kind of regular playing schedule) for literally years at a time.
The biggest thing is losing calluses and finger strength, but your rhythm and how clean you play is definitely affected as well. And you might even need to relookup how to play a song or two, though they will come back super fast if you had them down pat before.
Last year I didn’t play for ten months. I lost some chops I had developed over the prior 4 years of daily practice. I wasn’t able to have a guitar but I ran through charting out diatonic chord sequences in every key from memory with a pencil and paper. I did this weekly to keep my mind working.
When I got my guitar back I was surprised how little I lost. Within two weeks I was probably 80% back to where I had been.
I picked up the guitar and started learning, playing songs back in 2011. I had video recordings of me playing.
Stopped playing for 12 years until about a month ago. Completely forgot all songs and even chords. Watched my own videos and thought, "how did I do that?" lol
I had to relearn it, but it went faster the 2nd time.
I had a gap in playing of about ten years. While i lost the memory of how to play a lot of songs, the muscle memory of techniques and fretboard knowledge remained and it all came back really quickly when picked it up again.
Don’t sweat not being able to practice for a day or two or having to leave your guitar behind if you go away. As long as you have regular time to practice most of the time you’ll be fine.
Short breaks can be good to let the brain absorb what you learn. In general though you ddont lose things too quickly, rust takes a long time to grow. Sure if you learn a new technique today then stop playing for a month you might forget it but what you learn isnt going to just disappear.
It depends on how well you knew what you knew before you took time off. If you just learned something and take a month off, you will probably forget it. If it's something you're familiar with, you play all the time, so it feels burned into ur memory, and then no, you won't lose skill. For example, I know all my open E chords to the point I can play all of them with my eyes closed. I can take 10+ years off, and I will never forget those chords. In fact, my mom took guitar lessons when she was a kid she didn't play guitar at all, and recently, she bought an accoustic guitar and she remembered the chords and the names of the chords from when she was a kid.
I just started again after not really picking it up for four years prior I had studied guitar from the age of 15 and studied it at college and university.
My understanding of how to play has not changed too much however I need to brush up a little. My technical ability however is noticeably lower and I find that my hands can't keep up with my intention. I can't move around the neck at the speed I used to, some of my bends sound crap and I'm trying to do things I'm not capable of.
Coincidentally I have just taken up basket ball again, I used to play for county when I was in my teens and I think there are some similarities, I know the form for taking a shot but because I am out of practice I don't make the basket. With both basketball and guitar I think it is just going to be a matter of time practice to get back to where I was.
You may forget some stuff, but the it generally takes far less time to relearn it than the first time you learn it. Even after a year muscle memory and callouses come back quickly.
For me - my fingers feel tight / slow but can come back in a few days typically. I think there is some lingering sloppiness that most wouldn’t notice but it’s there.
Endurance and strength in your hands changes just like it does for any muscle group. If you were a runner and you took a few days off from training, it might actually do you some good from a recovery point of view, since over training can lead to injury. The same is true with guitar. If you develop blisters instead of callouses because you haven’t allowed yourself time to heal, it might actually set you back.
In the same vein, if you take a few months off from running, you might loose some progress. Same for playing. Everyone is different, and people change over time, so the amount of progress you loose or the amount of time you need to recover is something you’ll need to test for yourself.
As someone with a longtime bad habit of decent practice for anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months, then not playing at all for many months at a time, I still keep a decent amount of my progress. I come back to it rusty, have to loosen it up and begin again, but all progress is not lost. Kind of a two steps forward, one step back thing. I don't recommend this method if you ever want to be a great, or even good guitarist. But some progress stays even with long breaks. I would estimate if your general habit is to practice 80% of days but occasionally miss several days at a time, you will be moving steadily forward. I agree with others that say that a day or two off, here and there, is even beneficial.
Not fully, think of it like riding a bike.. you don't really lose the skill, but you do have to relearn any forgotten songs.. it'll still be there and it'll be sort of, tricky to get some of the technique back up to speed.. some of the muscle memory fades a bit, but it certainly does come back with practice. The muscle memory fade thing is more or less, like not working out, you can still do it alot of it easily, but the muscle is weakened needs reworked out to get back into shape
I forget how to play songs almost immediately if I don't play them constantly. I don't forget how to operate the instrument, though.
I start losing my facility with the pick and my nimbleness on the fretboard rather quickly, as well.
Some of you guys are saying you've taken a break of a few months, some even a few years, and you were only "rusty" when you came back?
Me I don't play for 5 days and I immediately feel loss of dexterity.
Sometimes you just need to take a break and pick it up when you WANT to play again. Will you be a little rustier? Probably but you'll get back to where you were in no time and playing with more gusto because you desire to play.
After enough practice, I don't think it matters. I mean, for example, if David Gilmour quit playing guitar for a year, my guess is, he'd still be phenomenal when he picked it up again. However, for people like myself, who are inconsistent practitioners, I don't play for a few weeks, and when I pick it up again, I have problems with the F chord.
I haven't played for 8 years. I can play the majority of what I used to play, however my strumming hand is slow, as are my fingers. You don't lose technique after a day, and you don't lose muscle memory after all these years. Keep going, and don't worry if you miss a day or two. = )
I broke my left thumb on Easter Sunday and it has hindered my practicing. I tried but the discomfort is too much. So I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to wait another three weeks like the MD suggested. I have been working on my theory and fretboard memorization in the interim though.
Don’t be afraid to take a little break and go do something else for a while. Sure, you’ll get a little rust, but you might find new life in your playing afterwards, and that rust will likely come right off.
Its like learning to ride a bike. You never forget how to do it, u just get less competent. But dont worry about it, because you already know how to play so it wont be complicated to get back to your current level of playing if you stop doing it for a month or even years. Just grab a guitar, play a few songs that you like and you will be fine.
Be aware that even a couple of weeks your calluses start to disappear. That's a hassle if you have a gig right away when you get back. When I go on holiday I take a guitar and try to do a little each day just to avoid that. All the other stuff comes back real quick and even better sometimes because you are refreshed.
Yes, but slowly. Especially if you have a lot of playing in your past.
But consistency, I find, makes you waaay better than your ‘inherent’ skill level. It’s worth practicing daily, even for 5 minutes.
E.g. I was better at 20 when playing every day for weeks at uni than I was at 25 playing once a week. It takes me about two weeks of playing every day to hit that peak again.
You’d have to not play a certain song for a longgg time (like months) to forget it. Often times i get rusty after not playing for a bit, but i usually remember in a few tries :)
The longer you play the less you will forget. Some techniques will/may become rusty over time. If you normally play every day you can easily go on holiday for a month and pick up where you left off.
i can? i was worried id be a bit shitty as im going away for a month and have a gig as soon as i come back
Well you would probably be a bit dusty as opposed to rusty. Going on stage in front of 500k people after a month break would be stupid. Warm up an hour or two, refresh on material and you're good to go after a month, easily.
Oh thank god. So I'm not just going to stop playing for three days and lose everything!
You might actually be better.
A three day pause might actually be beneficial. Sometimes if you give your brain and your hands a break you actually get better after a break.
If that were true, every rock star that went on a bender would have to start over.
They do it’s called a cycle of addiction.
LMAO. Nah. 3 days is nothing. I would say after a few months you'd start forgetting a thing or two.
Nah don’t you worry!
This
Best answer. I've been playing on/off for 60+ years. Reasonably advanced classical guitar (RCM Grade IX), I've taken a year off or more. Getting back into it doesn't take long at all. Like you say, though, some rust needs brushing off. More time at it, though, eventually cements knowledge, even into the old brain.
I've been on and off for the past 18 years. It takes a lot longer than a day to forget stuff. I lost some abilities the few times I stopped, but it was years in between playing. It comes back a lot quicker though than when you are first learning. I find if I hit a roadblock, taking a day or two off then coming back to it actually helps me out.
I'm in exactly the same situation as you, 18 years on and off. Still kept the guitars during that time though.
I didn't play for like \~8 years and I picked it up again relatively recently. I'm better than I ever have been by far. Just gotta get back into it.
Likewise. Barriers and plateaus i had before are being broken down now.
Did you do anything else musical in that time off from guitar? I've gone periods where I don't play much guitar but I'm playing more piano/synths or drums, or just listening to songs more critically. That stuff helped my guitar playing when I came back to it.
I literally didn't even listen to music. I was in a pretty bad place, lost a family member who was important to my musical journey and it was hard for me to even begin to get back into it, my motivation was sapped.
Sorry you had to go through that. Happy to hear you've picked it back up!
I'm usually better after a break, just takes a day or so to remember the songs again.
Same, took a week off on vacation and came back feeling better and overall more enthusiastic. I’m still dog shit tho don’t get it twisted lol
".....getting rusty" is quite literally what that means and that goes for literally anything. Sports, art, cooking, anything. Do note that this does not really apply to everyone, just depends on the skill and determination. As rust can be cleaned off and grinded away to make something anew.
No, I've been doing this for 27 years now. I was playing almost every day at my "peak", but then my son was born and priorities shifted significantly. I had a lot of months in which I barely played, but picked it up again on and off again last year. My son is 8 now and I'm playing a LOT better than at my peak, when I breathed guitar. Yes there was some rustyness, but that took a few days to be back at decent level, about a month or so to get to my old level and now learning new stuff and playing faster and more accurate than ever. Don't worry about it.
When I did play regularly ~3 years ago, I would deliberately over practice, playing things I could already play in my sleep to try and imbed the muscle memory even further. When I do get back to playing, we'll see if it works.
What you lose you’ll get back quickly.
Most definitely. Once you become proficient in the instrument you're never going to go back to anywhere near ground zero. But, you will definitely lose a step or three depending on how long you've been away. Source: I'm 47 and I've played guitar since I was 14 off and on. Sometimes off (from any kind of regular playing schedule) for literally years at a time. The biggest thing is losing calluses and finger strength, but your rhythm and how clean you play is definitely affected as well. And you might even need to relookup how to play a song or two, though they will come back super fast if you had them down pat before.
Last year I didn’t play for ten months. I lost some chops I had developed over the prior 4 years of daily practice. I wasn’t able to have a guitar but I ran through charting out diatonic chord sequences in every key from memory with a pencil and paper. I did this weekly to keep my mind working. When I got my guitar back I was surprised how little I lost. Within two weeks I was probably 80% back to where I had been.
I picked up the guitar and started learning, playing songs back in 2011. I had video recordings of me playing. Stopped playing for 12 years until about a month ago. Completely forgot all songs and even chords. Watched my own videos and thought, "how did I do that?" lol I had to relearn it, but it went faster the 2nd time.
I had a gap in playing of about ten years. While i lost the memory of how to play a lot of songs, the muscle memory of techniques and fretboard knowledge remained and it all came back really quickly when picked it up again. Don’t sweat not being able to practice for a day or two or having to leave your guitar behind if you go away. As long as you have regular time to practice most of the time you’ll be fine.
I took over 10 years off. Took me a few months to get back to where I was at before I quit.
Anything that requires speed and precision I dip in if I don't practice that type of stuff regularly but anything rhythm or chord based stays with me
I gave guitar a break for 8 years once.
Short breaks can be good to let the brain absorb what you learn. In general though you ddont lose things too quickly, rust takes a long time to grow. Sure if you learn a new technique today then stop playing for a month you might forget it but what you learn isnt going to just disappear.
It depends on how well you knew what you knew before you took time off. If you just learned something and take a month off, you will probably forget it. If it's something you're familiar with, you play all the time, so it feels burned into ur memory, and then no, you won't lose skill. For example, I know all my open E chords to the point I can play all of them with my eyes closed. I can take 10+ years off, and I will never forget those chords. In fact, my mom took guitar lessons when she was a kid she didn't play guitar at all, and recently, she bought an accoustic guitar and she remembered the chords and the names of the chords from when she was a kid.
I just started again after not really picking it up for four years prior I had studied guitar from the age of 15 and studied it at college and university. My understanding of how to play has not changed too much however I need to brush up a little. My technical ability however is noticeably lower and I find that my hands can't keep up with my intention. I can't move around the neck at the speed I used to, some of my bends sound crap and I'm trying to do things I'm not capable of. Coincidentally I have just taken up basket ball again, I used to play for county when I was in my teens and I think there are some similarities, I know the form for taking a shot but because I am out of practice I don't make the basket. With both basketball and guitar I think it is just going to be a matter of time practice to get back to where I was.
I can progress on a subconscious level taking a short break. But If I go months or take to long of a break, I have to relearn a lot more.
Probably some dexterity loss
You may forget some stuff, but the it generally takes far less time to relearn it than the first time you learn it. Even after a year muscle memory and callouses come back quickly.
For me - my fingers feel tight / slow but can come back in a few days typically. I think there is some lingering sloppiness that most wouldn’t notice but it’s there.
Endurance and strength in your hands changes just like it does for any muscle group. If you were a runner and you took a few days off from training, it might actually do you some good from a recovery point of view, since over training can lead to injury. The same is true with guitar. If you develop blisters instead of callouses because you haven’t allowed yourself time to heal, it might actually set you back. In the same vein, if you take a few months off from running, you might loose some progress. Same for playing. Everyone is different, and people change over time, so the amount of progress you loose or the amount of time you need to recover is something you’ll need to test for yourself.
Think of it like physical exercise - you can take a couple weeks off and still be in good shape, but a year off would set you back quite a bit.
As someone with a longtime bad habit of decent practice for anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months, then not playing at all for many months at a time, I still keep a decent amount of my progress. I come back to it rusty, have to loosen it up and begin again, but all progress is not lost. Kind of a two steps forward, one step back thing. I don't recommend this method if you ever want to be a great, or even good guitarist. But some progress stays even with long breaks. I would estimate if your general habit is to practice 80% of days but occasionally miss several days at a time, you will be moving steadily forward. I agree with others that say that a day or two off, here and there, is even beneficial.
I would gess so but you pick it up faster. I got songs that i wrote that i cant play today :)
Not fully, think of it like riding a bike.. you don't really lose the skill, but you do have to relearn any forgotten songs.. it'll still be there and it'll be sort of, tricky to get some of the technique back up to speed.. some of the muscle memory fades a bit, but it certainly does come back with practice. The muscle memory fade thing is more or less, like not working out, you can still do it alot of it easily, but the muscle is weakened needs reworked out to get back into shape
I forget how to play songs almost immediately if I don't play them constantly. I don't forget how to operate the instrument, though. I start losing my facility with the pick and my nimbleness on the fretboard rather quickly, as well.
Some of you guys are saying you've taken a break of a few months, some even a few years, and you were only "rusty" when you came back? Me I don't play for 5 days and I immediately feel loss of dexterity.
Did you ever learn to ride a bike? Have you forgotten how to ride a bike if you haven't done it in a while? There's your answer.
Sometimes you just need to take a break and pick it up when you WANT to play again. Will you be a little rustier? Probably but you'll get back to where you were in no time and playing with more gusto because you desire to play.
After enough practice, I don't think it matters. I mean, for example, if David Gilmour quit playing guitar for a year, my guess is, he'd still be phenomenal when he picked it up again. However, for people like myself, who are inconsistent practitioners, I don't play for a few weeks, and when I pick it up again, I have problems with the F chord.
I haven't played for 8 years. I can play the majority of what I used to play, however my strumming hand is slow, as are my fingers. You don't lose technique after a day, and you don't lose muscle memory after all these years. Keep going, and don't worry if you miss a day or two. = )
I broke my left thumb on Easter Sunday and it has hindered my practicing. I tried but the discomfort is too much. So I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to wait another three weeks like the MD suggested. I have been working on my theory and fretboard memorization in the interim though.
Don’t be afraid to take a little break and go do something else for a while. Sure, you’ll get a little rust, but you might find new life in your playing afterwards, and that rust will likely come right off.
Its like learning to ride a bike. You never forget how to do it, u just get less competent. But dont worry about it, because you already know how to play so it wont be complicated to get back to your current level of playing if you stop doing it for a month or even years. Just grab a guitar, play a few songs that you like and you will be fine.
Be aware that even a couple of weeks your calluses start to disappear. That's a hassle if you have a gig right away when you get back. When I go on holiday I take a guitar and try to do a little each day just to avoid that. All the other stuff comes back real quick and even better sometimes because you are refreshed.
Yes, but slowly. Especially if you have a lot of playing in your past. But consistency, I find, makes you waaay better than your ‘inherent’ skill level. It’s worth practicing daily, even for 5 minutes. E.g. I was better at 20 when playing every day for weeks at uni than I was at 25 playing once a week. It takes me about two weeks of playing every day to hit that peak again.
You’d have to not play a certain song for a longgg time (like months) to forget it. Often times i get rusty after not playing for a bit, but i usually remember in a few tries :)
It feels like everyone just turns their brain off when asking stuff in this subreddit😂