Acoustic Guitar Player

Many guitar players that I have met have managed to play at very high standard but due to life’s circumstances they found themselves in situations where they virtually stopped playing guitar.  It could be because family, disillusionment with the music industry, health, substance abuse, or many other scenarios that can leave a musician feeling uninspired. Over the period of time that I have played guitar, even though I have an incredibly deep passion for music, I personally have found that have been times that I have drifted away from music. As a guitar player you often find yourself ‘between jobs’ and this is the time when a lot of life’s challenges and diversion get in the way of music.  Many of the things I discuss in my blog posts, I have never seen addressed in music books or discussed openly by most players. I have decided to write about this because I recently got together with a very good guitar player that I played with just under twenty years ago, he all but stopped playing for a number of years, this for me is a fantastic thing because good players need to play and it is a loss to all of us when they don’t.

So here are a number of things that I think will help some of the players that have stopped playing, ease back into music.

1. Find some recordings that will inspire you to play.  Make sure they are not too complex.
2. Clean up your guitar.  Get rid of any old dirt on the fretboard
3. Change the strings; I recommend going a gauge lighter
4. Make sure your instrument is set up well
5. Allot some time to practice.  Formalise it by writing it down and stick to it

Stay there for the whole session, turn off the mobile, unplug the sign, and put a note on the door

6. Do some simple exercises to get your fretting hand going
7. Do some picking exercises (fingerstyle or plectrum) to get the picking hand going
8. Write a short list of songs that you used to play.  Make sure they are not too complex, if need be get some simple charts just in case your memory is a bit foggy
9. Don’t waste time playing snippets of music that you can’t really remember, this could dishearten you; you may end up getting frustrated
10. Be really focused but keep as relaxed as possible
11. When you finish, make sure you finish on a song that you can play reasonably ok
12. Write a plan for your next session and stick to it

There are many other things that may be useful but the ones listed above include most of the aspects that require attention, these include: 

A good working instrument

A plan

Techniques

Mental attitude