Members BydoEmpire Posted July 5, 2012 Members Posted July 5, 2012 The burning in my right (picking) arm has been getting progressively worse over the last couple weeks, so I need to stop playing for a bit. I haven't missed a day of practice since Jan 5th and because I'm anal about that kind of thing I'd like to keep up my daily music practice, if not guitar practice. Fortunately I'll be out of town next week and wouldn't have a guitar with me anyways, but I probably need to lay off it for more than one week. Anyways... My thought is to work on my reading skills by writing.* Go through the Real Book and transcribe standards I've been working on into different keys.* Write out chords, scales and intervals in various keys, getting my eye used to them in.* I'm not great at reading rhythm, so I thought about spending some time going through songs and exercises and tapping out the rhythms. Any other suggestions for improving myself without picking up the guitar?
Members Virgman Posted July 5, 2012 Members Posted July 5, 2012 I suggest a complete break from music for a few weeks. It's good for your brain in addition to your tendonitis condition.
Poparad Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 Those all sound like good goals. You might also try picking up a book or two to read about some aspect of music that interests you. Maybe also use the time to listen to music, but really deeply listen to it, trying to hear all the little hidden details that you normally overlook in casual listening.
Members sfarfsky Posted July 5, 2012 Members Posted July 5, 2012 where is the pain at? u know why it hurts? when i first started playing an electric with a pick I went through some growing pains. What helped me was to keep playing. If it hurts then you're probably doing something wrong
Members BydoEmpire Posted July 5, 2012 Author Members Posted July 5, 2012 I suggest a complete break from music for a few weeks. It's good for your brain in addition to your tendonitis condition.Not exactly what I was looking for but honestly, this might be the best thing. Maybe also use the time to listen to music, but really deeply listen to it, trying to hear all the little hidden details that you normally overlook in casual listening.I plan on a little of that!
Mark Wein Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 One thing that I've found really helpful when I can't play for whatever reason is just trying to memorize and visualize music from charts and recordings...get them away from the guitar and more into my minds ear. That might be a small thing you can do,
Members chuzwozza Posted July 5, 2012 Members Posted July 5, 2012 Grab yourself a copy of 'The Advancing Guitarist' from Amazon, there's more than enough in there to keep you going for a while :-)
Members BydoEmpire Posted July 6, 2012 Author Members Posted July 6, 2012 Grab yourself a copy of 'The Advancing Guitarist' from Amazon, there's more than enough in there to keep you going for a while :-)Cool - I've got that book, but haven't used it in a couple years. Time to pull it off the ol' bookshelf...
Members c+t in b Posted July 6, 2012 Members Posted July 6, 2012 Grab yourself a copy of 'The Advancing Guitarist' from Amazon, there's more than enough in there to keep you going for a while :-) This is probably one of my favorite books and I love Mick but it's the last thing I'd recommend to someone who's not playing. It's a very hands-on text. Get a good college level classical theory text, ala the Kostka Tonal Harmony.
Members mosiddiqi Posted July 6, 2012 Members Posted July 6, 2012 Kind of like Mark..I think visualisation makes for a great practise session..I do this on my commute a lot and pretty much always feel the benefit when I next pick up a guitar. I run through scales, tunes, arps in my head and imagine me playing them with as much detail as I can.
Moderators Lee Knight Posted July 9, 2012 Moderators Posted July 9, 2012 * I'm not great at reading rhythm, so I thought about spending some time going through songs and exercises and tapping out the rhythms. Buy this v for that ^http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Reading-Text-For-Instruments/dp/0769233775/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341802716&sr=8-1&keywords=louis+bellson+reading+text
Members AXEL276 Posted July 10, 2012 Members Posted July 10, 2012 If I had to stop playing for a couple of weeks I'd probably program a bunch of drum tracks (old school drum machine guy here). It's time consuming (for me) but rewarding and very functional once I start putting guitar parts to them.
Members jeremy_green Posted July 10, 2012 Members Posted July 10, 2012 - You can work on legato style tapping with the good hand.- Slide guitar if it can handle it.- If you want hands off completely try lifting some music WITHOUT the guitar. There will probably be lots incorrect but the exercise goes beyond having the transcription. - Reorganize your practice space - including maybe work on creating a practice schedule or refining the one you have.
Members girevik Posted July 10, 2012 Members Posted July 10, 2012 The idea of working on rhythm using Bellson's book sounds great. If you want to try a different take on rhythm, check out the book You Can Ta Ka Di Mi This, which is teaches konokol (South Indian rhythm system) in an accessible manner. I heard about it during a discussion about John McLaughlin's konokol DVD. Another non-guitar specific thing I want to study is jazz arranging. I did a search on one jazz arranging book, and found a thread in which a respected jazz arranger and other individuals recommended Sammy Nestico's The Complete Arranger. It's a bit steep in price, but this is apparently the best of the best:http://www.sammynesticomusic.com/
Members windmill Posted July 12, 2012 Members Posted July 12, 2012 Do the playing in your head thing. It can be done anytime
Members BydoEmpire Posted July 17, 2012 Author Members Posted July 17, 2012 Just a quick follow up, I got back from a trip (a week+ out of town with no guitar). A couple of days I did some work in my staff book, and went through some standards reading along, playing along "in my head" but for the most part I just took the time off. It was exactly what I needed - some time away from the guitar. It was great to pick up my guitar again this morning after a couple weeks of not playing and feel that joy. Arm felt better within a couple days, too, and no pain at all. I think I caught it and stopped before I did anything too serious.
Members jeremy_green Posted July 17, 2012 Members Posted July 17, 2012 Good for you Bydo on both the break and the arm feeling better. Wise to stop as you did, those things DO get serious and fast.
Members monstermaker Posted July 22, 2012 Members Posted July 22, 2012 Many good suggestions here. I might add play some keyboard if you have one. It's a great place to take things apart and build.
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