{"id":47251,"date":"2021-01-08T01:04:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T09:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/?p=47251"},"modified":"2024-07-22T23:56:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T06:56:20","slug":"practice-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-break\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Re-Start Your Guitar Practice After a Break"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a life of music, detours and distractions are par for the course.<\/p>\n<p>So how can we best start back up after a break? How can we go from doing nothing, to the habit of daily practice, with enthusiasm and excitement?<\/p>\n<p class=\"centerc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q3CjdxI8WWs?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;autohide=1\" width=\"700&quot;\" height=\"393&quot;\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">?<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">First, Release Guilt &#8211; It Happens to Everyone<\/h2>\n<p>One of the hardest parts to restarting our guitar practice is facing guilt. We often feel guilty that we allowed our guitar practice routine to fall off in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>This feeling compounds when we try to play something from before, and find we can no longer play it. We feel like we\u2019ve slid backward. And this makes re-starting even more emotionally difficult.<\/p>\n<p>To move forward, the next step must be to <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/reality-guilt-inner-game\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">release guilt<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We must drop the stories of what \u201ccould have been\u201d, or \u201cshould have been\u201d. We have to stop fussing at ourselves. We have to look ahead, not behind, and get excited about the actions within our control.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Set a Low Bar to Success<\/h2>\n<p>When we first sit back down to practice after a break, we need to feel successful. To feel successful, we need to reach a goal or meet an expectation.<\/p>\n<p>To guarantee <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/beginner-progress-guitar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">success<\/a>, we can set very small goals.<\/p>\n<p>Examples of small, attainable goals include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cJust sit down and pick up the guitar. \u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cReview my basic chords, reminding myself of any I\u2019ve forgotten.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDo one simple exercise or pattern I still remember from before.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cTune my guitar and organize my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-space\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">practice space<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The main point is that whatever we make as a goal, we do it. Size doesn\u2019t matter, only successful completion.<\/p>\n<p>These small wins create momentum. And to get back into the habit of practicing, momentum is the fuel to keep going.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Just Have Fun<\/h2>\n<p>We may have larger long-term goals, such as maintaining a full <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/how-to-maintain-classical-guitar-repertoire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">repertoire<\/a>. But at this point, we do best by focusing on fun.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the goal is to create momentum. When we have fun we\u2019re more likely to sit back down to practice tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever we enjoy most, this is where we should spend time working.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t matter if the practice isn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/guitar-practice-schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">balanced<\/a> or well-rounded. <strong>All that matters is that it feels good<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>We can always decide to be more disciplined or organized later, when we have the momentum behind us. Fun first, everything else later.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Focus on Fingers<\/h2>\n<p>When we\u2019re not practicing, music often becomes a mental game. We philosophize and theorize about guitar playing, instead of actually practicing.<\/p>\n<p>To remedy this, we can put our attention on our hands.<\/p>\n<p>We can perform <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/slurs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">exercises<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/alternation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scales<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/learn-guitar-chords\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">chord<\/a> drills, etc. that demand accuracy and precision. These put our awareness on the small details of movement and sound.<\/p>\n<p>Becoming embodied (body-aware), we\u2019re more likely to enter a <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/getting-in-the-zone-flow-guitar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">flow state<\/a> and lose track of our practice time. This feels great, and makes for a rewarding and fulfilling practice session.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Gain Momentum<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/how-to-choose-guitar-pieces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Whatever strategy we choose<\/a>, the most important part is that we gain momentum.<\/p>\n<p>To play classical guitar takes skills built over time. Large, infrequent practice sessions lead to very little advancement. But consistent, small practice sessions help us become a better guitarist.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Often, we gain momentum in as few as three or four consecutive days of practice.<\/strong> At this point, remembering and showing up to practice becomes much <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/make-guitar-easy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">easier<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To start back up after a break, the best way is to remind ourselves why we love guitar. We can re-associate guitar practice with joy and fun. We can reconnect with what brought us to playing music and guitar in the first place. And with this, we get over the hump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a life of music, detours and distractions are par for the course. So how can we best start back up after a break? How can we go from doing nothing, to the habit of daily practice, with enthusiasm and excitement? ? First, Release Guilt &#8211; It Happens to Everyone One of the hardest parts to restarting our guitar practice &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-break\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,434,20],"tags":[372,52],"class_list":["post-47251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-main-content-parent","category-practicing","tag-practice-planning","tag-practice-skills"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Start Back Up Guitar Practice After a Break<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover tactics and methods to find your momentum and start back practicing guitar. 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