A Cautionary Tale

[Xzavier471]

Hey everyone, so I started playing guitar in 2010 when I was 10 but didn't start taking it seriously until 2019, started actually practicing different techniques and improving all around. Got to the point where I was miles better than I used to be. Could actually play some very hard stuff pretty well. Even got the scream solo down at one point and even most of paradigm.

However, I made a fatal mistake. One day I decide to start learning a piece of In the Name of God by Dream Theater. Stopped practicing my usual routine and pretty much just focused on that. Found that I wasn't getting better and eventually noticed that when I tried playing old stuff I was very proficient at I couldn't. It was as if all the years of practice never happened. To make it worse my fretting hand felt very off and I was actually worse than before I had even started practicing. My hand felt as if something was wrong with it

But my theory is I practiced the DT song with bad habits for so long that it messed up my fretting hand.

It was pretty devastating and at some points I even felt like just giving up and not even trying to get good again. I tried seeking advice from some pretty good guitarists but unfortunately none could really help.Its hard to describe just how bad it feels to go from being able to play a lot of syns stuff to barely being able to play the simplest stuff but it's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

At this point I've gotten back to my routine and am playing everything at like around 30 bpm (I was able to play most stuff at around 220 bpm before)

Hopefully I'll be able to get my skill back but it'll take awhile tbh , probably a couple years it feels like.

Whole point of me posting this is to advise anyone out there with a routine to keep at it. And most definitely make sure you're playing with proper technique! Would hate for what happened to me to happen to anyone else :/

 

[hunte25]

Hey everyone, so I started playing guitar in 2010 when I was 10 but didn't start taking it seriously until 2019, started actually practicing different techniques and improving all around. Got to the point where I was miles better than I used to be. Could actually play some very hard stuff pretty well. Even got the scream solo down at one point and even most of paradigm.

However, I made a fatal mistake. One day I decide to start learning a piece of In the Name of God by Dream Theater. Stopped practicing my usual routine and pretty much just focused on that. Found that I wasn't getting better and eventually noticed that when I tried playing old stuff I was very proficient at I couldn't. It was as if all the years of practice never happened. To make it worse my fretting hand felt very off and I was actually worse than before I had even started practicing. My hand felt as if something was wrong with it

But my theory is I practiced the DT song with bad habits for so long that it messed up my fretting hand.

It was pretty devastating and at some points I even felt like just giving up and not even trying to get good again. I tried seeking advice from some pretty good guitarists but unfortunately none could really help.Its hard to describe just how bad it feels to go from being able to play a lot of syns stuff to barely being able to play the simplest stuff but it's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

At this point I've gotten back to my routine and am playing everything at like around 30 bpm (I was able to play most stuff at around 220 bpm before)

Hopefully I'll be able to get my skill back but it'll take awhile tbh , probably a couple years it feels like.

Whole point of me posting this is to advise anyone out there with a routine to keep at it. And most definitely make sure you're playing with proper technique! Would hate for what happened to me to happen to anyone else :/

Yeah that shit happens to me I found out if I take a rest from it go for a walk and leave my guitar alone for a day I’ll be back to where I was if not better. but it’s important to remind yourself why you started and have fun on the journey it wouldn’t be much of an experience if you just got everything easily, you gotta put in that grind

 

[Little Laguna05]

Okay so, I’m not playing my guitar every day but it’s at least four times a week, but I don’t have much of a routine I just play the magic box that papa gates did in one of the lessons and then I just randomly work on different songs, (The Final Episode, Bulletproof Love, This Means War, Jaws of Life, and Buried Alive and fade to black) but like Are there like techniques you can like share that can help me warm up because my only warm ups are like the things I’ve learned so far

 

[Xzavier471]

Yeah that shit happens to me I found out if I take a rest from it go for a walk and leave my guitar alone for a day I’ll be back to where I was if not better. but it’s important to remind yourself why you started and have fun on the journey it wouldn’t be much of an experience if you just got everything easily, you gotta put in that grind

Yeah man that's true! I try not to be too hard on myself

 

[Xzavier471]

Okay so, I’m not playing my guitar every day but it’s at least four times a week, but I don’t have much of a routine I just play the magic box that papa gates did in one of the lessons and then I just randomly work on different songs, (The Final Episode, Bulletproof Love, This Means War, Jaws of Life, and Buried Alive and fade to black) but like Are there like techniques you can like share that can help me warm up because my only warm ups are like the things I’ve learned so far

What I usually do to warm up are some stretches I got from a john petrucci video called Rock Discipline. It's important to warm your fingers up and stretch before every practice to avoid problems developing in your hands down the line and I highly recommend you add it to your routine everytime you practice.

As far as specific techniques I would definitely worn on Legato, alt Picking, and economy. You can also throw some sweep picking in there if you want to but for me those three are pretty important. There's other techniques to work on too of course.

The Etudes in this school are great to use. Just start at a bpm you find managble and slowly work your way up. Mike Philipov from practiceguitarnow on YouTube has great vids on how most effectively to practice and I highly recommend looking some up