Taking breaks...

[kingcold435]

When you're playing and you find you're losing focus and are screwing up even simple scales and songs due to being tired/stressed etc, is it ok to stop for awhile ? I ask because I feel guilty sometimes if I need to stop due to being unfocused. It never feels like I can practice enough.

[:amaze:]

yeah man, if you don't feel like you're getting anything out of the practice session, it's pefectly fine to stop for a while.




:amaze:

[gaslight]

Yep, it's always okay to take a break.

[Soulfly666]

People worry too much about losing their chops if they take a break, but it's always good to take a break every once in a while. Sometimes you find that you're better when you pick it up again after setting it down for a few days.

[Spazzout22]

I've talked to many a player who advocates that you should actually stop well before you reach that state. Their method of practicing is that you should play for about 30-45 min. Then stop for a while. Then do it again, then stop. Then again. For example (if you're in highschool): Get up and practice for 45 min, go to school, come home and practice for 30 min, go out and chill with your friends, come home and practice for 30 min, eat dinner, practice for 30 min, go to bed.

Obviously that's for a 2 hour a day practice routine, you can change it to better suit your needs. You can also bump up the hours. I go for about an hour and a half before I start loosing focus on the upright, and about 30-45 min on the electric. But the more you play, the longer you can go without loosing focus. Hell, Mingus played for like 12 hours a day nearly straight. But that was after 30-40 years of INTENSE playing.

[gaslight]

Didn't he die in like '79 or so?

[Spazzout22]

Didn't he die in like '79 or so?

ya... you're totally right... fixed.

[EADG]

There's nothing wrong with it

I think it's better to take breaks and always be running at 100% than to play straight without a break at 80%


Bad analogy but you get the point.

[kingcold435]

Actually, that's a brilliant strategy, is stopping and starting. I do that a lot, actually. Just sometimes I can play for like an hour or so at a time without even realizing it. Glad to see it's ok to do that.