Discomfort and loss of technique after less than a day between playing

[Dan Shipway]

Hey guys,
Lately, I have noticed that when I play guitar some of the things that I have found to be comfortable in terms of picking hand shape and positions when playing guitar is declining even though it has been less than a day. It is really demotivating and I don’t really know a solution. It seems like whenever I get comfortable with picking something happens and makes the technique uncomfortable.
It mainly started around July last year and after that has just been a pain to maintain progress
Any advice is appreciated.

 

[idssdi]

There’s something like playing guitar too much unfortunately or more likely playing the same thing to much. It may very well be fatigue. Maybe simple taking a break for a week will work otherwise I would say maybe the way you have your picking hand isn’t naturally the way you hold it making it difficult to keeping it that way. Just some suggestions I have no clue whether any of this can actually be the solution.

 

[Dan Shipway]

Thanks Ids, it is always hard for me to put it down out of fear of losing progress and getting setback but I will try for a few days.

 

[Jamie London]

See I have the exact opposite thing happen. If I play too many days in a row with no rest day I’ll be able to absolutely nail a song or technique or whatever for, we’ll say, 4 days in a row and then by, say the 5th day I’m just a mess on anything I try to play haha. So I’ve learned to take a day or two off each week. Weird how it’s a similar issue but brought on by the opposite thing

 

[OskarF]

This happened to me a lot in the beginning. Just keep playing. Picking, especially, will feel like a very unnatural movement at first qand it will take a while before your brain gets used to it. So just keep reminding your brain how it should be done and you will eventually do it without thinking too much about it
And like someone said above, if you practice intensely, a break can be good once in a while! I’ve been surprised many times that i got more progress from taking a break than what i most likely would have had if i just kept practicing every day. Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck on certain ideas and then it can be good to take your mind off of it for a day or two and come back fresh. Don’t fatigue yourself!
I think of it kind of like building muscle: you work out hard, you get tried and you need rest. Then when you come back to the gym you’re stronger than before. The same goes for brain “work out”

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

Sometimes too much focus may ruin stuff. Picking technique becomes part of muscle memory after a while. Maybe you are facing issues with some techniques, but that might come from consciously focusing on details which do not need conscious observations. try this. Avoid the problem and try playing normally for a while. I know it sounds weird. see if that helps.

 

[Matt Wildman]

It’s okay man I’m the same way sometimes. There are days where my picking hand will just suck. And I think everyone has days like that sometimes, probably even Syn does too. (Maybe not?) Lol but just don’t worry about it. Like Ids said take a break and see what that does. You got this!