Guitar Habits

West R Lee · Jul 21, 2006

I was just curious, especially about you guys who do not play professionally.

You see, sometimes I really do go for months without playing. Heck, I may not even look at my guitars. Then, one day, usually when I'm alone or someone invites me to play, I go on a playing binge. I never play well, but probably play best when I am emotional about something.

Am I alone here, or does anyone else experience this detatchment from their children, only to reunite with new found joy?

West

Jeff · Jul 21, 2006

I'll sometimes, not often, go for a week or 10 days without playing one of my gits.

Some of my best sessions have come after one of these mini sabbaticals. Maybe it's a kind of freshness that happens after a short absence.

Benee Wafers · Jul 21, 2006

Yes West unfortunately I am the same way. I can go for long stretches without picking up a guitar.I hate myself for it and I do remind myself to practice on a daily basis but some how I just don't do it.
i'll tell you what though, everyday I THINK about playing the guitar.
I am always thinking about playing, performing, writing songs, forming a band,recording.... everyday without fail. It is a large part of my life.
And I don't know if there is something wrong with me but I've got to say that sometimes just thinking about all these musical endeavours is satisfying enough !!
Benee Wafers

dreadnut · Jul 21, 2006

sorry, guys, but I need my daily guitar fix. The only time I ever went that long without playing was when I had open heart surgery, then it hurt too much to stretch my arms around my guitar, that's when I discovered the mandolin

Mr. P ~ · Jul 21, 2006

Well, I have fit all of these catagories. I tell people all the time that I used the guitar for a tranquilizer for years, and was very sporatic with playing and had no regular practice routine.

Then in '85 I bought a Martin Brazillian Rosewood HD-28 and started paying for lessons for the first time. Then in '92 my employer gave me the oportunity to look for a job somewhere else, we had our first child and as we approached bankruptcy I was forced to sell the HD-28, a D-28S and a real nice hammered dulcimer.

That is how I came to own a Guild. My instructor, in an effort to keep me playing found me a '74 D-25. I quit playing all together for 10 years. Then one day I picked up the Guild and started playing again. At work a professional player started a Guitar Club which has been way better than any lessons you could pay for.

Then I found this forum.....got the bug and bought a '78 D-40......then I joined a band at church....needed an electric and went for the Bluesbird.

So now it is a club meeting once a week, band rehersal once a week, a performance once every two weeks, and practice everyday except when on vacation with the family.

Today we return home, kids are anxious to see the cats, wife can't wait to see her own bed, and me, I can't wait to see the boys!!

My guitars are not girls like some peoples, mine are more like drinking buddies!!

Squawk · Jul 21, 2006

I played bass in bands right up until I got married. I continued to do some studio work and was an occasional ringer when needed. And I used to write and play song parodies on a six-stirng. Once I left NYC (1975), I never played on stage again. By the time I had my first daughter (1978 - she turned 28 this past Wednesday), I wasn't playing at all. I got back into it when my younger daughter wanted to learn - about 8 years ago. After my wife passed on, I looked to playing - and collecting - as therapy.

Today, I try to play at least one hour a day, but often go for as much as week without lifting a guitar if work, business travel or other priorities get in the way. What's nice about LTG is it is always as close as any computer. It is out of the question to keep a guitar in my office and pick it up when I have a few minutes - like I can do with LTG

I am at a stage in life where I am downsizing - as soon as some more things are settled with my daughters, I'll probably sell my house - and most of my guitars (at this time expect to keep all the Guilds).

Jake The Loafer · Jul 22, 2006

:roll: I'm the same way. I started picking on the guitar at 13 & I'm 59 now. I have gone for years w/o playing especially during my 2 decade + of Karate training. My hands were to sore & messed up. I still have bad fingers, wrists, etc.

I also stay very depresssed due to living w/ chronic pain & w/ all my guitars, not just the Guilds listed here, I can still go a week or more w/o picking one up. I try to pick a little once or twice a week if possible but that spreads into a week or more.

Squawk · Jul 22, 2006

This is an appropriate time to tell how I got involved with Guilds.

I was depressed after losing my wife - not only about the physical loss, but also about the unfair treatment my younger daughter was receiving at her high school. There were other unfair issues my older daughter and I also faced. So, as Bob Dylan puts it nicely, "I rest(ed) (my)self 'neath the strength of strings." I got into guitar collecting and wanted a 12 string - I had remembered how great Guild 12 strings were in the late '60s - and now I can afford one. I also heard how this newer brand - Taylor - was supposed to be so great.

I compared - there was no contest - I bought my Guild JF12-30. Between the spring of 2002 and 2005, I bought another 9 Guilds - acoustics, electrics and basses - bringing my total to 10 (9 remaining as I gave the Aviator to my daughter - who is eternally grateful and whose NY punk musician friends think she has the greatest dad ever).

West R Lee · Jul 22, 2006

Jake,

I know exactly what you mean. Not only my fingers and hands hurt from time to time, but I get pains in several other places. Part of mine is also due to Martial Arts as I was a practitioner for many years (still try to stretch. I was finally able to earn my black belt from the American Society of Karate in 2001 at the ripe young age of 43. I still love the art and the discipline, but I don't miss the tournaments and competition. My guitar playing suffered during that period in which I was so focused on training. That endless training took a toll on my joints.

Squawk,

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your wife. It sounds as if you lost her at a fairly young age. She'll always be with you. Also sorry to hear that you daughter experienced problems during that period. You know, those are the times, times of great emotion, that I've always felt we can be our most artistic. Guitar truly is great therapy.

Keep on playing,
West

West R Lee · Jul 22, 2006

P,

The guitar club where you work sounds like a blast. A few guys that I work with play and from time to time, we get together. We don't have an official club though, I wish we did. I agree with you that it seems like we pick up many things just playing with buds. I've never had a lesson and don't read music (too dumb), so I've probably learned the most from get togethers like your guitar club.

I was lucky enough to go to high school with a guy that strapped a harmonica around his head and just ripped Neil Young and Bob Dylan. James taught me more than anyone. He also was the owner of the first Guild acoustic I'd ever see. My gosh, what a guitar. I had an Ovation at the time and I remember how easy the action was on the Guild, but most of all, I remember how beautiful that guitar sounded. Well, it wasn't long before I traded the Ovation and bought my first Guild. D25M in '79. A love affair that will never die!

West

West R Lee · Jul 22, 2006

Dred,

I'm with Benee. I don't play everyday, but there's never a day that I don't think about it!

It sounds like your surgery may have been a blessing is disguise. I love the mandolin.

When Doyle Dykes was here, he brought his daughter Hayley who is quite good on the mandolin. She played so beautifully and sings like a bird.

The only thing I've ever really considered taking up is the six string banjo, primarily because it's basically a guitar, but I love that banjo sound too.

West

Mr. P ~ · Jul 22, 2006

Squawk said:
....(9 remaining as I gave the Aviator to my daughter - who is eternally grateful and whose NY punk musician friends think she has the greatest dad ever).

I can see how the punk crowd would see the Aviator as cool and of course a gift of an Aviator would be VERY cool!!

Mr. P ~ · Jul 22, 2006

West R Lee said:
P,

The guitar club where you work sounds like a blast. A few guys that I work with play and from time to time, we get together. We don't have an official club though, I wish we did. I agree with you that it seems like we pick up many things just playing with buds. I've never had a lesson and don't read music (too dumb), so I've probably learned the most from get togethers like your guitar club.
West

The club has been by far the best thing that has ever happened to my playing. John can read music but does not read guitar charts. He doesn't teach that way. He just teached us songs, a lot of stuff that was popular when I was in highschool and when he was learning to play (he is an electric player first, so he is making us use more barr chords than open chords).

We give ourselves things with the money from our dues and the company matching funds, like straps, strings, tunners, string cranks, humidifiers, chord dials and capos. That set of basic stuff is given to each new member when they start.

It is cool. 8)

West R Lee · Jul 22, 2006

Wow, that is fabulous that Boeing is so supportive of you guys and your interest. You know, the company I work for has a gun club, fishing club, pottery club, photography club, heck they even have a club for women who breast feed (can't remember what they call that one...the colostrum club or something

). I wonder if they've ever had a request for a guitar club? Honestly, I've never thought about asking.

West

Squawk · Jul 23, 2006

West R Lee said:
Squawk,

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your wife. It sounds as if you lost her at a fairly young age. She'll always be with you. Also sorry to hear that you daughter experienced problems during that period. You know, those are the times, times of great emotion, that I've always felt we can be our most artistic. Guitar truly is great therapy.

Thanks for the kind words, West. It will be six years this Thanksgiving - she had recently turned 52 and my younger daughter 15, my older one 22. The remaining 3 of us - as different as we all may be - were, are and always will be very close. That's the #1 reason for my getting through this. Great friends would be #2. Guitars is probably #3.

Jeff · Jul 26, 2006

We give ourselves things with the money from our dues and the company matching funds, like straps, strings, tunners, string cranks, humidifiers, chord dials and capos. That set of basic stuff is given to each new member when they sta

P,

I'm almost tempted to apply for work at your company. Corporate subsidised guitar club. Really cool.

Almost tempted, but not quite.

Mr. P ~ · Jul 27, 2006

You know the upper management really cares about you when they have 300,000 employees!

SmithfieldFair · Jul 27, 2006

"Shedding"

O - I was going to comment on the hours I play everyday between first and second breakfast and how it's structured between the other meals, but then I realized I mis-read the topic heading. I thought it was GUITAR HOBBITS! Never mind....dbs

West R Lee · Jul 27, 2006

:lol: Hey Smith, you don't count...................you get paid for this stuff! Wow what a fun job, I'll bet it's a ton of work though.

Do Celtic bands have groupies? :evil:

West

Benee Wafers · Jul 27, 2006

Yes. They're called the IRS. :roll:
Benee Wafers

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