Ever have days when your playing sucks?

[Blitzie]

Other than all the days, I mean.

Seriously, four days ago I had a great night. I played for hours and I got my picking fast and even, I felt like I could play anything I wanted.

Picked up the same guitar and pick today before work and I couldn't play shit. No down picking, alt picking, no even strumming. Unbelievable. So frustrated.

Is it a matter of being "warmed up" or did I have some freaky Cinderella shit that night?

 

[cardinal]

My picking speed is often highly variable. Probably because I don't spend enough time really practicing it. Some days I've got the stuff and can shred legato lines pretty well. Other days I just don't seem to have it (so I often end up using a sweep or some gimmick instead and hope for better days).

 

[hammered]

Yes most days are like that

 

[SpiderWars]

Absolutely. And to varying degrees. Sometimes I'll turn on the metronome and just do drills really slow and that usually helps. Or I'll switch to acoustic guitar ("and now for something completely different"). Or fuck it maybe I'll just have a beer and play AC/DC, which is fun too.

 

[SavageRiffer]

There are three major factors that make my playing suck at times: not warming up, over practicing, or playing after a workout. Every now and then, it's like my playing just falls apart and I have to go back to the metronome and slowly get my picking back under control again. However, I just learned something from an Troy Grady video that made me realize why why picking is sometimes inconsistent. It has to do with alternating your pickslant as you traverse strings. I don't fully understand it enough to start putting it into practice yet, but I can already tell that it makes 3-note per string scale runs very consistent. The hard part is now figuring out how it applies to all kind of cross-string mechanics.

 

[Racerxrated]

Everyone has days like that. And, they get more common as you get older.

Just keep playing, even on bad days. After some time you'll get more fluid and feel better. Sometimes taking more time off helps, believe it or not.

 

[JackBootedThug]

eeerdaaay....

 

[Mr. Willy]

Most days are like that for me, at least when it comes to leads. I'm not one of those guys that it comes naturally to. I have to really work at keeping my chops up.

 

[psychodave]

Other than all the days, I mean.

Seriously, four days ago I had a great night. I played for hours and I got my picking fast and even, I felt like I could play anything I wanted.

Picked up the same guitar and pick today before work and I couldn't play shit. No down picking, alt picking, no even strumming. Unbelievable. So frustrated.

Is it a matter of being "warmed up" or did I have some freaky Cinderella shit that night?

Happens to all of us. If I get that, I play something simple or tinker and stop playing. Forcing it make it worse.

I took off 3 days from playing last week. Picked up the guitar and didn't miss a beat playing was fluid and clean.

 

[alan67]

There are three major factors that make my playing suck at times: not warming up, over practicing, or playing after a workout. Every now and then, it's like my playing just falls apart and I have to go back to the metronome and slowly get my picking back under control again. However, I just learned something from an Troy Grady video that made me realize why why picking is sometimes inconsistent. It has to do with alternating your pickslant as you traverse strings. I don't fully understand it enough to start putting it into practice yet, but I can already tell that it makes 3-note per string scale runs very consistent. The hard part is now figuring out how it applies to all kind of cross-string mechanics.

Troy is great. When I first saw him I thought WTF? But then you see him play stuff and I was like Talk about analyzing to the Nth degree though....makes my brain hurt

OP my guess is that your situation leans more towards warming up...you mentioned that you played for hours, I'm guessing you probably didn't have hours to play before work, therefore you weren't as warmed up.

 

[Deanmachine]

A few times a day I reach this conclusion

 

[riffermadness]

Everyone has days like that. And, they get more common as you get older.

Just keep playing, even on bad days. After some time you'll get more fluid and feel better. Sometimes taking more time off helps, believe it or not.

Damn I just turned 51 old years 2 weeks ago,I am doomed for sure now!! I knew my playing was sucking for some other reason than my playing always sucks!

 

[Racerxrated]

Everyone has days like that. And, they get more common FOR ME as I get older.

Just keep playing, even on bad days. After some time you'll get more fluid and feel better. Sometimes taking more time off helps, believe it or not.

Damn I just turned 51 old years 2 weeks ago,I am doomed for sure now!! I knew my playing was sucking for some other reason than my playing always sucks!

Fixed for you!

 

[MetalHeadMike]

There be the good days and then there be those days. Think it happens to most of us.

 

[Z_13]

I get this way sometimes. Some days I feel like everything is clicking, the timing between my left hand, and my right hand is perfect....ideas are coming to me one after another, etc. Other days I pick up the guitar, and it feels like I don't even know what I'm doing, lol. I feel like everyone has those days.

 

[DET1973]

every day...I'm a hack. 3-5 Chord Punk Rock Guitar Player.

 

[SavageRiffer]

Kerry King couldn't play a solo to save his life, but that dude can jam a thousand songs. Check out his Japanese guitar challenge with Paul Gilbert. They exchange riffs on any given song. Same thing with James Hetfield. He can't play solos worth shit, but nobody cares about that because he's the man when it comes to riffing. This is something I've recently started to contemplate. If your playing ever sucks, just go back to the basics and play good rhythm. That's why I recently started taking lessons from a renowned instructor so I can get my rhythm playing up to par. In the end, I don't have to play as fast as Yngwie all the time. I'd rather put together creative and cohesive material.

 

[jlb32]

Happens alot to me. I think alot of it is inspiration and how into it you really are on that day. Some days everything clicks and other days I feel I'm pushing.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Happens alot to me. I think alot of it is inspiration and how into it you really are on that day. Some days everything clicks and other days I feel I'm pushing.

^^^
This x100000

I've been ridiculously stressed this week (Clearing up yet another bout of identity theft, trying to sell a house, loan in progress for new house, waiting on the Feds to convert me from Intern position to full term employment, about to move from one side of the country to the other), and I tried playing numerous times throughout the day all week and it just wasn't happening period

Last night I re-grouped, had a nice chat with the wife, and tried letting go of some of the stress, and today I'm about back to my normal level of playing/creativity.

Mood, inspiration, stress, energy level......they're all intertwined along with playing ability IMO.

 

[peckhart]

Man, 2 weeks ago we had an absolutely killer gig. The whole band was on, but for me personally it was just all flowing so naturally. Felt great...probably one of my best gigs ever in terms of how I played all night.
A few days later we did a show in the middle of the week and I couldn't wait to just go the hell home. I couldn't get into the groove what so ever. There were some different factors I could point to as contributors, but yeah I get it.