Why does nobody talk about the before and after of giving up guitar?

I played acoustic guitar for about 5 years back in college, then stopped cold when I started working night shifts at a warehouse. Fast forward 3 years later and I picked it up again last month, but my fingers felt like bricks and I couldn't even remember basic chord shapes. Has anyone else taken a long break from a skill and felt completely lost starting over?

3 comments

3 Comments

tarabell1mo ago

HOLD UP wait - "fingers felt like bricks" is EXACTLY how I described it to my buddy last week! That is wild you put it that way because I thought I was the only one whose hands turned into useless lumps after a break. Honestly it makes me mad how nobody warns people about the muscle memory just DISAPPEARING like it never existed. You probably spent hundreds of hours building those calluses and chord shapes and then POOF gone in a few years.

the_simon1mo agoMost Upvoted

Whoa wait, you're telling me I'm not the only one whose fingers actually felt like frozen bricks? Man I thought I had some weird nerve damage or something. I remember picking up my guitar after a few years and my fingers just sat there like dead things, couldn't even make a simple G chord without it sounding like a cat stepped on a keyboard. It is super frustrating when all those hours of practice just vanish into thin air.

stellaperry1mo ago

12 years of piano lessons and my fingers still forgot how to play "Twinkle Twinkle" after a 6 month break. I sat down at the keys and my hands just froze up like they'd never seen a keyboard before. Honestly my brain was just as much a brick as my fingers at that point.