The wall: When it is difficult to break a plateau
Life interferes, but the learning process is not linear, and you should not feel bad when you are stuck
You might be aware that I play guitar.
I have been playing for more than three decades. In that time my competency (ability) has had several cycles. In the first 4-5 years the progress was rapid, and very satisfying.
Then life happened, I traded school (where I had irregular times free that I filled with practicing) for work, and my time to invest in the instrument. I still played, but with shorter time to spend, I focused on playing things that were fun1, instead of doing the grinding of scales, exercises, arpeggios and the like that help grow mastery.
The next couple of decades were this pattern, yet as time went on, the amount of time I could put into the instrument was not high in volume, or in regularity.
Needless to say, not only did I not “improve”, but I “lost” a lot that I already had learned. Songs I could play decently in the 90’s? Gone. Reach exercises? Poof! quirky scale patterns? Adios.
When Covid hit, and I instantly became a WFH person, I began playing at lunch. Yes, it hurt. The calluses were gone, arthritis had crept in, dexterity (never my strong suit) had flagged. In short, in many ways it was like starting from scratch.
That said, even if I had forced the issue over the decades to keep practicing, I would have plateaued, and in the 3 & 1/2 years where I have played fairly consistently I have regained some of the skill I once had, but I am also hyper aware of what I can no longer do.
An example: Playing Aerosmith’s “Dream On” always contorted my left hand into a cramped claw. But adding the arthritis that I have now, it is just not possible.
I am OK with it though. I love pulling one of my guitars off the wall, plugging in, dialing up a fun tone on the Helix, and just ripping off some great riffs.
Also, about this time, the internet happened, and I stumbled upon OLGA, and suddenly had a universe of various quality tabs to play
I feel this post so much. I keep thinking I should get out my flute and start playing again, but there's a big wall of skills I'd need to relearn to start sounding decent and like you, I'm not sure I'll successfully scale it. Plus, I don't think there's an OLGA for flute music out there somewhere, and I have very little sheet music.