Rehabilitating after not practicing for a year.

[CallMeBlind]

I was playing bass for some 10 years all together and before 12 months ago I stopped practicing at all, because I lost any interest in playing bass, before that another year I was practicing, but not like before, when I was really encouraged and had all that illusions, that musicians in the beginning of their career may have.
Now I'm facing a choice, either to stop playing at all (beside church band), what would be pity, as I spent so many years plating music, and actually I love music very much and spending most of my free time listening to it and attending live shows. Or to start practicing all over again. The problem is that after such a long time of not doing that every day practicing routine I don't even know where to start. Also I would like to mention, that unlike before, I have full-time job in airline business, so I can’t dedicate 4 hours of my time to practicing every day.
I’m wondering if someone else was getting back to playing music after losing interest for such a long time.

[DudeistMonk]

I quit for about 4 years after high school...Picked up bass again at the tail end of college. During that time my musical taste changed completely so when I came back to playing it was like starting all over again. The good part of that is that I got to do it right this time, lessons, jams, starting a band. I'm obsessed now, I have been back for about a year, got so much better and musical doors are opening for me now.

I picked up my bass and noodled incoherently during those 4 years but never practiced anything of value (might have learned 5 songs). When I came back the only things I remembered where 5 or 6 riffs and a few scales that I had burned into my brain before quit.

In the past year I got all my dexterity back and then some, I know the fretboard better than ever. I lost my ability to read, but thats coming back fast as well. I practice about an hour a day 5 days a week, take lessons once a week and do band stuff once a week, that seems to be all I need.

To sum it up, think of it as a fresh start, learn to play in a new style, it wont feel like you lost your old chops it will feel like you are learning new ones, and the old ones will come back on their own.

[MyUsernameHere]

I had to take a full year off a few times because of my old job. Like you, I used to practice for hours everyday so I didn't know where to begin when coming back.

Best advice I can give you is to treat it like you're a beginner. Except now, since you don't have all day to spend working at it everyday, split all your exercises up into hour long segments and try to do an hour a day. Don't worry about doing everything everyday, and don't beat yourself up if you have to skip a day (or if you just want to noodle around every once and a while).

For sure, its not going to be as productive as practicing four hours a day. But you will get back what you lost, or close to it...probably faster than you think you can.

[CallMeBlind]

Thanks guys! I like the idea of „to start as a beginner” approach. My musical taste changed as well, I was mostly playing funk before, I think I was bass-guitar fan and was mostly choosing music by cool bass lines. No I mostly listen to music, not just bass lines, in fact most of the bands I listen to at the moment include double bass players, E.S.T. or Avishai Cohen trio for instance.