i've gotten back into guitar, finally. my hand strength is back and so are my callouses. i'm still crazy rusty but at least i'm back at it. it had gotten to the point where i developed some sort of anxiety about picking up guitar again just because i knew i had lost a lot in the months of just playing bass. i clearly was actively avoiding it, procrastinating just to put off swallowing that initial big pill of realizing my devolved abilities. well, i did, it's not pleasant but on with business.

the other day i was working with a backing track and focusing on playing to the chord changes. my phrasing was horrific and sounded stiff and forced. everything was on a downbeat like i had forgotten everything i had ever played. so i took a step back and though, "what would i do on bass?". well, hawt dawg, that helped a ton. on bass my go-to phrase generator that i use when i don't know a song or am just getting the changes worked out is the ol' "e-&-a-1", as i call it. simply put i'll hang on a root or something for 3 beats and from the "e" of 4 i'll walk it to the next chord smoothly landing on the root or chord tone on 1. whether it's a lick or just up or down diatonically or something it always works. always. so that's what i did on guitar and wouldn't you know it, i was back in the game. just like that. it's like i had forgotten to count time or something. weird.

now, it's just one of those things that i find myself in. i'll develop blinders or tunnel vision on something or otherwise i'll have stuff compartmentalized and i'll fail to see the connection. i'll struggle through something when i know the answer already but for whatever reason it doesn't occur to me. this certainly was one of those times. like, i know bass and guitar on their surface are pretty much the same. bass is "just a big guitar", but they're played so differently that it's hard to actually say that. that's not saying that they don't share a massive amount of similarities, though. for whatever reason if i pick up one or the other it's like i'm trying to speak 2 different languages and what i've learned on one does not translate to the other. 

i know the solution already, i just need to use them more and consciously apply what i've learned on one to the other. it sounds easy... oh wait, it is easy. oh, then there we go, problem solved.