last night i got together a few people to just work on some junk. they had jammed before but it had been an easy 6 months snice they last got together, and even then didn't really have anything worked out. i didn't feel out of place walking in because i had been given the heads up on the casual nature of the "band". i was brought it to play guitar and uh... i haven't picked up a guitar in a year, easily, and even then it was barely. i'd give it at least a solid 2 years or a little more since i really played guitar so i was in rough shape to say the least. 

focusing on bass for so long my approach, focus, train of thought, and the physicality of playing a completely different instrument make for a bad time on guitar. the instrument has its similarities but it is not a 1:1 translation by a long shot. i honestly felt stupid... i was trying hard to put my knowledge into practice and help fill out riffs that had a lot of power chords but you'd be at no fault to assume i had never picked up a guitar. my knowledge of chord shapes and inversions and atrophied so much. not to mention i was hearing this material for the first time on the spot i was unprepared, to say the least.

band practice room
i've been feeling bad about not playing guitar for some time now. i've been so focused on bass and having so much fun that i've justified not playing guitars that the bass "is my instrument". and it is. i do believe that, but man, i do like guitar. after all, it is the instrument i chose when getting back into music to learn from the ground up. i've made most of all my big musical breakthroughs on the guitar so i hold it in high regard. 

i think it will be fun to be able to get back into it and try to fill out someone else's material using what i've learned. if nothing else i'll use the opportunity to knock the rust off some poor and forgotten skills. that, having been said, i spent the morning playing bass poorly and feeling bad about myself. so, there's that.