Has anyone taken a gap-yah to play guitar? (Or a few months...)

FreddieVanHalen

I've been working my spuds off (long hours, mentally intense work) at non-music jobs for, hmmm, a long time. I can't afford to give up working forever but was thinking of taking some time out to really focus on music and accelerating my progress on guitar, anywhere from three months to a year. 

Has anyone got any experience of doing this? Does it work or will I just find myself getting cabin fever and wishing I had my old colleagues back?

Any thoughts or experiences much appreciated. I wasn't thinking of going to a music college, but I'd plan this experiment in advance and probably do twice weekly lessons with a decent teacher to make I didn't end up totally wasting the time and surfing the net :-)

axisus

Back in my day we had a phrase for that - bumming around! 

Personally I wouldn't leave a job, they are hard to come by these days. I would only have done it in my youth, and for me I'd want to go do a college course and get some decent structure going.

ToneControl

I took 10 months off 3 years ago, not just to play guitar. My playing improved, didn't take any lessons though, just bought new kit and played more. I have a lot of other interests though, some people would get stir crazy, I could happily quit work permanently if I had the cash.

If you can, taking 1 day off a week might work better if you are able to. I couldn't, it was work or stop, and like you I'd been doing long hours, away from home, Mrs & kids a lot for work and visiting my ill parents, but from all the work I had 10 months money in the bank. I got to pick the kids up from school every day, take them to the park, etc. And play guitar. Did me a lot of good I think. I call it a chunk of retirement I took early, you never know how long you'll live after all!

FreddieVanHalen

axisus said:

Back in my day we had a phrase for that - bumming around! 

Personally I wouldn't leave a job, they are hard to come by these days. I would only have done it in my youth, and for me I'd want to go do a college course and get some decent structure going.

Haha, when I think of the time I wasted in my yoof....

I know what you mean about giving up work - I'd only do it when I've got enough saved up to cover living costs totally for both the downtime and an expected six month job hunt afterwards, but yeah there will always be some risk involved.

I'd considered doing music college but there are a few things that put me off - high fees, and the fact I'd be just another student of many fitting a cookie cutter programme. I could pay a good teacher about half what any of the well know music schools charge and get something that was completely tailored to me and my own life schedule.

Agree this plan needs some proper structure though, it would be tragic to waste something like this by not being effective about how I do it.

ToneControl said:

I took 10 months off 3 years ago, not just to play guitar. My playing improved, didn't take any lessons though, just bought new kit and played more. I have a lot of other interests though, some people would get stir crazy, I could happily quit work permanently if I had the cash.

If you can, taking 1 day off a week might work better if you are able to. I couldn't, it was work or stop, and like you I'd been doing long hours, away from home, Mrs & kids a lot for work and visiting my ill parents, but from all the work I had 10 months money in the bank. I got to pick the kids up from school every day, take them to the park, etc. And play guitar. Did me a lot of good I think. I call it a chunk of retirement I took early, you never know how long you'll live after all!

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! There are  a couple of other things I'd do alongside the music too, some of them related to work so hopefully I'd avoid going stir crazy or getting burned out with music but I don't want to underestimate that possibility so it's good to hear of other's experiences.

I'm exploring four day per week options with work but they're hard to come by in my industry and quite a few folks I've spoken to at work who've done that advise caution - career progression stops, full time colleague resentment, full time colleagues and/or clients still expecting the same output as if you were doing a full week, etc, etc. Still, it's something I'm looking into and might be more sustainable in the long run.

On the life thing, I totally agree - some friends and family members have passed away recently and they weren't that old either - it's made me think basically.

wordy

I think I'd depends what kind of personality you are.  I've taken time off a few times, but I find it can be quite difficult to stay driven in general, once you arent compelled to like.... do stuff (o:

I have less time when I'm working, but I'm more on the ball in general, and more efficient with the time I do have.

I would say still working or studying part time, is the ideal scenario.  Then you have a good balance.

octatonic

For me it was the 90's. I had a part time job, a lot of time to play and a band I loved. It was great- do it but be effective and work hard.

randomhandclaps

Tarquin and I decided to spend a year learning guitar whilst touring India.  What we discovered was that you don't need money or guitars.  It's all like a western concept.  It was incredibly moving and when we got back to Chelsea we both decided to sell a guitar each and give £10 of the profits to the local Oxfam. 

Seriously though, knowing the discipline it takes to work for yourself when paying the bill is at stake, to have a effective training regime avoiding the obvious distractions (including those guitar related ones) would take a seriously impressive level of self-discipline.

ToneControl

Yes, £9k a year to sit in university lessons looks expensive to me. My BSc was 20-120 people in a lecture theatre for 12 hours a week, with a few optional tutor sessions with 102- people in each, for 28 weeks a year

£321 a week, so if we say 4 tutorials, that's £20 an hour to sit in big classes. Pretty poor value

btw, I worked in universities for 6 years, and back then there were a lot of people doing very much less work than they should, some professors I worked for went to the pub 2-3 afternoons a week, and slept in their offices in the afternoon if they came back in. I hope that's all been tightened up now.

I thought about doing a part time music production degree, but it's just so expensive, like FVH says, you could arrange your own education and pay less. Unis need to sort themselves out I think.

Cutting down to 4 days a week can be an issue, I couldn't do it in my profession very easily, since I tend to work on late projects usually, but you can get it by applying for a new post with that in mind. In my last job I was running a section, and I recruited one new permie on a 4 day week, and let another valued person switch to 4 longer days, with less days in the week.  

 

axisus

wordy said:

I think I'd depends what kind of personality you are.  I've taken time off a few times, but I find it can be quite difficult to stay driven in general, once you arent compelled to like.... do stuff (o:

I can understand that. I was twice unemployed after redundancy when I was young free and single (living with parents), and both times out of work for 8 months or so. Felt like a great holiday for the first 5 weeks, but then I got less interested in 'doing stuff', spent the most time ever in my life just sleeping. If I did it now (which I can't) I would have to write out detailed plans, daily tasks etc and really stick to a regime.

carlos

I wish I was in a position to do that. I have enough money stored away but my current job is just too good and pays too well. In short, I'm a coward. Don't be a coward, FreddieVanHalen !

Why don't you try to fit IA's Freak Guitar Camp into it too? http://www.freakguitar.com/fgc2014.html

ToneControl

you've mixed us up, I took 10 months out. In fact I try to take 1-3 months out between every new job

I have an innate curiosity, which means I fill up my whole days, I know this is not the same for all though.

I may well do some things like that camp in a few years. Doing a week with MD guitars building a guitar too

Just need to save up enough to retire first, even if only temporarily

 

wordy

maybe if you were to try out a few teachers, and then take lessons once, or maybe even twice a week - that would give you the motivation to keep being productive.

Thats what I should've done in hindsight.... but at the time it felt that the next job was a long way off.

FreddieVanHalen

georgenadaintl said:

I wish I was in a position to do that. I have enough money stored away but my current job is just too good and pays too well. In short, I'm a coward. Don't be a coward, FreddieVanHalen !

Why don't you try to fit IA's Freak Guitar Camp into it too? http://www.freakguitar.com/fgc2014.html

Thanks for the heads up on that, great idea to grab a week there even if I don't end up doing the whole time-out thing!

wordy said:

I have less time when I'm working, but I'm more on the ball in general, and more efficient with the time I do have.

I would say still working or studying part time, is the ideal scenario.  Then you have a good balance.

These are good points, and I think part time is more sustainable, because even if I take a year out I'm still going to have to come back to work and then I'll have the same problem again of having a ball busting job...hard to find a perfect way forward!

Phil_aka_Pip

During the previous Tory-sponsored recession (John Major's IIRC) I used unemployment down time for a part time course at the guitar institute. did me a power of good - mainly the n hours a day practice required to keep up with the course! The lessons were Saturdays and one weekday evening so I could still do the government Job Club thing but the rest of the time I practised. It wasn't taking the piss out of the dole either (before some Daily Wail reader starts whingeing) 'cos I did the time at the Job Club AND the required job applications - during which time I learned that quality not quantity is what counts and it only takes one application to get a job (the RIGHT one not hundreds of useless ones).

mike257

If you can, try and get into a situation where you''re earning from playing, and you have to learn your chops. I joined a busy function band as lead guitarist around eighteen months ago after mainly playing bass in original bands for years. I had to get my playing together pretty damn quick and learned a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise looked at. I bailed on my day job (saw writing on wall, took voluntary redundancy) and am now making a living (just) out of playing and sound engineering. I wouldn't go back to office life unless I absolutely had to now, its been a liberating experience, albeit difficult at times. Lucky to have a very supportive other half who had got behind me 100% having gone through a similar process changing career to pursue photography, which she now teaches full time.

So yeah, take a year out if you can financially do it, and you might never go back!

ESBlonde

The trouble I had after having a period of 'free time' thrust upon me through redundancy was that going part time was good, but then going full time again was hard on the soul.

Please can I have part time hours with full time salary?

jaygtr

ESBlonde;63397" said:

The trouble I had after having a period of 'free time' thrust upon me through redundancy was that going part time was good, but then going full time again was hard on the soul.

Please can I have part time hours with full time salary?

All I want is a fair days work for a fair weeks pay :-\"

Phil_aka_Pip

ESBlonde said:

The trouble I had after having a period of 'free time' thrust upon me through redundancy was that going part time was good, but then going full time again was hard on the soul.

Please can I have part time hours with full time salary?

Seconded. Please, for me too.

FreddieVanHalen

mike257 said:

If you can, try and get into a situation where you''re earning from playing, and you have to learn your chops. I joined a busy function band as lead guitarist around eighteen months ago after mainly playing bass in original bands for years. I had to get my playing together pretty damn quick and learned a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise looked at. I bailed on my day job (saw writing on wall, took voluntary redundancy) and am now making a living (just) out of playing and sound engineering. I wouldn't go back to office life unless I absolutely had to now, its been a liberating experience, albeit difficult at times. Lucky to have a very supportive other half who had got behind me 100% having gone through a similar process changing career to pursue photography, which she now teaches full time.

So yeah, take a year out if you can financially do it, and you might never go back!

I hadn't seriously considered making a living out of music in that year but it's a damned good idea to have a go at it. Even if that doesn't work out, it would provide a series of mini-projects through the year to keep up the energy and motivation.

FreddieVanHalen

Phil_aka_Pip said:

...down time for a part time course at the guitar institute. did me a power of good - mainly the n hours a day practice required to keep up with the course! The lessons were Saturdays and one weekday evening ...

One thing I had been thinking would be an advantage to a class rather than a private teacher might be the network of people you meet at the college, to learn from and jam with. Did you hang out much with your part time course mates?

Phil_aka_Pip

@FreddieVanHalen I'm sure that could work for those who were in the right geographical area/circumstances. However it was taking me nearly 2 hours each way to the classes and nobody else in the class came from my direction, so out-of-class networking was not really a go-er. These days we've all got email and other means of communication (I didn't even have a telephone at the time) so today things could be different.

The main benefit to me was, as I say, the rigorous practice.

At the classes, I watched the tutor (Alan Limbrick) like a hawk. Not only did I wish to grasp the subjects he was teaching but the methods he used to teach them and the methods by which he got us to teach ourselves. I think I got a hell of a lot out of that course and then after I'd done the C&G 730 stage 1 and stage 2 courses and put it all together, I was reasonably well placed to be working as a guitar tutor ...