I was practicing as usual but I noticed that my techniques and abilities seem to suck a lot more and I mean like everything I seemed to learned went out the window. I couldn't execute anything. I was trying to learn metallica's sanitarium (that's alot of slides near adjacent strings)but nothing seemed like it was sinking in. This ever happened to anyone else? ( god i hope this is a fluke)

I did back in my early days alot, i don't really suffer from it now though m8, i tend to practice everyday for a fixed amount of time now, seem to play at the same quality day in day out ;)
Mind you i have stepped up my practice sessions a good amount, so that might have something to do with it :P

It happens to me every day for the first say 10 to 20 min of playing when i first pick the guitar up each day, u gotta warm your hands up i suggest rubbing them to gether real fast for some nice friction heat then stretching all your fingers backwards and hold it, then do your thumb, repeat on the other hand the message your hands for a bit mainly under the nuckle on the inside of your hand. :) i hope this helps i always do this first, then i do some legato runs some bends, some alternat picking and all that annoying crap and u should be ready.

THough my skill doesn't just fly out the window, once i get warmed up and have the blood flowing through the muscles i play at about the same level each day, some days better some days worse.
I tend to find that when i all of a sudden get extremly inspired and motivated to play from listening to something or watching some real cool (Like satch :)) i sometimes have these great busts for a day and can play better than normal, i say day because when i get these i can't put the guitar down lol. Just practise regulary and don't give up, allthogh a litle whlie ago i bearly touched the guitar for nearly 2 weeks then hoped back on and felt better than before i stoped, wierd aye. I wouldn't suggest that though, but if u aer a bit frustrated sometimes hvaing a break is a good thing, just don't stop r anything. Man i rant sometimes ;)

bad guitar day? i have bad guitar months....

it's like riding a bike though...

yeah i have plenty of those.... i just put down the guitar on those days and give it a rest... :lol:

but more importantly than that is when the inspiration flows... those come a lot fewer and you must record yourself when u have a really nice tune going cause it can leave you wondering later on 'WHere the hell did that come from'??? ^_^

Every day is bad when u compare youre playing with Joe Satriani ! :lol:

oh yeah, i have those. thing like, my finger slipping from a string, bends sounding horrible, not being able to play Erotomania as good as i could play before, all these things happen to me.

and like kane said, when i play guitar after a long gap, maybe a week or so, i kinda feel like i've improved overnight. too bad it doesnt stay that way.

Robin Trower once said that ''the guitar can be a very boring instrument". i guess what he meant was , sometimes you cant come up with anything . you feel like doing something else. :mellow:

lol yeah. I personally do have certain days where my 'skill' is obviously worse then usual. Can be extremely fustrating :P

But I also have some Better then usual days - where i'm obviously better then usual.

Guess it's just one of them things that comes with guitar playing.

Cheers,

i suck every day.. but i keep playing cause i love music!

ya have to have a bad day....to have a good day!...or ya wont know the difference!
-Axeshredder '06

totally agree with all of the above, sometimes my playing sucks i cant play songs very well, then igive it a rest and next week im good to go :) but i just think it means eventually this will stop as my hands get stronger.

My bad guitarday started the day I first picked up a guitar.. and I never looked back

yeah i know exactly what you guys mean, one day i could even play always with me always with you, like kane_satriani said doing some legato runs and all the really hard stuff gets me warmesd up and then its just satch all day long!!!!

i suggest doing some of the exersises that joe has taught me, (not personally)
LOL!
you can see them on one of the satriani "ZZs Podcasts" then joe start singing in a wierd way and then laughing really wierd, but thats a WHOLE differant story!!

Almost everyday haha. When I'm trying to learn some of Satch's songs but not only - and when I learn them by heart. But sometimes I've got 'the need' of playing sth new, adding some of my own into these songs and that's what I call good guitar day.

just another note: staying away from the instrument for a prolonged period of time; terrible for technique, GREAT for creativity

i wouldnt say it terrible for technique ..that comes back but it is great for creativity

Te question we should be asking is if Joe ever has a bad day...but only he can answer that...though i believe his bad day would still have most in awe

in a robin trower interview , he sai ''the guitar can be a very boring instrument''. even he has those days...

I think I figured why I was sucking so much... What do you think is playing the guitar? Your hands or your brain? ;) I didn't get much sleep the night before so kinda felt awkward the next day. So if yall having a bad day, get some sleep or eat something to feed your brain, it controls everything and you need to take care of it!

:lol: :lol:

so true. his bad guitar day is way better than our best guitar day!