Returning to Guitar After Time Off: A 30-Day Comfort Rebuild

So you've been away from your guitar. Maybe it's been weeks, maybe months. Not because you wanted to stop, but because something in your body said "no more" and you had to listen.

Tendonitis, maybe. Or carpal tunnel. A shoulder that seized up. Arthritis that finally got loud enough you couldn't ignore it anymore.

And now you're standing at this weird crossroads. The injury's calmed down some or at least it's not screaming at you every time you move, and you're thinking, "Maybe I could try again."

But there's this fear underneath it all. This voice that says, "What if I just hurt myself again? What if I'm not careful enough? What if my body can't do this anymore?"

I've worked with so many musicians in this exact spot. And here's what I need you to understand: coming back from injury isn't about pushing through or proving anything.

It's about rebuilding trust with your body. And that takes time, attention, and a plan that actually respects where you are right now.

This post is going to give you that plan. Thirty days.

Not to get you back to where you were: that's not the goal yet. But to help you play again without fear, to rebuild the foundation, and to learn how to listen to what your body's actually telling you.

Why Rushing Back Is How You Get Hurt Again

Look, I get it. You want to pick up where you left off. You want to play that song you were working on before everything went sideways. You want to feel like yourself again.

But here's the thing and I'm saying this as someone who's seen it happen over and over, that urgency is exactly what gets people stuck in injury cycles.

You push too hard too fast, your body's not ready, something flares up, and now you're back to square one.

Except this time you're also discouraged and scared and wondering if you'll ever be able to play properly again.

Your body heals in layers. The acute pain might be gone, but that doesn't mean the underlying compensation patterns have resolved.

The tension you were holding. The way you were gripping the neck too tight because you didn't trust your fingers. The shoulder that crept up toward your ear every time you played a barre chord.

All that stuff is still there, waiting to reassert itself the moment you stop paying attention.

So we're not going to do that. We're going to rebuild slowly. Methodically.

With enough space for your nervous system to adapt and your tissues to actually strengthen, not just tolerate.

And yeah, I know that's not sexy. It's not "get back to playing in 7 days!" But it's real. And it works. This is drawn form the book I wrote:

Keep Playing: The Release → Reset → Rebuild™ Method for Lifelong Guitar Playing

The Three Phases of Coming Back

Coming back has three distinct phases. You can't skip any of them.

Well, you can, but then you're just setting yourself up for round two of whatever put you out in the first place.

Phase 1: Reconnection (Days 1-10)

This is about rebuilding basic contact with your instrument without triggering pain. You're not trying to play songs yet. You're relearning how to hold the guitar, how your body positions itself, what tension feels like, where ease lives. Think of this as a conversation, not a performance.

Phase 2: Gentle Load (Days 11-20)

Now we start adding light technical work. Simple patterns, scales, chord changes but all at a pace and volume that allows you to stay present and notice what's happening. You're teaching your body that it's safe to do this again. You're building capacity without exceeding it.

Phase 3: Integration (Days 21-30)

Here's where you start bringing music back into it. Short pieces. Things you love. But still with awareness, still with breaks, still respecting the limits we've been working within. By the end of this phase, you should feel confident that you can play regularly without things flaring up again.

That's the framework. Now let's get into what you actually do.

Days 1-10: Reconnection Phase

What You're Doing (and Why)

You're not playing music yet. I know. But you're doing something more important: you're remapping the relationship between your body and the instrument.

After injury, your nervous system has essentially flagged guitar playing as "potentially dangerous." We need to show it that's not true anymore.

Daily Practice (10 minutes max):

Pick up your guitar. Just hold it. Notice how it sits against your body. Where does your shoulder want to go?

Is your wrist already tensing up before you've even touched a string? Just notice. Don't judge it. Don't try to fix it yet. Just see what's happening.

Now, very gently, place your fingers on the strings. No pressing down. No chords. Just contact. Feel the steel or nylon under your fingertips.

Let your thumb rest on the back of the neck not gripping, just resting.

Pluck one open string. Listen to it ring out completely. Notice what your body does. Did you hold your breath? Did your shoulder lift? Did anything tighten anywhere?

Do this for maybe five strings. That's it. Then put the guitar down.

The Breathing Reset:

After each micro-session, do this: sit quietly for two minutes with your hands in your lap. Close your eyes.

Take slow breaths in through your nose, out through your mouth. Let your hands be heavy. Let your shoulders drop away from your ears. Explore the post on breath work for a more detailed description of a useful breathing technique you can apply here.

This matters more than you think. You're teaching your nervous system that playing guitar doesn't have to be accompanied by tension and fear. You're creating a new association.

Journal Prompt (Optional but Helpful):

Write one sentence after each session: "Today I noticed..."

Not about whether you played well or badly. About what you observed. "Today I noticed my left shoulder was tight." "Today I noticed the third string sounded brighter than I remembered." "Today I noticed I was scared to press down."

This is data. This is how you learn to listen.

What to Avoid in This Phase:

Don't play for more than 10 minutes at a time, even if you feel good.

Don't try to play actual songs or complicated passages.

Don't compare yourself to where you were before the injury.

Don't push through any discomfort - if something starts to hurt, stop immediately.

This phase is about patience. About showing up. About proving to yourself that you can touch your guitar again without things going wrong.

Days 11-20: Gentle Load Phase

Building Technical Capacity

Alright, now we're going to start actually playing. But we're going to be smart about it.

Daily Practice (15-20 minutes, split into two sessions if needed):

Start with 3-5 minutes of the reconnection work from Phase 1. Yes, still. This becomes your warm-up forever, by the way. It's not a beginner thing: it's a "I respect my body" thing.

I explain why the 20 minute practice session is a great idea all round in this previous posts

Then move into simple technical patterns:

Single-string scales: 

Pick one string. Play it chromatically (every fret) up and down, slowly. Focus on minimal pressure just enough to get a clean note, no more. Do this for 3-4 minutes. Notice where you want to grip harder than necessary. Consciously relax.

Open chord shapes: 

Pick 2-3 chords you know well. Not barre chords yet just open position.

G, C, D. Or Am, Dm, E. Whatever feels natural. Strum them slowly, one at a time.

And remember there are lots of ways you can adapt chords if you need to and still sound great.

Hold each chord for four slow breaths before changing. You're not making music you're just practicing the shapes with awareness.

Rest between exercises. 

Seriously. Put the guitar down, shake out your hands, roll your shoulders back. Thirty seconds. Then come back.

The Spider Exercise (Modified):

You might know this one -it's a classic finger independence drill. But we're doing it differently:

On the high E string, place your index finger on the first fret. Play the note. Remove your finger, shake your hand out gently.

Place your middle finger on the second fret. Play the note. Remove, shake out. Ring finger, third fret. Pinky, fourth fret.

Do this once. That's it. Not ten times. Not up and down the fretboard. Once.

Why? Because after injury, volume is your enemy. Intensity is your enemy. We're rebuilding neural patterns, not building stamina yet. That comes later.

Checking In With Your Body:

Every five minutes, stop and ask yourself:

• Is there any pain? (Sharp, burning, shooting = stop immediately)
• Is there discomfort? (Dull, tired, achy = note it and proceed cautiously)
• Where am I holding tension? (Jaw? Shoulders? Forearms?)
• How's my breathing? (Shallow and held, or deep and easy?)

This isn't paranoia. This is intelligence. This is how you stay safe while you rebuild.

What Success Looks Like:

At the end of this phase, you should be able to play simple technical exercises for 15-20 minutes without any pain during or after. Not fatigue by the way that's normal. Pain. If you're still getting pain, you need more time in Phase 1.

That's not failure that's information your body is trying to tell you and you should listen.

Days 21-30: Integration Phase

Bringing Music Back In

Okay, this is where it starts to feel like playing again. But we're still being deliberate. We're still paying attention.

Daily Practice (20-30 minutes, can split into two sessions):

Warm-up (5 minutes): 

Reconnection work from Phase 1, then some gentle technical work from Phase 2. This is now your standard opening. Every time. No exceptions. If you need a solid warmup routine I have another post which walks you through that.

Musical Material (10-15 minutes): 

Now you get to play actual things. But start small. Pick a song or piece you know well - something that doesn't push you technically. Something you can play without thinking too hard.

Play through it once, slowly. Half tempo or less. Focus on staying relaxed. If you feel tension building, stop, reset, try again.

Don't try to play the whole song if it's long.

Play the first verse and chorus. Play the intro and the bridge. Play the parts you love most.

You're not performing. You're reconnecting with why you started playing in the first place.

Exploration (5-10 minutes): 

This is optional but I really recommend it. Just mess around. Improvise. Play something that makes no sense. Let your hands wander without agenda.

Why? Because after injury, we get rigid. We get careful. And that's good for healing, but at some point you need to remember that music is supposed to be playful. This is where you start to trust yourself again.

Cool-down (3-5 minutes): 

Don't just put the guitar down and walk away.

Do some gentle hand stretches. Roll your wrists slowly in both directions. Make fists and release them a few times. Shake your hands out like you're flicking water off them.

Then sit quietly for a minute or two. Breathe. Notice how you feel. Physically, emotionally, all of it.

The Week 4 Check-In:

By day 28 or so, you should be able to answer yes to these questions:

• Can I play for 20-30 minutes without pain?
• Do I feel more confident than I did three weeks ago?
• Am I noticing when I'm tensing up and able to release it?
• Can I play something musical - even if it's simple - that brings me joy?

If the answer to any of these is no, that's okay. It just means you need more time.

Maybe you stay in Phase 3 for another two weeks. Maybe you go back to Phase 2 for a bit. There's no shame in that. None.

Healing isn't linear. Progress isn't either.

What to Do When Doubt Shows Up

And it will. Trust me, it will. You'll be three weeks in, feeling good, and then one day you'll pick up your guitar and think, "What if I'm just kidding myself? What if I can never really play again?"

When that happens and notice I said when, not if here's what you do:

First, recognize that doubt is just your nervous system trying to protect you. It's not truth. It's not prophecy.

It's just fear doing its job, which is to keep you safe. You can acknowledge it without obeying it.

Second, go back to the basics. Do five minutes of Phase 1 reconnection work. Just hold the guitar. Just breathe. Just notice.

Remind yourself that you're here, you're doing this, and you're being careful.

Third, remember that coming back from injury is an act of faith. Not religious faith necessarily though if that's your thing, use it.

But faith in the body's capacity to heal. Faith in the process. Faith that small, consistent actions compound into real change over time.

I've been through this myself, you know. Not only with guitar specifically, but with my body saying "no more" to things I thought defined me.

And the way through isn't force. It's patience. It's showing up even when you don't believe it'll work. It's trusting the process before you can see the results.

Beyond Day 30: What Comes Next

So you've made it through thirty days. You're playing again. Things feel more stable. Now what?

Now you keep going. But you don't go back to old patterns. You don't stop warming up. You don't stop checking in with your body. You don't assume you're invincible just because you're not in pain anymore.

What you do is this: you keep building gradually. You add five minutes a week to your practice time.

You slowly introduce more challenging material. You start working on that song you've been wanting to learn.

But you do it all with the awareness you've been developing these past thirty days.

And if something starts to hurt again, and it might, that's part of the process, you don't panic. You just scale back. You go back to Phase 2 or Phase 1 for a few days. You listen. You adapt.

Because here's what this whole thirty-day plan has actually been about: it's not just about getting you back to playing guitar.

It's about teaching you how to have a sustainable relationship with your instrument.

One where you're not at war with your body. One where pain is communication, not punishment.

One where you can play for the rest of your life because you've learned how to work with your limitations instead of against them.

That's the real goal. Not perfect technique. Not playing like you're twenty-five again. But playing with wisdom. Playing with presence.

Playing with the kind of care that lets you keep doing this thing you love for decades to come.

Coming back isn't about speed. It's about building something that lasts.

Keep Playing: The Release → Reset → Rebuild™ Method for Lifelong Guitar Playing

F.P. O’Connor

F.P. O'Connor is a Musician and Movement Specialist whose work is informed by extensive training in Manual Osteopathy, Psychology, and Strength Coaching.

He is the founder of Gentle Octaves, helping adult players develop practical, science-based systems for ease, control, and long-term playing confidence.

➜ Visit www.gentleoctaves.com

Gentle Octaves | Pain-free music for adult musicians
Release → Reset → Rebuild™ your sound.
www.gentleoctaves.com

FAQ

Q: How do I know if I’m ready to start this 30-day plan?

If you can hold your guitar and touch the strings without immediate sharp pain, you’re generally ready to begin Phase 1.

Phase 1 is designed to be gentle and exploratory, not demanding.
If simply picking up the instrument causes sharp or intense pain, that’s a sign your system may need more rest or professional assessment first. If movement feels stiff, cautious, or uncomfortable but tolerable, Phase 1 is usually appropriate.

If contact feels possible but not threatening, Phase 1 is the right starting point.

Q: What if I have pain during the rebuild process — should I stop completely?

Not all discomfort means stop, but sharp or escalating pain does.

During Rebuild, it’s normal to feel mild fatigue or unfamiliar sensations as underused muscles adapt.

However:

• sharp pain
• burning
• shooting sensations
• symptoms that worsen during or after

…are signals to stop and reassess. When in doubt, scaling back is always the safer move. Dull effort can be okay. Sharp signals are not.

Q: Can I speed up the phases if I’m feeling good?

It’s better not to. Feeling good doesn’t always mean patterns have stabilized.

Early improvement often reflects reduced guarding or tension, not full adaptation.
The timelines in the plan reflect how long it takes the nervous system and connective tissues to trust a new pattern. Moving too fast increases the risk of symptoms returning once load increases.

Sustainable progress feels almost boring and that’s a good sign.

Q: What if I don’t see progress after 30 days?

That usually means you need more targeted, in-person assessment.

This plan is designed for many people with mild to moderate playing-related issues. If progress stalls, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed, it sometimes means your situation likely needs individual evaluation from a physiotherapist, osteopath, or hand specialist who understands musicians.

Lack of progress is information, not defeat.

Q: Is it normal to have good days and bad days during the plan?

Yes absolutely yes! Variability is a normal part of recovery.

Healing isn’t ever linear. Sleep, stress, workload, and posture all influence symptoms. What matters is the trend over time, not how you feel on any single day.

Track patterns weekly, not emotionally day-to-day.

Q: Should I compare my progress to others doing the plan?

No recovery timelines are highly individual.

Two players can follow the same plan and progress at different speeds due to history, workload, and tissue sensitivity. Comparison creates pressure and often leads to rushing.

Your body sets the pace — not the calendar.

Q: What’s the biggest mistake people make with a 30-day recovery plan?

Trying to prove they’re “better” instead of letting change settle.

Many people test themselves too early, increase volume suddenly, or skip foundational steps once symptoms ease. Recovery works best when restraint outlasts excitement.

If you’re eager to skip ahead, slow down instead.

Sources & Further Reading

Brandfonbrener, A. G. (2003). Musculoskeletal problems of instrumental musicians. Hand Clinics, 19(2), 231-239. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12852665/

Kok, L. M., Huisstede, B. M., Voorn, V. M., Schoones, J. W., & Nelissen, R. G. (2016). The occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints among professional musicians: a systematic review. International archives of occupational and environmental health, 89(3), 373–396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-015-1090-6

Lederman, R. J. (2003). Neuromuscular and musculoskeletal problems in instrumental musicians. Muscle & Nerve, 27(5), 549-561.

Rosset-Llobet, J., Rosinés-Cubells, D., & Saló-Orfila, J. M. (2000). The importance of prevention in the treatment of performance injuries. Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 15(3), 117-123.

Silva, A. G., Lã, F. M., & Afreixo, V. (2015). Pain prevalence in instrumental musicians: a systematic review. Medical problems of performing artists, 30(1), 8–19. https://doi.org/10.21091/mppa.2015.1002

Zaza C. (1998). Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders in musicians: a systematic review of incidence and prevalence. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 158(8), 1019–1025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9580730/