Staying Fresh And Limber

Given the style of guitar playing to which I aspire, of late I've been searching for the optimal balance in my practice regimen on the day of public performances. Since my goal is to be as extemporaneous as possible when I perform, playing through tunes on the same day unfortunately makes it more likely I'll repeat several of those same tunes later; they're fresh on my mind.

On the other hand, if I skip playing tunes in favor of mostly warm-up exercises, scales, etc., I've noticed the flow in my performance is sometimes lacking. I've experimented with a mixture of these two approaches and even tried not picking up the instrument at all on performance days. That latter tactic has sometimes helped my improvising and freed up my repertoire choices a great deal. Other times it's been semi-disastrous.

There's no magic bullet. But today I decided on the the mixture while also resolving to stop early enough to read more of the NY Times, write this post, meditate. All of which will put a good distance between my practicing and tonight's performance. My hope? By the time I'm in front of people, perhaps I won't be as likely to repeat the tunes I played earlier because they won't be as fresh on my mind but my hands will still feel limber.

We'll see.