What do you play when you sit down to play guitar?

[Silence Dogood]

I thought it might be interesting to know what you folks play when you get your guitar out to play.  I mostly use the guitar for singing songs so I'll usually end up playing some old favorites - stuff from my 80s boyhood like GNR, and stuff from the 90s like Collective Soul (they have some very beautiful songs that I love to sing).   There are also several songs I play from various artists that most people have never heard of, but somewhere over time the melodies captured my ear.  I also have a Beatles songbook I enjoy dabbling in since the chord progressions are nothing short of fascinating.   Sometimes I'll give myself a challenge, like learning a solo note-for-note, and that can be fun.   I'll usually end up messing around for 45 mins to an hour and then put the guitar back in the case.  I'd love to find some other people to play with who like the same stuff I like, but that has never happened, so I've played alone for most of my music life. 

What's your guitar routine like? 

[eded]

I've been having more and more problems with "trigger finger"...  started out with middle finger on my right (picking) hand, but has spread to the ring finger on that hand and the middle finger on the left.  When I finally pull out an acoustic these days, I try the simpler folk and folky pop tunes I do.  Old Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Turtles.  When you pull back the embellishments, just about every tune is a folk tune, really.  LOL  But mostly, I've been doing what I like best, looping with electric guitar.  Ambient stuff.  Usually, just pick a key and get a decent loop going and then solo on top.  I've been working on modulating from one key to another and back. 

2 weeks, I go see the hand surgeon to see what can be done about my hands.  I'm looking forward to getting back to more acoustic stuff...  and getting my voice back.

Ed

[mike in lytle]

I've been having more and more problems with "trigger finger"...  started out with middle finger on my right (picking) hand, but has spread to the ring finger on that hand and the middle finger on the left.  
2 weeks, I go see the hand surgeon to see what can be done about my hands.  I'm looking forward to getting back to more acoustic stuff...  and getting my voice back.
Ed

Ed,
I had the trigger release surgery in Feb 2018 (mid and ring finger, right hand) and you posted about your problem even back then.
No problems since then, after the recovery and therapy exercises, which same range of motion as finger picking anyhow.
The surgeon may recommend a cortisone shot at first.
I am vigorous on hand and finger stretches, and still have a beer or two as a defiant voodoo against potential discomfort 
Oh, back to original subject, since my greatest satisfaction comes from stringing together several notes or patterns I haven't done before, the first things I play are those things, which eventually blend together with others, and after some weeks or months, evolve to a "composition".
Mike

[B0WIE]

I'll usually warm up with a number of lines from classical songs. I'll then either start writing, or practice. For practice I'll sing while playing chords or fingerstyle to stuff like Prine, retro 80's covers, some outlaw country, etc.

I used to play for at least an hour every day but started getting issues with my neck. After a couple years of physical therapy I'm up to about 20min of practice every other day and plan to keep ramping it back up.

[ducktrapper]

 I noodle. 

[jpmist]

Any more, I just play stuff I'm writing. I enjoy the process of hoping a song will evolve the more I play it. I've worn out basically every song I already know from CD's I buy. It's been a long dry spell since something I could find in my wheelhouse got produced. So I just bought Crosby's and Browne's new CD's with fingers crossed.

My trigger finger story ended happily with just one cortisone shot, though I have to point out that I made some changes in my right hand picking in an effort to reduce the wear and tear. It's basically an overuse phenomenon, although being of senior years doesn't help.

When the RH middle finger started locking up was during the time I was working thru a lot of Eva Cassidy's songs. She's an under appreciated folk guitarist IMHO. So I basically cut down on a lot of the 16th note (?) picking pattern she did routinely with much younger hands than mine. Stuff like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ofYzG66mbE. I can still feel a bit of nodule on the tendon but so far the lock hasn't returned.

Best of luck with yours. . .

[unclrob]

Little Martha,4+60,Hello in there,Oldman,Change Partners and working on Daylight again/find the cost of freedom a couple originals instrumentals.

[eded]

Ed,
I had the trigger release surgery in Feb 2018 (mid and ring finger, right hand) and you posted about your problem even back then.
No problems since then, after the recovery and therapy exercises, which same range of motion as finger picking anyhow.
The surgeon may recommend a cortisone shot at first.
I am vigorous on hand and finger stretches, and still have a beer or two as a defiant voodoo against potential discomfort 
Oh, back to original subject, since my greatest satisfaction comes from stringing together several notes or patterns I haven't done before, the first things I play are those things, which eventually blend together with others, and after some weeks or months, evolve to a "composition".
Mike

Thanks...  a bunch.  I put it off, then had Covid to blame things on.  It's time.  It's good to know that its a successful procedure.

Ed

[ST]

Whatever I'm working on to play live.

[jazzereh]

I will start out noodling a bit on a few different chords and lines.  Then I will likely go to 'Anji', no not that one, the one by Davy Graham that's been done by others such as Bert Jansch.  From there, with fingers limbered up, I start into some tunes I'm working on at the time.