Gilliangirl Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 I haven't been motivated to play guitar for a few weeks now. I don't know what's wrong with me. I pick it up, play a song or two, then put it down or back in the case. I hope it's just the weather woes. I know Krasi recently said he wasn't in the mood for playing too, which made me feel a bit relieved about my own lack of motivation. Anyone else going through a similar phase? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisA83 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Exactly the same here, but I do go through phases like this fairly often. I think it's down to not learning any new songs for me - I sit down and play 4 or 5 that I always play (though not all the way through), do some blues improvisation (not really improvisation anymore because I tend to do the same things every time) then get bored. Either that or I need a new guitar to get me going again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp58 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Whenever I would get a period like that, I'd find someone to play with (guitar!). Just setting down with someone new and pickin' with them kinda gives you a new "motivation". Especially if they have a different "style" of playing and different songs. It just rejuvinates me. Since I went back to gigging two days a week with the band, sometimes I look a take a break from playing. Naaahhh!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceandhotwax Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 take a few lessons , jam with new people, work in a new style outside of your comfort zone, take a few weeks off completely, try some alternate tunings, try different tones, there are many ways to shake up your thinking about playing, these are a few Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modac Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Find a new record that inspires you to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 take a few lessons ' date=' jam with new people, work in a new style outside of your comfort zone, take a few weeks off completely, try some alternate tunings, try different tones, there are many ways to shake up your thinking about playing, these are a few[/quote'] Lessons for me too. I'm more motivated to learn when set a challenge by someone else. Not so much myself. I have 2 pub gigs coming up over the next 6 weeks and my daughter's School play in 2 weeks at which she has volunteered me to play bass. So I'm practising pretty hard at the moment. Why not commit yourself to an open mic or something similar and have someone choose 3 songs for you, which you will have to learn and play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Not recently in the past....... But I do receive my Iphone by FedEx today.... I have a feeling I may slack off a bit for the next few days as I figure out my new phone and all the fun I can have with it! Like others have said GG... we all go through it every once in awhile. For me (and likely you) the long winters take it's toll. I find when I have all my guitars out on stands in the summer, I play all the time. During the winter, the only one I keep out on a stand is my solid body electric.... I noodle on it but it takes a bit more resolution on my part to go open up a case or two and pull out one of the "girls". Never fear though.... Spring is comming!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thabesh Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 hand raised here. I need a spark. Maybe Spring will do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suburude63 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I haven't been motivated to play guitar for a few weeks now. I don't know what's wrong with me. I pick it up' date=' play a song or two, then put it down or back in the case. I hope it's just the weather woes. I know Krasi recently said he wasn't in the mood for playing too, which made me feel a bit relieved about my own lack of motivation. Anyone else going through a similar phase?[/quote'] Yes GG I am also ! Maybe its the Seasonal change. Allthough that does not happen where you are till July I hear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Heck I've been slacking off for the better part of the last two years! Sometimes I'm just not in the mood, ya know. But the invite to the songwriter's showcase gig has me wailing away every night, tender fingertips be damned! Nothing like an appeal to one's ego to motivate the fingers! So, yes, I have been slacking off of late, but no more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAS44 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Opposite here, I'm finding my interest growing and growing and growing etc.... I have never gone 2 days without playing..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Exactly the same here' date=' but I do go through phases like this fairly often. I think it's down to not learning any new songs for me - I sit down and play 4 or 5 that I always play (though not all the way through), do some blues improvisation (not really improvisation anymore because I tend to do the same things every time) then get bored. Either that or I need a new guitar to get me going again...[/quote'] Gosh..I could have typed this..... Of course we all go through "dead spots", I think it's natural. When I quit playing processionally, I sold EVERYTHING thinking I was DONE with playing...but over the years, I got back into it, and now have TOO many guitars/amps/pianos. I found that learning new songs, inspires me to pick up the guitar. I decided to learn Blackbird, (based on someone in here saying he didn't consider himself a guitar player 'til he could play Blackbird all the way through without a mistake), and it's not my style at all, (I'm not a finger-picker), and I've found myself practicing while watching Glenn Beck on TV! 'Course, the new guitar also gets my blood pumping too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Why you Slacker!!! You Hoser, eh!!!?? Drinking more beers than playing guitar, eh? I haven't been motivated to play guitar for a few weeks now. I don't know what's wrong with me. I pick it up' date=' play a song or two, then put it down or back in the case. I hope it's just the weather woes. I know Krasi recently said he wasn't in the mood for playing too, which made me feel a bit relieved about my own lack of motivation. Anyone else going through a similar phase?[/quote'] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Why you Slacker!!! You Hoser' date=' eh!!!?? Drinking more beers than playing guitar, eh? [/quote'] You should never mention a woman's hose in mixed company! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vourot Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 My brother is coming to stay with us for a few months. He plays guitar and is able to figure lots of songs out by ear so I'm really looking foward to some jamming. Taylor Player, new iphone you say? Get Guitar Toolkit or the free Gibson app and you will be very happy ! Oh yeah, order an invisibleshield ( ZAGG ) for it to keep it nice and pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterGibs Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I am not in a mood to play because of that "long, cold, lonely winter..." like George said longtime ago. I have not enough energy. I have new songs to make and I can not finish those songs... I have a new guitar to get from 250 km from where I live and I am scared to drive my car there, because of the snowy bulgarian roads full with holes... Here in my land the winter came back with an awful power and it is a little bit more to me... And M-R GIBS stared to buzz a little on the thin strings in the here and there on the neck... I definitely have to go to the luthier's atelier and this will hapen in saturday. Hope that it will be the start of a new more productive period!... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I am not in a mood to play because of that "long' date=' cold, lonely winter..." like George said longtime ago.I have not enough energy. I have new songs to make and I can not finish those songs... I have a new guitar to get from 250 km from where I live and I am scared to drive my car there, because of the snowy bulgarian roads full with holes... Here in my land the winter came back with an awful power and it is a little bit more to me... And M-R GIBS stared to buzz a little on the thin strings in the here and there on the neck... I definitely have to go to the luthier's atelier and this will hapen in saturday. Hope that it will be the start of a new more productive period!... [/quote'] Ain't it the truth? Things just fail...even the pyramids eventually fall apart..... you just have to repair them and live your life 'til they can't be repaired. Mr. Gibs is still okay...just needs "tweaking". Can't wait to see/hear your new guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KL Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 It's ok Karen, you will be inspired again soon. It's ok to take a little break. I haven't been able to as I have been writing, recording and doing gigs etc! Your mojo will return x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgwoods Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 When I slcak off on guitar I usually pick up on fiddle, or mandolin, or banjo- that's kind of how I wound up playing all 4- I wanted to keep at it so when I hit the wall I switch. It has worked for me for the last 15 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 When I slcak off on guitar I usually pick up on fiddle' date=' or mandolin, or banjo- that's kind of how I wound up playing all 4- I wanted to keep at it so when I hit the wall I switch. It has worked for me for the last 15 years. [/quote'] I'm havin' problems with the fiddle.... harder than it looks... the fingering is okay, but having to move the bow around, (from string to string), is kickin' my butt...... I think I need a couple of lessons...I'm playin' scales now tryin' to get comfortable on the dang thing! On subject, when I run into the wall with my guitar playing, I concentrate on Piano. I wish I'd learned piano first...nothing hidden...it's all there in black & whi8te. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodehopper Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Well...I went through 10 months of arm and hand pain. There were truly a couple nights I opened my guitar case and looked at the guitar I could only wished I could play and cried...I didn't know if I would ever play again other than a few hours a week --if I was lucky. I am probably about 90% better now and have been playing almost 2 hours a night and maybe 3 hours a day on weekends ....Finally after nearly a year I am learning a couple new songs. It snowed at my house last night...but I feel the warmth of spring when I pick up my guitar! If I had read these posts a few couple months ago ...I would have been pissed All I can say is cherish the music you make .....As Joni says "You don't know what you've got till it's gone" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennroots Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 That is a great thing to remember - "nodehopper". Sometimes it takes adversity or an illness to bring us back to appreciation of what we truly love to do. I'm as guilty as anyone one when it comes to slacking off. I've got no excuse there's a fantastic Weber mandolin and two awesome Gibson guitars to play and a music room to boot. I hear people say they feel like they lose something if they aren't playing everyday, maybe so technically on the fingerboard & right hand rhythms, but once in awhile it's nice to come back fresh with a different perspective after a small break. One of my biggest motivations is always listening to music, diversified music genres and then bring that to my playing style, hearing a break, riff or run and poaching it and sticking in the songs I'm working on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeoso Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Dunno if it's slacking or not, but I've been so busy that I don't get an instrument out of its case at home from week to week. However, I play 2 jams every Monday, a blues one in the afternoon and an old-time one in the evening....that keeps me going. Maybe you need a regular play-out to keep you on your A game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilliangirl Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 Why you Slacker!!! You Hoser' date=' eh!!!?? Drinking more beers than playing guitar, eh?[/quote']There's my problem right there! I'm not drinking ENOUGH beers, eh? Thank you everyone for the responses. Okay, I'm feeling a bit better now that I've read through this and know that (a) I'm not alone (B) the phase will come to an end and © I need to drink more beer (okay I threw that one in myself) I think my biggest fear is that I won't return when I take a hiatus from playing. For those of us who have strayed (from the guitar) for any significant length of time, you know what I'm talking about. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, months turn into years. I've noticed that when I pick the guitar up, I haven't really lost any skils but am just a bit sloppier, untidy in my playing: barre chords aren't clean, fingers accidentally mute strings they shouldn't, etc. I know buying a new guitar isn't the issue; I own two great guitars (okay, three, including Elmo). I really think the weather has an effect, and leaving the guitars out is such a luxury that I miss. I play waaaay more songs during summer months because I could leave the guitars out and pick them up on a moment's notice while waiting for water to boil, etc. And sitting on the porch playing guitar to a bunch of pigeons and cats is really quite entertaining (for me). I put an ad on Craigslist not long ago wondering if anyone in my area wanted to get together for a jam. I got one response, but now I'm afraid to meet with him in case he's the Craigslist Killer! Alright, I'm going to play tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyCanuck Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 between learning mandolin and playing a Ibanez Mann LP copy that I restored (never played solid body before) I've been on almost every day. I got a roland micro br for christmas and what a blast laying down tracks and putting different styles together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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