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Well its happened again............................................

Lately when I pick up the guitar I just feel ho-hum. It seems like every few monthes I hit some sort of plateau in my playing and get bored with it. I was wondering who else does this and what do you do about it? Take a break, play thru or what?

It may be that Ive got the weekend off and really dont have much to do but house work, and I avoid that like the plague. Weve got a gig next sat night so I probably need to practice some, but when I do I just find myself drifting and not into it like I should be.

JW, I think that is a common feeling and not just with musicians.
When we hit plateus like that in Kung Fu we call them "low energy days"
Most of the old time Chinese Masters I had privilage to train with would tell us not to push yourself to train when this happens, but to do something else. Go fishing, go for a bike ride, or heck, spend the day doing nothing. This to shall pass.

JW,

This happens to me every few months... I just relax and don't play until I want to, I always find some song or something that jolts me back to life in a few days or week..... sometimes longer.

For example the search for a singer has me in one of those moods, dont really feel motivated to do anything, been that way for a couple weeks now.

I think it's normal for someone who has been playing for many years to experience this. I bet the others will say the same.

X!

On the head MadmX

I get like that too. Horrible though it is I agree with you but sometimes I think you just need to push through that feeling and force yourself into getting active.

If you can do that and its very hard it is surprising what you can achieve afterwards. There is a word for this but it escapes me right now?

Someone?

Anyway I mentally give myself a good kick up the cajoles especially if I have something lined up in the area that I feel has no response.
Probably something to do with Chemicals in the body too I would think? Late night, bad beer, something?

"The same thing."

Hey, MadmX, you were right!

Actually, JW, sometime when I get to feeling like that, I dig out and old song that I used to love to jam along with on CD and crank up the stereo and my amp and just jam a while. Not really accomplishing, since I already know it, but the fun just does something for me. Gets me out of the blue funk. Green Grass and High Tides usually does it for me.

Same as Madmx, but with me it never last more than a day or two. I have found if I try to work my way thru it I am just wasting time and really don't get anything accomplished. I rarely practice the songs we play out live because we play 3 to 4 times a month and that is enough for me to keep them polished but when I make a mistake I make a mental note of it and that is what I practice in my personal practice time. Probably 60% of my personal practice I devote to learning new material.

Welcome to my nightmare

Thanks its cool to know Im not the only one.

Ive got a guitar and amp set up in my main room at my house and I havent touched them in a couple of days. At our last gig 2 fridays ago I broke 2 strings at once on my main black Les Paul, I havent even pulled it out of the case to fix them. Its funny I broke 2 strings at once, I was really pushing a hard bend when I did this. My drummer was freaking out cause when we were younger it was no stange thing for me to break 3-4 strings a night. I used to really push on the guitar hard. I guess as Ive aged I ve learned to let the guitar and amp work for me and not push so hard. I think we were playing WHipping post for my big solo and I just pushed and pushed until I broke the G and B at the same time. I cant remember ever doing that before.

Anyway, I will get thru my funk, Ive been thru many before. The bad thing is a coupld of weeks ago I was coming up with all kinds of riffs to record and the well just went dry all the sudden. I also havent had any energy latley. I went out friday night and didnt get in til 4am and then my son had a trap tournament sat morning that last all day. I got home around 5 and wound up going to bed til 6 am this morning. Im ussually a pretty active person who requires little sleep, but latley Ive been sleeping a lot. I dont feel bad or congested, just lethargic. Weird

Last time I hit this I went to pandora and started search for old r/b tunes. Came up w/ ball of confusion and did some foolin around w/that and had some fun and actually updated it to a more hard grungy type tune. I think that song is as relevant today as when it was written. Anyway, the thing is I go play whatever I can find thats way outside of what I usually play and it gets me going again. We will yet to see how it goes over live.

LOL, JW I think thats called getting old. They say when you get older you just can't do what you used to and I am finding this out the hard way too LOL!

Yep getting old sucks. For me the Sunday morning after a big gig is the hardest, I feel a huge sense of let down, even if the show is a big success. The guys are right, take a break when it happens, come back to it when you are inspired. Working on original music gets me more motivated than covers.

Thanks guys, it helps knowing everyone goes thru this!

Learn something new.

Always breaks me out of my funks.

I find inspiration in the work of others who have come before me. There are so many different licks, riffs, solos, songs out there... I enjoy just taking a section of a song that I think sounds cool, one that I've never tried to play before, and learn it.

Step out of your comfort zone. That's the big thing. That's how we grow as musicians. Find something you're uncomfortable doing and learn how to do it.

I'm in the same position right now, and I do what I always do. Do something else for a few days and it will pass, I'll pick up a guitar sometime in the next week or so and it'll be every night again.

I guess it's just a funk...doldrums...blahs...whatever you want to call it but it happens at least once a year, I try not to worry about it and go do something else like a couple of photo excursions. In a few days I'll be back on track and usually have a few nice pictures in the deal.

I practiced in my sister's travel trailer for the first 2 1/2 weeks I was in Vegas, then suddenly just lost interest...I've been through it before so I didn't worry about it, I'll be playing again before long. Sometimes it's only a few days, sometimes a month... but I don't think I'll ever drop guitar altogether, I've played since I was 5, I'm 53 now and still at it, I'll have a guitar in my hands till the day I die. I've always suspected my family will bury me with one...they know me all too well.