Does anyone else go through this? I had not played in a few days due to work and what not, I got home today and it was so blah. I tried different styles and nothing other than a huge bag of suck.

Does anyone else go through this? I had not played in a few days due to work and what not, I got home today and it was so blah. I tried different styles and nothing other than a huge bag of suck.

That is generally a sign that I need to buy a new guitar, amp, or other accessory! I am sort of a gear hound and new gizmos give me inspiration!:eek:

Everything I play sounds like a big bag of suck:rolleyes:

I have to keep telling myself, I've only been at this four months.

You'll snap out of that funk pretty soon.

Does anyone else go through this? I had not played in a few days due to work and what not, I got home today and it was so blah. I tried different styles and nothing other than a huge bag of suck.
I went through something like this a few years back but I snapped out of it. I recommend that everyone find some friends to play music with. It doesn't have to be a gigging band, just a group of friends that get together and play. I find it a very important and fulfilling part of life.

There are days it works, and days it don't. Sometimes I take a break and come back just bursting with new ideas... for NO apparent reason, whatsoever.

Yup. And you have to be working on something new...something different...something challenging to feel like you're improving.

And being drained from overworking at the dayjob is rarely inspiring for me:(

You have to play with your mind as well as your fingers. If you aren't in the right frame of mind for whatever reason, you're gonna struggle. You can be in a variety of moods and this will effect your playing sometimes in a good way, sometimes a bad. Sometimes you will be in a state of mind where you should just leave the guitars alone. Do something else - like You Tubing some old fashioned blues greats and get back in touch where it all came from.

I'm a better person when I'm playing. If I have a long day or come home from alot of tension from work. It's the best way for me to calm down. It puts your mind somewhere else.
Feeling blah? set goals with your guitar. Learn a song or new style of playing. Even if it's not your perfered style of guitar you will find ways to incorporate it into other music or broaden your skills.

Learn a song or new style of playing. Even if it's not your perfered style of guitar you will find ways to incorporate it into other music or broaden your skills.


I think this is great advice. When i get bored with my playing or whatever i browse youtube guitar lessons and try and find something i've not done before. Lately i've been tryin' to teach myself hybrid picking. Kicking my butt trying to undo old habits but the challenge of it is making me want to pick up my guitar every time i think about it.

I believe it was Tommy Emmanuel I heard say that there are days when you just can't seem to get it right but the guitar is always right every day.

JLoud, I say something similar. I just put it as "today is not a guitar day." sometimes its not a guitar week.

In November I had a spell where my fingers were just rigid and locked up. Felt like Concrete and I just couldn't "float" across the board like normal. I dont know when it came back, but I'm playing now so it came back at some point. Might have been a few weeks. maybe a month. Im just glad its over.

I go through these brown out periods like that sometimes tho. My only good advice, is try not to think about it as much and DONT FORCE IT. Pick it up for a few minutes and if its not happening, dont get bummed out, its just not happening today.

Possibly even skip a day or two and check after that. I go on vacation and dont play for a few days and come home a new man sometimes. I cant explain that one at all... I'll learn something new, or just feel fresh after a trip or something who knows. Maybe i just conceptualize something new.

Do make sure to keep a guitar next to your TV chair or w/e, noodle through commercials or in a break between chapters. (w/e else you do for fun). DONT look at the fret board, dont make coherent choices in slurs or scales, other than knowing what string your on. Try to keep your brain in the other mode (watching, reading, thinking about) and play.

Possibly even study eastern music, and some of the raga scales or anything that is new to you so your not really distracted by the fact that it sounds bad cause you might not be in a playing mood, but simply because its just something new your working on. Maybe your mind just wants you to think about music a little differently for a bit.

The day to day gets to us all. If we can grow tired from focusing on a specific task, our mind must get tired of firing in repetitive ways all the time. Maybe your brain is just begging for something new.

Always inspired to make a fool of myself! With or without a guitar.:D

It takes me about two hours to drive home from work.

if I have a really good album playing in the car, it fires me up for breaking out the guitar when I get home.

Marlin

Even God rested on the seventh day.

There are days when I don't play, but I can't imagine a day when I don't WANT to play.

Everyone has uninspired days. They're the times when you get a piece of music and a metronome and see just how accurate you can be, or when you go to a Buddy Holly tune and see if you can play it not-for-note. or when you...

The most important thing is to maintain your enthusiasm. There must be joy.

Imagine that your guitar will be taken away tomorrow... FOR A YEAR! What do you want to accomplish on this final day? What would like to hear yourself play?

Kick yourself in the arse if you have to, but on the days when you are most uninspired... PLAY!

Good advice all around. You had a bad day. Tomorrow, you won't.

Thanks to everyone. Last night I just felt like "wow I really suck at this." Nothing sounded right. I even turned my amp down. I find I am putting un needed stress on my playing. Like if people really care. Guess I just feel I should be better.

Thanks again. You folks always know how to look at things the right way. I think we need to start a city.

Sometimes it is inspiring to drag out a guitar you have not played in a while and a couple of pedals that have been gathering dust and turn it up real LOUD!

I think we need to start a city.

Welcome to Gretschville, folks!

Welcome to Gretschville, folks!

Lets wait for the aliens to come back and see if thats cool w/ them. I'm sure they will be reasonable and omit us from that deathray they inspired tesla w/ back in the day.

This is great stuff. I'm by no means a great player. I think I'm just average. But you know what when my grand kids come over and want me to get out my guitar and play some of my "old" music that does it for me. I played a little of Honky Tonk today for my 20 y/o and 15 y/o and they said, "Man, I wish could play like that, when did you learn that?" I said, "In 1966!" WOW! They said. Man, did I get cheered up. Try it sometimes guys. Show a kid a little something he may not have heard. Maybe something easy he might pick up. I'll never be a Chet or Brian or Tommy but I can be me. I guess we all get discouraged but it's folks like I see here that tells me it alright just "Keep On Truckin!" Y'all have a Happy Gretsch Day! I mean it.

Lets wait for the aliens to come back and see if thats cool w/ them. I'm sure they will be reasonable and omit us from that deathray they inspired tesla w/ back in the day.

I have spoken to the overlords of my home planet and you will be spared. You will, unfortunately, have to spend the rest of your days imitating Jerry Lewis as part of your assignment. We must not question the overlords, they know best. :)

G'day jloud,
I'm about your age and I, too have nephews and nieces who like to hear the old stuff. I find it strange that I can still perfectly remember the songs I played in my youth, even if i haven't even thought about them for twenty years (I played an old folks home this morning and played parts of three Monkees songs in remembrance of Davey Jones's passing - 'Daydream Believer', 'Last Train To Clarkesville' and 'I'm a Believer' - I haven't played 'em in years) but I sometimes find it hard to remember stuff I learned two years ago and play regularly.

But what really freaks me out is that I can be sitting here in Sydney Australia, shooting the breeze (well, kind of) with a bloke in Tennessee!

Great world we live in, eh?

I have spoken to the overlords of my home planet and you will be spared. You will, unfortunately, have to spend the rest of your days imitating Jerry Lewis as part of your assignment. We must not question the overlords, they know best. :)

ACtually... that would be an honor... hah.

For real.. setting stuff on fire, shackin up w/ my 13 y/o cousin. :rolleyes: that ones a little out there actually... but the rest shouldn't be too hard.

Your thinking of Lee, as in Jerry Lee. The other lewis was "DEEEAAAANNNN!"

your thinking of lee, as in jerry lee. The other lewis was "deeeaaaannnn!"

heey lady!

Uninspired? I've been uninspired for years. I play guitar in my spare time because, well, I've always played guitar in my spare time and everyone has to do something. I could just as well make model aircraft. When we do a gig I just wait for the playlist to come round and assume that I'll know my parts. But I've no preference for any particular tunes: they're more or less all the same notes — just play 'em in a different order. I know people who go out to their local pub and play darts — they spend the whole evening throwing sharp bits of metal at numbers on a board.

drink a pot of coffee and fleek out. its always a good turn on

Actually with my new pedal, I returned the Sweet Honey OD and got a Black Cat Tremolo, I am back in the saddle. It's nice to know I am not the only one who goes through this.

Dennison- spot on with that observation!

haha well its good your back in the saddle. Just dont forget that at some point you might exhaust your funds, or run out of stuff to buy if you keep going this route to get back in the saddle every time! :p

pretty soon your gonna work this habit up to buying TTE's and Vintage bassmans every time you hit a rut :p

Happens to everyone I'd imagine. When I get like that I try not to force myself. Sometimes learning a new song or writing something is all it takes for me to play a lot more than usual.

haha well its good your back in the saddle. Just dont forget that at some point you might exhaust your funds, or run out of stuff to buy if you keep going this route to get back in the saddle every time! :p

pretty soon your gonna work this habit up to buying TTE's and Vintage bassmans every time you hit a rut :p

Hahaha. This is true!!!