Help! Need a jump start...

[Smellybum]

Something seriously wrong with me...

I'm really busy at work and beat my own record of 71 hours last week -we're in the final stages of contract negotiations (5 years work - if it fails I loose EVERYTHING) I have no energy and NO INTEREST IN GUITARS RIGHT NOW - it's bad, I've been looking at ball pics for days hoping to spark interest but can find the will power to play for more than an hour....

I'm really hoping the UK bash will re-ignite my fire, as I was ready to kill for a 25th, I have my AL's, and my DD luke sitting around I need some motivation....

kind of an unusual thread but anybody got any ideas to get me back in the saddle????

I've cased everything but my sub 1 as it's not high value, but I seem to have no energy to open a case - don't want this to be a Dr. Phil episode, just wondering if my fellow knuckleheads have had this before never happened to me in 18 years of playing....

Smelly in a guitar players coma...

 

[balance]

Shut up N play your guitar! - Zappa

 

[sickindian]

Ohh aye! Since ive changed my job 2 years ago i thought i will have more time to play and all i do is buying, buying, buying... thats boring but since then my baby was born so you can imagine where im coming from. I play about 1 hour a week !! and just same as you dont have energy at all especially when all go wrong so my 10 year experience recedes.
Hope that after you'll get this contract the energy will come back as well.

 

[Slingy]

I never play without some kind of drum looping. It's just no fun without a beat. Oh and beer usually helps a great deal.

 

[beej]

Hey man, sometimes you've just got to take a break. You'll be into it again, and you are they'll be waiting.

Sometimes the best thing to do is not play for a while.

 

[luv]

usually when that happens to me I do one of three things:

1. take it back to basics...which to me means getting out my acoustic and keeping it simple

2. get some new music to inspire me

3. roll with the fact that the guitar isn't working for you at the moment...go find something that you actually do enjoy doing right now and focus on that. You'll feel better and eventually your desire to pick up the guitar will come back.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

try and sail a ship for a week with nothing but an unplugged bass or a headphone amplifier and an Ed Friedland tuition book... that is the blues!

 

[bkrumme]

I understand completely. I once took a 3 year break from playing because I was so busy getting my life on track. Plus I was tired of metal... Looking back on it I wish I had kept playing instead of quitting completely. I started back and realized I'd lost a lot of the skills I built. It's been a lesson in re-learning for the last few years.

Maybe try playing a style you wouldn't normally play? I find enjoyment in that sometimes, especially when I'm in a rut with what I normally play. I'm a bit of a metalhead and I've been messing around with bluesier and jazzier stuff lately. It's been keeping me playing and got me back on track as far as learning something new.

I typically play every day for at least a couple hours, but there are days I don't play at all. You'll have them and it's not a big deal. Just kinda go with it.

 

[universe777]

Something seriously wrong with me...

I'm really busy at work and beat my own record of 71 hours last week -we're in the final stages of contract negotiations (5 years work - if it fails I loose EVERYTHING)
..

I don't think there's anything wrong. I know if 5 years of my life was coming to a head and if it was either execute and see it through, or "lose everything"...guitars would be the farthest thing from my mind.

Best of luck - Steel your resolve, once it's over and you can breath easy you'll be back to being smelly in no time!

 

[fbecir]

Learn something new ...
I play for more than 20 years but every time I try to learn something new, it gives me a new motivation. For instance I started to play with a slide a few months ago (Rory Gallagher is responsible !!!). Well at the beginning it was awful (really ...) but now I start to see the light.
You can also buy a new method. Rock Discipline by JP for instance.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Smelly - I had this happen to me. I only started playing again 9 years ago after not touching a guitar for years. Just had other things to do - family, work, studying karate etc.
My Les Paul was in it;s case so long the padding actually stuck to the paint of the guitar and caused damage - it was reliced enough anyway so I never lost any sleep over it.
came back to playing guitar and learn't new style of playing.

You'll be ok - sounds like yer body is screaming out for a rest?

 

[ScoobySteve]

Smelly, my advice is to take a break.

You can't force yourself to love the instrument at a moment's notice. You can't will yourself to do something that's not in you at the moment. If you force yourself to play you'll despise it more and more.

I know this as both a guitar like player like the rest of us, and as a writer and former All American contender for University tennis.

Take a break from the instrument, concentrate on whats on your plate now.

Once you've had some time to relax go back to your roots, and listen to the music that you dig. The music that moved you at different points in your life. Don't take it seriously, as a musician or a player, just relax and enjoy it.

The fire will come back again. It always does. It's like a computer, it needs to be reset every now and then.

G'luck!

 

[bkrumme]

...It's like a computer, it needs to be reset every now and then...

But...I'm a Mac...

 

[ScoobySteve]

But...I'm a Mac...

OT- oh noes! You did not just go there!

Anyways, the analogy remains the same Smelly. Trying to be a technically proficient player and learning music theory made me frustrated to the point of a 2 year break. 3 hour practices 6 times a week trying to be a pro tennis player made me quit the sport, and trying to write in the fashion of Post Modernism made me despise the work that I wrote.

I think a lot of this had to do with the super dense and hyper-intellectual life of a writer at a huge university. It was a constant strain, and extreme demands of time and work didn't help with creativity and passion. There was lots of pressure and I felt burdened.

Now I'm playing guitar to enjoy it, playing tennis casually and teaching kids, and writing the prose and poetry I enjoy.

Gotta flush the system and go back to zero sometimes. It's really refreshing, like a shower.

 

[josheyre]

I had to step away for about 7 years too... Stuff happened. Don't force yourself because it'll only run you down even more than it sounds like you already are. It'll come back to you when you're ready. I think there's some good advice on here.

 

[ShaneV]

If I were you, I'd find whatever records gave you the inspiration to start playing and put them on. I know that if I ever start to feel stale, that open A towards the beginning of Eruption always makes me want to play, and I'm the One always shows me a million ways I could get better.

 

[robelinda2]

Listen to lots of good music. That will make you play guitar. Lots of players dont spend enough time listening.

 

[Larry]

Happens to all of us I've had guitars sit in their cases for months then out of nowhere you get the urge again.

 

[ShaneV]

Happens to all of us I've had guitars sit in their cases for months then out of nowhere you get the urge again.

Absolutely. I spend so little money in my months off from guitar, it's insane. Then I get back into it and BAM, there goes the wallet. So I guess look on the GAS-relief bright side?

 

[DrGonzo5150]

please forward me your guitars... I will care for them lovingly until such time as your desire returns .

But seriously, listening to some tasty tunes can't hurt