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Lost interest in playing?


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For the fellow musicians, do you ever just lose interest in playing? For some reason the last few months I've had no motivation. I was in a cover band and it collapsed before we could play and it seems to have killed my drive. I've talked about writing with my other guitar player, but I can't bring myself to make time to jam. Ever had that happen, how'd you get out of your funk?

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Yeah it has happened quite a few times to me.

When I started to learn the guitar, it was going all good, but sadly in my school no one was interested in Rock music, I wanted to be in a band and play live in a band at least once. So that did kill my mood.

I did play in the school orchestra and I even played on my graduation day with the Orchestra. 

Then after a few years I was watching videos and saw a guy covering an Instrumental version of Don't Cry, I love that song, so I thought to join Guitar classes again, the teacher was good at playing, but he was really not good at teaching, so that killed my mood and I haven't played since more than a year now. 

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Yeah it happens to me every now and then. See, along with being a songwriter im also a fiction writer. So when I get bored of one hobby I switch the other for a bit, and just kinda swing back and forth between the two. So I guess my advice would be to find a new hobby to keep busy with for a few weeks or months and then maybe once you get bored of that you'll wanna go back to music.

Edited by rocknroll41
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I get like this, I have been producing music since 2013 but prior to that, apart from acoustic covers when I drank with friends, I didn't write a song for about six years.

I have been pretty consistent over the last three or so years, but there have been breaks that I have taken during that time, mainly to learn software/micing techniques, I think 2015 was my most prolific year so far. 

Sometimes writing, performing, recording, editing and mixing can become of a grind; technology is amazing now and we can record an album in our bedroom, but in doing so, you need to do 4 people's jobs. It's easy to get overwhelmed, especially when there are so many people making music now and no one really gives a fuck about what you make. And if they do, they don't want to pay for it....

The best thing you can do if you don't feel like playing is to not play. I don't try and force it as it comes across in your playing.

The muse will come back when it's ready!

Edited by SoundOfAGun
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When I don't feel like playing, I usually start with playing any song that I like to get into the mindset of actually wanting to play the guitar. After that I usually end up messing around with either that song, or a different song, then through all the fiddling, a riff/pattern comes up the I think sounds cool. Its right there where my "drive" immediately comes in. I start trying to structure the riff into something than just a riff and although I rarely come up with a completed song, I at least have something to work with later on if I ever come back to it.

 

Try playing without a pick if you usually play with one. It usually makes it new and interesting.

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No :(

I know it happens though. Ive had little breaks here and there but would still play during them. I was let go if a cover band after 3 practices earlier in the year and had some bad matches on craigslist and it actually motivated me to keep trying till I found a band. Just keep trying to find people or write your own thing

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Sometimes I loose the muse so far as writing or having breakthroughs in my development.  But if I see a guitar, I just have to pick it up and fire off a chord or pinch harmonic at least.  So I try and use that compulsion to my advantage. When I catch myself only doing that, I just try and get back to a rudiments practice routine.  Sometimes the muse just returns out of the ether and sometimes the practice journey will take me somewhere new - maybe via a different instructor (on youtube) or the decision to focus on players of a genre I hadn't yet delved in to.

Im not clear on if you are still keeping up your routine, but just don't feel inspired to play, like to just rip for fun and jam with other people?  But for me, if Im not always running to my guitar to express myself I just make sure the guitar is always on the couch, next to the desk and if I touch it, I have to play though some scales.  Then I finally get around to learning some modes that I slacked on in my youth and it inspires a new wave of musical output eventually.

Currently Im writing songs, but am not feeling it in the pure guitarist sense.  So I played the A scale a whole lot today.  Intended to practice basic precision metal picking techniques, but ended up with a blue-note heavy chord/melody arrangement of Amazing Grace somehow:)

Not sure if this really speaks to you situation though.  Hope you get a good group together who inspire you to play!

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I have tons of guitars in my office, I just have no inspiration or motivation to play.

Had the house to myself a couple weeks ago and got a nice daytime drunk going and wrote some riffs, but something just feels like it's missing. ?

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I really hope that something comes back.  Im confident it will.  

I just does.  

You're clearly into it and dedicated.  Maybe a sabbatical is something everyone could use and you'll be even better for it?

All the best and you should post some recordings whenever the inspiration returns!

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On 3/4/2017 at 9:15 PM, AxlisOld said:

I have tons of guitars in my office, I just have no inspiration or motivation to play.

Had the house to myself a couple weeks ago and got a nice daytime drunk going and wrote some riffs, but something just feels like it's missing. ?

Try to arrange those riffs into something, one song at a time. Or hell, try forcing an arrangement, that way if something definitely doesn't work for you, you'll at least have some ground of what you think the arrangement/song should sound like.

 

And also, record every riff you write, either with your phone, or just a cheap mic and an interface connected to it. My biggest problem (and although I am obviously no big musician) is that I write too many riffs (be it rifffs that I REALLY like, or riffs that are just meh) and don't develop them. So when you have a riff, record it. You might come back to it the next day, or in my case, several months later. Even if it's later, you'll have a different perspective than what you had when you first wrote it.

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34 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

Today I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm also losing long term interest in playing. I'm starting to gets writers block, and feel like my songs are starting to sound the same.

Do an unusual cover as a palate cleanser. I am working on a couple at the moment, not because I am having trouble writing (more likely that I don't want to get on with the "real work" of turning demos into finished songs) but because it is good fun! Pick something not in your style and it may inspire you, or annoy you; I worked out that the basic chords for When Doves Cry was just Am, G & Em the other day. So simple and yet he came up with that killer melody. It's fucking annoying how good some people are/were.

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2 hours ago, SoundOfAGun said:

Do an unusual cover as a palate cleanser. I am working on a couple at the moment, not because I am having trouble writing (more likely that I don't want to get on with the "real work" of turning demos into finished songs) but because it is good fun! Pick something not in your style and it may inspire you, or annoy you; I worked out that the basic chords for When Doves Cry was just Am, G & Em the other day. So simple and yet he came up with that killer melody. It's fucking annoying how good some people are/were.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I'll give that strategy a try.

but I wasn't really talking about melody. I was talking more about lyrical content. No matter how hard a try to write about different things, I always just end up writing about the shit in life that makes me sad lol. 

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2 hours ago, rocknroll41 said:

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I'll give that strategy a try.

but I wasn't really talking about melody. I was talking more about lyrical content. No matter how hard a try to write about different things, I always just end up writing about the shit in life that makes me sad lol. 

What do you usually end up writing about?

Edited by Mendez
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2 hours ago, rocknroll41 said:

Things not working out with women or friends, I guess. 

You can literally write about anything.

 

Jonathan Coulton usually writes form the perspective of different people doing the mundane things of everyday life:

 

Keeping with that theme, this one is a song about calling with the purpose of leaving a voicemail, dreading to actually talk to the person

 

Or maybe if you want to be "deeper" watch some documentaries about different topics (environmental issues, war, etc.) and try writing about that

Edited by Mendez
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On 3/4/2017 at 6:11 PM, ZoSoRose said:

No :(

I know it happens though. Ive had little breaks here and there but would still play during them. I was let go if a cover band after 3 practices earlier in the year and had some bad matches on craigslist and it actually motivated me to keep trying till I found a band. Just keep trying to find people or write your own thing

that's great :) glad you did!

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11 hours ago, Mendez said:

You can literally write about anything.

 

Jonathan Coulton usually writes form the perspective of different people doing the mundane things of everyday life:

 

Keeping with that theme, this one is a song about calling with the purpose of leaving a voicemail, dreading to actually talk to the person

 

Or maybe if you want to be "deeper" watch some documentaries about different topics (environmental issues, war, etc.) and try writing about that

Thank you for the ideas. I'll definitely take them into account! 

On that thought, maybe I should write a song about how all my songs sound the same lol.

EDIT: btw both of those songs are great. As much as I disliked Bumblefoot in GN'R, he has some pretty good solo music.

Edited by rocknroll41
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On 3/4/2017 at 3:11 PM, AxlisOld said:

For the fellow musicians, do you ever just lose interest in playing? For some reason the last few months I've had no motivation. I was in a cover band and it collapsed before we could play and it seems to have killed my drive. I've talked about writing with my other guitar player, but I can't bring myself to make time to jam. Ever had that happen, how'd you get out of your funk?

I never got that great at guitar until I started playing with this classical guitar performance group. Mainly because the group made me played regularly. I need a lot of structure and habit in my life to practice effectively. I recommend choosing one or two days a week to be the "playing/practice day" or setting notifications on your phone.

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It's getting so much better. I think I just got apathetic to writing, and sitting down with a drink has turned me into a riff machine. I'm digging it. I think addressing that I wasn't playing made me concentrate on playing.

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On 3/8/2017 at 4:18 PM, SoundOfAGun said:

Do an unusual cover as a palate cleanser. I am working on a couple at the moment, not because I am having trouble writing (more likely that I don't want to get on with the "real work" of turning demos into finished songs) but because it is good fun! Pick something not in your style and it may inspire you, or annoy you; I worked out that the basic chords for When Doves Cry was just Am, G & Em the other day. So simple and yet he came up with that killer melody. It's fucking annoying how good some people are/were.

very good advice :)

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