Playing Confidence Crisis..what to do?

thecolourbox

Hi all
Having a bit of a confidence crisis with regard to playing guitar. I had been shifting a lot of surplus gear to try and eliminate the endless GAS and faffing about with different things and get back to playing again, with a view to trynig to get performing again (or at least good enough to enjoy rehearsing and jamming with people). I've done it in the past, and about 5 years ago I would even go as far to say that I was pretty happy with the quality of my playing and what I was doing with it. I was usually solo, occasionally though a bit part player in bigger bands or recording for people I knew's demos etc.
But recently I find that while i'm consciously spending time playing (at home) and playing along to music, I' just can't reach "the zone" and I end up playing the same old bluesey nonsense, and alternating between fiddling with the Tubescreamer and chord bashing to check said fiddling's effect on things. Also my voice appears to have gone completely, I used to be reasonable vocally but this seems to have died! But that's less of an issue as I think it's just breathing.
THe sad thing is that I think I probably just need to socialise musically, but the opportunities for this are limited by that old enemy, time.
What do you guys do to stop the rut?
I just feel I've done a lot to eliminate the issues that I felt were holding back when I tried before (static noise issues at home, too high a gear turn around, even seating for playing on) but my effort is feeling wasted at the moment.
Other things I've considered is to have a break and take up something else like synths or lapsteel, as different instruments might distract the cliche button in my head. Or to concentrate solely on the singing again and try to develop a personality (ha I'll check the classifieds for one) to front a band
Any ideas to get me out of the rut would be gratefully received
Thanks all =]

maltingsaudio

Bottle of jack and fret board challenge or just be selfish take some me time  set a date to go to a jam or open mic or even just go and see a live band . Its making a conscious effort to shift the shape which will work. That or a relationship break up. Good luck

mike_l

Retrace your old steps (or stuff you previously learnt) and relearn. Especially old songs, that you haven't played in a while.

Find a local jamnight and go to a few.

 

Oh, and find someone you can "look up to" for more inspiration to play/learn more.

thecolourbox

I am considering doing the fretboard challenge "last minute", I would like to do it in a day to restrict myself - however i fear it may take half of that time to look up what on earth Malian desert blues is (forgive me if that's not the exact description!).

I did go to an open mic the other week but just cowered in the corner haha the acts who were on were either really good or comically bad, and I was wary in my unpractised state I'd definitely be in the latter category. When I did get the guts up to do just one song (there was a limit of three anyway) they'd already got enough people for the next couple of hours (it's very busy) so I left disheartened - I do get though that that's from my own doing.

thecolourbox

I have been trying to retrace my steps to a certain extent, but finding that my ability has sunk significantly - strangely apart from the musical brain differences the largest problem i'm feeling is a worrying decrease in finger dexterity/strength - hoping it's not Mr Arthur Itis at my young age but suspect it's beacuse I used to play classical piano a lot thus didn't have to work up the strength when switching to guitar, whereas now maybe I need to actually do drills on it.

ESBlonde

Good words said so far.

In respect to your voice and the probable breathing link, stop breathing. See now that's cured all your problems!

Next your guitar playing, visiting the old but not recent might help. Avoid the repetative for a while. sit with the guitar and watch TV, play along to the incidental music or the adverts or whatever. Because this is random it exercises parts that don't get exercised. After a while (weeks) you will notice a change (leave no style of music out of your challenge).

frankus

You want more originality in the improvised music you play.
You became aware the gear aspect was a distraction and chose to trade possessions for experiences.
You'd like to be able to dedicate more time to playing.
You'd like to play open mic nights and network with people there - so want to be able to impress.

For me, a rut is what happens when I stop pushing beyond my comfort zone (and it happens a lot). It becomes over-familiar and trite to me... doesn't mean it is for others - they might find it interesting.

In order to get out of this rut you're prepared to swap instruments....

Before anything else - you should congratulate yourself, look at what you're prepared to do (to sacrifice or risk) to be within music - possesions, the familiarity of an instrument. That's proper freedom.

When I went to the same open mic night for about 4-5 times I was blown away by some players - really talented people, but 2-3 times later I noticed they'd trot out the same songs every time - consistent but dull, whereas the "comedy acts" have different tunes and there are aspects about what they do that's good - maybe that's just me but I thought I'd rather jam with the clowns as the "talented people" seemed a bit too rigid.

Any way, you need to jam mate. Jam for an hour and feel a twat is 1000% more incentive than woodshedding for an open mic night. as I remember

thecolourbox

Thanks all for the comments, much appreciated and so far all seems quite attainable again with some work.
Frankus, sounds like you've been there with a few of the symptoms, fairly accurate in your diagnosis. Some good food for thought, though I think maybe the risk/sacrifice bit is perhaps not as big as it sounds by considering other instruments, as i can already play them just haven't for a while. But the point is a good one, as are the others. I would also suspect i let my motives push too hard on me, or at least the less helpful bits - its pretty much 50/50 between wanting to enjoy/experience the act of music, but the other part to create something that's an interesting representation of myself. Not so much to be impressive as if i wanted that id go back to classical piano haha. I should maybe try to think of it as practising with the aim to enjoy/experience it, but the challenge to make it interesting...

chrisj1602

Do you record at all?  I used to sit with my Boss 8 Track (or Garageband these days) for hours on end, recording all kinds of stuff, any style that came into my head, and try to make a track out of it.  I think that helped me no end.

DrJazzTap

I'm the same really, I haven't really progressed in years. I need to find something that pushes me, have a few ideas but same as you enemy of time!
Explore new musical horizons, try not to look at gear (im the worst!), go up or down a string gauge, take some strings off of your guitar, limit yourself to a set motif/number of notes/boxshape etc or just play with a clean sound. The revelation for me recently was playing the acoustic guitar more,I noticed just how sloppy my technique had become.

Finding others to jam with is great, but if you don't have the opportunity, then you have a whole ocean of ideas to explore Or since you mentioned lapsteel, why not experiment with a slide?

John_P

Being in a band definitely helps me when i get those feelings about my playing and struggle to find the time or motivate/be inspired to work on improving...   having other musicians to bounce off musically is one of the elements I most enjoy but having gigs booked mean I can't put it off and there's nothing like an audience for giving you targets in your playing.

viz

Everyone's been there; Steve Vai used to complain about it all the time when he was trying to beat everyone else, treating playing like an endurance sport.

But that's not what music is about. Playing with others is really good because it forces you to play what they want, and it's fun, and being part of a team expressing themselves artistically is awesome. But if you don't have that opportunity, it's a very difficult and long journey to actually get "more expert" at the guitar - ie faster, more accurate, to be the best in a certain niche, but it's surprisingly easy to get more flexible, innovative, interesting and varied as a player, which is infinitely more rewarding. To do this, you need to listen to some new music, especially well-orchestrated and voiced music: Rachmaninov, Greg Howe, Al di Meola, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Queen, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, you name it, listen to it, and set yourself pretty stretching goals, like learning Al di Meola's strumming style, or playing the melody of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto. Things that you would never dream of playing normally. You'll be amazed at what you can learn and how quickly you can get to 80% of mastering it, and it's FAR more rewarding than getting from 60 BPM to 68 BPM. Good luck!

octatonic

Viz nailed it.

thecolourbox

Thanks all, I shall take all these on board and give them a go, I am feeling a little rejuvenated but as you probably know this only lasts so long before you actually have to do something about it haha
Sadly this week I shan't be able to do the challenge in time but I will certainly be attempting it just for myself.
Hopefully by getting back closer to what I want to be doing, and getting my own little groove on, the gear situation can sort itself out by what I need rather than what I want. What a GAS renaissance I may get to have haha