Motivation - what keeps you playing?

mrkb

Recently it’s been learning songs all the way through (including solos) - the smile on my face when I nail a passable rendition of Lil Devil is worth the effort I’m putting in. I listen to music to inspire me, and I do the same with my guitar.

57Deluxe

knowing that there is a world of tone(s) in each guitar/amp/pedal combination I have in my possession and pick up on any given day and I drawl at the prospect of neighbours and hommies going out at the same time so as to get the chance to wack the bollocks off everything!

Dominic

what keeps me playing ?.............hearing somebody better than me

Flink_Poyd

I'll give the opposite perspective.
Since buying a synth Ive barely played guitar, very little interest to at all. Sold my Strat but kept my Les Paul. I think whats happened is Ive realised (for me) that I was chasing a rainbow in regards to making music on guitar, which I prefer to chasing that next level of skill I wanted. It was a non stop cycle of feeling like Id made a breakthrough then that breakthrough became the norm until the next one, and so on.It got too repetitive and made it feel like a chore rather than something to look forward to and enjoy. I dont mind playing other peoples songs I just prefer to create my own and the synths and setup I have now make me want to create music rather than just play along to a backing track or work on a technique.

TA22GT

Music.....listening to music and making music.
 Everything related to the instrument from buying a guitar mag to a new pedal, trying different strings and discovering the joy of a V-pick.
 
As enthusiastic now as I was when I started when there were gas lamps.

gringopig

.

Neil

It's just a hobby to me (amongst others), but a lovely creative hobby that I enjoy. 

p90fool

On a tangential theme, does everyone here listen to music all the time? 

I know so many people who wear headphones all the time, or when you visit them there's always music playing but I'm just not like that. 

I can't even walk out of time if there's music playing, so couldn't possibly function while wearing headphones, and I just can't ignore it enough for it to be background music in the house. 

A few people have remarked after visiting us a few times that despite my wife and I gigging all the time and our house looking like an equipment warehouse, it's always blissfully silent unless we're actually working. 

octatonic

Stubbornness.

welshboyo

p90fool said:

On a tangential theme, does everyone here listen to music all the time? 

I know so many people who wear headphones all the time, or when you visit them there's always music playing but I'm just not like that. 

I can't even walk out of time if there's music playing, so couldn't possibly function while wearing headphones, and I just can't ignore it enough for it to be background music in the house. 

A few people have remarked after visiting us a few times that despite my wife and I gigging all the time and our house looking like an equipment warehouse, it's always blissfully silent unless we're actually working. 

Same Here - busy gigging guitarist with a load of equipment and also a household full of musicians and apart from the kids practising whatever they are practising for their grades etc there isn't much music being played in the house apart from whats on the TV or occasional radio - me buggering about on the guitar is a different matter, but listening to music is a very rare thing in this house.

Even when I'm in the car its fairly quiet and apart from the times where I need to listen to something to learn it there's not much music on - OK, perhaps I'll have a splurge at times (normally reconnecting with something from my youth - Zappa for instance, I'll hear something and think oh yeah, haven't heard that album for a while, I download it or whatever, gets played a few times and then back to nothing)

I think people assume that because you play an instrument then you are 24/7 immersed in it and the music around it - we certainly are not here..

TheBigDipper

p90fool said:

On a tangential theme, does everyone here listen to music all the time? 

I know so many people who wear headphones all the time, or when you visit them there's always music playing but I'm just not like that. 

I can't even walk out of time if there's music playing, so couldn't possibly function while wearing headphones, and I just can't ignore it enough for it to be background music in the house. 

A few people have remarked after visiting us a few times that despite my wife and I gigging all the time and our house looking like an equipment warehouse, it's always blissfully silent unless we're actually working. 

With a tangential answer...  sounds like my house. I can only 'actively' listen to music when I'm focused on it. If I've got the radio on as background, it's usually a speech station. 

Vibetronic

I pretty much still play in any free time I get - still love it 30 years after I started learning and it's my job now. In terms of motivation, I really enjoy working out new techniques/tricks, and coming up with fiddly parts and playing them fluently; I just find it incredibly satisfying! It is also pretty much the only thing I'm any good at (ie I'm rubbish at all forms of sport) so tend to put most of my energies into it.

@p90fool @TheBigDipper - that's really interesting - I don't listen to much music around the house either - usually have an hour with a cup of tea in the morning listening to some properly, but after that I normally have the radio in the background if I'm doing other stuff. I used to have music on all the time around the house until about 5 years ago when I realised I wasn't really listening to it properly at all.

VimFuego

re the listening to music question, I'm also in the camp that I can't casually listen to music and generally dislike it being on in the background (exception being in the car, I listen on long journeys), if I listen to music then that's what I do, listen. I may do something low key, like surf shit on the internet, but my main focus is listening. However, I do listen to music everyday, I can't imagine a day when I don't.

CHRISB50

Flink_Poyd said:

I'll give the opposite perspective.
Since buying a synth Ive barely played guitar, very little interest to at all. Sold my Strat but kept my Les Paul. I think whats happened is Ive realised (for me) that I was chasing a rainbow in regards to making music on guitar, which I prefer to chasing that next level of skill I wanted. It was a non stop cycle of feeling like Id made a breakthrough then that breakthrough became the norm until the next one, and so on.It got too repetitive and made it feel like a chore rather than something to look forward to and enjoy. I dont mind playing other peoples songs I just prefer to create my own and the synths and setup I have now make me want to create music rather than just play along to a backing track or work on a technique.

^^ This is pretty spooky as it is pretty much where I got to.

With an electric I just noodle. I found that personally I didn't really get anything out of it.

After a few years of buying more and more expensive electrics combined with boutique amps as, if I'm totally honest with myself, a way of keeping interest, I sold up and bought a nice acoustic.

With the acoustic I had to knuckle down and work at it, as I couldn't finger pick, and had no acoustic technique. I found that they are totally different beasts and quite enjoyed learning new stuff. I started to get the hang of finger picking and really started to put some time into practice. This enabled me to play some of the stuff I always dreamed of being able to play. Problem being that the new level became the norm, and I wanted to then be able to play more complicated stuff again. I was never happy with where I had got to, even thought I was improving as a player. As such I decided I'd just never really be happy. 

I sold the acoustic.

That was almost 2 years ago now and I haven't played guitar since.

I do miss it sometimes but not as much as I do need musical outlet but have found simply listening is enough at the moment, rather than feeling this burning urge to play guitar.

I spent a long time DJ'ing in my teens / 20s to early 30s and I've thought about going back to that. It combines simply playing but adds a creative aspect to it, so may be the best of both worlds.

With guitar I may go back to it in the future but equally I may not.

Anderz

That is a very good question.

Simply I just love my 2 long term guitars (1995 and 1997) so much that I can take one look on them and quickly get the desire to pick it up. Then it becomes a challenge if my skills are up to it which they mostly are.

But mostly it is an emotional habit and its hard to stop though these days playing is at lower priority though still sounds as good as ever.

bluechargeboy

If I am on the way to bed and I realise I haven't played that day, it is quite a surprise! Still obsessed after 32 years or so. Guitar playing has got me through all kinds of stressful situations and continues to do so.

People sometimes suggest that I should take up other instruments too, but why would I? I already play the best instrument!

thomasross20

I remember being 15 or so and coming home to see Sweet Child O' Mine on VH1 Classic. Next day I got a dodgy acoustic and saved up for a year to get my first electric. Slash has always been my guitar idol. Spent more than a decade just playing a load. Just enjoyed it! I was inspired and I wanted to get better. Joined a band but broke up and since then playing in the room alone isn't the same. At the same time, all the downsides of being in a band put me off that and there's not that much chance for rock bands where I am, anyway. So I play a little acoustic and sing now with some half-baked notion to do a solo set but I don't think it'll happen, whilst keeping my hand in the electric guitar game. Spend too many years playing the thing to chuck it! 

You need a genuine love of the music and a desire to overcome the hurdles (theory-wise and technique-wise) as it's hard. Labour of love, I always say.  

adamm82

I have had a bit of a break as i’ve moved home. Haven’t got back full stride yet. Especially with this hot weather I don’t feel comfortable playing. But the passion will return. It always does. 

hopefully it will break the rut i’m stuck in.

But its relaxing when I play guitar I don’t think of anything else 

usedtobe

I sometimes binge on listening to music, but in between times, I hardly ever listen to music these days..

vale

because it's a way i can get something strange and abstract and usually hidden and buried inside of myself, out of myself. so i can hear it, know it, explore it, play with it.

other things i do get other hidden parts of myself out, but only making music gets that particular side of me out. or lets me in.