Motivation - what keeps you playing?

Funkfingers

LordOxygen said:

What motivates you to keep picking up your guitar?

Withdrawal symptoms.

duotone

What motivates me now is;
1) having a nice shiny Helix LT to play with 
2) wanting to practice using Reaper (DAW) & while it is fun trying to mix someone else’s song.   When I fancy a break from that I can record some simple ideas, add some bass & some EZ Drummer2 parts and try mixing that.

So yeah I guess that new gear HAS actually made me play my guitars more 

Deadman

I love the feeling I get when I plug my SG into my Vox AC10 and push the valves. It doesn't really matter what I play, it just feels and sounds good. It always feels like an occasion.

Also (for example) I heard 'Jacqueline' by Franz Ferdinand for the first time in years the other day and immediately set about learning it when I got home. That happens with certain songs a lot with me. 

Rocker

Having thought about the question, I found that I consider myself "good enough" at the two hobbies that keep me sane and keep my brain occupied. Golf and guitar/bass/piano playing to be precise. I could be better at golf if I practiced and worked on my game but that is not the reason I play golf. It is a way of spending a few hours in the company of friends and/or strangers, chatting and enjoying our time together on the course. I play bass with three friends, we get together about once every six weeks or so. We have two gigs each year, I did the gigging thing when I was young and don't want to start that game again. I play guitar and piano for my own enjoyment. Purely for the fun of doing so. Skill wise I am pretty poor but I am as good as I want to be. I retired from my job around ten years ago, I don't want to play music at the level that it becomes another job.

I listen to a lot of my favorite music on our hi-fi system. Sometimes I hear a song on the radio that triggers something in my brain - how was that played or could I make a reasonable stab at playing it. The usual answer is NO but I will have learned something by just trying to play it. How often I pickup a guitar depends on how I feel: sometimes once a week, it could be every day for a month or so. It might even be twice the same day.

The love of music is in my genes. Playing it or listening to it is important to me. When it stops being important to me, I will be flat out in a box.

gringopig

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martin8708

I always wanted to play guitar as a kid , just so I could be in a band and be cool.
35 years later it's so much more than that , it's my escape from work /domestic life .
I'm not great , but I can play some of the songs of my guitar heroes which gives me a bit of a buzz. I have a couple of nice guitars and playing them is just a pleasure , just like a good meal ,or a fine glass of wine .

pintspiller

I'm a far better player than I had ever imagined when I first picked up a guitar. I was a loner when I started and played every moment I could. I got a four-track and started to write songs. I had a few friends who played and got I to my first band when one left. That got me on the rehearsal/audition ritual that continued for years. I only stopped when I got married and had nowhere to practise. But we relocated ten years ago and have played bass in a few cover bands over the years. I practise when I want and sometimes don't play for months except for rehearsals and gigs.

Fez

Bloody mindedness! Facetious answer but for the first few years it probably was. Now I play every day if I can playing in a band means I need to learn new stuff and keep my chops (such as they are) up. I never gave up when the kids came along, I played in a church music group for six years which was a, challenging in it's own way and b, I met other players which was good as we had relocated and had to make new friends etc. 

As for listening I tend to listen on headphones at work when I can. In the car I have radio 4 on for short journeys  but like music for longer trips. In the house not so much but there is nearly always music on somewhere as the boys have music on constantly - anything from Bob Dylan to Pig Destroyer. As they say on Kerrang TV "Life is loud"

JAYJO

Having realised I get more time to myself at work than at home I have a set up I can use every day at work.
The times when I can only access the computer I watch reaper tutorials. There is just so much out there and easily accessible I can't stop myself. So many tutorials on YouTube, ebay bargains this forums classifieds etc. Cheap books dvds cds lots of stuff I could never get when I was younger I now have.
 I switch all the time it keeps me motivated. I will hopefully pass all I know to my kids and that's another huge motivation. Music was my first love and it will be my last. Just don't tell the Mrs.