What to do when your playing becomes stale...

lovestrat74

What tips do you have when you almost become bored of what you are churning out at home on your guitar?

Before I went on holiday I was enjoying my playing, but since returning I am just not feeling it.  

I am not a student of the guitar in a learning sense. I play for enjoyment and don't grind out any practice routines or scales, I just play what I like be it Hendrix (mainly rhythm) or just making up stuff.

I don't play with effects, just mainly through a small HT1R valve amp with either a Tele or Strat.

So question is, do you ever get these moments and if so what do you do to get back in to the groove...?

octatonic

Start transcribing.

JD50

I try to learn something in a completely different style., even if its just a couple of phrases or a different scale.

Try some Cumbia, some Afro Beat  or learn a couple Django runs?

djspecialist

Buy loads more gear.

(Note: no guarantee of satisfaction is provided)

Tenebrous

Take a few days, even weeks off if needed. Then come back having missed it, and find that everything is seemingly enjoyable.

(Doesn't really help with your playing becoming stale, but it does take away from how annoying it is The lazy solution!)

lovestrat74

djspecialist said:

Buy loads more gear.

(Note: no guarantee of satisfaction is provided)

I LOL'd but the thought has crossed my mind. Good job I am skint!

octatonic

Transcribing is free and actually works.

munckee

I mainly learn songs, some really simple strumming only, some by tabbing out the whole thing.  I would suggest getting a looper and learning both parts, play the rhythm then play the lead it feels like progression to me.  I find I learn (or make up) the bass part and record with all the tone rolled off then the rhythm clean and the lead with an overdrive on.

Learning stuff in different genres freshens things up I have picked up bits of surf, rock and roll, country, pop, 80s etc

Other times I just widdle, don't know any theory just play what sounds good.

lovestrat74

munckee said:

I mainly learn songs, some really simple strumming only, some by tabbing out the whole thing.  I would suggest getting a looper

 and learning both parts, play the rhythm then play the lead it feels like progression to me.  I find I learn (or make up) the bass part and record with all the tone rolled off then the rhythm clean and the lead with an overdrive on.

Learning stuff in different genres freshens things up I have picked up bits of surf, rock and roll, country, pop, 80s etc

Other times I just widdle, don't know any theory just play what sounds good.

Just sold one

I am a simple man so don't like to think too much about techie stuff when I am playing..

I do think learning some new stuff out of my comfort zone would be good though. And maybe a guitar with humbuckers and a new amp ...

lovestrat74

octatonic said:

Transcribing is free and actually works.

Seems like too much theory to me i'd rather just play..

munckee

lovestrat74 said:

munckee said:

I mainly learn songs, some really simple strumming only, some by tabbing out the whole thing.  I would suggest getting a looper

 and learning both parts, play the rhythm then play the lead it feels like progression to me.  I find I learn (or make up) the bass part and record with all the tone rolled off then the rhythm clean and the lead with an overdrive on.

Learning stuff in different genres freshens things up I have picked up bits of surf, rock and roll, country, pop, 80s etc

Other times I just widdle, don't know any theory just play what sounds good.

Just sold one

I am a simple man so don't like to think too much about techie stuff when I am playing..

I do think learning some new stuff out of my comfort zone would be good though. And maybe a guitar with humbuckers and a new amp ...

If you can be ar#ed to drive to me some time you can borrow my 335 copy for a bit, its a humdinger.

octatonic

lovestrat74 said:

octatonic said:

Transcribing is free and actually works.

Seems like too much theory to me i'd rather just play..

Sure, but that is sort of like saying “I wanted to lose a stone but didn’t want to modify my diet or do any exercise.”
Or “I want to write a book but I sitting around typing is boooooooring.”

Kitsune

Get stale? I listen to something different. Something like Keiji Haino, clear the decks a bit.

OilCityPickups

Try: alternative tunings ... always good for making you think outside of the box. For example try tuning in fourths ... it's a whole new world with scales. 
Try writing a melody and then working out chords for it ... that's a great exercise.
Try a new style ... maybe even one that you don't really like or 'get' ... I hated country till I learned some flash country runs ... 

If all else fails: buy a mandoline ... or take up the nose flute :-)

koss59

Transcribing doesn’t have to mean writing it down, just learn songs by ear.

lovestrat74

munckee said:

lovestrat74 said:

munckee said:

I mainly learn songs, some really simple strumming only, some by tabbing out the whole thing.  I would suggest getting a looper

 and learning both parts, play the rhythm then play the lead it feels like progression to me.  I find I learn (or make up) the bass part and record with all the tone rolled off then the rhythm clean and the lead with an overdrive on.

Learning stuff in different genres freshens things up I have picked up bits of surf, rock and roll, country, pop, 80s etc

Other times I just widdle, don't know any theory just play what sounds good.

Just sold one

I am a simple man so don't like to think too much about techie stuff when I am playing..

I do think learning some new stuff out of my comfort zone would be good though. And maybe a guitar with humbuckers and a new amp ...

If you can be ar#ed to drive to me some time you can borrow my 335 copy for a bit, its a humdinger.

 

John_P

octatonic said:

Start transcribing.

This. 

And,  join a band or find other musicians to jam with.   I’m not sure how much I enjoy playing guitar on its own these days but I love playing with other people - preferably on stage but just jamming and rehearsing is still great - it’s what music is all about for me.  

thegummy

octatonic said:

lovestrat74 said:

octatonic said:

Transcribing is free and actually works.

Seems like too much theory to me i'd rather just play..

Sure, but that is sort of like saying “I wanted to lose a stone but didn’t want to modify my diet or do any exercise.”
Or “I want to write a book but I sitting around typing is boooooooring.”

That's it completely, so true. If someone just sticks to the same thing they're bound to get bored. The reason it's worth putting in work and practice is so that playing remains enjoyable.

With transcribing, even if you do write it down, there's no theory involved, you can just write which note is played without bothering about how it applies to the scale.

djspecialist

John_P said:

And,  join a band or find other musicians to jam with.   I’m not sure how much I enjoy playing guitar on its own these days but I love playing with other people - preferably on stage but just jamming and rehearsing is still great - it’s what music is all about for me.  

Wis'd.  I rarely get time to play at home, and sometimes feel when I do it's a bit lacking in direction - but I love playing with the band.

vale

change instruments. bass, keys, drums, strings, wind, whatever. anything that bumps you out of your groove and interrupts your thinking patterns. the brain can get locked into loops so focus it somewhere where you can only function if you break with those loops.

if you only have guitars then consider something that forces you to move outside your comfort-habit zone, obliging you to ask new questions and break new ground. get a new effect, get an ebow, tune it weirdly, play wrong handed, take some strings off, etc.

the aim is not to get results (though that may happen) the aim is to break your habits and reboot your brain.

also important to remember that in this context, frustration, disappointment, despair (feelings that usually have negative connotations) are to be expected. it may well be that it is your avoiding of them that has forced you into the comfort-habit corner you now find yourself trapped in.
so consider them not to be avoided, but accepted and got on with, like nasty-tasting antibiotics that make you better in the long run.

i also recommend these. oblique counsel from a very wise (and oblique) owl. http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html

dictated but not read, doctor Vale.

57Deluxe

...the one thing that dictates what I play (when not learning or revising a set piece) is the tone the guitar+chosen amp+coupled pedals makes upon startup.

If I get a strident tone then I rock, if it is a mellow lusciousness, then I luxuriate, if it is dull and lifeless then I go and cut the grass or paint something...