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i go through phases where i won't play for days/weeks,then the desire will kick in again.
due to various reasons (depression,insomnia,laziness) my conentration has been pretty bad atm so my practise has been very sparse.
i must add i am not a good guitarist,and just play at home so that and depression isn't a good mix.
more than once i have thought about jacking the guitar in,but the desire is always there to play the guitar.
i currently have a squier bullet mustang and a j mascis jazzmaster (and a boss gt-1).
i am currently saving up towards a new guitar of some sort (not a clue as to what yet though lol).
again apologies for the rambling.
There is a threshold: play less than that amount (probably a different amount for every person) and you never really get much better. You go around and around making the same-old, same-old mistakes and that gets boring so you play less and less. Reach that threshold and pass it, and there is no turning back. Playing becomes a simple pleasure and you no longer have trouble getting in enough play hours every week, you have the (much nicer) problem of finding other, less pleasant and important things you usually spend time on to stop doing so that you can play more. (Watching TV would be favourite.)
Oh, and having a really nice instrument helps. Something that is a joy to just strum a chord on, never mind play real stuff. Don't expect that instrument to jump out at you and ask to be taken home. Hunt it down. Don't be obsessive, be patient. Haunt the shops, try things out, think things over. Don't expect to fall in love at first sight. If that happens, fine, accept it, but don'\t expect it and don't romanticise it - a guitar is, after all, just a tool. Take as many weeks or months or years as it takes for you to make up your mind that a particular one is right for you. But be aware also that past a certain level, there isn't really "better" anymore, there is only "different".
Out there in the High Street, there isn't one perfect guitar for you, there are dozens, any one of which is all you really need. Example: I have seven guitars. Each one of them is, in its own way, my "perfect" guitar. I love them all but the reality is that I could be happy with any one of them. One would be enough, and for a long time it was. Even now, I only ever play one at a time.
Until then guitars all seem as unaccommodating as each other, which I think is probably how you feel.
A break can be a good thing so you come back fresh.
Good luck with it all mate.
After a similar number of years searching as you have, I haven't found the one, but I did find this quote from Seneca:
"If one doesn't know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable"
It made me stop and think about my playing.
Here are two questions to exercise the grey matter, they might be useful, they don't need complete answers
- What are your ambitions for playing guitar? Perhaps to connect to music or connect to an audience?
as a south-paw my hunt for the perfect guitar is a little more difficult as I soon discovered I didn't want a black Squier strat or a Tanglewood acoustic - so that ruled out 99% of music shops ( but I still had to check ;^).The amount of autobiographies I’ve read where the guitar you see these famous people with every show is the first guitar they’ve bought, or one they bought for £200 or something and they’ve just stuck with it through necessity should reassure you.
I'm pretty certain Usain Bolt could slaughter me in the 100m wearing a pair of oversized Wellingtons even if I had the best running shoes known to mankind.
I have 25 guitars, I can pick any of them up and enjoy playing them, I could get rid of 24 and still enjoy playing the one left.
How many musicians started playing in their bedroom with a cheap old second hand knacker that they played for hours?
For me the best thing to make me play the guitar is to watch some videos, or go on guitar tab app and see what gives me the desire to need to pick the instrument up.
I am crap, but I looked through guitar tab app last night and I found something that made me want to get up today and learn. Take 24 guitars off me and leave me with one and that need to play what I searched last night will still be there.
When I see people writing 'I just haven't bonded with it' I tend to assume their practice approach is wrong.
I've been playing for 35 years, a guitar is pretty much *just an instrument* to me now.
Give me a guitar, I will play it and generally be ok playing it provided certain structural/tuning issues are not there.
Yes, I prefer some guitars more than others, my Forshages, Tom Andersons and a Fylde acoustic get most of my time.
But I will happily play a £300 Squier if I have to.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
.......and I've lost a lot of weight since then
Really do your research and go and try as many as you can without buying them and then pull the trigger when you are really sure. Get them online so you can return them. You can do this multiple times. Some shops offer very cheap returns services so you can try a few out if you want.
Yup, which is why I asked him about his practice routine and how much time he spent with the instrument.
Yesterday I took my Harley Benton Fusion (Iron Gear pickups) instead of my Vigier to band rehearsal and it made fuck all difference. Okay, maybe it'd have been slightly more comfortable to use the Vigier for 4 hours due to being lighter and a shorter scale, but bonding? It's just wood and steel.