Anyone else lost motivation?

JayGee · January 2021

I had something just creaking into life early last year. A mate was finding himself spread a bit thin as one of his projects started gaining a bit of traction and suggested me as a replacement in a band - not my usual sort of thing, a lot of original material, nice people who I already knew so what the heck...

Did a handful of rehearsals and was really enjoying the change of pace and new challenges like having to busk a bit of slide for new songs, starting to put plans in place for me to do a couple of gigs with them and Thwack! First lockdown!!

We kept in touch and when lockdown eased we managed to get a couple rehearsals done and things were starting to shape up again before Thwack! Tiers!! (with me in tier 3 while the rest of the band was in tier 2) and now second lockdown...

Again we’ve stayed in touch, and we occasionally talk about plans for the year but it’s really hard for me to keep my heart in it and I’m barely picking the guitar up at the moment...

exocet · January 2021

Motivation down the plug hole with me. Without gigs / scheduled rehearsals I’ve lost focus completely. I’m still playing guitar most days but completely without any structure or direction.

I’m supposed to be laying down a few parts on a “lockdown video” with some other friends of mine. Did 3 or 4 last year....now, I’ve forgotten how to use Logic and it all feels a bit of a hassle....

FarleyUK · January 2021

I have had a recurring nightmare where I'm at rehearsal with this new band, and I've only learnt about 15 out of the 50 songs (which is the current state of play). It's happened twice now...!

I also - on the recommendation in this thread - signed up to Truefire. That seems pretty good so far. I was a member of Artistworks previously, but never used it - and the renewal cost was pretty steep. Hopefully Truefire can help with some form of motivation.

Roland · January 2021

@FarleyUK ; Doesn't that new AxeFX III provide some interest. This month I've spent time reworking patches, and working with new amp models is giving me some inspiration

FarleyUK · January 2021

Roland said:

@FarleyUK ; Doesn't that new AxeFX III provide some interest. This month I've spent time reworking patches, and working with new amp models is giving me some inspiration

It's certainly helped - but without gigs, it seems a bit pointless right now. However, it's been fun just playing around with it and tinkering.

The other issue I have is the 'layout' of everything; the AFX3 and my laptop are in the lounge connected to the TV. I could move it all to the cabin to practise, but it takes a while and it's bloody freezing down there.

That's a reason I got the Waza Air, actually - yesterday I was up and running with some practice within30 seconds. Nice and quick. My aim is to get the songs practised on the Waza Air (along to backing tracks), then move to the AFX3 to create the patches etc.

Roland · January 2021

FarleyUK said:
It's certainly helped - but without gigs, it seems a bit pointless right now ...

That’s actually the reason I’m doing it. When we’ve got gigs I don’t want to mess with settings too much in case anything goes wrong live. I use MFC bank 1 for current patches, and bank 2 for the previous versions, so that if something goes wrong then I’m a couple of foot taps away from safe territory. However I’ve currently got the opportunity to rework every, including output levels.

FarleyUK · January 2021

Roland said:

FarleyUK said:
It's certainly helped - but without gigs, it seems a bit pointless right now ...

That’s actually the reason I’m doing it. When we’ve got gigs I don’t want to mess with settings too much in case anything goes wrong live. I use MFC bank 1 for current patches, and bank 2 for the previous versions, so that if something goes wrong then I’m a couple of foot taps away from safe territory. However I’ve currently got the opportunity to rework every, including output levels.

Good thinking.

And TBH, now is a great time to try and learn all the complexities of the unit....!

Roland · January 2021

Yeah, you can use earphones for a lot of that

Neill · January 2021

p90fool said:

I have totally lost motivation. We were doing around 50 gigs a year until March and apart from mountain biking with the singer I haven't seen any of them since. The bassist has jacked after nine years of playing together in various lineups and I no longer have finger callouses as I no longer really play.

I've stopped playing guitar completely for years on end before, but I was much younger and fell back into it easily. I'm battling hand injuries, tendon issues, arthritis and apathy these days, so who knows, I may not bother again.

That last comment struck a chord (pun intended)..

I moved to Northern Scotland about nine years ago, and shortly after managed to fall off my bike and sustained a serious left hand injury. If it had happened when I was 21 I would have bounced back but I'm mid 60's now and I still can't flex the fingers of that hand properly. At the time it completely curtailed any guitar playing, and certainly not in front of an audience. As a result I lost motivation, sold most of my gear and apart from the occasional strum pretty much gave up.

But, this Covid thing has created so much spare time that I found it impossible not to start playing again - I even have aspirations to get a band together again this year so it's sort of the opposite effect compared to of what most folk have experienced. Mind you, my ears are shot as well these days so it might have to be unplugged...

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Anyone else lost motivation?

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