help?

basically, i have very high aspirations for guitar.
but recently, i seem to have trouble motivating myself.

it just seems that there MOUNTAINS of stuff that i need to learn, and do daily, and practice.
songs, modes,picking excersises, sweeping, tapping,chords, singing, metal,jazz,blues, classical, note reading and mixing them all together.

any ideas to help me slow down and relax?

Do you plan your practice?

What I used to do (and still get my students to do) is break practice time up as follows (1 hour):

5 minute warmup (spider patterns / sweeps / chords - whatever, just get your hands moving)
10 minutes on scales/arpeggios
10 minutes on chords
10 minutes playing chord charts and coming up with rhythms
10 minutes playing lead over jam tracks
15 minutes playing a song you're working on / your own composition

Obviously you can extend the time depending on how much you have available, and also include more material as necessary - but it's important to keep the discipline on breaking up time. I find the structure helps people get the 'work' done and the 15 minutes at the end is the reward.

If you're having trouble motivating yourself I'd hazard the guess that you're spending too much time on mechanics and not enough on making music... so try learning a song or two, or applying some of the things you're learning to musical situations. Try writing a song... or just jam over some backings - we've got some here if you need them... ('Jam' section in the top menu) :)

Excellent advice Ren, especially about spending more time actually making music than practicing the mechanics - only way to stay motivated is to start creating.

:cool: I find, that the more you KNOW, the more you understand how much more there is to LEARN! In other words, The Better Ya Get, The Worse you Feel! Two famous guitar players were talkin, an' one of 'em said--"Every show I play, I tell myself that I'm gonna Play something NEW An' Creative,-- But, I always play the same ol' stuff!" This sounds like bull, till you find out that the pickers involved, were [as I was told,by a Nashville session man,] Chet Atkins and the lead player for the " Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass"!! I heard this back in '71, an' I'm still playin. :)

Wow, nice layout Ren, hope you don't mind if I borrow that one :) Seems like a well balanced and set up routine.