Big rut.

Idk why iam in this big guitar rut.idk maybe since what happened with my gear,it's just not the same.yeah it felt great too play when my friend loaned me his guitar ,got allot of aggression out of me.but when I look around my empty guitar room it just brings back memories.i have been doin more reading ,theory ect.or I'll just noodle around a little on guitar that doesn't belong to me.i hope I can break free from this.peace from the axe man.

I can fully understand you being in a rut. Hopefully you can get closure on your gear situation and move on. In the mean time, I think your idea of switching focus into areas of theory and stuff is great. You could also work on ear training.

Have you read the book Zen Guitar? That might be useful and interesting. Something else I like to do is read music bios - beatles, doors, the police, zeppelin, miles davis, clapton...there are so many great ones out there. It is insightful sometimes to learn about how these great musicians came to their art and developed it.

It might also help to focus on something outside of music - a new fitness routine, painting, drawing, etc.

Just throwing stuff out there from things that have helped with various ruts thoughout the years...

Theft is sometimes quite difficult to process emotionally. There's a huge feeling of violation knowing that someone forced their way into your sanctuary, and took your personal belongings. As long as the thieves are not caught, and you don't have your things returned, it tends to remain unresolved emotionally as you can't help but wonder who did it, and where your gear is now.

You've done all you can. You just have to accept that the world is an unfair place at times. Its not easy. It takes time, but it also takes will power. Its almost like working out... you have to mentally force yourself not go down a negative spiral. Sometimes its helps when you're feeling really bad about it, to remind yourself that these thoughts are yours, bouncing around your head... if those feelings aren't serving you, then they're only making you miserable. As Don Henley said:

Better put it all behind you; cause life goes on
You keep carrin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside

Its a normal process to go back and forth, to dwell on it at times. Everyone says "just let it go" but in actuality, its really hard to do. There's times to vent and let it all out, and other times when its just a painful memory that you don't want to dwell on. At times like that, something I once heard that helped me with dealing with painful memories was to think of your memory as room with a door. You know what's in the room, what's behind the door. You can choose not to open it for now, just leave the door closed and pass on by.

Tough stuff to go through though. I'd be beside myself if someone stole my gear. What you're going through is not easy, and I think you've handled it really well. One day at a time.

thanks slip,& maggior.i havent read the book your talkin about,sounds good.thanks for your support you two are the best.yeah slip its like a ping pong bouncing in your head.what eats at me is besides where and who has it,and is there someone right now playing my guitar and amp.but to break in ur home and take what is yours,what you worked so hard too get.god i just pray to let me know who these thiefs are.its not just the cost of my gear.its mine u came into my home and had your way with it.you have know idea how much i miss my gear.my usa prs custom 24,that was my dream axe,i want it back.lord help those who have it,cause if i ever find the ppl who did this i think u get the idea what i may do.idk why i didnt think of this before,iam gonna post an add in the papper,looking to buy guitars ,amps ect.something like that.and lets see who calls u never know.your pal axe.

Originally Posted by: axe2thanks slip,& maggior.i havent read the book your talkin about,sounds good.thanks for your support you two are the best.yeah slip its like a ping pong bouncing in your head.what eats at me is besides where and who has it,and is there someone right now playing my guitar and amp.but to break in ur home and take what is yours,what you worked so hard too get.god i just pray to let me know who these thiefs are.its not just the cost of my gear.its mine u came into my home and had your way with it.you have know idea how much i miss my gear.my usa prs custom 24,that was my dream axe,i want it back.lord help those who have it,cause if i ever find the ppl who did this i think u get the idea what i may do.idk why i didnt think of this before,iam gonna post an add in the papper,looking to buy guitars ,amps ect.something like that.and lets see who calls u never know.your pal axe.

Without a big amount of detail, I had the most fundamental loss anyone could experience. Not to get too serious but what I learned from that is that every day you have on this planet is a blessing. Every single day.

Sounds serious? Maybe too serious but there is a point that applies to you. While you feel violated and rightly so, you may be overlooking the gifts and blessings you have in front of you.

Consider that in a time of need, a friend loaned you a guitar. That's not an average friend. That is awesome and a blessing.

I learned when I went through what I did that if you spend all your time lamenting what you can no longer have, you may be missing the opportunities in front of you now.

Sure, you can miss them. No problem with that but you must decide that, in your case, you are greater than a loss of a few materials items and decide to enjoy the blessings you have today.

My loss maybe took a little more than just 'getting over it' but the idea still applies that at some point, it's about looking forward and not backward.

Food for thought.

thanks jeff,what had happend too me is recent.and for me its a big pill too swallow,its half way there ,but only time can heal this.and yes he is a good friend to loan me one of his guitars.slip is a great guy,he told me had i lived were is lives,he would loan me one of his guitars.point here there are good and bad ppl in this world.thanks again jeff..the dwelling has to stop for me.

i think iam gonna give AMS MUSIC a call.buy another DSL AMP,and see what the cost is for that prs,that has a floyed rose trem.i know i had heard all about those floyed trem's but allot of fun dive bombing.time will tell.

Hey axe- I hope some of this excellent advice and words of encouragement are helping you out. Anyone who's gone through an experience like yours would be in a funk. Hopefully you will climb out of it sooner rather than later.

I'm not a big fan of Floyds, only because I don't care for trem bars, but I have several Floyd equipped guitars and one nice thing about them ( that I haven't heard mentioned ) is how they TUNE UP really nice. Those fine tuners allow for great SPOT ON tuning. Good luck with your shopping. You have great taste in guitars, I'm sure you'll end up with a killer rig.

Continued Best Wishes for a Speedy "Recovery"

thanks frett,why arent you a fan off floyed rose trems.i heard they can be a pain in the a@@,but how whats the main issue with them.i never owened one,only played one the other day,and loved the feel and what u can do with it,that u caint do with a regular trem.thanks pal.idk if i wrote it in this thread,prs has an SE MODEL with a floyed on it real sweet.an SE sells for around $709.the SE with floyed trem i seen on ebay average price $879.anytips on the floyed u can give me,ill be your friend.LOL

Hey axe- I'm not a floyd guy because I just don't use a whammy bar much. What I play doesn't usually involve dive-bomb type trem work. If it did, a floyd would be the ONLY way to go. It's true they are a bit temperamental and it takes a bit of work to keep them floating "just right"... and the intonation process is harder than a standard/hardtail bridge... but once you figure it out it's OK. It takes me twice the time to change the strings on my Floyd guitars- maybe thats just me. If you play a lot of whammy type stuff I think you'll like it very much and it will be worth the little extra effort.

One of my favorite guitars is my GODIN Redline 3. It has a Floyd but I put a tremel-no block on it because the slightest little pressure on the bridge with the edge of my picking hand caused it to go sharp. Very annoying. So with the block I can still dive down on the bar, I just can't pull UP on the bar. ( in truth, I don't even put the bar in it 95% of the time). But now the bridge is stable so I can rest my hand on it while I'm playing.

No, I didn't know PRS was doing Floyd SE's. I think the SE's are one of the best values out there. (behind GODIN of course:) .... I'm sure they are using the latest/greatest Floyd design and you whammy-guys will love it. Be sure to let me know what you go with - it won't be easy replacing that piece-of-art PRS you had but I get the feeling you'll pick up something really nice.

Best Wishes Brother....

thanks man,for your input.u can see the SE models on ebay like i did,not allot of colors too choose from,i dont like the royal blue,but anyway i caint belief prs came out with a floyed ,on there SE MODELS.i wonder if they put them on there usa guitars.something worth looking into.so what ya been working on lately?
songs
theory ect.
btw the rut that iam in ,is mainly because everytime i come into my empty guitar room,which at one point had four guitars,4 amps is now empty.the only thing i can do besides pray for my gear back,is too call AMS and just go crazy ,well atleast one or two guitars and an amp.cords ect.refill this room again.....12 easy payment plans works for me.i wouldnt mind picking up a suhr guitar.there very high price.if you havent seen one idk,they kinda look like a strat.i think suhr was the head builder for fender,then left and started makeing his own,very nice guitars,u can see them on ebay too.you know my prs had such a uninque color,its gotta pop up somewere,maybe ill make different flyers,with a reward on it .may rock be with you.

Hi axe- I went to a guitar show recently and one dealer had brought 10 or so ... the most SUHRs I have ever seen at once. A good representation of the line. Although I didn't plug any in I had the chance to see and handle them and they were VERY impressive. Excellent balance and really nice necks and bridges. They were real lookers ( although PRS, IMO, is gonna win every guitar "beauty contest", every time ). I would definitely consider SUHR if I was looking for a high-end strat-like guitar. I'd put them right about equal with the Tom Anderson's. Realistically, I know I would never throw that kind of money at [any] guitar because I know I can buy an exceptional guitar for less than half the money. I choose to keep a "stable" of guitars and I usually only play any particular one for a week or two and then move to another one for "fresh inspiration". Right now the only two guitars on my radar are a TAYLOR solid-body electric (I'm patient, I'll find one for about $550 eventually) and a Godin Icon Convertible ( amazing guitar - new about $1400 - I'll look to snag up a used one for $800-ish someday).

What am I doing? I've jumped on the whole Beatle's Re-visited thing. Dusted off a couple of big piano/chord songbooks and working thru that big library of amazing music. Fun stuff, you can play them stripped down or work them into full arrangements. Haven't stepped on a distortion pedal for a few weeks now, nice break. My Gretsch Electro-Matic is gettin' a nice work-out.

How bout you? What U been working at between your funk-ruts ?

T-Care...

that sounds like fun,on what ur doin.I Been basicaly working on how too get out of this rut i been stuck in,for obviouse reasons.so iam paying attention to music theory,all kinds modes,ect.how too combine mj,min pent scale,i posted a good video on those topics and another on improvise a solo.bye steve stien,hes a great teacher.u can go to www.guitarzoom.com,and look there for his lessons,if interested.so i basicaly been workin on stuff like that.and for the fun of it ,i learned shook me all night long,ac/dc.he has a long song list as well.and a 7 disc dvd. i may be interested in it,well if you go too that site,there is one lesson preview for all 7 disc's.and i think part of the rut iam slowly getting out from has to do with the obvious,but not being in a band,or ppl too jam with sometimes you question ur self WHY bother,and the answer always is ,becouse i love playing and makeing music.jamming to backin tracks gets old after awhile.always good talkin with ya fret,as desi would say,plat till ur fingers bleed.
rock on my friend.