My Problem

Hey guys... um, remember me?

Here's my problem. Three months ago, I could easily spend five hours a day building my chops. Perhaps unintentionally, the pursuit of technique became my whole approach to the instrument. I was having fun, yes, but for the most part it was my accomplishments at becoming more technically adept that gave me joy. After a vacation, I got back and my chops gradually went down the tubes after I sort of lost my inspiration to practice with the same rigorousness that I had had before the vacation. I haven't seriously played any of my guitars for about a month.

Here's the problem: I seem to be unable to find a way to start playing again. I'm afraid to pick it up, having lost so much of what I had worked so hard to accomplish. Somewhere along the line, I lost the ability to appreciate the simplicity of the instrument, like when I was just starting and would sit down and try to learn Zeppelin tunes just for fun. I would like to have fun with the guitar again, learn some new songs, and impress people with simple renditions of popular songs, but I'm still stuck in the mindframe that guitar means practicing scales 5 hours a day to reach some sort of Petrucci-Malmsteen-esque level of ability. How can I have fun again with simple stuff, when my head is chalk full of theory that now seems useless?
Any advice? How do you guys have FUN with the instrument? For you technique heads... lal, I'm looking at you bud, put yourself in my place based on what I just explained and tell me how you would approach picking up the guitar again.

I hope this made sense... I realize I was kind of ranting. Let me sum it up again. I had come to define myself as a guitar player based on how fast I could play, my knowledge of theory, how well I could improvise.. etc. etc. Now, the technique is gone, and I'm wondering how I can fit guitar back into my life in a funner, more manageable way.

I'm coming out of a month-long dry spell where I couldn't play because of some nerve damage I did to my left hand hand. (No I wasn't in a bar fight. I pulled too hard on a stuck window that had a handle that was too small for all of my fingers. The fingers I used weren't up to the task. Lesson learned: Its the silly little things that get you some times.)

Anyway, I find that my playing is way rusty, and some of the things I used to do, hurt like hell. So I have to slow down, and find new ways of doing things. It means re-examining the whole thing. Technique, style. my approach to the instrument. I think you can turn this into a very good experience for you. If you can get your head around the concept of learning a new approach to playing, you will find it to be a very satisfying experience.

This is your own personal opportunity to test the value of speed versus feeling.

James, how old are you? I'm just curious, im guessing around 17. dont ask, i just like guessing.

anyyyyyyways, how about this. listen to a song soooo many times that you begin to LOVE it, so that the song means something to you. when it means something to you, you will try harder to learn it. works for me! i listened to a Grateful Dead version of Bob Dylan's "Its all over now, baby blue" for 4 hours straight, memorized everything, then learned it on my guitar, even though im not a songbug (being mostly improvisational in my music), if it means something to you, you are bound to try harder.

Lord: oh dear, sounds nasty... it's nothing permanent is it?

James: listen to different stuff.. some times the problem can really be that the music your listening to is leaving you wanting to get to a certain standard, which you dont find very inspiring...
You could also go down the avantguard route, of just making cool sounds with you guitar... in some cases you dont even need strings on yer guitar to make em (speaker on the pick ups combined with fx, and turning the tone nob back and forth is a favourite of mine, but i'm sure it cant be good for yer pick ups).

You could also put the guitar down for a long while, until you WANT to pick it up again... you can't force your self to enjoy something, so sometimes just put yer guitar down, and maybe pick up a harmonica, keyboard etc etc, it makes for more intresting music in the long run (that's what i've found anyway)...

A similar problem I've had is after I've spent ages learning and mastering a song that i loved and being unable to hear it the same way again.....at the start I'd be wondering 'How the hell does he do that?' and once I knew it spoilt my enjoyment of the song.

My solution? Dont listen to or play the song for ages, forget everything, then when I was in the right frame of mind later, get out the CD, dust it off and enjoy the song. Maybe even have a jam along with it if I felt like it.

Certain songs i once thought to be unbeatable now mean nothing to me...its a musicians thing....once you learn, you change, and changing back is a bitch.

Discovering new bands and artists isnt hard for me though. Last week I visited The Shredzone and found many names I had never heard of. I'm making a point of not trying to learn every new song that impresses me now. So James, try that.....search for a new inspiration in whatever styles you're into and make sure you NEVER learn their licks, riffs ETC.....let the influence go through your mind and not through your guitar.... sometimes one way for me to enjoy the guitar as a part of my life is not to play it.

Incidents, I'm 18.

Lord I think you have a good point.. this is a good time to redefine what kind of guitar player I can be.

I'd love if there were twice as many hours in a day and therefor COULD spend the amount of time needed to become a guru. I've learned, however, that in the real world, spending 4 or 5 hours a day is unreasonable (for me). Not possible.

First: Lord... I hope the hand is better soon.

James. These folks make a lot of sense, maybe it is just a time to step back a little. Maybe you could play some less ( for that lack of a better word ) complicated stuff and move to some simple 3 chord songs and take your guitar to the occasional party. If you don't have a voice to sing, you might find a few at the party who do.

I know that is a tough thing to do but perhaps you might find it fun in a different way and then work your way back to the place you once were and beyond.

A week ago I was in the yard with some friends, having a B-B-Q after work, about 9pm, we heard some Staind and a few other tunes. All with a single guitar and one vocalist. We were straining to listen. We should have picked up our coolers and asked to sit down and listen in exchange for a few of our bevvies.

Good luck, man.

Hey James, there are heaps of good ideas here, that in a way apply to me; I go through periods of heaps of technique pratice, then when I start thinking aobut songs again I don't know what to do. I think the thing that could work best was mentioned by Blaksmith: take your guitar to friends' houses and just play songs with them. This is the period where knowing other musicians is really helpful. Don't try anything too hard, don't try to impress them, maybe get some people together and play rhythm guitar, trying your best to make all the other guys sound good. This really is what makes me love the guitar so much. I sit in my room and play and think I love it, but it's only when I'm in a moment with other musicians and we're playing together so well that I just want to cry – it happened the other day, and I'm still recovering from the experience, hence the ramble–, that's when I know I love playing guitar.
The other great idea I saw was to get out other instruments. It is always good to play other instruments, i play a bit of harmonica and I sing, which is good, though I wish I would dedicate some time to learn the piano, as it would be very useful.
Anyway, i hope you get through this, though I bet you will. Also, Lordathestrings, hope your hand gets better. I just went snowboarding and hurt my right wrist a bit (fortunately not the left), and it took a couple of days to get fully better. The lesson: if you want to play the guitar, get a servant to do manual chores (like lifting windows) for you, and wear bloody wristguards! :rolleyes:

Yes, try playing some simple stuff with your mates,just simple rhythms,or leads ,etc, what improved my rhythm was playing "Velvet Undergound" (ie 2 chord wonders) and old 60s tunes,you usually find everybody has a different take and some simple thing will make you ears priick up and say "Nice" or "I can make that into..". Maybe dig out some old blues records and chase down their simple but "huh?" techniques. Maybe go for some new tones, we tried putting a cheap keyboard through some gtr fx pedals [getting a hammondy tone] and someone played that while i went a bit "Wayne Kramer" (sic).

When i'm fed up with reaching for the Page/Hendrix/Sumlin grails i get out the acoustic and strum some of my old chords..try messing about with "Tangerine" or "Thank you".

Lord. hope the wrist is healing well.

turn off the anxiety thing man. good days n bad days n good weeks n bad weeks all roll up to make life.when inspiration wont come i just practice n when practicin leaves me dry i play songs or jam with other people. i write when songs come. if they dont come i do somethin else. no worries. as long as yer playin yer gettin better ...

Perhaps you should theorize about it a little more,I dont think there is enough speculation on the subject

James, it sounds exactly how my own attitude has changed, due to my new family commitments, AKA 'annoying kids' I dont play as regularly as I used to, although sheer boredom will often lead me to extended bouts of guitar excess... much to my family's displeasure...

I find that if you play things that are always challenging, john petrucci style solos, and meshuggah type rhythms that are demanding on both hands, your chops will always get back to speed. I have trouble playing some of the stuff I could rip out effortlessly when I was 16 these days, but if I WANT to go back and play it, I know I can, but it will take a while, and my hands will hate me for it. I guess guitar ability is like a muscle, you need to exercise it every day or it begins to whither away.

Try a more laid back approach, I find using legato instead of flurries of alternate picking for 3 note per string scales helps me when I'm struggling to reach mach 3

One Little thing I learned back in high school, from the token virtuoso guy there (always one) was to add taps to a solo to make it faster, now it can be hard if you have to bring your hand from the normal playing position to tap out the note, but sometimes I hold my picking hand over the 12th fret and just tap the note after I pick it to sound it again. As well, if you're tapping, try sliding the pick over several notes at once, it can be a real cool trick if you find a nice lead to work it into

At the end of the day, dont worry, just make sure you force yourself to pick the guitar up for a couple of hours a week, and with more effort, your chops will return and it will be like you never lost them

James, I think you shouldn't get discouraged. In my opininion no effort that you make goes for nothing. As Petrucci said in his column in Guitar World "playng guitar is about rises and falls"(somthing like that i don't remember tha right words)
I've gone through the same thing. Months back I was playing very hard to prepare for the Berklee audition. After I got back at home I was very disappointed about how bad i did that and there was this terrible feeling that all the months of playing scales and stuff for 6hrs/day are wasted. In the following 2-3 weeks even the thought of playng guitar made me feel I'm gonna puke. I had completely lost the ability to enjoy guitar, it was no more to me than studying Physics. Thanks God things gradually settled down back in the way they used to be.
Also another point: I guess you live somewhere in the western world. Think how many possibilities and resources you have and how luckier than, us the "non-humans" inhabiting the eastern part of europe. Just an example -- if I want to buy a Fender or Gibson(assuming prices around 1200$) I would have to spend my whole yearly income on it(no eating or drinking)
I don't want this to sound as a rant. Just wanted to give you an example that there are people around in much harder psitions which do not lose faith. I think this is a pretty good inspiration.
Again I am not making any kind of political or social or whatever offensive point here. I don't understand a S|#H of politcs.

Also another point: I guess you live somewhere in the western world. Think how many possibilities and resources you have and how luckier than, us the "non-humans" inhabiting the eastern part of europe. Just an example -- if I want to buy a Fender or Gibson(assuming prices around 1200$) I would have to spend my whole yearly income on it(no eating or drinking)
>>> hey I live in the western world and have been poverty stricken most my life due to circumstance not choice, I still dream of being able to afford a real fendor or gibson or a proper inpiring life style, but I'm trapped in this dirt bag town full of inbred white trash hillbillies with 3 word voacabularies(all profanity) with appreciation for only one song poorly played by some drunken sack, "nothing else matters". Sorry, I am at the end of my inpiration too, been scaping the bottom of the barel too long. My motto every morning as I listen to chainsaws blasting, neighbors still fighting from the night before, rattle bag red neck trucks, logging trucks, and police sirens, and the usual schizophrenic frenchman threatening people in the street for no reason,...IS STILL I RISE, STILL I RISE.

yikes. you guys got it bad... you should move to america, then you wont have to save a whole year to get a gibson guitar.

i work 8 days a month and thus far this year have made $1300. Thats right...Mcdonalds:).

Hey thanks a lot everyone, I heard some really great ideas. I'm just going to relax for a little bit... like nasum_human said, speed can be built easily with just a little time and effort, so I'm just going to relax, have some fun, and when I feel able to rebuild my chops, I will.

Originally posted by Incidents Happen

i work 8 days a month and thus far this year have made $1300. Thats right...Mcdonalds:).

:)
That's fun
I worked for McDonalds one month, 5 days/week, 8 hrs/day
Guess how much did they pay me?
60 bucks

I suffered the mental abuse in a subway retuarant, for 6 bucks an hour, and to start they made me pay for my uniform and hat. At the time I couldn't even afford my rent, so I was considering moving to malasia to work in Cathy Lee Giffords sweat shops but one of my friends got me a job at a hospital where I met a philapeno guru.

Originally posted by James
lal, I'm looking at you bud, put yourself in my place based on what I just explained and tell me how you would approach picking up the guitar again.

Sorry I didn't see your post sooner.

I have never been in this kind of mood. To me music is life. I hear music when I drive my car, people talking in the street make music too. If I don't have a guitar somewhere, I play the piano or I use my lap as a drum set...

I suggest you try and play an acoustic. If you have some money, buy yourself a real good one. Feeling your guts vibrating with the wood is quite a feeling...
Bring some friends home, sing with them. Good tunes, immortal ones. The beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, etc...

The guitar is only a tool.

Music, and mostly, the creation behind all of this, is the real goal.

Try reading 'zen guitar' by Philip toshio SUDO. It can give you some insight on your feelings and maybe you'll get another start.

Try reading 'zen guitar' by Philip toshio SUDO. It can give you some insight on your feelings and maybe you'll get another start. [/B][/QUOTE]

Its true this book is great, and if you e-mail the guy he actually returns it.