Depressing moments

[Alt Freak]

Do you guys ever sit there playing guitar and just feel like you can't come up with anything new and fresh? It's so depressing that I feel like never picking up my guitar. I keep hoping though that when I sell some stuff and buy some pedals I really want, and a single coil guitar that maybe then it will become inspiring with all the new equipment!
But right now I'm just playing an explorer through my 2204, nothing in between. I really don't feel like playing my LP

Edit: It's hard making original material your satisfied with. At least with me.

 

[Stringjunkie]

Come to the other side and I'll swap ya my strat for your explorer. But yeah I find ruts sometimes, put it down and come back later.

 

[diesect20022000]

yeah all the time.


it takes a long time for me to write what i feel is a keepable song so i fill the time with modes and scales etc.


i lso take up to a week off when i need it which is HARD as i'm really OCD (aperger's syndrome, yes i have it i mean) but, it's needed....but, anyway yeah i'm used to playing up to 12 hr days (and haven't in 2 years now...family'll do that).

 

[Jack92CH]

I feel the same way.

If I had a strat with nice single coils I feel like I'd be able to expand my playing a little bit. I love humbuckers but I've run out of different things to do with 'em. I need a nice wah and a reverb unit...getting kind of tired playing the same riffs and licks all the time. Effects have inspired fun stuff in the past.

Shouldn't have sold that Cry Baby.

 

[Alt Freak]

I feel the same way.

If I had a strat with nice single coils I feel like I'd be able to expand my playing a little bit. I love humbuckers but I've run out of different things to do with 'em. I need a nice wah and a reverb unit...getting kind of tired playing the same riffs and licks all the time. Effects have inspired fun stuff in the past.

Shouldn't have sold that Cry Baby.

Dude I know. That is exactly what I'm going through, and thinking

 

[SmokeyDopey]

Yeah man, it happens. And moments of inspiration don't happen all the time or when you want them to. It just hits you. If you sit down and force something, you'll kinda get stuck and feel low because nothings coming to your mind.

The trick is to have a blank mind. That can help, but like I said, it just hits you out of the fucking blue.

So, easy... most (or all) of us go through that, or at least something similar.

 

[Las Palmas Norte]

Problem is, your're playing an LP ... you gotta shit can that thing! lol
Time will pass brother and better things will flow.

Cheers, Barrie.

 

[RiverRatt]

I've got a Les Paul, Strat and Tele right now and I really like all three. The Fenders are both MIM but both have upgraded pickups - Bill Lawrence in the Tele and Texas Specials in the Strat. When I get into a rut I'll pick up one of the other guitars and play it until I quit noticing the different neck and start to get into it. My style of playing changes a lot depending on which guitar I'm using.

If you're wanting a strat, play a few of the MIM ones. You can find them used for under $300 and mine is a real player. The neck feels really nice. With some good pickups in it and a steel or brass tremolo block, I can't tell any difference between it and a US-made guitar. The Jimmie Vaughan strat has a great neck, too. They are a little more than the standard strat, but still a really nice affordable guitar.

 

[jvm210guy]

The Explorer shall help you through your time of need, listen to it well....

 

[Feeling Supersonic]

Do you guys ever sit there playing guitar and just feel like you can't come up with anything new and fresh?

I'm sure Slash, Page, Knopfler, Clapton have all been through this.

I have it all the time too.

It's a very emotional thing sometimes playing guitar and your relationship with it.

With my playing comes expectation of good playing, tone etc..and sometimes it just doesn't work for me.. and I get all down in the dumps.

Like Tremonti said, if his guitar playing is in the gutter, so is his life. Bit of truth in that I think.

Maybe it's because we put so much love and soul into our music.. sometimes it just doesn't come back like that..


I listen to hip hop when I'm frustrated with guitar playing.. or listen to Albioni.

 

[Khaos]

It thing it is like that english saying: It comes with the territory.
All "artists" have the same problem.

 

[Alt Freak]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated and good to know I'm not the only one. Single coil wise, I'm going to get a nice American Jazzmaster, and possibly a MIM Jaguar. Now I know you guys think those are sooo ugly, but they are the most comfortable guitars I've ever played. I really want a strat, and have played a lot, but can not get used to it, and haven't found one I like. For right now I'm just tired of my tone. And am also debating getting a Twin. But I've gotta keep playing and get inspired again so I can write more.

 

[Alt Freak]

And I have this huge urge to buy a Metropolous Superbass.


If that won't fix my depressed state, then nothing will!

 

[Australian]

Do you guys ever sit there playing guitar and just feel like you can't come up with anything new and fresh?
Edit: It's hard making original material your satisfied with. At least with me.

My problem is I write two new songs while I'm writing one. Not boasting, but thats how it always has been.
I have tapes, computer files, and Iphone files of riffs. And every day I record ideas to new compositions. If I was as prolific with lyrics, I'd be a lot more content.

 

[Alt Freak]

My problem is I write two new songs while I'm writing one. Not boasting, but thats how it always has been.
I have tapes, computer files, and Iphone files of riffs. And every day I record ideas to new compositions. If I was as prolific with lyrics, I'd be a lot more content.

Dude that's exactly how it works for me. I have so many recordings of riffs and progressions, and a lot of people really like them, but I also have a problem with lyrics

 

[Australian]

Yeah I hear ya.
I can reel off lyrics, but I'm fussy about what the story is about. If it sounds corny I ditch it. I have sheaths of lyrics that I've ditched.
Love songs are easy. Political lyrics are easy.
But to write a good lyric that says something new rather than be full of cliche' is an art.

 

[John 14:6]

Try listening to some players that you don't normally listen to or learning something different. Things like that can help me to break out of a rut. Sometimes learning something new can inspire you to create your own new music. You might just get inspired by a simple chord change or a new chord or scale. Even a simple sequence of 3 or 4 notes from another players song might inspire you to write a song that is completely different than the one you were trying to learn. I have started to learn certain songs before and then got sidetracked and went in a completely different direction with my own thing because I came across a new chord or something. Even players that have nothing to do with rock like Django Reinhardt or Tommy Emmanuel can give you ideas that will rock and just floor an audience in the process.

 

[Feeling Supersonic]

When guitar playing gets to me I listen to:-

Norah Jones
Katie Melua
Leonard Cohen
Neil Young
John Denver
David Gray
Verve
Tom Petty
and classical music too.

I think it's good to take a great from it sometimes.