Im sure others get frustrated is it best to just put the guitar down and take a break for a while or just keep goin when it feels like your not progreesing
I always put down the guitar and do something else, I mean I play guitar for the fun of it. I don't want to be frustrated because of a hobby, then I can just as stop playing guitar at all.
For me, taking a break when things arn't going well is the best thing I can do.
Sometimes a whole week wsill go by when I don't actually pick up either of my guitars, as it just doesn't 'feel' right.
Playing on when you are frustrated seems pointless to me; you can't play frustrated, so you won't play as you normally do, and this is turn will frustrate you further.
Everybody has "bad days" (some have bad weeks/months!). So take a break, and find something else to occupy yourself for a little while (personally I enjoy pencil sketching as another hobby to fall back on when guitaring isn't going well). After a short time I'll bet you can't wait to get playing again.
Pete
ETD - Formerly "10141748 - Reincarnate"
:wink:
Just don't take a decade off like Miles Davis did.
Sometimes I forget that playing guitar is a hooby for me, for the love of it - for the joy I feel while playing. There are times I am frustrated that I can't play a particular song, or execute a technique perfectly. Then I remember that it is not life or death, it's not my livelyhood. I go do something else, until I feel the urge to pick up the guitar again.
I try and muscle through those bad days...not sure why but I do and since I am not an accomplished player there are alot of times when I feel frustrated.
I try to play something everyday and for the most part I do. I'd say maybe once out of every couple months I might miss a day and that's usually because I'm travelling for work or something.
I some ways I think of it as "No pain no gain", getting frustrated is just part of the journey. If nothing frustrates you, you are either a virtuoso or your not challenging yourself enough.
That's my take on it anyway.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
You must realize right now that guitar will always be frustrating at times. One day you feel you are a horrible player, the next day you feel like you are a great player. Everybody goes through this, this will never change no matter how long you play and how good you get. Even the great players experience this.
Whenever my playing gets in a rut I will practice exercises or practice a different style like Jazz. I just try to break things up and try something different. But I never let it get to me. I have been playing long enough to know that getting in ruts and being frustrated is just part of the game. It will pass and in a few days you will feel great about your playing again.
Just keep playing. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I rarely practice for very extended periods of time, but if I hit a snag and can't work it out I'll just put it down for a while. BTW to me practice is not the same thing as just noodling or playing some simple tunes, which I probably do to much of, but what the heck its fun.
I also usually put the guitar down when i get frustrated , and as a newbie , that might be more than i should. but ive noticed that when i do pick it back up , more often then not i find that whatever it was that i was having trouble with before seems to come easier.
Ibanez AW200
I've noticed that when i do pick it back up , more often then not i find that whatever it was that i was having trouble with before seems to come easier.
+1 to that. :)
I have a number of strategies to keep myself interested and enthusiastic about learning music. Some depend on how far down the track you are I guess. But I've used them all.
I've got quite a few books, and it always seems worthwhile starting right from page 1 again every now and then. Firstly, it's always satisfying to discover that at least something that was hard is now easy. 8) And, somehow, there always seems to be something that I skipped a little and that can benefit from a bit of extra concentration or polish. Maybe even drag out the earliest songs I learned and see how differently I can play them now. Muck around and have some fun with them.
Change style or focus.
Switch from practising chords to working on lead. Try a different category - like Country, Blues, Folk or whatever. Maybe forget the fretting hand for a while and work on mastering a few more strumming or picking patterns, etc.
Change instrument
I put the guitar down for nearly six months a while back and concentrated on clarinet. When I picked the guitar up again I had not gone backwards in the slightest, and continued with fresh interest.
Study Theory for a while.
Sometimes I'll just go a reading jag, and chase down some extra information on something, or spend time brushing up skills at reading notation, or whatever.
Try something New.
I usually either use songbooks, 'Teach Yourself' books, or invent my own music. So I might try listening to CDs for a while instead and see how much I can figure out that way. Absolutely nothing at first! :( But the more you try the better your ear gets and the more you can start to hear.... :)
Improvise
The single biggest thing that keeps me interested is improvising. You don't need to be advanced to improvise. As soon as I could play 3 notes I started mixing them up to see what I could do with them (not much at first, but a surprisingly large range eventually...). I'd rather stop and play a carefree improvisation that used only a handful of notes or chords than keep plugging away for too long at trying to memorise something difficult that I couldn't inject any joy into.
Go play with someone else
If I get tired of driving my own bus I can always drop in at my friend's music shop. There's nearly always somebody there with a bit of time to fiddle about. So I'll let them take charge while I just bash out the chords they suggest, or whatever... can be fun. :D
Cheers,
Chris
I'm one of those bull-in-a-china-shop types - if I'm feeling frustrated about some aspect of guitar playing, I tend to approach it head-on and bulldoze my way through it. It's just that I'm stubborn and hate giving up - either that or ego. So if I've got a problem with it, I'll play through it until I've got it. I know, eventually, it WILL come.
Either that or I'll go away and write a song about being frustrated....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
i know i have to put it down when i get frustrated for fear of breaking my guitar :evil:
even god loves rock-n-roll
wes, right on!
when I put my guitar down from frustration or ennui I found that having another instrument to play helps.
I grab my oud, or uke, or play the neighbors piano. it keeps my mind in the game, so to speak.
and something happens and reignites my passion.
In other things I try to learn, like juggling for instance, whenever everything feels hopeless, I stop doing whatever is difficult, and i do something i know really well, preferably something i once found really really difficult, and then i think about the time when the things i do now were hopelessly difficult. And then perhaps i go to youtube and find someone who is really awsomely good, and then I end up thinking "hey. i manage stuff that was hard before, and oooh, that person is good... i want to become awsomely good too" it usually works. I don't know if it works with guitars, cause i'm extremely new to that, and there aren't anything i know really well yet, so there isn't a "looking back to when i was a noob" option, sinve i still am one.
