or even waking up in the morning?
is there a routine that gets you into the swing of things or the "zone", as it were?
finding that golden road between boredom and frustration can be difficult sometimes. staying on it is another matter. any tips for that would be cool, too.
here are my thoughts on a fairly long-term level. if i haven't played much, or just noodled around while watching tv for a few weeks, getting back into it seems to be a real bumpy road, with the initial enthusiam cooling off as my fingers get tired or i run out of inspiration. but if i keep playing for a while, through brute force of will sometimes (and i don't have much of that), i get into that magical area, where i know i'm doing something good. over the next few days, while i do end up tired or uninspired a lot, i do get into those zones that i was in before, and they're often more complex or intense.
anyway, i'm gonna go practice now.
I never not play ....... so I dunno? :?
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
I will find something on U-TUBE or some such thing that inspires me or go out and see a band at the local theater( we have a great local theater that has some big names from the 60's and 70's 8) 8) 8)
Seeing someone else play always makes me want to play. I saw Cheap Trick the summer before last and went out and bought myself a Hamer guitar. :lol:
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
if you want it bad enough you will get it done, heart 8)
even god loves rock-n-roll
if you want it bad enough you will get it done, it takes heart 8)
even god loves rock-n-roll
sorry bout the double :oops:
even god loves rock-n-roll
no, not inspiration. what do you do with your hands? why?
I'm the wrong person to ask because it seems the less I play the better I get. Sometimes I'll get busy or lazy and not play for a while and then I come back and I can play the stuff I couldn't do before. It blows my mind and makes me wonder what exactly is going on in my brain that causes this.
Take for example barre chords. I spent like a long, finger breaking month trying to learn them and it just was not happening. I was like "screw it" and just kinda lost interest and starting playing around with my keyboard again and didn't pick up my guitar for over a week. Finally I got my guitar out one night before bed and BAM, barre chords. All up and down the neck no buzzing and muted strings. I was just like "what the ....".
So the moral of my story is the less you practice the better you get!
I don't ever put the guitar down for a week but for what it's worth I never do warm-up excercises or such. When I'm n a holiday for some time I'll just continue noodling when I get back. I think as fast as a snail when I noodle so I don't really notice any loss of technical abilty,
Meditate before playing, clear your mind and play with your subconscious, maybe some of your favorite music will come through.
"That’s what takes place when a song is written: You see something that isn’t there. Then you use your instrument to find it."
- John Frusciante
It doesn't make any difference to me - I play the same, whether I play everyday or take a month off - i.e. badly :lol: :lol:
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
I usually seperate my practice time out into different parts. I do some chromatics, and things to stretch my fingers out for a while on the fretboard. Then after i warm up, i practice a little of each technique i've learned in short burts, i.e. - arpeggios, scales, legato, ect. Toward the end of my practice time i usually play all that i know of the songs i'm learning, or even try to get creative and make up some rythym parts with a few riffs to go along with it.
Sometimes it seems like I initally don't even want to pick up my instrument sometimes. But by the time i get through my warm-ups, i'm usually fired up to play for a while. :)
I go through stretches where I'll play for probably five hours a day for about a solid month straight. Then I'll get...not burned out, but maybe tired and less creative, repetitive and a little bored. Basically unmotivated. Not concentrating. So then I'll take a break and go about a month where I don't touch the guitar much more than a few minutes a day, if that, and find something else to occupy my free time. Then when I get the itch to go at it hard again, I'm better than when I was practicing all that time before. I pick up where I left off and then get better. I think you can improve by not playing for a little bit and just letting what you already have been learning sink in mentally. It's weird, but for me it works. I've read articles with Jeff Beck where he seems to do the same sort of thing. Works for him too, I'd say.
I go through stretches where I'll play for probably five hours a day for about a solid month straight. Then I'll get...not burned out, but maybe tired and less creative, repetitive and a little bored. Basically unmotivated. Not concentrating. So then I'll take a break and go about a month where I don't touch the guitar much more than a few minutes a day, if that, and find something else to occupy my free time. Then when I get the itch to go at it hard again, I'm better than when I was practicing all that time before. I pick up where I left off and then get better. I think you can improve by not playing for a little bit and just letting what you already have been learning sink in mentally. It's weird, but for me it works. I've read articles with Jeff Beck where he seems to do the same sort of thing. Works for him too, I'd say.
I get in those same periods from time to time and I have to agree that when I get back to it I almost always play better and fresher.
"There won't be any money. But when you die, on your death bed, you will receive total conciousness. So, I got that going for me. Which is nice." - Bill Murray, Caddyshack ~~ Michigan Music Dojo - http://michiganmusicdojo.com ~~
