In A Rut!!!!

ive been in a rut too. not the first time. i ride em out. it'll come back cos it always does.

You're not alone. I didn't even pick up any of my guitars for 3 weeks last month, partly due to being on a 2 week vacation, and being in a rut. :oops: I'm still in a rut, but slowly coming out of it. Trying to keep my mind off of waiting for phone calls for a job interview.

Everybody who's in a rut, raise your hand. :roll:

Yes, I shaved my pits and remembered my deodorant. :wink:

Margaret

I've been playing about every night. It's just that I've been avoiding finding more challenging things to learn, like anything where I gotta do some fancy fingering or picking. I bought a book on arpeggios a while back figuring it might jump start me. NOT! I couldn't tell you where it is.....well, now I can. I just hunted it down. :)

BTW, my other laying has gotten better.

I was once told by ROBERT CRAY HIMSELF (he was playing at Myrtle Beach and I happened to be in the same Mexican Resteraunt as him.

Anyway, we were talking along and I got on the subject of practicing / learning new stuff and I mentioned being stuck (or in a rut) and Mr. Cray said this to me.

"Being stuck is a good thing, because it lets you know your ready for the next level. The longer you ride it out the more 'burst' of new learning you will get."

So remember its good your stuck for now. Cause it means that your progressing and now you need to progress on. I think what helps me the most is limiting myself to minimal improvision. The Fretboard can be a scary thing. So many sonic options. BUT. Limit your self to improvising on a singel string. Or maybe two strings but only so many frets (a "Box" per say) but dont limit yourself to your prelearned scales just learn the notes in that area and create some new exciting or unfamiliar licks. Then before you know it. You have all these new techniques you can whip out at any given time!

Hope I helped.

I'm just coming out of mine (described in my "Meet & Greet" thread). I mean, I wouldn't recommend putting the guitar down, cause that is real hard to come back from, it took me winning a guitar...I hadn't thought of playing in years, nor had any intention of spending money on a guitar.

Now, I'm planning an amp purchase, and a new guitar immediately after to complement my Strat.

Ruts suck, but in my limited experience, you just gotta keep on keepin on, and just plow on through to the other side.

The alternative sucks even more...IMHO.

Check my new SIGGY.
This is from the May'05 Guitar Player with Joe Perry on the cover.

Tab says alot in this one sentence....whether you want to be a Professional Musician or just a Musician period.

I often do this in the many ruts I've had the past two years. I go back to square one. I kind of "Start Over".

I'm a simpleton with stuff like this. If I don't feel like playing I don't play. If I wouldn't feel like playing for a long time I'd find another hobby. If I don't feel like learning anything new I won't learn anything new. If I feel like learning something new I learn something new.

So basically:

1) Find something you like to learn.
2) Learn it.

If you got to step #2 but aren't really trying then apparantly you don't like to learn whatever you picked and you should go back to step #1.

for me, i really do find a few days away from guitar strings works wonders. it's like i get a time to reboot myself, so when i pick it up again, whatever was keeping me from feeling it melts away and i can play like normal again. just this morning i spent a few hours standing on a picnic table in a deserted park playing till my fingertips hurt. it wasnt totally deserted, my friend was there with me and we sang. and a few old people randomly walking through. and 2 kids. but that's not the point. i came up with some pretty cool soudning licks on that table. i wouldnt have been able to a few days ago, because i would have stumbled through some chords and gotten discouraged. but after a lil break, my confidence came back.

I end up dweeling on what I'm trying to accomplish during my times away from guitar. Usually spending time listening to the song(s) over and over again. Hmm... actually it's similar to Arjen's method, but it works. I'm still suffering from a short attention span when it comes to music theory though. :roll:

A rut is a rut is a rut.... not always.

Well, i decided to use the book that I previously mentioned. Each night as I pick up the guitar, I will do 5 minutes of arpeggios. It reminds me a lot about doing scales. Maybe I should do those instead. :)

At any rate, all this is in an effort to start learning how to pick notes in addition to my (cough cough) wonderful strumming skills. There's a lot of cool stuff out there to play that I just have not touched because I lack the "picking" skills.

I think if you're really in a rut you should consider getting lessons. If you're short on cash just take 3 or 4 even. In those first lessons a new teacher will immediately be able to point out some stuff for you to work on and give you some good exercises etc. Might just be the kickstart your brain needs to get going again.

I'm not, how do you say it, a good student. I do have plans of action though. The arpeggio thing. Also, gonna start singing to songs. (First victim is Thru and Thru by the Stones), and the first song that I'm going to learn to pick and make the strings talk will be Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits.

Heck, I'm even considering firing up my keef-o-caster for a go at Romeo and Juliet after I've done those two. Kind of puts it together. Picking, singing and strumming. Sure, it's not accoustic, but what the heck. Only me, the family and the dogs will know. :)

Update time: I haven't messed arround with Arpeggios much, but I have been engrossed in singing & playing at the same time. My dogs hate it, but it's been quite a hoot for me. I've been practicing Thru and Thru, Happy (check out dhodges lesson, buy a tele and leave it in G where it should be), Sister Morphine and Mother mostly, but a few others as well. Ready for the big time, I am!!