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#16
06-06-2020, 06:02 PM
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I was at a Tommy Emmanuel workshop back in 2007 and somebody asked Tommy what he does in this situation of feeling stale, feeling like you are not advancing, feeling like you are stuck in a rut.
He said, "Learn new songs." And that is what I have done over the years, too. I do not mean to compare myself with Tommy Emmanuel, but in this sense, at least, we have some similarities in how we approach this common problem. Constantly learning new material is what has kept my interest up over the 56 years I've been playing. There is always something new to learn. If not, make something up! To me, the guitar is a tool to help me make music. So learning new music reinforces what the guitar is for. Every time I learn a new piece of music, I learn something new that I can add to my guitar playing skills. - Glenn
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#18
06-06-2020, 06:28 PM
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Another thought. Do you have a warm-up song? or a "Take Five" set closer? Might help to play your warm-up song just to get in the mood. Usually I play a quick instrumental as a warm-up, mostly fingerpick a verse of Lead Belly's "Keep Your Hands Off Her", Or sometimes a verse of Stones' "Factory Girl". Or both. Then without much further thought, just play something. Juices are flowing and mind is dis-engaged. Works with both 6 and 12 string guitars.
Kind of like having a mini-Patrick Stewart pointing ahead, ordering, "dis-engage".  This can work if you get off course. Maybe more like "Re-engage"> Don .
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*The Heard: 85 Gibson J-200 sitka/rosewood Jumbo 99 Taylor 355 sitka/sapele 12 string Jmbo 06 Alvarez AJ60S englmn/mpl lam med Jmbo 14 Taylor 818e sitka/rosewood Grand Orchestra 05 Taylor 512ce L10 all mahogany Grand Concert 09 Taylor all walnut Jmbo 16 Taylor 412e-R sitka/rw GC 16 Taylor 458e-R s/rw 12 string GO 21 Epiphone IBG J-200 sitka/maple Jmbo 22 Guild F-1512 s/rw 12 string Jmbo
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#19
06-06-2020, 06:32 PM
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Quote:
But getting back to your question i dont really have a set song as a warmup i kinda just tend to chuck a Jimi Hendrix and play what I feel lol. might be a good idea to have something specific as a warmup though, kind of like a Foundation to build off. good idea now that I think about it.
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#20
06-06-2020, 06:36 PM
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I've been splattered all over that wall more times than I can count. Best thing I've found is to give yourself grace and rediscover playing for your own enjoyment and eventually you find yourself sort of accidentally squeezing through a chink in the wall.
Bob
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"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website)
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#21
06-06-2020, 06:56 PM
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I'm reminded of the expression, "if you're not moving forward in some way, you're probably moving backwards". I don't think we always necessarily stay somewhere in the middle, but neither do I think that we might always move forward or backwards to any discernible degree. The timeframe may be days, years, or anywhere in between. It could also well be that we don't even always perceive it, but maybe someone else listening to a sampling of our music over a given period of time might be able to pick up on something.
So, I agree with what has been said about seeking out new material or a new project. My take on all this is somewhat different in that I'm also a church organist, and so while I certainly repeat pieces, I'm always looking for and trying new stuff. Since I play every weekend (well, up until church shut down back in March), I create a schedule for myself as to what my preludes and postludes will be - trying to work weeks or months ahead. The self-discipline of this helps propel me forward. I also use guitar in church and so, again, will 'schedule' myself to use the guitar at least once a month. That way, it's again a form of disciplining to plan ahead and figure out what I want to play (again - always looking for new things to combine with old). Then, I'm usually involved in the various phases of recording and producing a new guitar album. Much of that work - as many of you know - involves listening to and editing the music while not actually playing, but I don't let that bother me in the way of...geez..I should be practicing instead of sitting here at the computer listening to stuff I played a week ago...cause I'm still working with my own music, just not actively playing it. I spent my entire career teaching public school music where I had deadlines, was locked into teaching in a way that was strictly regulated by 15 to 30 minute intervals, and the stress of putting together rehearsals and preparing concerts, etc., so at this point in my life I try not to get all hung up in the way of feeling like I've 'hit a wall'. I know that there are levels of playing - both on the guitar and organ - that I'll simply never achieve, and so don't aspire to pushing myself to reach some of those probably unrealistic goals. In my composing, I strive to find new melodies, chord formations and harmonic structures. The recording can also be a means of 'reinventing' oneself since, the way I approach it anyway, it involves adding additional instrumental tracks and background voicing, some percussion (tapping on the guitar works pretty well), bass guitar for some songs, and I also throw in some clarinet tracks if the piece seems to call for it. I probably digressed way beyond the scope of the thread title but hope that in some way have addressed the question. My advice is just to keep on with it and not dwell overly so on any perceived or imagined negative aspects of being on a plateau or against a "wall". It seems a relatively natural part of being an artist anyway - be it dance, music, acting, painting...whatever. Look for something new and bet it'll spark some newfound motivation. You might find yourself so consumed with new ideas so as to not even have time to think about whether or not you're moving forward, backward, or on a plateau (a much nicer way of saying having 'hit a brick wall') ;0) Last edited by three4rd; 06-06-2020 at 07:12 PM.
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#22
06-06-2020, 07:05 PM
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Anyone else hit this "brick wall" ?
Only now I’ve been seeing a slight improvement in my playing after a 6 year or so plateau. I’ve been practicing a whole lot more, and trying to play songs that I told myself were impossible for me to learn. But yes, we all hit that brick wall.
Buying a new guitar helped too. [emoji23] Last edited by 1neeto; 06-06-2020 at 07:44 PM.
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#23
06-06-2020, 07:10 PM
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A. Buy a new acoustic guitar, very expensive!
B. Go weekly to the best local real guitar teacher. You might just get enough to do every week to forget everything else for the next approximately 4000 years. (years ago, I wanted to learn blues fingerpicking, funny but I wanted to be able to do just what I do know! So I went to a great local guy for ‘guitar lessons’. He listened to where I was up to at the time and said I should look at fingerpicking as an ‘elective’ in my own time in addition to what he taught. He suggested I learn jazz chords and single note lines to play over those chords and that instead of the standard half hour lesson, a full hour lesson each week would be needed! Oh man of man oh man, was I busy? Phew! See where I am heading? No time for thinking!) BluesKing777.
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#24
06-06-2020, 07:10 PM
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Quote:
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future"...Galadriel
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#25
06-06-2020, 07:21 PM
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Sure, I've felt that way... it's part of the "package" of being a guitar player!
I don't think I ever looked at it like "I'm not improving"... just more of getting extremely frustrated with myself about learning something I was working on... and I remember times, when I was a lot younger, when I felt like THROWING MY GUITAR AT A WALL because I couldn't "get it" when learning something new to me... Sometimes I'll walk away fro a few days, sometimes I just press on, some times I dig deep and look for the answer of "why do I play the guitar?"... But it should help a little, knowing that EVERY guitarist goes through this, and more than once! You climb and you climb... and then you hit a plateau that seems to last forever... and then you break through and you climb, and you climb... Rinse and repeat... endlessly!
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"Home is where I hang my hat, but home is so much more than that. Home is where the ones and the things I hold dear are near... And I always find my way back home." "Home" (working title) J.S, Sherman
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#26
06-06-2020, 08:53 PM
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Absolutely! That is when it helps to play several instruments. I will switch and concentrate more on mandolin, then when I go back to guitar, invariably I will have improved (like my brain is processing while I am away from guitar.) It works for the mandolin too, when I have been away for awhile, I will play better after having been on a different instrument.
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#27
06-06-2020, 08:55 PM
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In 35 years I've hit so many brick walls and plateaus etc. that I've lost count. Best thing to do is keep playing. Things will get better.
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#28
06-06-2020, 11:26 PM
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As BluesKing777 pointed out .... recently started taking lessons on guitar for finger style (which I don’t play at all) and through those lessons I’ve picked up so much more regarding chord structure, new fingerings, new sense of rhythm and dynamics and ... well you get the picture .... change of focus and revitalization .... worth it for sure ....
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#29
06-06-2020, 11:46 PM
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Quote:
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#30
06-07-2020, 06:44 AM
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Quote:
 )Never felt "stuck in a rut", ever. Sometimes I hit what you might call a "plateau", but only in the sense that I feel comfortable, content, able to play all the songs I want to play at that moment. I'm not driven by wanting to "get better", and I don't really understand people who are. I'm driven by wanting to "play music". If I find a song I want to play but it's too difficult, then I practice the song over and over until I can play it. Obviously I "get better" by doing that, but that's not the point. I can't imagine ever being bored with playing. Even playing the same tunes over and over, there's always new ways to play them. With tunes I can already play very well, I can still improve how I play them, making them sound better.
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"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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