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  #1  
Old 10-24-2021, 05:03 PM
GBS GBS is offline
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Default Any tips on getting re-motivated?

Due to a variety of excuses, many not very valid, I stopped playing for the past year and a half. I'm finally pushing to get going again, at least for an hour after the morning cup of coffee.
The sad part is almost all of the more complicated pieces I used to be able to play have at least partially gone away. AND my fingers hurt!
Sometimes I can "trick" the muscle memory into kicking in, usually when playing a part of a piece at speed, and then if lucky, my hands just go where they should.
Any tips on how to revitalize what appears to be a long slog of pulling out tabs, rewatching YouTube, and all the rest to get back to where I was?
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  #2  
Old 10-24-2021, 06:49 PM
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Bob Womack Bob Womack is offline
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Play something you like. Do it for fun first.

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Old 10-24-2021, 06:50 PM
Deliberate1 Deliberate1 is offline
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Everything ends. Even if we do not know why. You stopped playing for reasons that, on their face, remain unconvincing or mysterious to you. That is a good thing because that makes them skin deep (not talkng fingers, now).
You have regained the motivation to play again. That, too, is very good. Nothing harder than to overcome inertia. Objects at rest, and all that.
So let me suggest setting aside that old repertoire that you want to resurrect. The one that lost its shine. So find new ones. Explore other genres and avenues - Django, Klezmer, deep Americana, Jansch, etc. Imagine totally new sounds coming from your fingers. You may just find that you are drinking that cup of Joe a bit faster in the morning.
Happy trails.
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Old 10-25-2021, 08:48 AM
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A guilty pleasure of mine, that I haven't done enough of lately, is to play free range guitar. Meaning I forget everything and just play stuff on the guitar. Just ramble around making sounds picking this and playing that with no agenda, music, tabs or anything structured. I change rhythms and try to get things to sound like they make sense. It's kind of like making up songs only mistakes and redos don't matter. It gets me centered or grounded back to what guitar playing is all about to me. And that's playing the guitar. I only do songs so it sounds like I know what I'm doing to other people.
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Old 10-25-2021, 12:16 PM
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I do a few gigs, open mics, and busk some festivals, just enough to lay claim to them. I love to share my music. So I'm always working on playlists, adding songs, taking songs out, always trying to get better at them, learning new and flashier techniques. I mean, that's why I play the guitar. Like I said, I'm not out there very weekend, but when the next opportunity comes along I want to be ready. Every day I'm getting ready. That is my motivation.
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Old 10-25-2021, 03:32 PM
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I found working up some composition well (one of my own or someone else's)
and then recording it was a source of motivation to keep playing guitar on a
regular basis. If you get a good recording with a good performance it's nice to
have those around to listen back to. Other than that just picking pieces that are
fun to play and not hard to play decently without frequent attention.
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Old 10-25-2021, 03:50 PM
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Buy a new guitar. Works every time.
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Old 10-25-2021, 04:33 PM
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Maybe try some simple fun music. Look back to songs you played five or six years ago. Sometimes a simple I IV V progression leads Frome one song to the next. Keep it simple and play music you really enjoy.
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  #9  
Old 10-26-2021, 02:26 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slopeshoulder View Post
Buy a new guitar. Works every time.
Yes!

Or - cheaper option! - tune your old guitar to a different tuning. Open D, open G, Drop D, DADGAD, CGCGCE ...

That way it doesn't matter if you forget all your old tunes and chords. You have to make new ones anyway. (And those tunings all sound great, even before you play anything...)
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Old 10-26-2021, 06:24 AM
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This is my answer to all things music related - find someone to pick with. Ideally, find a group of folks who get together regularly to play in a fun, supportive, informal setting.

You won't be the best player there. You'll likely not be the worst. But you'll have fun, some social interaction, learn some songs, maybe teach some songs. I always get renewed motivation when I play with friends.
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  #11  
Old 10-26-2021, 09:33 PM
hatamoto hatamoto is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GBS View Post
Due to a variety of excuses, many not very valid, I stopped playing for the past year and a half. I'm finally pushing to get going again, at least for an hour after the morning cup of coffee.
The sad part is almost all of the more complicated pieces I used to be able to play have at least partially gone away. AND my fingers hurt!
Sometimes I can "trick" the muscle memory into kicking in, usually when playing a part of a piece at speed, and then if lucky, my hands just go where they should.
Any tips on how to revitalize what appears to be a long slog of pulling out tabs, rewatching YouTube, and all the rest to get back to where I was?
I think with this and just with any learning endeavour is to set yourself up to a long term journey. I think simply just finding new songs to play or re-learning your old repertoire, techniques etc are just one piece of the puzzle. I always ask myself, "once I learn this then what"? All great suggestions here, but the main thing I will add is whatever route you take, just seek to fully understand that. For example, a new tuning would be cool only if you really understand it. Simply doing it for the sound and knowing some chords and licks in that tuning would get old pretty fast. There are many paths you can take but there's only one summit. Pick what inspires you the most and work hard towards it. It'll be a bumpy road but worth it.

I had a layoff between 2014-2019. I just recently got back right before the pandemic hit and really thought hard about this process. What ended up happening is that my enjoyment and skill went up exponentially and I have a much bigger appreciation and understanding for music in general.
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  #12  
Old 10-27-2021, 08:21 AM
reeve21 reeve21 is offline
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What works for me is to focus intently on one style or artist, and do a real "deep dive" on it for many months. Otherwise I jump around constantly and end up with a lot of half baked stuff that is not quite music.
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  #13  
Old 10-27-2021, 11:15 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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RockTips helps with finger discomfort while you are rebuilding your calluses. I use this stuff when I need it. It's safe to use, unlike stuff like superglue. It takes about 20 minutes for the stuff to dry, so put it on early.

Regarding motivation, I work on music I like. I like to learn to play songs, from beginning to end, get them recorded and add them to my repertoire. I don't spend a lot of time on exercises not related to learning the songs. I learn the theory I need as I go.

The best motivation I know is to learn to play songs. And keep learning, one every week or two once you get back into the swing of things.

- Glenn
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Old 10-28-2021, 03:21 AM
Cecil6243 Cecil6243 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slopeshoulder View Post
Buy a new guitar. Works every time.
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  #15  
Old 10-28-2021, 12:26 PM
jseth jseth is offline
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When COVID first hit, I stayed home a lot, more than I usually would... after about 3 months, I realized that I had not been playing my guitars. I thought,"What's up with that? Let's go ahead and play...", but even when I picked up a guitar, I really wasn't motivate to play at all...

This from a LIFELONG singer/songwriter/guitarist! In truth, nothing really appealed to me - not singing, not playing, not songwriting...

So, I dug in and really looked at "Why? Why play guitar, sing and write songs anyway?". Took a while, and some close looks, but I ended up remembering why I started down this road in the first place, some 54 years ago... funny enough, my reasons for playing, writing and singing are still very much the same. Those reasons had not changed, I'd just forgotten them! Soon as I was reacquainted with the "Why?", I started playing more and more, and having a ball doing it...

As to ability or lack thereof? I got sick, really sick, last winter and spent 2 1/2 months on forced bedrest in hospital and then a rehab facility... I had something called Cushing's Disease (which fortunately was cured last March!), and one thing the Cushing's does is to attack the musculature. Tha aspect, coupled with a 70 year old body atrophying from inactivity and the net result was startling to me when I finally got home...

I COULD NOT PLAY MY GUITAR! I couldn't do stuff I'd been able to do when I was 12 years old... was NOT a fun experience. I realized that I had to start "all over again" in many regards... so I did.

At first, I couldn't play more than 5 minutes at a time... but, now, after 7 months, it feels more "like me" when I'm holding my guitars, and I can play and sing for longer. Still not at anything close to where I was prior to all the drama of the disease, but getting there. I'm looking forward to feeling good enough and strong enough to get out and hunt down a few gigs!

Although it's been difficult and frustrating at times (still is), remembering "why?" helps me to keep going forward...
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