Is anyone else just...blah...burnt out with guitar?

[SonicBlur]

Ever since my first son was born (he's 7 now), my interest and desire to play guitar seems to all but be gone. I've really gotten into working on guitars and collecting them. My guitar gear right now is the best I could have imagined and yet, I have no desire to sit and play anymore. If I could have shown my high school self this is what you're going to have, I'd lose my mind! And yet...all my stuff just sits. I have noticed that my skills have deteriorated and when I do pluck around, I get discouraged that I can't play what I used to with relative ease.

I don't know what it is, I WANT to play but I just don't. Anyone else ever feel this way for any extended period? I'm at the point that if I sold off all my stuff it wouldn't be the end of the world but playing guitar has been the best thing I had ever done in my life....is this how it happens? Just fizzles out?

 

[CanserDYI]

Take a break, go grab a skateboard or a bow and arrow set or pick up drums or something. Come back in 6 months and you'll be sad you ever put it down.

 

[Chri]

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. I sold everything I had. Everything. And now I'm right back at it like nothing ever changed

I don't have anything near the collection that I had before, for financial reasons, but I don't see myself stopping again for any reason. If you plan to sell anything, go through what you have and only get rid of gear that doesn't make you feel inspired. Otherwise, just keep it if you're not hurting otherwise.

As CanserDYI said, try picking up a new hobby. Just step away from the guitars as a whole for a while until you feel a real yearning again. Or, maybe learn some styles/techniques that you've never even touched before. It may strike a spark

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Taking breaks from things is normal and natural. Don't force it, use your time learning a new skill that interests you. You'll probably be back. My girlfriend is an incredibly talented painter but she takes long breaks where she's more interested in learning other/new skills. She still comes back to painting and is still good at it.

When/if you are trying to play, do yourself the favor of practicing regularly. Even if it's a few minutes a day doing basic warmups, it will make it that much easier when you do want to noodle around and you'll feel a lot less discouraged. I enjoy playing a lot more when I put in just a few minutes on exercises each morning. That's really all it takes.

 

[budda]

Is it depression?

I play maybe twice or 3 times in a two week span. Usually the same chords or noodles, no backing track/along with an album. I just dont beat myself up about it, it wouldnt change anything.

 

[Kosthrash]

It's normal & expected that you can't play with the same ease as you used too, don't let this discourage you, the muscle memory is there, it'll come back sooner or later, just have fun playing your gear, try to learn new songs, play along with friends etc. The important thing is not to feel guilty for let it for a long time, parenthood is the most importand thing and your priorities have changed of course, no one critisizes you for not playing as you used too, try have fun with music and guitar playing...

 

[Demiurge]

I can't say I've ever been burnt-out per se, but there was a long stretch of time where I had a lot of opportunities to play and just didn't because it was too much. Depression was part of it, but there's also that self-defeating mindset that comes in where it's like, "If I play, I need to work on writing, developing, or completing an idea; I need to think about arrangement; I need to think about lyrics; I need to improve singing; I need to improve my recording/DAW usage..." and the whole damn thing turns into an exhausting rabbit-hole of work upon work upon work. Picking up the TV remote or the game controller became the more appealing option.

Now, I get to play 20 minutes every few days. While I certainly wish there was more time, I don't drive myself into a panic with expectations with the time I get. Somehow, my playing & writing is even improving- I don't get it. The lesson is, perhaps, to try to keep expectations & obligations as far as possible away from playing.

 

[Crungy]

I go through that now and then, though typically it's burn out from writing and recording specific music. I like to switch gears by listening to other genres and not even touching a guitar for a while.

Lately I've been getting into banjo, and might finally work on drumming since I just bought my wife a kit. If she wants to share

 

[bostjan]

Just do some 360 wheel kicks next time you think of quilting music.

Seriously, though, I think we've all been there. I never really had the active desire to quit playing guitar, but, for a span of time, I was too busy with work to do anything other than work, eat, and rarely sleep. But once I found my exit ramp from that cycle, I picked up the guitar again and it was glorious. That said, though, I've never not had tons of other job/hobbies - once I made a video game all by my lonesome, and I've made some really shitty animations, too, all by hand and that took a lot of time. Actually, pretty much you name it and I've tried to do it, and usually sucked at it, so I always come back to music, which I still suck at, but sometimes inexplicably manage to impress someone.

But, if, for whatever reason, you don't enjoy it, don't do it.

 

[mmr007]

If you don't feel like playing so long as you keep shopping online for gear your head is technically still in the game.

In all seriousness, I played a lot but actually stopped playing almost entirely for like 7 years when I was raising my kids and working on additional schooling. Then I came back with a vengeance. Also the one thing that helped me regain interest in guitar is going outside of my comfort zone for guitar related music. Any music genre can get stale.

 

[MetalDestroyer]

I have taken multiple 2+ year breaks from guitar since I started 16 years ago where I don't even touch a guitar a single time. Just quit forcing it and take a real actual break. You'll be back when you want to be.

 

[Nightside]

Yeah I got pretty burned out on metal. I go looking for weird shit now. I went through a surf rock and 60s instrumental phase. Lately I've discovered 70s Japanese jazz funk and how absolutely badass it is. I also listen to a lot of old movie soundtracks. Phantasm, The Thing.

Life just gets fucking busy as fuck sometimes and I don't have the hours to spend woodshedding like I used to. I can't quite shred like I used to but I honestly haven't been so much into that kind of music for a long time. The guitars I play now aren't even set up for shredding or fast metal.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

The answer is right there in front of you. Teenage you would have loved what you have now but you aren’t a teenager anymore. Do you still do anything you did as a teenager?

I get messages a lot from people asking how to rekindle their musical enthusiasm they had as a teenager but it’s not something you can recreate. Guitar is a hobby you take up as a kid and how you approach it never really changes as you get older so it’s easy to lose interest especially with the the level of commitment required.

Everyone beats themselves up about it and feels guilty when they lose interest in guitar or finds more excitement with a new hobby. It’s just part of growing up. You can drop the gym, sports, gaming, social drinking etc with relative ease but having guitar fizzle out is a hard one to let go.

 

[CanserDYI]

Just do some 360 wheel kicks next time you think of quilting music.

Seriously, though, I think we've all been there. I never really had the active desire to quit playing guitar, but, for a span of time, I was too busy with work to do anything other than work, eat, and rarely sleep. But once I found my exit ramp from that cycle, I picked up the guitar again and it was glorious. That said, though, I've never not had tons of other job/hobbies - once I made a video game all by my lonesome, and I've made some really shitty animations, too, all by hand and that took a lot of time. Actually, pretty much you name it and I've tried to do it, and usually sucked at it, so I always come back to music, which I still suck at, but sometimes inexplicably manage to impress someone.

But, if, for whatever reason, you don't enjoy it, don't do it.

The fact that your phone autocorrected "quitting" to "quilting" is awesome, never give up. "Keep perseverin' " quilted onto a big blanket.

 

[BabUShka]

I've had several periods like this, last 12 years.. Its just that life is happening. I work 9-10 hoyts a day, deliver kids, make dinner, remodelling the house.. I just dont have time or energy to pick up the guitar a hour before bedtime.

I really want to, but all the other stuff is devouring the time and motivation. But I still enjoy reading about guitar stuff, buying and trading gear and watch YT demo. I have hope, that one day I will join a band again with more time to play.

 

[bostjan]

The fact that your phone autocorrected "quitting" to "quilting" is awesome, never give up. "Keep perseverin' " quilted onto a big blanket.

I can't find the thread now, maybe it got nuked - I hope not! But there was a guy who posted a thread with a title something about "quilting music" and the original post in the thread was about how the guy could do 540 wheel kicks and how musicians were all wimps and how he was such a chad. I'm sure you'd recall unless you didn't log in that week. It went on for several pages of hilarity. Right around the time there was the other guy who was trying to say that the truss rod cover had a profound effect on the tone of the electric guitar in that other thread.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I had periods where I would go months without playing. The thing that got me out of those ruts was messing around with other genres and techniques a lot, so anytime metal gets stale for me, I'd go play other genres like flamenco or some country/bluegrass. Playing other genres made me think about how I approached guitar differently than I would otherwise.
I also play a ton of rocksmith on nonstop play. It forces me to play lots of songs and genres I 'd otherwise be uninterested in.

 

[neurosis]

Your engagement or lack thereof can be due to a million things. In my case with guitar I will learn a thing and once I have it done I don't want to do it again. I don't see the point and that's why I also have such huge respect of professional musicians who've to play the same songs every night for a living. To me the performance aspect is a real turn off. I am content with exploring but then once I feel I have arrived I am on to the next thing. I am like that outside of guitar as well, with a few noteworthy exceptions that keep me grounded in a sustainable lifestyle, lol. But yeah, been there done that, now what is how I feel about many things. Guitar is one of them.

Depression has been mentioned above as well. It could be that you are overwhelmed and self sabotaging. I do that too. Somehow your mind can punish you for reasons unknown. I mean there is always a reason, but it's not always logical. That's how the brain works.

In either case taking a break and distracting yourself with a different thing will help. You will lose the guilt and find the joy again. Almost guaranteed. Just don't think of it too much.

Lastly. Raising kids, working, your relationship, family and friends... these are all demanding of a lot of energy. You will adjust. Just make some arrangements and plan with your wife/gf to carve some alone time and don't be too critical of how you use it. We all need to feel free/detached at different moments. If you are burned out with guitar it could be a symptom of overall burn-out.

 

[thebeesknees22]

I tend to work bananas hours all year round so when I do actually get some free time, I'm usually stoked to get to finally be able to play. I know time is tight so I just crank through as much as I can before I get too busy to touch it again.

I imagine if I actually worked regular hours, and had more free time in general, I would probably go through periods of not wanting to play here and there. But my opportunities to play seem to get fewer and farther between as the years go on so I haven't got tired of it yet.

@KnightBrolaire - i wish I were good enough to play flamenco. I've tried a bit in the past and it's fun, but I just suck at it.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

The answer is right there in front of you. Teenage you would have loved what you have now but you aren’t a teenager anymore. Do you still do anything you did as a teenager?

I get messages a lot from people asking how to rekindle their musical enthusiasm they had as a teenager but it’s not something you can recreate. Guitar is a hobby you take up as a kid and how you approach it never really changes as you get older so it’s easy to lose interest especially with the the level of commitment required.

Everyone beats themselves up about it and feels guilty when they lose interest in guitar or finds more excitement with a new hobby. It’s just part of growing up. You can drop the gym, sports, gaming, social drinking etc with relative ease but having guitar fizzle out is a hard one to let go.

Another factor of enjoying any hobby when you're older is the difficulty of clearing away the mental clutter to appreciate the hobby for what it is. Everyone's brain works differently, but for me I find the difficulty of putting myself in the correct headspace is as much an obstacle to enjoying something as finding the time.

Music isn't necessarily an issue for me in this way, thankfully. It's mostly my backlog of hundreds of movies or video games that "I really want to watch or play some day", but that I can't bring myself to experience when I have the time. I won't commit when the time comes because it doesn't feel like the right moment, or that my brain is a clean slate. So the backlog continues to grow while I watch other things. I imagine this is analogous to OP's hobby of collecting and maintaining instruments while he waits for his day of inspiration to arrive.

The irony is that I identified this bad habit years ago, but have been waiting for various life factors to resolve before trying to fix it. I'd call it the procrastinator's dilemma if it weren't for the fact that it has important differences from procrastination.

"Carpe diem" is an idiom that didn't fully resonate with me until my later 20s. It wasn't until the days and years started whizzing by that I felt I understood it.

As others have said, I think it's better to have A hobby that scratches the itch you're currently feeling than killing time waiting for your old hobby's inspiration to be rekindled. Maybe the passion will come back, maybe it won't, but it's important to have standards regarding the use of your time.