Lack of motivation .. what to do?

[Max272]

hey guys ! I wanted to ask you what you do if you have a lack of motivation or a period of time when practise runs bad..

The last days I had a couple of really good days with 5-String Sweeps but today my fingers just .. fuck up most stuff I try ..

Worst thing about that, is that my professional guitar training is going to start in 10 days.

So, how do you motivate yourself?

sorry for my english

 

[musicaldeath]

I've tried to approaches. First one being put the guitar down entirely for a couple of days... don't even listen to guitar related music. I find that if I can clear out my mind a bit from all the guitar clutter, when I come back I feel refreshed.

Second thing, not sure with professional training coming up or not you can afford the first option, is to just kind of force yourself to do it. If your fingers just can't find their fingerings, then try something a bit simpler for a while just to try and get everything to work in sync. Or jam out to a tune. I used to be when i was younger a big punk fan and then got into metal prog jazz etc. But when I have those 'off' days, I'll rock out to some blink-182. It's fun, simple and reminds me of when I first picked up the instrument.

I've done both of those things. They each work in their on right, guess it depends on your situation.

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

I've tried to approaches. First one being put the guitar down entirely for a couple of days... don't even listen to guitar related music. I find that if I can clear out my mind a bit from all the guitar clutter, when I come back I feel refreshed.

Second thing, not sure with professional training coming up or not you can afford the first option, is to just kind of force yourself to do it. If your fingers just can't find their fingerings, then try something a bit simpler for a while just to try and get everything to work in sync. Or jam out to a tune. I used to be when i was younger a big punk fan and then got into metal prog jazz etc. But when I have those 'off' days, I'll rock out to some blink-182. It's fun, simple and reminds me of when I first picked up the instrument.

I've done both of those things. They each work in their on right, guess it depends on your situation.

Yea a friend took up a point once that professional guitarists used to be at their best after a 3 month brake. You can re-realize how fun it once was to find all the things you can do with an instrument.

 

[Max272]

I've tried to approaches. First one being put the guitar down entirely for a couple of days... don't even listen to guitar related music. I find that if I can clear out my mind a bit from all the guitar clutter, when I come back I feel refreshed.

Second thing, not sure with professional training coming up or not you can afford the first option, is to just kind of force yourself to do it. If your fingers just can't find their fingerings, then try something a bit simpler for a while just to try and get everything to work in sync. Or jam out to a tune. I used to be when i was younger a big punk fan and then got into metal prog jazz etc. But when I have those 'off' days, I'll rock out to some blink-182. It's fun, simple and reminds me of when I first picked up the instrument.

I've done both of those things. They each work in their on right, guess it depends on your situation.

I really tried to force myself today to practise, some scales and stuff that I could play actually pretty decent.. relating to speed and cleanness, but that didn´t really worked out for me ... ;(

I´ll try your advice of taking a break for today .. to start tomorrow with a little jam by the help of youtube
but anyway, thanks for your advice =)

 

[SirMyghin]

Take up a different instrument. I am a bassist but I play a lot of guitar, then in occasional spurts a tonne of bass. Whenever I do come back to bass, which I may have ignored for weeks (months) I am always better in every aspect (except stamina of finger picking but that returns very fast). I do the same with guitar, but that rarely lasts more than a week.

 

[Max272]

Its not that easy for me I guess, because I play piano and classic guitar,too.
I try to practise a lot, most time of the day so its more a lack of motivation to practise .. Normally I start playing Piano if playing guitar is upsetting me .. It seems to me, after thinking about my problem all the day.. that I might practised too much the last days.
The only thing thats confusing me, are players like Francesco Artusato saying :" I was one of the guys practising 8-10 hours a day."
How the F*** did they managed that?
I name him because he startet playing guitar with 19y, and I´d startet with 18y. He´s a professional today and so fast and precise..

 

[SirMyghin]

We all have different motivations I played about 3 hours a day through my teens on my bass. The key to practice however is not how long, but how WELL. Time means nothing if you are not practicing well. I didn't start playing guitar seriously until about 2 years ago, and there were 2 years during university (my first 2) where I barely touched guitar or bass at all. I had been playing bass 4 years before I went to university but at the end of the day, I didn't really lose anything in those years. It was all still there, rusty, but waiting.

 

[McCap]

Well, there is those super disciplined, who really work on a practice regimen for 8 hours a day.
Then there's those who play 8 hours a day, but it could be anything, exercises, learning songs, writing songs, creating licks, jamming...

For me the most fullfilling thing in music is being creative, which I think gets lost little in those hardcore practice regiments. So try to be creative. Seeing how the stuff you have learned and practiced can be applied to come up with your own (songs, licks, etc...) gives me a lot of motivation.

 

[Fiction]

I got out of my rutt about a month ago by trying another tuning, I took the tuning from scarlet by Haunted Shores (CGCGCD) And just starting jamming around with that, A lot of stuff that came out were completely different of my normal playing style and it really got the ball rolling for when I tuned back to standard, and had some new licks and styles to play around with.

 

[Solodini]

Try learning music intended for a different instrument but on guitar. I find that quite motivating. My girlfriend plays folk fiddle and taught me some tunes. As fiddle is tuned to fifths and rings out much less than guitar, it was a real challenge to learn to play them on guitar. Similarly, I was learning some Chopin piano parts on guitar the other day and they were difficult but in a way which is different from just grinding away to become faster.

I find this sort of method to be quite inspirational. It will help your playing loads but in very different way from regular technical exercises.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

I just switch genres completly or focuses. For example if I've been playing a lot of death metal which forces you to pay a lot of attention to technique and whatnot and I'm losing inspiration I'll switch to just jamming over some blues or something for a few weeks. Its nice to not think as much as usual when playing

 

[Guitarchitect]

I have a couple of posts that may help you:

Circumnavigating The Wall You Just Hit « Guitarchitecture.org
Inspiration vs. Intimidation « Guitarchitecture.org
Two Steps Back Or Setbacks In Project Management « Guitarchitecture.org

You can also find a lot of stuff on establishing practice regimens, and lesson tips here:

Blueprints – or what you’ll find here « Guitarchitecture.org

Good Luck!!

 

[FarBeyondMetal]

The only thing thats confusing me, are players like Francesco Artusato saying :" I was one of the guys practising 8-10 hours a day."
How the F*** did they managed that?
QUOTE]

Time management is key. You can't just sit around and expect to get anywhere fast. You need to put the time into your craft. One of the best pieces of advice that I can give you is to write down the goals that you wish to accomplish on guitar (short and long-term). Then once you have figured out what it is that you want, you need to start planning each practice session and recording your progress.
What I mean by record is to keep a log of what you practice and the speeds that you can CLEANLY play it. This way you can look back on what you did previously to determine if you are progressing. If you are not progressing, you need to think about what you may be doing wrong.
Also, playing and practicing are two totally different things.

If you wanna know more about how to set goals, plan practices, and spot trouble areas in your playing let me know

 

[Demonbrn]

Listen to music out of your genre while taking a break from playing. I generally go to classical music and opera... type.

Couple suggestions that may inspire you

Clint Mansell - Lux Aterna (look for "Requiem for a Tower" Version)
Vitas Bumac - Opera #2 (keep in mind, that's a dude singing!)
Stevie Ray Vaughn - If you generally play nothing but metal, some blues may help you out of your funk

 

[Max272]

The only thing thats confusing me, are players like Francesco Artusato saying :" I was one of the guys practising 8-10 hours a day."
How the F*** did they managed that?
QUOTE]

Time management is key. You can't just sit around and expect to get anywhere fast. You need to put the time into your craft. One of the best pieces of advice that I can give you is to write down the goals that you wish to accomplish on guitar (short and long-term). Then once you have figured out what it is that you want, you need to start planning each practice session and recording your progress.
What I mean by record is to keep a log of what you practice and the speeds that you can CLEANLY play it. This way you can look back on what you did previously to determine if you are progressing. If you are not progressing, you need to think about what you may be doing wrong.
Also, playing and practicing are two totally different things.

If you wanna know more about how to set goals, plan practices, and spot trouble areas in your playing let me know

I wasted .. quite some minutes trying to explain some of my "problems" in detail but I do not even know where to start so,it would be really awesome if you could give me some tricks concerning
-> how to set goals, plan practices, and spot trouble areas <-

I also just want to say that every single post here was really helpfull and iam thankful for them

 

[KevHo]

I've been having the same problem as OP here and really appreciate all of the advice guys. Thanks.

 

[filipe200x]

The best advice i can give you is follow your heart and do whatever you feel like. That applies to every aspect of your life, be it superficial or not (the rest has already been said here).

 

[snowblind56]

New gear always motivates me.