Members thetrooper9 Posted April 28, 2009 Members Posted April 28, 2009 I work in landscaping. ive been working alot lately and when i get home i always feel too tired to practice like i used to. whenever i pickup my guitar i end up mindlessly noodling until i get bored. i just don't have the motivation to practice and actually learn something.has anyone been in a situation like this? any advice?
Members Jasco Posted April 28, 2009 Members Posted April 28, 2009 I think everyone goes through varying degrees of motivation or lack thereof at times. Don't worry about it. Nothing wrong with just playing for fun. You might get the book Zen Guitar as a starting point for exploring music attitudes and mental states. Also, maybe just do some listening. Listen to things you like as well as explore new sounds.
Members BXN95 Posted April 28, 2009 Members Posted April 28, 2009 I work in landscaping. ive been working alot lately and when i get home i always feel too tired to practice like i used to. whenever i pickup my guitar i end up mindlessly noodling until i get bored. i just don't have the motivation to practice and actually learn something. has anyone been in a situation like this? any advice? I can totally understand what you're saying brother. I'm in the same situation as i have two jobs and a 1yr old daughter at home. Sometimes it seems like you just don't have enough time in the day to do it all; and when you're trying to advance your current project you're playing in, that even eats up more time; hence why some nights i'm downstairs practicing until 11pm and up for work the next morning @ 5:30am. Just have to do the best you can with the time you've got.....it is frustrating though
Members jeremy_green Posted April 28, 2009 Members Posted April 28, 2009 Most all adults get to where you are. I had a period where we had 3 children over a span of 3 1/2 years. Newborns and work schedules being what they are my playing suffered exactly as yours is. Here's what i did, maybe it will help you. First I looked at my schedule overall and found areas of time wastefulness. The first thing i did was stop watching television altogether except for weekend evenings - for some movie time with the wife. That's it. Second I had a good heart to heart with the wife and explained to her why i needed to get back to my playing on a more serious level. That I needed it for my happiness. She was incredibly supportive and now sends me down to my studio when I am dogging it. She never complains about us not spending time together on weeknights anymore. (In fact I have inspired her to resume her writing - which she has now made into a career : ) Third, I redecorated my studio. I tried to remember why I started playing guitar in the first place and decided I need to get back there. So I dug out all my old guitar magazines and cut out pictures of my favorite players and plastered them up all over the room like a teenager does. Then I went back and learned a bunch of the songs I was into then only now with my added years of skill I could actually execute them as they are. It was hard at first but what i found was once i got a direction the fire came right back. I would drag my ass down to the studio every night and found once I got on a path and started playing the time would once again fly by. With the internet there are TONS of resources for you to get on a path of learning again. So get organized, devise a plan for what you want to learn, create an environment to succeed in and get at it! It's not easy but it is worth doing. So no excuses we are all too busy and we are all too tired. Good luck bro! P.S> I mean that last part in a Dr Phil-esque hard love/support thing as opposed to an asshole thing!
Members Jasco Posted April 28, 2009 Members Posted April 28, 2009 The first thing i did was stop watching television altogether except for weekend evenings - for some movie time with the wife. That's it. Amen brother. I haven't had TV in four years - and I love it.Now if I could just quit wasting time on damn interknot forums.
Members heavy D Posted April 28, 2009 Members Posted April 28, 2009 It's like anything, you have to weigh your priorities. If it's important enough for you, you'll make time for it. But maybe you're at a point right now where it's not. There's nothing wrong with getting home and noodling a bit to relax and burn off some steam. Keep some of that muscle memory and timing there, and maybe a couple months from now you'll go back at it full steam. Nothing wrong with that.
Members girevik Posted April 28, 2009 Members Posted April 28, 2009 I got bored with the guitar altogether once upon a time. Tried other instruments. Eventually gave up music altogether for about 3 years. Took up viola after that 3 year period. Took up guitar again 3 years after that. Ironically, since I gave up the idea of "mastering" an instrument (any instrument), my guitar playing is better that it was when I was spending hours practicing guitar technique exercises. Without the self-imposed pressure to become a technical wizard, playing became a lot more fun. Nothing wrong with taking a break, imo.
Members 1001gear Posted April 29, 2009 Members Posted April 29, 2009 Try rescaling your ambition. Use caution.
Members thetrooper9 Posted April 29, 2009 Author Members Posted April 29, 2009 Thanks for the advice Jeremy
Members jonPhillips Posted April 29, 2009 Members Posted April 29, 2009 Most all adults get to where you are... ...Good luck bro! (Edited for brevity, read it all...)Great post
Members jonfinn Posted April 30, 2009 Members Posted April 30, 2009 I work in landscaping. ive been working alot lately and when i get home i always feel too tired to practice like i used to. whenever i pickup my guitar i end up mindlessly noodling until i get bored. i just don't have the motivation to practice and actually learn something.has anyone been in a situation like this? any advice? Cool!!!! When I was early 30's, I got completely fed up with the music business and quit playing guitar completely. My brother had just bought a landscaping business and needed help. So I quit playing guitar and worked for my brother. That landscaping gig I had was an important moment in my life. I came home every night too tired to practice, but happy that I was re-connecting w/ my brother. I liked the "mindless, physical labor" element because it gave me a lot of time to think. After a couple of years, I began to miss playing. So when I picked it up again, it was only to have fun. Pretty soon, I had a band together. Our goal was to play "stuff we like for fun" At that point, I realized that playing music (just like what Jeremy is saying) is an important component for me feeling a sense of "self" and fulfillment. 20 years later, that same band is still together and we have a BLAST!
Members Diclonius Posted April 30, 2009 Members Posted April 30, 2009 I know exactly how do you feel man. I
Members nckeyz Posted April 30, 2009 Members Posted April 30, 2009 I think we can all relate to this on some level or another. I'm in a big creative slump right now. The only thing I've learned is that I have to schedule and carve out times of my life to dedicate to being creative or music because life sure won't schedule it for me!
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