Need a tons of advice, I've hit a major plateau!!!!

Edrod

Edrod

Power User
Hi everybody,

I'm looking to get some advice. I've been playing for over 8 years. When I started playing there was major progress in my playing. I would practice and would be able to learn at a higher pace with time. For some reason my creatity was always "there". I was able to write riffs and songs a lot easier than I can now. I also played in a band that was fun to be in.

Due to life, my routine changed dramatically. I turned into playing chromatic scales, doodling, and "practicing" licks on YouTube. Without sounding like a complete douche, I felt I was a decent player. Not great or amazing but also not terrible to the point that I should pawn my stuff and play the triangle either.

I've noticed this pattern the last couple of years. When I go to a music store, I'll pick up they're big selection of lh guitars (a whole one) and play. I'm always at a below volume range to avoid looking like a guitar center God. Once I start playing, my hands feel stiff, I cannot put anything musically respectable for the life of me. I experienced this yesterday when I went to guitar center. It really upset me.

I've tried guitar teachers, online lessons, bought Tom Quayle DVDs, trying other music styles, etc. I've been lucky to have great equipment so that's not the issue.

I tend to get stuck on the lick of the day and forget anything and everything past that day.

Have any of you guys ever experienced this?

If so, how did you get pass it?

Advice, links, anything is more than appreciated

I need to get out of this guitar depression haha


Eddi
 
Belive me, this happens to everyone and you'll get through it..
The best advice is to enjoy life a bit more, let the guitar aside for some time..
I'm not telling you to stop playing for some time, keep practicing, but just let your mind to be interested in family/friends and enjoy everything else that life brings to you, the inspiration will come naturally..
 
I've been playing for 30+ years and have experienced this feeling many, many times. It's really easy to get lazy and get into playing ruts. I actually think it's a very good thing that as guitar players we see this and get frustrated. Otherwise, we'd just be another Guitar Center wanker playing way too loud and not giving a sh*t. I think the moment you become satisfied with your level of playing you stop progressing. The trick is to use that feeling as a motivator for moving out of the plateau and to the next level of playing.

So, there are a couple of things I do to get out of this funk. The quickest way for me is to sit down with a song or solo that inspires me as a guitar player and learn it. The act of learning a cool song and figuring out what the guitar player is doing, maybe a new lick or technique helps get me moving again. But for me, it's almost always the music that inspires me to get out of my rut. It's the thing that inspired me to learn to play in the first place, so I try to get back to that "sh*t this is cool!!" feeling.

I've also found that if I take a couple of weeks off. Yes, a couple of weeks, and don't touch my guitar, I often come back with a fresh perspective, renewed energy, and I realize I'm not such a crappy guitar player after all. :)
 
learn to play some songs, and with a band is even better. They don't have to be hard and you can always come back to the theory and woodshedding stuff later. When I do this I always realize other areas my playing is lacking like dynamics, rhythm, picked notes vs strummed etc... It also lets you see that a lot of things guitar players use to impress aren't very useful when focusing on the song.
 
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I hit the wall many years ago. The brain gets older. You just have to push through. When I was a kid, my creativity was far beyond what it is now, in all aspects of my life. But even today, I will come across something that inspires me, and I use it as best I can.

What also helped me is trying other instruments. Keyboards, mandolin, ukelele, banjo, etc., all help get me out of the box.

Vitor's advice about setting the guitar aside and enjoying life more is perhaps the most helpful. Inspiration comes from simply being alive and realizing what a miracle it is. Get out of your daily routine in as many ways as you can. And as corny as it sounds, a good diet and exercise can do wonders.
 
I've certainly been in that spot several times during my 35+ years of guitar abusing. Sometimes it is just like if I am never gonna get over that
obstacle and being more free and fluent. In the past I've made the mistake several times of almost stop playing entirely cause of the lack of inspiration
and the feeling that I was never gonna get out of that plateau ..

Expand your musical menu , play to different music out of your comfort zone. Maybe that will help you getting out of that route.
The single best thing for me have been to identify my weakest point, and make a long and serious effort to work on that technique
not a couple of weeks, but for months .. let's say 30 minutes every day .. every day .. no matter what work on it .. and then you'll find that
every time you pick up the guitar to play something you are doing things with more ease and confident .. and that itself is so very inspiring,
and you get back the confidence you've lost ..

It worked wonders for me .. I am now 1.5 plus years into working on that weak spot I had (and still have) but compared to where I was when I started
I've advanced so very much .. still has a long way to go .. but now I will just stick to it, and if I ever get to the point where I feel I've got it, I know
there are so many other weak points that I will want to improve :)

Create a plan to do every day and stick to it for months .. and you will climb a step higher :)

I hope this gave something for you to think about

oh yeah, and about forgetting stuff ... I am that way too .. I would forget my own ass if it wasn't attached to my spine :)
but when you gain whatever lacking in your playing you will recover lost information so much faster if you need to
 
Might some of it just be the now unfamiliar pressure of playing in public? I know, for me, if I even think anybody might be listening, I start sucking. Usually it's just new situations that I have to readjust to. I started recording again lately and just hitting the record button on my DAW was screwing me up. But, I can play live on stage just fine.

As far as losing creativity, maybe it's the lack of other band members to play off of. I know, for me, just having a drummer can be a huge creativity boost. Also, don't under estimate the effects of nostalgia, especially if you're currently unhappy with where you are.

The brain's pretty pliable. If you get in a certain routine, you brain will naturally enhance and abandon certain processes (ie. the memory part of a taxi diver's brain is much larger so as to remember city streets). I think if you're struggling with creativity, improvisation, or playing in a pressure situation, you really need to expose yourself more to situations that require those kinds of metal pressures or your brain may naturally abandon them.
 
Sometimes I try so hard that it dominates my focus. I'm thinking so hard about what I can or should play and how to do it that I can't play anything. There is no room for anything else. I have learned that my best playing is when I'm not thinking or trying at all and just playing. Relax and have fun...
 
Guys thank you so much for the advice. One of the things I appreciate the most is reading about your experiences too. I'll be re-reading these over and over. Keep them coming
 
Rane said:
As far as losing creativity, maybe it's the lack of other band members to play off of. I know, for me, just having a drummer can be a huge creativity boost. Also, don't under estimate the effects of nostalgia, especially if you're currently unhappy with where you are.
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Wow, this is sooo true for me as well. I joined a gigging blues band not too long ago just to get me off my ass and interacting with other musicians. Nothing like playing with other musicians to inspire me and push me outside my comfort zone.
 
steadystate said:
What also helped me is trying other instruments. Keyboards, mandolin, ukelele, banjo, etc., all help get me out of the box.
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This. I started with drums in the third grade, then it was saxophone all the way through my first year of college (music Ed major). Then I met my roommate Shawn, and that was the first time I ever had a guitar in my hand. That was 22 years ago.

My playing still sucks LOL.

I'll never be a rock god. Don't even want to. I dont want to play the same songs twice in a row, hence I'm not a professional musician. I just play to make myself happy. When I get in bored with it I pick up the mandolin. I throw it into a different gear, a different part of the brain. Then there's the keyboard. Maybe I'll fuck around with EZ Drummer 2 and boom a few hours are gone, just like that. The ideas and therefore the satisfaction comes crashing in.

That's how I get out of a rut. I never get in one to begin with.
 
I have been playing for almost 40 years now more or less. Going through plateaus is a normal part of progress. I wouldn't worry about it. That is unhelpful and can make a part of your life that you used to enjoy a chore. If you are meant to doodle around, you are meant to doodle around. Advancement is not something that can be forced, you'll advance when you're ready on your own time. Sometimes, to advance you'll need to stop playing for awhile, and sometimes you'll need to take on a project that you don't think you can handle.

I found that my greatest advances have occurred after being seriously ill and not being able to play for awhile. Every time that I have come back, I have been more in tune with different places in my heart and mind. It's like they've become more unified. I had large advance in picking up songs by ear the last time. It seemed the barrier between the part of my mind that listens to and feels music and the part of my mind that analyzes music was broken down somehow. I wouldn't suggest going that far on purpose.

Sometimes, all it takes is a new experience to develop new muscles. I got into acting recently and playing mandolin and did a couple of shows, and when I came back, I could sing and accompany myself in ways that I couldn't before.

One last thing. The purpose of a going to a music store is to listen to the gear and evaluate, not to try to impress people. That's a really tough crowd anyway. There is nothing worse for the ego than being overly self aware. I only time that I ever got a complement there was when I was playing blues on a guitar that I found that had been tuned to open D tuning. I was too engrossed and enjoying myself in exploring all the possibilities of that tuning and how glorious the guitar sounded that I wasn't aware that people were watching. Usually, I'll play a couple of chords and a couple basic riffs and listen. If people want a concert, they can pay for it.
 
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In my experience, a great way to take your playing to the next level doesn't just need practice (although practice is important, and do it for 25 hours a day if you can :) - but don't force it unless you're specifically focusing on technique and muscle memory - if the love isn't there, the music will sound stale). I find that one of the best ways to develop new, fresh techniques, to improve your playing and feel like you are progressing is to put your guitar down, and hunt for fantastic music that you have never heard before, and just listen to it as much as you can. It doesn't matter what genre it is or what instrument they are playing, as long as they are good at it. Find something that you enjoy to listen to, that inspires you, or challenges you emotionally, intellectually, or technically - and listen to it, a lot. I have noticed my own playing become modified, without even practicing, simply by listening to new things. For example, I developed new legato techniques without actually intending to simply by listening to chapman stick players a lot, and just found myself playing and phrasing more like they did shortly after. Similarly, I changed the way I play arpeggios and chords simply by listening to pianists like Rachmaninov. Even film scores have influenced some of the way I phrase melodies, and even how I use vibrato. I think for example Allan Holdsworth said that he developed his signature legato technique by imitating his favourite brass players. That said, keep listening to killer guitarists too, and watch good live shows that come around! You might develop new sounds that are unique, and very 'you'. Good luck!
 
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Another + on Victors advice put it down for a wile and do something else then pick it back up. I remember watching a Joe Satriani interview and was saying the same thing when he hits the proverbial wall.
 
One possible assist: get yourself a copy of Transcribe. This is a program (if you're not already familiar with it) that allows you to load and play back mp3's and 4's, et, al. The great thing about Transcribe is it allows you to slow the speed of a playback without altering the file's pitch. I've been using this program to learn songs which are too fast for me to pick up by ear or tabs alone. When you combine Transcribe with printed tablature, however, there isn't a song you shouldn't be able to learn.

If you're a blues player, like me, you need to learn 7th chord arpeggios and the major scales. What this allows you to do is to seamlessly play 1-4-5 (and other) progressions, which in turn will increase your playing repertoire by a factor of three, e.g, you'll be able to play a C-F-G progression in major, pentatonic, and arpeggiated scales, switching scales at will for all three chords. Of course, if you're already familiar with this, then I guess you can just ignore this post. There's a ton of stuff on the Internet that is there to help you. Hope this helps.

My latest effort to raise my own self to another plateau was to buy a copy of Griff Hamlin's "Blues Gig in a Box"-- Five complete blues songs broken down and tabbed, with detailed videos of
how to play each part of each song. I load these videos into Transcribe, set up the tabs, and I'm well on my way to learning complete, excellent renditions of five well known blues songs. If
you don't play the blue, sorry.
 
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