Hey what do you all do when you get into a playing rut? I tend to practice some finger exercises or jam out on something I usually don't play...its crazy but my mind will totally play tricks on me when i'm in a playing rut...I'll think "man i suck"...but a few days later I'll be in the moment and my freestyle will be on point. peace.
also do any of you all try to listen to some off the wall music when your getting burnt out on your favorite music?
I do the second, but I don't get into playing ruts anymore.. I used to, but I pretty much know enough to get around the ruts as far as guitar goes... so that's not a problem anymore.
If I find myself in some kind of a rut on a particular instrument, I'll usually just take a break and play another instrument for a while... Or I might just leave off music-making for a day or two completely and just listen to music. Variety is the spice of life, right? I try to keep my listening regularly spread across several styles/genres rather than isolating a single "favorite" and listening to that ad nauseam. I'm always on the lookout for off-the-wall music...
I play guitar A LOT but once in a while, I'll just take the day off (usually if I break some strings and don't feel like re-stringing or if I'm out of strings) and listen to music. I've gone through two packs in a week... I'm always breaking my D, A, and E strings... well, I'm playing .011s too... I'm not used to strings this light... I usually play .013s or so. I'm always listening to music... right now I'm listening to Bob Dylan - Man Of Constant Sorrow on his debut album "Bob Dylan".... 1962.
yup...man I'm still in a rut. I pick up my guitar without even warming up thinking I'm going to be going all out. I start to play Master of Puppets and its slow...so right off the bat I'm frustrated...I'm such a baby..But I know that all I need to do is to chill out and take my time..buts its hard with the family I got. I wanna getta a good quickie in ya know...oh what to do????
the main instruments i play are acoustic, and electric guitars. If i feel like im in a rut, i switch instruments, and visa versa. If i feel like im in the same rut on both, i try to fiddle around with different chord arragenments and try to get out psychedelic sounds, or what ever style intrigies me, and go from there. I have plenty of pedals i can fiddle around with as well, so that keeps me occupied and rut free.
take a break. i used to get in ruts every now and then like that. pretty soon i was in a really big rut. i took a long break (didn't play much for a few months). when i tried jamming again it was so fresh and new, i was playing stuff i couldn't get out before, and most importantly, i felt it again.
Yea I;m pretty much outta of my rut. I plugged in the ol Ibanez into the Marshall and hooked up the wah...and MAN!!! I was just going to town. Krk hammett would have been proud!...ha ha. I was jamming the "one" solo...the finger tapping one at the end...and man!...it feels good to be out of the rut.
keep with it man...I sucked for the longest time and still do sometimes..but at times I just open it up man...really just express myself honestly with my guitar...and heck if I can do that for a couple hours at any unexpected time than its worth it to suck for a while during the learning and practicing fazes...you'll get it dude. good luck! S/M
