Suggestions for musical doldrums?

[Eric]

I'm in a bit of a rut right now. I play bass 2-on-2-off at church and I have weekly practice with an original band I'm in. We have a show scheduled for next Friday, but I'm finding that I get bored throughout the week. I would join a more busy cover band or something, but I don't really want to get involved in something that might interfere with either of the existing outlets. Just seems like kind of a jerk thing to do, you know?

I guess I'm just fidgety and wonder what to do. I like playing pretty much anything guitar-related (bass, electric, acoustic), but I feel like my enthusiasm for spending time with the instrument itself has gone a little downhill.

Any ideas? Projects I should work on? Songs to learn?

[guitartango]

I'm in a bit of a rut right now. I play bass 2-on-2-off at church and I have weekly practice with an original band I'm in. We have a show scheduled for next Friday, but I'm finding that I get bored throughout the week. I would join a more busy cover band or something, but I don't really want to get involved in something that might interfere with either of the existing outlets. Just seems like kind of a jerk thing to do, you know?

I guess I'm just fidgety and wonder what to do. I like playing pretty much anything guitar-related (bass, electric, acoustic), but I feel like my enthusiasm for spending time with the instrument itself has gone a little downhill.

Any ideas? Projects I should work on? Songs to learn?

How about recording your bass, some drums and guitar and then mixing them into a song, you can spend hours and hours doing this...sounds fun to me.

[mrmudcat]

Get a drum set!:socool

[R_of_G]

Get a drum set!:socool

+1

Taking up another instrument is a great way to refresh your interest in playing guitar. Learning to play piano is providing me some new perspectives that alter the way I can look at things with the guitar.

[davewrites]

What's worked for me... listening to new music or musical genres on my radar but a little outside my comfort zone. (Cover bands are insanely focussed and quite limiting.)

I got a refresh on my rock/punk music when I rediscovered Dave Brubeck last year (R.I.P.). His time signatures are amazing! My rhythm guitar is WAY more funky if not a little jaunty because I tried learning "Take Five" and some other Brubeck tunes that aren't in 4:4. Because of that Brubeck injection, I'm better at playing "Another Brick In The Wall" and several songs by The Clash, especially the reggae-influenced ones. Not that Floyd/Clash signatures are radical, but my attempt at jazz stretched me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to evolve just a little. And when I went back to 'my old tricks', I showed noticable improvement in my pace and timing.

Also, about 15 years ago, I found some creative momentum when a friend got me into Bhangra music -- very rhythmic and an unheralded influence on American hip hop. Bhangra got me vocalizing while playing -- not singing per se, more like inserting some random words/shouts to keep a tribal and holistic flow going. I can't carry a tune, I still don't really sing when I play, but Bhangra's vocalizations help me feel music in a more profound and less technical way.

My 3 cents...

[Monkus]

I usually try to find an old favourite, then rearrange, so it becomes a solo piece for one guitar. Have Arthur's Theme - Chris Cross, How deep is your love - Bee Gees, Life in a Northern town - Dream Academy, John Mayer's Version of MJ's Human Nature and a few gospels in the pocket already.

I also decided to strip down from the Maiden and Metallica and concentrate on technique. Been learning John Mayer's Gravity. It's like all my fingers have morphed into thumbs, a real lesson in rhythmic application, accurate bending, finger vibrato and picking technique.

Another thing I do is find a wacky (to me) chord, then try to understand its name and application. Right now its Hm (7/9). Check out: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111218082749AAFWjRh

The things musicians do ... :/

[FrankenFretter]

I think I have the remedy for you Eric, based on all you've stated here:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/qowa4.ug6t4/v/vspfiles/photos/AM-BACKWOODS-6-ELECTRIC-BC-2.jpg

Dean Backwoods 6 (http://www.guitarcenter.com/Dean-Backwoods-6-Banjo-w-Pickup---Black-Chrome-107082083-i1890999.gc)
Tuned like a guitar, six strings and a pickup. Sounds like a win/win to me!

[Eric]

I think I have the remedy for you Eric, based on all you've stated here:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/qowa4.ug6t4/v/vspfiles/photos/AM-BACKWOODS-6-ELECTRIC-BC-2.jpg

Dean Backwoods 6 (http://www.guitarcenter.com/Dean-Backwoods-6-Banjo-w-Pickup---Black-Chrome-107082083-i1890999.gc)
Tuned like a guitar, six strings and a pickup. Sounds like a win/win to me!
Hahaha. Nice. I haven't really concluded anything on how to work with my unrest. I have brought my guitar downstairs to where I usually play, and that is a little more fun to riff on than a bass, so that's another option. I also don't really know any famous bass riffs at all, so I might spend some time looking up that stuff.

It's just the ebb part of the ebb and flow that gets me sometimes.

[NWBasser]

Funk and jazz are really fun for bass.

Brick House is quite easy and is a very recognizable funk tune.

Wild Nights is a cool and semi-famous bass riff that's fun to play.

[Eric]

Funk and jazz are really fun for bass.

Brick House is quite easy and is a very recognizable funk tune.

Wild Nights is a cool and semi-famous bass riff that's fun to play.
Oddly enough, I was learning those two songs for a wedding band audition when I got the call that I was in the band I'm in now. Wild nights is a pretty fun song. I might head back to work on Brick House and get the slappiness of it down and learn to play it the right way.

I have been playing more guitar recently and when I picked up the bass a couple of days ago, I found that I was fumbling a little more than I had been. I guess skills do slip away quickly if you don't use them, and while I had considered learning the drums or working on singing, I would like to maintain guitar and bass skills. So I think along the lines of what you said here, I'm going to dig a little deeper into the bass.

In the more immediate, I had better brush up on my bass skillz quickly since I have a show to play tonight!

[NWBasser]

In the more immediate, I had better brush up on my bass skillz quickly since I have a show to play tonight!

Very cool. Let us know how it goes!

[Spudman]

Stop expecting yourself to be 100% all the time. Music and all it's phases/manifestations is an ebb and flow thing. Just like biorhythms. The more you experiment the more you'll find the consistency that you want. Just don't expect so much all the time. Go to a song that you don't know and try to play along with it of learn a brief bit of it. There, you're done. One step ahead.

[cebreez]

Stop expecting yourself to be 100% all the time. Music and all it's phases/manifestations is an ebb and flow thing. Just like biorhythms. The more you experiment the more you'll find the consistency that you want. Just don't expect so much all the time. Go to a song that you don't know and try to play along with it of learn a brief bit of it. There, you're done. One step ahead.

Good Advice! I know how you feel Eric. Been in a bit of a decline myself. I'll spend a month of wanting to play all day every day and then sudden burn out. What makes it better "or worse". I expect the same of myself all of the time. When I practice I try to play the same as if I were on stage, even when sick, tired, or just don't feel like it. I do it anyway. Sometimes I think I'm punishing myself. Then out of nowhere I slip into the studio and the magic just flows. Makes it all worth it.

When you get bored just Play On!!

[Eric]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think you guys are right about pressing too much, and something I have been working on for the past year or so is to let my instinct take over a little bit and go with wherever I am in life. Life tends to work better that way anyway.

The show last night was just a 3-song showcase, kind of like an open mic that one place has every week. I think it was the 2-year anniversary of the weekly thing so they had the full band setup on the main stage and we were the first act. I was abnormally nervous (it was our third public performance) and could barely hear myself, but people said we sounded good. So that was good.

[crowhue]

I'm in a bit of a rut right now. I play bass 2-on-2-off at church and I have weekly practice with an original band I'm in. We have a show scheduled for next Friday, but I'm finding that I get bored throughout the week. I would join a more busy cover band or something, but I don't really want to get involved in something that might interfere with either of the existing outlets. Just seems like kind of a jerk thing to do, you know?

I guess I'm just fidgety and wonder what to do. I like playing pretty much anything guitar-related (bass, electric, acoustic (http://www.gtrmusic.co.uk)), but I feel like my enthusiasm for spending time with the instrument itself has gone a little downhill.

Any ideas? Projects I should work on? Songs to learn?

Listen to a type of music that is new to you and then pick out something you can learn from it ie rhythms, scales, riffs, chords. We all end up in a rut at some point and for me it takes a new direction to get out of it sometimes.