Motivation

[Jipes***]

Very hard to offer you a custom answer. I found myself rather motivated to create new music rather than practising other's tunes. I still do it to be up to date with the repertoire of my two bands but that is just a part of my musical practise.

For me what I found very refreshing are Open Tunings that opens many new horizons for me to create my music pieces even if I don't play them I'm just very happy to create them I must have composed by now almost twenty of them. If you don't play with a band you can still have lot's of fun with a music software like Garage Band which offers you a custom drummer which I found very good to practise timing and develloping ideas.

Right now I'm exploring Double Dropped D tuning (DADGBD) which is frequently used by such as Doyle Bramhall II or Neil Young, it opens up new way of playing chords and tons of different riffs which take you away from repeating over and over the same damn licks of standard tuning

[marnold***]

Thanks Jipes and DVM,

I think as far as electronics go, modding the guitar's pickups, pots, etc. is about as deep as I really want to go. What you've suggested, Jipes, is something I've heard from many others. It's great advice for those who play a lot and have run into a rut. Having said that, it's also one of the reasons why I'd like a good hardtail guitar to mess with some of that stuff.

I think I've got an idea what I'm going to do. I want to give it a couple of days to make sure I'm going to stick with it. It's something I've wanted to do for years, but never got around to. Details (hopefully) to follow. The good news is that my fingers are a bit tired right now I was also reminded that I really like the sound of my Jet City, especially with my "Thesis 96" DVM OD in front!

As an aside, I went to the local store where I had once seen that Fender Deluxe Strat, but it must've been sold. I touched the neck on it and realized it would need the fret ends filed back. Unfortunately that seems to be a common refrain around here with Fenders in every price range.