I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

[gtrgrl]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

If this doesn't motivate you nothing will

Well, if my options are improve my playing, or skank, I'm scheduling some time with some records, some scale books, and maybe taking a few lessons!

[Mincer]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

I love Alan Holdsworth. I have no idea how to make a guitar sound like that though!

Well, he studied sax players. And he has really strange chord voicings. Instead of copying his approach (which is generally impossible), look for your own- and look for something that hasn't been done before.

[Chickenwings]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

That's a lot of work though.

mental discipline.
After you find a way to cross that hurdle, it is all just chords, arpeggios, scales and a lot of time.

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

Watch nature documentaries, time-lapse videos of landscapes, and watersports like surfing, sailboating, or even speedboat races with the sound off, then try to play what forms in your head. Watch some of those "journey through space" videos with the sound off. Let the Muse guide your hands on the guitar.

Pick one scale and play it as mechanically as you can until you're sick of it, but can do it as mechanically as a MIDI program. Then play each note with a different note-length. Whole, half, quarter, eighth, triplets, etc. Break it up so it's whole-quarter-whole-triplet-half-quarter, and variations thereof. Read a book or magazine article and "play" the words: each syllable is a note. Same note, next note, it's up to you. Note variation equates to speaking dynamics, so put on your drama queen hat, or your Shakespearean hat, or your Clint Eastwood hat, and recite lines in those "voices".


To some degree I would say don't learn specific songs within a genre or by a specific artist, but try to capture the basic feel of a genre. Granted, Jazz is all over the place, but the more you listen, the more you'll hear why and how Jazz is defined and separated from say Country or Salsa or even how each style of Jazz is separated. I'm sure you can already tell the difference between Hair Metal and Death Metal; once you get into it, you should be able to spot the differences between each style of Jazz just as easily. If you know what makes them different, you know what defines them, and when you break that down into specifics, you find the essence of each one. Focus on that essence, and you've captured the basic feel of it.


Get an Alesis SR-16 (or the newer SR-18) and scroll through the presets. The SR-16 has a Tempo list for each pattern they recommend, and the preset kits relate to the preset patterns so you get the sound of each genre. Change those around. Use the Rock kits for the Jazz or Latin patterns. Tweak the tempos down and see what moves you. I learned a lot about improvising from doing that.

I also wrote about 20 original instrumentals that way.


Also, play along to recordings as an "extra member", dropping in wherever, doubling what lines you can work out, or accenting here and there with single notes or doubles or even a single chord hit.

The old adage "practice makes perfect" is really true, as is the one about success being 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
You can sit around for 8 hours a day waiting for a bolt of lightning to hit a tree and start a fire, or you can get out there and set it on fire yourself.

[VinceT]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

mental discipline.
After you find a way to cross that hurdle, it is all just chords, arpeggios, scales and a lot of time.

Seconded - I guarantee that every great player mentioned here did not arrive in this world a fully formed virtuoso. Take it slow, and learn to find joy in the learning.

One thing not mentioned up to here: put your guitar in alternate tuning and then just let yourself drift, you'll find new feel just waiting. Try (low to high strings) DADGAD, CGCGCD, DGDGBD, or even y ur own variants. There's a world of exploration in those six strings.


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[beaubrummels]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

Don't burn out of you are uninspired. Put down the guitar down and listen to other music until something drives you to pick it up again.

[jmh151]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

Get a bottle of whiskey, a dobro , head out into the country and start playing some bluegrass

[everdrone]

Re: I need a list of things to do to inspire my playing

Go see live jazz. Totally different.
Get out to some open jams.
Place yourself in uncomfortable musical situations.
Figure out what you always play when you pick up the guitar. Then don't play that. For a year.
Take a music theory course from a non-guitarist.
Jam with someone like an orchestral player...one very separated from traditional popular music.
Record as much as you can.

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