Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

[leevc5]

I had a wake up call driving in to work this AM. Listening to a playlist Hendrix Little Wing then SRV Pride and Joy played. I suddenly heard Hendrix's Strat clear and clean nothing really special. What was special was the phrasing and the minimalist solo that was perfect for the ballad no lightening that Hendrix was so capable of. In SRV I heard the heavy gauge strings, the driving chord progression and the perfect riffs played at the exact moment they were called for.

What I didn't hear was the tone. I guess it was a given for these two masters.

The wake up call for me was that for the last few months I have been spending all my time working on tone. Amps, pedals, pickups in a word Gear. I have become a gearhead and forgotten about being a guitar player. I have resolved to mend my ways and develop an allocation of time for concentrating on the various aspects of playing guitar and relegate tone to the bottom of the list for a while.

How about you? How do you divide up your time and what areas do you concentrate on in your quest for becoming a better guitarist?

 

[DeadandBuried]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I got my degree in guitar 5 years ago but that doesn't mean I've stopped "learning". Playing and learning the guitar is a lifetime skill and even though I'm not studying it anymore it doesn't mean I don't have anything more to learn. I find myself using a lot of the skills on my course as I'm now a private tutor, which means having to explore different styles for different students, as not everyone wants to play punk rock power chords!!

I guess I'm more aware now of tone and playing technique, styles and stuff, etc. Just catering that to other people, breaking down the aspects and try to improve their playing, and makes sure I keep up my practice and explore other styles!

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Gear is interesting, new toys are fun but as the saying goes "practice usually cures most tone issues".

Once you have a good "base" tone, it's easier to just focus on playing. Also, it's important to note that technique contributes to tone as much as gear does. Start playing with the thumb-over grip, partial G shape chord and embellishments, you'll instantly sound more like Hendrix and SRV.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Good point leevc5... the comparison between being a gearhead vs being a guitar player. It's not something we think much about, but I think there's some real truth in your words. Sometimes I find myself appreciating the fact that I can't spend tons of dough on gear. There's always something new and exciting that I want to try or drool over, but I find myself needing to make sure I stay satisfied with what I have... concentrating instead on my playing. I find more and more that I appreciate less effect and more "me" to achieve the best expression of whatever I'm trying to convey.

I agree with PFDarkside about having a good base tone to begin with though. Let's face it, if you can't get a straight up sound that you like it's just not as enjoyable. That being said, it's easy to get caught up in the unicorn hunt, chasing that "perfect" tone. We have a tendency to fret (no pun intended) over the tiniest little nuance that a quarter twist of a knob, a notch on a slider, or a the material of a pick can make to our tone rather than finding a basic tone that works and working on our playing/technique to gain improvement.

But don't get me wrong... I REALLY LOVE new gear! :dunno:

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Sometimes. Early on, I took to recording/producing as the ultimate outlet for my creativity rather than simply practicing guitar or jamming, which could quickly become pointless to me. So I had to learn to really play bass and triggered the drum machine live for many years. Years later I picked up a keyboard to further expand on my musical universe, and very recently I picked up a nice full set of electronic drums for the same purpose. It is a TRUE challenge to play as well on the kit as I can on the drum machine. But I can sense that I can do it, and it will be much better than before, even as a guitar player. A little humbling to start out near ground zero with an instrument after playing guitar for so many years, however....

 

[Godin15]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I find that practicing more on the songs like my timing and getting the songs down pat, is more important to me than my tone. I don't use pedals all that often until I know I have the song down first. Nothing wrong with gear as long as you don't put it before the task at hand.

 

[firebirdguy72]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Every ****ing day.............

 

[phred]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Yea I haven't played in almost 6 months

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Yea I haven't played in almost 6 months

What is this blasphemous thing you say?!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

When I feel like I am, I toss everything out. The tone I was working on, re-configure my setup, stop playing those 'stock licks', and listen to completely different music for a year or more. I once stopped bending strings (since I did it so much) for 10 YEARS. Once you toss out everything you learned/stole from other players, all that's left is you. You then have to start building your own vocabulary.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I once stopped bending strings (since I did it so much) for 10 YEARS.

That might be a bit excessive, but for most blues-rock based players it's probably an excellent idea. We just bend to bend, with no goal in sight.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Great topic. I am a believer that new 'toys" gets you motivated to play more. Playing more helps you get better if you take your practice seriously rather than banging out the same power chords or the same fingerpicking stuff we find ourselves falling back on time and time again.

But yes, the gear chase ends up being the dog chasing its own tail quite often. That being said, you have to run the gauntlet a time or two before it comes home and makes sense.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

As guitar players, it is hard to get out of the shadow of all the classic licks and patterns...because, well, they sound good. People hear it, and they say we sound good. This makes us keep doing the same thing. Tossing all that out runs the risk of not getting that positive reinforcement all the time. No one wants to admit that they rely too much on stock patterns played by Guitar Players Past. Ditch all that, even for a little while, and you will most likely find something you do that no one else does.

 

[Securb]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I am a gear hound beyond belief. I have enough crap to open a small music store. However, when I practice or when I am writing I play straight into the amp or use no amp at all if I am running scales. Typically if I do plug in it is my Micro Terro or Excelsior. With the piles upon piles of gear I have even with own gig I only use a Marshall, distortion pedal, and a volume pedal. I have a chorus and delay on the board because, well because. Those are getting replaced this week with the H9, again.

New toys can get you out of the rut, the best way to overcome it is to get out there and play with people.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I like new gear (lol..who does'nt?) but don't obssess about it. It's true that it acts as a shot in the arm when you're in a rut. I do make a conscious effort to pick something new up from time to time, just for that reason, no matter what it may be. Also, since I could'nt care less about how popular/hyped/legendary/what brand/country of manufacture/how cheap (eh? I love cheap :laugh2 etc a particular piece of gear is, I tend to end up with stuff that actually appeals to me on a purely personal/sonic level without any other considerations. Probably why I rock some pretty unpopular/unknown/unusual/cheap gear :lmao:

Same goes for my playing. There was a time when I was all about practice/exercises/discipline etc but I chucked that out of the window & now prefer to jam/improvise. It throws up a lot of new unexpected stuff that I can pick and chose later to add to my arsenal as a player. It's also a great way to avoid getting into a rut!

Prefer connecting with the song & using my intuition/honing my instinct rather than copying/recycling licks by big names. I don't play many of those & the few I do, I've picked up unconsciously and did'nt ever sit down to "learn". I've found the more I "think" about stuff (scales/licks/progressions) the worse I play & the more limiting it is...so I try not to think about any of that **** lol...& just let the force be with me instead :laugh2:

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Seeing the guitar as the central thing is not helpful, it makes you always look 'in' in a rather narrow way, like navel-gazing. When you can see music as the bigger thing, you tend to look outwards more.

 

[voggin]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I always seem to get in a rut right after I make some progress. I finally had an epiphany about the whole CAGED thing a while back, which was great, but then for a few months it seemed to be the only way I could play. It was like I had forgotten everything else I had learned. The other stuff came back, but it was a weird feeling, like I couldn't play a blues lead anymore.

Same thing happened when I first got into jazzier inversions. It was like, "Could you please just play a barre chord 'A'" and I would say, "I don't remember how!"

Maybe the hard drive in my head only has so much space.

 

[hydro]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

For years I never paid much attention to tone, gear, etc. I had nice guitars but my signal chain was whatever I had pawned for, swapped or borrowed. Now I can afford some nice gear and it's great. Playing around with gear keeps my hands on the guitar and my mind engaged when the other parts (creativity, licks, technique, mojo, etc.) aren't firing. And then at least, I am ready to go when the fires get lit again.

I guess what I am saying is that for me, gear won't necessarily break you out of a rut, but it will keep you busy until you find your way out of it.

 

[frostopsy]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I hit that rut about 8 years ago (been playing since 1997). So I started going to lessons again. There's a lot a good instructor can show you if you are an intermediate or well rounded guitarist that can really get you out of that rut. Try out a few different instructors and pick the one that fits your needs the best.


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[Lazarus1140]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

The rut my guitar playing is in is something I am constantly cognizant of rather than something I have suddenly discovered. New pedals are new hiding places. In an effort to break out of the rut(s) I have started laying down chord progressions with many changes and then improvising lead over them. I may have invented an immature, mutated form of jazz. The bad notes don't count until you rest on one, right?