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

[gtrgrl]

What do you suggest? I'm kind of in a rut. I love playing old classic 80's rock from hair bands. It's really fun music to me. I've really been trying to up my skill playing the solos.

I have also been working on learning jazz. I liked listening to jazz and drinking wine, so it just seemed a natural progression to learn to play it. That's a lot of work though.

Give some suggestions for what I can do. I like to play a little acoustic, I love Steve Vai, but have never really tried to play any of his stuff, and have been kind of all over the place in life career music and everything.

I want to focus on the music. Give me a the equivalent of a spin class for guitar playing! what do I need to work on?

 

[Mincer]

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.

 

[LLL]

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

What do you suggest? I'm kind of in a rut. I love playing old classic 80's rock from hair bands. It's really fun music to me. I've really been trying to up my skill playing the solos.

I have also been working on learning jazz. I liked listening to jazz and drinking wine, so it just seemed a natural progression to learn to play it. That's a lot of work though.

Give some suggestions for what I can do. I like to play a little acoustic, I love Steve Vai, but have never really tried to play any of his stuff, and have been kind of all over the place in life career music and everything.

I want to focus on the music. Give me a the equivalent of a spin class for guitar playing! what do I need to work on?

Inspiration comes from many sources and is highly subjective; it'd be impossible to make a list.

Buying new gear is one source of inspiration, but be warned, it can be an addictive trap... and isn't really what you want to inspire you ("new purchase high").

Try learning stuff note-for-note. Different players. Learn their phrasing. Learn their tone.

Learn a difficult run note-for-note (start slow then work up to speed). Nobody grows/gets better without a challenge.

Put on a playlist of your favorite tunes and just free-style the solos. Train your ear that way and get your own style.

 

[GoldenVulture]

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

What area of Jazz are you covering. Jazz is a wide label.
There's trad Jazz, Modern Jazz , Jazz rock and other variations
I jam along with Dianna Krall stuff and Anita Baker.
Way back I used to play along with Jean Luc Ponty albums with guitarists such as Allan Holdsworth.
Holdsworth is some one that is still current and worth checking out.

 

[crusty philtrum]

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

Go to the river.

 

[Securb]

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

The fastest way to kick start inspiration is to get out there and jam with different people. Go to a blues jam, you buddy's living room or jam with someone on a street corner. Just get out there.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

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

Replace every I-IV chord progression with vii-II-V-I.

 

[IMENATOR]

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

If it is about building your chops, practice practice practice, there are tons of books and videos out there.

If it is about have more musical ideas or more inspiration to write music... don't play the guitar and just spend some time living life the best way you like it, maybe a weekend at country, take a walk at night when the streets are empty and can't hear anything, if sea is not too far just stand in fort of it and appreciate it, watch at a baby and his mom interacting. If you like Steve Vai listen to his interviews where he talks about developing your inner ear.

 

[JBGenthner]

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

Get classes or at least a book on music theory, learn all the modes, scales until you can play quick from brain memory and muscle memory. At that point, you're there with the solos. Chords: learn the progressions, (Jazz is basically a set chord progression, with everyone in the band taking flight in turn, ( Charlie Bird Parker). Listen to Miles Davis through all his work from beginning to end, and you see the progression of Jazz. I like especially the 70"s records, *****es Brew, and Live Evil, with John McLaughlin's guitar solos and background riffs; perfect! Then Jazz rock with McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, (listen to "Dance of Maya").

 

[Mincer]

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

Get classes or at least a book on music theory, learn all the modes, scales until you can play quick from brain memory and muscle memory. At that point, you're there with the solos. Chords: learn the progressions, (Jazz is basically a set chord progression, with everyone in the band taking flight in turn, ( Charlie Bird Parker). Listen to Miles Davis through all his work from beginning to end, and you see the progression of Jazz. I like especially the 70"s records, *****es Brew, and Live Evil, with John McLaughlin's guitar solos and background riffs; perfect! Then Jazz rock with McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, (listen to "Dance of Maya").

Haha..
My band used to play 'Dance of Maya'. Great tune.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

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

When my son was little I used to play him recordings of mainstream classical music- Mozart, Beethoven, a lot of Strauss waltzes because he loved them. I wasn't playing along with it and didn't realize how much I was absorbing by osmosis until the other guitarist in my band asked me how I came up with a couple of leads that happened to have larger interval jumps than I'd typically used in the past. When he played me the lines he liked so much, they were reminiscent of some of the waltz melodies. I find that the taste for larger intervals that I picked up during that period has become part of my personal style and shows up in my improvisation quite often.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, too, especially exposure to nature and particularly the arts, all kinds. I know you asked for musically related suggestions, but my advice is not to neglect other sources of inspiration. Spend some time talking with artists and creative types about their inspiration, and their process. A lot of that can translate well to writing and production. Go see a symphony performance, a couple of ballets, an opera. Visit a museum. When I went to see a Maxfield Parrish exhibit a couple of years ago it blew me away and really changed my mood, my outlook, and the music I was writing. You never know what can trigger a burst of ideas or send your creativity in a new & different direction. For a while I used to drive a lot, long trips pretty much every working day. I saw a lot of weather and big skies out on the open road. Sunrises, sunsets, farm country, mountains, storms rolling across the plains. When I'd play and close my eyes, sometimes I found myself picturing skies and scenery, and the music that came to me often was quite different from the same old stuff.

 

[gtrgrl]

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

Lots of great ideas! Thanks guys!!!

I am really working on playing chord melody style jazz, and I'd really like to play fusion - but I find a lot of the single note passages challenging. I suppose I need to learn more scales. The chord melody stuff is really challenging, but it sounds great, like a whole symphony. The fusion stuff is really melodic and I like the shredded parts (who wouldn't?).

I'd like to go do live jams - but I'd be worried I wouldn't know the tunes. :guilty:

 

[Securb]

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

If this doesn't motivate you nothing will

 

[Mincer]

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

Lots of great ideas! Thanks guys!!!

I am really working on playing chord melody style jazz, and I'd really like to play fusion - but I find a lot of the single note passages challenging. I suppose I need to learn more scales. The chord melody stuff is really challenging, but it sounds great, like a whole symphony. The fusion stuff is really melodic and I like the shredded parts (who wouldn't?).

I'd like to go do live jams - but I'd be worried I wouldn't know the tunes. :guilty:

You won't know the tunes, but the theory is the same. What key is it in? Can I make sense of the chord progression? What scales do I use? This is the idea- not to go in with rehearsed tunes.
Also, if you dig fusion, take apart any Allan Holdsworth transcription for some beautiful chords and some terrifying single note soloing.

 

[gtrgrl]

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!

 

[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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