Motivation

[undeadstrife]

I need help getting motivated to play and practice more than just what I know how to play. I am not that great. I would consider myself beginner to low level intermediate. Does anyone have any ideas on practice techniques, songs that are fun to play or other things that could get me motivated?

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Motivation

What can you already play, and what kinds of music do you like?

 

[undeadstrife]

Re: Motivation

I mainly play rock through metal. I can play a lot of riffs from Avenged Sevenfold, the intro to welcome home by Coheed and Cambria, a couple scales and a few random riffs I have came up with. I like all kinds of music besides like gospel and most country.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Motivation

Just keep listening to music and find the bands that light your fire. For me, I had always wanted to start a band that was like a cross between Metallica, Trivium, and Dream Theater. I found Periphery and realized they were what I wanted to play. So I'm pushing myself in a more djent direction.

 

[undeadstrife]

Re: Motivation

My main issue is just getting motivated to sit down and play. I know one thing that helps me is playing with other people, but I know no one who would want to play or jam in the town I live in.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Motivation

Motivation ultimately comes from within. If your main issue is you cant sit down and play...then there's not much we can do for you

 

[Demanic]

Re: Motivation

I like to make the instruments I have bring out the sounds in my head.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Motivation

Motivation ultimately comes from within. If your main issue is you cant sit down and play...then there's not much we can do for you

This so much. You have to be willing to put in the time. Play that same lick over and over until you get it right. It took me an hour to learn to play a four bar pattern in Icarus Lives. And I loved every second of it because there's a sense of accomplishment when you learn to play that riff that sounds so good.

 

[ljung]

Re: Motivation

Try to learn the simplests songs of your favourite bands, it usually works. When you will learn one you will rapidly see how awesome it is and you will want more

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Motivation

What guitar and amp are you using? If things don't sound right or sound inspiring, it won't be satisfying and can lower your drive to play.

 

[Godin15]

Re: Motivation

Some good points here also have you thought about finding a good instructor. Ask around if you find one it can make a world of difference in your motivation.

 

[AmirH]

Re: Motivation

Hmm... if you lack motivation it means you aren't enjoying it for some reason. A teacher can help the learning process a great deal, but you won't stick with it unless you enjoy it. Yes, practice can be tedious, but it can also be a lot of fun if you approach it from the standpoint of collecting tools that help you understand and create music. My suggestion would be to make practice and playing more entertaining, in whatever way is best for you. What do you enjoy most about playing?

 

[undeadstrife]

Re: Motivation

I main issue with an instructor is money. Otherwise I would love it. I play and learn better with someone there. I am using a Schecter c6+ and a Line 6 spider 5 30 watt. I enjoy attempting to make songs and playing my favorite songs. I also enjoy the felling I get of losing myself in the music.

 

[AmirH]

Re: Motivation

I main issue with an instructor is money. Otherwise I would love it. I play and learn better with someone there. I am using a Schecter c6+ and a Line 6 spider 5 30 watt. I enjoy attempting to make songs and playing my favorite songs. I also enjoy the felling I get of losing myself in the music.

That's totally understandable that you can't afford an instructor, but on the bright side you like attempting to make songs and losing yourself in the music, and your rig is just fine for a beginner/intermediate player. A tube amp is more gratifying to play through, but for the styles you are into you would be hard pressed to find an appropriate sounding one in that price range (I think a Peavey Windsor is probably the cheapest tube amp that would perform well for those styles). My advice is to first focus on applying the scales you already know to create more riffs. One tip someone gave me that has been crucial is to play scales in different unconventional order so that you are in the habit of moving between notes without reflexively going up or down the scale linearly. Instead of 12345678, try 213243546576878 as a starting point to mix things up. I also find recording really motivating because then you can listen back and critically and think about how to improve the composition and production, though it is also its own can of worms and there is a so much to learn, especially at the beginning. Even a cellphone recording can be gratifying for listening to ideas though. Someone posted a free guitar theory book on here pretty recently that looks really good and would be a great resource for expanding the number of scales and chords you know, and you can experiment using each new thing you learn to create music. There are also free backing tracks of drums on youtube if you want to simulate the sensation of jamming. Plus you can always commit to learning new songs that you like listening to (I never found this very motivating personally but lots of people have great fun learning covers and it's really cool when someone gives someone else's song a unique twist or does it in a different style).

Hope that helps! Remember, the most important thing is to have fun

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Motivation

Amir has a point. Changing the way you approach practicing can help you out. It can also inspire new licks in your music.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Motivation

Go see live music. If you have some friends in bands, go hang out with them, and help them on a gig. Watching people dig what is being created (or performed) onstage is usually a big motivator. I realized how bad I was at most jobs I had in my 20s were, and if I wanted to avoid that, I'd better start getting better at my craft.

 

[2ndhandband]

Re: Motivation

I've been teaching guitar for 20+ years and here's what I think: to become a truly great player, motivation is simply not enough because it comes and goes. This is too damn hard for motivation to get you through. You have to be obsessed.

Try this. Break whatever it is you are trying to do into the smallest possible challenges. Don't try to play the whole chord progression... get this ONE CHORD CHANGE down perfectly. You have it absolutely mastered. It won't take you very long, and neither will the next challenge if you make it small enough. But every time you succeed at one of these tiny challenges your brain dumps endorphins into your bloodstream. Eventually you literally become addicted to practicing!

This, BTW, is EXACTLY why video games are so damn addictive. The constant reward system.

 

[undeadstrife]

Re: Motivation

I've been teaching guitar for 20+ years and here's what I think: to become a truly great player, motivation is simply not enough because it comes and goes. This is too damn hard for motivation to get you through. You have to be obsessed.

Try this. Break whatever it is you are trying to do into the smallest possible challenges. Don't try to play the whole chord progression... get this ONE CHORD CHANGE down perfectly. You have it absolutely mastered. It won't take you very long, and neither will the next challenge if you make it small enough. But every time you succeed at one of these tiny challenges your brain dumps endorphins into your bloodstream. Eventually you literally become addicted to practicing!

This, BTW, is EXACTLY why video games are so damn addictive. The constant reward system.

I am a huge gamer and that makes more sense to me. Do you guys have any suggestions on songs or techniques I could work on to help me get to that point?

 

[2ndhandband]

Re: Motivation

I am a huge gamer and that makes more sense to me. Do you guys have any suggestions on songs or techniques I could work on to help me get to that point?

It can be anything. Just break stuff down into it's smallest possible chunks. Don't try playing the whole solo... just make the first four notes sound AWESOME. And so on. Oh, and important practicing tip; can't emphasize this enough: if you are making mistakes you are practicing too fast. Period.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Motivation

Try to learn the simplests songs of your favourite bands, it usually works. When you will learn one you will rapidly see how awesome it is and you will want more

Didn't work for me. I really fell for guitar playing when I found classic blues songs, where you can just learn the base and start implement your own into it. Learning new songs is a chore for me even today. When I want to have fun with guitar, I either practice what I already know, or build and compose my own songs.