General help getting back on track....

Backstory:

Pick up guitar for the first time around age 19. No music in my past, working 80-100 hour weeks and a friend who I work with brings his to the office and it's love at first CCR lick. Spend next 3 years or so learning sloppy versions of the first 20 seconds of many great classic rock tracks. Statements like "I don't play chords" and "that's too many strings at once" are commonplace.

Pickup a copy of FretBoard logic and learn a little about chords, keys, movable shapes, etc. Around this time I also start going to church and get involved. Just starting worship team includes several of my friends and I get invited to join - primarily because I'm the only one with an electric guitar they find. Spend the next 5-6 years playing a few times a week. Basically simple rhythm - maj & min chords off the paper, even though I had/have less than great rhythm. Spend a few years traveling around doing decent sized youth camps/rallys and have a blast. Playing isn't anything great, but at least I played regularly and didnt embarrass myself.

Worship band finds better player(s), I fall out of rotation. Life happens - married, move to kc, welcome awesome little boy to the family. Then sit up one night crying in my filtered water on a guitar forum. ;)

Oh yea - all through this being the typical gear junky, buying/selling an insane amount of stuff for no reason. Also build a fair number of pedals for myself/friends.

Now on to my question. Anyone have any tips on getting back on track to where playing is fun and improving? I've bought books, watched online stuff, etc and just cant seem to get in a groove. I find myself having played more than most of the basic stuff teaches too, but haven't don't anything challenging for years to do anything more complex. I feel like an incredibly rusty average player with huge holes in his ear/knowledge/technique.

Should I start with songs? A genre? I'm really at a loss and feel like I want to take that first step out the door to go jogging - but cant get make it. Once I do I feel like it will come back quickly. Right now picking up the guitar just feels unfocused and therefore frustrating.

Anyone see ever been in a similar rut? How'd you shake it?:confused:

This year personally for me has been all about getting out of bad ruts/habits and replacing them with the things I've always talked about doing but never followed through on. I've seen some great changes in my life and getting music/guitar back into my days as a creative and stress-relieving outlet is next in my list.

Troy,

Learn to play and sing some songs that your little boy would like.

Learn to play them beautifully.

Just a thought.

JM

I was in a similar rut a while back, and I solved it by trying improve the way I practiced. To work on things that taught me technique as well as challenged me so I would get the feeling of accomplishment. I think the book "Guitar Aerobics" is one of the best books out there for supplementing technique, as well as giving you some neat ideas for licks as well. I noticed a marked improvement in my playing after going through it (it takes a year or so if you really do it the way they outline in the book).

here is a link to it on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357

I hit a brick wall about 20 years ago. My overly-drastic solution was to get rid of all my CDs, records, tapes, and my stereo. If there was to be any music in my house I'd have to play it myself.

It worked. In fact it worked very well. Did wonders for my songwriting.

Troy,

Learn to play and sing some songs that your little boy would like.

Learn to play them beautifully.

Just a thought.

JM

Great suggestion! Family is the most rewarding audience to play for imo

i believe you stated your roots in the beginning of your post.
one best advice, really, ever given to me was: "stick to your roots". seriously, i asked a guy i had known for years--way better than me. i asked him once what he could tell/advise ME right then. i had grown up, out of the army band, was sort of at a loss.

i then thought about that even as i once tried to quit. but, after many years, i figured it out.

also, i play for myself (call it therapuetic if you like (i certainly have))...nevertheless part of that, when i do play "live", is to accept an amount of responsibilty to make ppl "happy", forget their problems for a moment, and, also, to elevate the "conversation" if i can, i.e., beyond the burlesque.

also, i read a quote once, perhaps by Steve Swallow: "i don't play music because i want to, i play music because i have to."
take it from there.... it don't always come easy, in fact, rarely.

good luck! :cool:

p.s. i also read another quote i like quite lot and find satisfying: make the other guy look good and you don't have to worry about yourself.

Start taking lessons and see where it takes you. The act of paying 80-100 a month + being accountable to a teacher will help. Do that for a while and you may find yourself signing up for little summer concerts where you take lessons (this is pretty common, I think). The students make little bands and do 5-6 songs per band, playing primarily for friends and families of other students. Sometimes the "bands" or parts of them stay together in some capacity.

In my case, it led to a semi regular gig with people like you (and me) who want to play music, but whose jobs/family commitments make it impossible to play out or rehearse frequently (e.g.,) weekly. Some are old guys who played out regularly when they were younger, some of us are people that started playing late (like me). We can make monthly rehearsals at best. But they are fun, and every once in a while, we have a gig.

It's the playing with people that makes all that time playing alone worth it, for me anyways. And it gives me momentum to practice, even after a tough day at work.

Blues is my favorite. A great book and CD is "Blues you can use" by John Ganapes. Starts out easy and do-able and gets more and more challenging.

thanks for all the great suggestions guys... sorry it took me nearly 2 days to get back to this.

CoachJM - absolutely loved the simplicity and importance of your suggestion. thank you - that's a great reminder. reinforced too by what Tedro said in terms of getting back to the roots of why we do what we do.

Wittesco/JimmieT - i actually have both of those books. i'll dig them out and will see if either one of them can fuel the fire some. i do like the idea of using "stuff" i already have to accomplish this goal rather than seeking out something new to get/buy. seems like that brings out the worst in me sometimes. (priorities get out of whack and that is never a good thing - i.e. gear lust or trying to find the perfect book/course/etc.)

Commodore 64- i'll definitely keep that in mind. that sounds like a blast if it'd ever work out. i'm actually from your neck of the woods - down south of New Philadelphia. i started working on a commodore 64 back when i was 8 or 9 and eventually got my degree from Kent State (albeit the Tuscarawas campus). talk about getting back to my roots... ;)

Do you live in a house with enough room that you could host some Jams? Get a PA, Drum kit, Bass amp, and a couple spare guitar amps? That's what I did. Oh, and do you share or more of the singing. It's addicting. I held pretty regular blues jams and still so occasionally, but now am doing weekly "honky tonk country" get-togethers every week. We found a great steel player.

I used to play Eurytmic songs on acoustic guitar for my son when he was small. And when they had there big world tour out on DVD they play a lot of their hits on one guitar and voice. We sang along, though he was an teenager, then.
You can make children songs of what you want.
I also done some instrumentals of old swedish children songs. Always brings an smile.