Anyone burned out?

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Dead Moon Rising

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Today I realised my creative spirit has died out and i feel lost as a musician, and i just don't know what to do anymore.

anyone else ever feel that way?
 
Yeah, when I get into a rut, I just go to You Tube and query in a song where I haven't figure out the guitar riff and learn from these normal Joe's.

Probably not going get your creativeness spirit going again but sure is recreation learning something new. Well works for me. :wink:
 
I know what you feel. When i am like this i just completely change what i am playing. Maybe switch to acoustic for a week. Or just change guitars or try new settings. Always works for me.
 
I like to check out some live bands, or jam with friends. I also pick up an old incomplete song and give it a go....Listen to an inspirational CD. Listen to something radically different. Listen to something more carefully to pick out parts I never heard before. Play a different instrument (bass). Go try out new gear at a store (don't take wallet!) Etc....

Eventually you'll come back to it. Everyone's been there. But then eventually the itch to crank up the Mesa keeps us all coming back for more.
 
I never feel that way for long.

I'm 45 years old and started playing in 1971. I've played so many different styles of music (though I'm a blues guitarist), that it never gets boring for long.

I'm listening to "Sookie Sookie" by Steppenwolf, "I Can't Win" by The Radio Kings and "Possum Kingdom" by The Toadies right now.

You have to mix it up.
 
Aye it happens to the best of us at times.

Maybe put down the guitar for a week or 2 and do something that you dont normally do like talk to the missus/girlfriend/mistress/kids etc.

After listening to the ***** that they have to say believe me you will hit that guitar with a passion you never knew you had in you.
 
It probably happens to mostly all of us (except a few freaks of nature, I guess ;p)

As somebody touched on earlier, I like to really shake things up, if I can. One of these creative ruts is what got me into actual 'metal' in the first place, and another is what got me to branch out and like other things than metal. Another later one got me interested in production/recording, and yet another got me interested in synthesizers and sampling. I guess in the end, these periods of feeling like a goober have been a major force in making me what I am now.

Find something that's interesting to you, even if you don't necessarily like it much, and try to dive into it. If you fail, find something else. I got into recording/production by fiddling around with software and forcing myself to try to finish a song. I got into synthesis by downloading a few free soft-synths and saying "I'm not going to quit this until I at least vaguely understand what all these knobs do." Funny enough, learning these somewhat tangential things helped me out as an overall musician probably more than slamming away at scales and modes on the axe.

I've even at times forced myself to do stuff that never actually turned out very good, but at least forced myself out of a rut: things like saying "I'm going to write/record X in 24 hours" or something like that. Maybe "I'm going to write a pop song" or "I'm going to write an electronica track" or something.. anything that might stretch you a bit. I've heard stories of people purposefully snapping strings or tying them off to make themselves view the fretboard in a new light. I actually personally used to force myself to spend days doing one particular thing almost exclusively: when I noticed that my Alt-Picking was way more developed than my legato, I spent a week or two where I didn't even let myself pick up a pick. Trust me, it helps ;P

If none of this works, maybe take a few days off, watch a bunch of TV, play some games, read a book, etc... then come back when you have a few hours, abuse the substance of your choice (I tend to just have a few beers, but I've got friends that go a bit more overboard here) and jam to your favorite music really loudly. Hopefully even if you don't learn anything, it'll really reinforce that you love music and WHY you love it, and you won't have to try very hard to feel the 'spark' again.

It really does, even if for short times, happen to most/all of us. The trick is to not get to upset about it, and either force your way through it, or trick yourself into forgetting about it and learning something new
 
Thanks for all the ideas. I've been working on an album where i play everthing for a while now. I've been honing my drum skills and experimenting with some keyboards for a while. and when i pick up guitar now, i just work on technique (i've finally started properly practicing modes after all this time).

I miss playing with a full band and the energy you get when you feed off other musicians, but all the BS involved and burning myself out doing everthing myself just sucked the will to create out of me. I think I'm burned out from babysitting other people's ego trips, dealing with their personal problems, fighting to take a step forward as a band and then having to take 3 backwards due to everyone elses laziness, stupidity, etc... not to mention seeing kids half my age out there tearing it up while all my projects fail to even get going.
 
I've been playing professonally for almost 40 frikin years and much of that was full time (six nights a week) for most of the 70's 80's and 90's. Now I have a part time band and an amp repair bis. We do it for fun and not necessarily the money and beleive me what a difference. We strickly only book for every other weekend and in just the places we want to play. I also found a couple other obsesive hobbies (RC airplanes and photography) which keep me from getting into a rut with anyone thing. Sometimes creativity needs a break. When I was on the road I'd get so fried that every couple years I'd end up quitting what ever band I was in and letting my calluses go away for several weeks. When it hurt to play a guitar that would then be all I'd want to do.
 
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