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So, for some reason I am getting super frustrated with my guitar playing and fed up with all the ideas/pseudo-ideas that I have been coming up with.

I am starting to think I am very inept at writing melodies and am more suited to atmospherics and such, but I love some of the progressions I've written before.

Anyway, what do you all do when you are ready to throw your instrument against a wall?

Set it down and walk away. Do something else to get your mind off it. Revisit it with a fresh mind.
Can't tell you how many times this happened to me in the past few months.

& maybe try playing a different instrument if you can. But not right away.

Put it down and pick up a different one.

Serious too! You'll start hearing new ideas and melodies as you try and wrestle learning something new with different timbres and such.

As it is, I have my strat (that was set up to be two steps down with .12s but now it won't hold that tuning so i tune it a step up), my acoustic with a bit of a bowed neck that can be a challenge to play and my new squier p bass.

I managed to write something new and record it the other day when I picked up the bass. Maybe all the pedals I have coming in the mail will inspire me??

Walk away from it, and don't put a time limit on how long you take before coming back to it.

I've found this is also a good way to keep bands together instead of splintering.

Listen to a bunch of new music, or listen to old music you haven't listened to in a while. Then sit down and learn a couple new songs note for note(something I hardly ever do).

But dude, if there's one artist with awesome chord progressions/melodies, it's Bowie. The second half of Rock and Roll suicide. Mmmmmmmm yeah.

I'll pick up a different instrument and try to start from there. When I have trouble writing on my guitar, I go to my bass, and if I have trouble writing there I go to my keyboard.

snipelfritz wrote:Listen to a bunch of new music, or listen to old music you haven't listened to in a while. Then sit down and learn a couple new songs note for note(something I hardly ever do).

But dude, if there's one artist with awesome chord progressions/melodies, it's Bowie. The second half of Rock and Roll suicide. Mmmmmmmm yeah.

Yep, Bowie is probably my biggest inspiration. I will just have to go listen to his music some more, haven't done that in a while.

Running Gun Blues is begging for a Kyuss-y cover.

I actually REALLY want to cover All The Madmen in a very doom-laden manner. That album is so cool. Like Sabbath if they were a little gay(er).

i want to do fucked-up Bowie covers. like "Lady Stardust" as straight-up R&B, the way Ry Cooder would do it with the black male harmony singers and pocket horn section.

Anybody thinking what I am? ILF Bowie cover colab???

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES my whole life has been in anticipation of this moment. Who else loves Bowie around here???

--Try jamming with somebody(and if you normally play electric, try jamming acoustic)

--Do a cover of a song from a genre outside your comfort zone, or thats on the fringe of your interests(and do it in your style)

--Play drunk(or whatever floats your boat)


These usually work for me..hell, try all three at the same time..




As for Bowie, who doesn't love Bowie around here?

Y'know, I forgot the one trick that always gets me out of a slump.(although my three earlier suggestions still stand)








Experiment with a new tuning! I hit a massive wall about 5 years ago, and open G saved my life