Stuck in a rut!

[Rekuss]

Hey,

Lately I've been really down with my playing. I just don't feel as if I'm making progress. I've started learning Midnight, The Stumble and the Summer Song and that's going ok. But when it comes to technique or improvising etc I just feel as if I'm going nowhere. Although I'm about grade 7 I just feel crap about everything lol.

When it comes to technique, mainly alternate picking, I can only get to a certain tempo and that's it. I've been at the same place for about a year now. Now I know how to practice with a metronome and that's what I do. But it's just not doing anything. Another problem I'm having is when I'm descending, my tone is just awful.

Another thing is my routine is constantly changing as I'm never happy/getting the most out of them. There's always just too much to practice. Perhaps I shouldn't try to do so much and just focus on a few aspects a day rather then the whole lot?

I don't know what I'm really looking for. I just need to vent some seem.

Sorry for boring you


Reece

[rastachild]

everyone experiences a rut occassionally, especially if you are practicing by yourself and you don't have interaction with other musicians. i've found the best way to break a rut is to jam with as many people as possible. jamming with other people forces you to incorporate the techniques you practice into real life situations and somehow (imo) pushes you to find areas in your playing that you would not normally reach on your own.

if you don't have anyone to jam with on a regular basis, there are alternatives such as backing tracks, loops, or even jamming to your favorite cds.

other than jamming, you may want to focus on other aspects of your playing such as songwriting. i usually try to find time for everything whenever i practice, but if i feel like i'm in the mood to write, i always let it take me where it wants to go because creativity can be elusive. anyway, at the very least try to find different exercises within the same technique to help break up the monotomy. there are so many different types of picking exercises (the petrucci and vai workouts are especially good).

[ChopTart]

Originally Posted by rastachild

everyone experiences a rut occassionally, especially if you are practicing by yourself and you don't have interaction with other musicians. i've found the best way to break a rut is to jam with as many people as possible. jamming with other people forces you to incorporate the techniques you practice into real life situations and somehow (imo) pushes you to find areas in your playing that you would not normally reach on your own.

if you don't have anyone to jam with on a regular basis, there are alternatives such as backing tracks, loops, or even jamming to your favorite cds.

other than jamming, you may want to focus on other aspects of your playing such as songwriting. i usually try to find time for everything whenever i practice, but if i feel like i'm in the mood to write, i always let it take me where it wants to go because creativity can be elusive. anyway, at the very least try to find different exercises within the same technique to help break up the monotomy. there are so many different types of picking exercises (the petrucci and vai workouts are especially good).

+1 Good advice... and to my memory, we've had quite a few of these "Help, I've fallen (in a rut) and can't get up!" threads. Don't feel alone in this common issue, we've all been there multiple times.

[mi2tom]

+1 on the rasta's post and one more thing, take a break

[Rekuss]

Hey,

Thanks guys, I think I just to chill out a bit and don't try and practice everything and no to worry so much and just enjoy it.

I'm really gonna try and do some more writing though as band has a few gigs coming up.

Thanks again

[IbanezGirl]

Rekuss, i went through the same thing about 2- 3 months ago. No matter what i did, i couldn't seem to pull myself out of it.
I decided to take some guitar lessons and it's the best thing i could have done.
Maybe you should consider this option too!

[Rekuss]

Yeah, I think that's another reason why I'm feeling bored and useless.

I normally have a teacher but I had my GCSE this year so I left early and missed out on about 5 lessons.