What Do You Do To Get Out Of A Creative Block...

[Brandon]

Hey guys,

I'm going through kind of a slump in my guitar playing, the juice isn't flowing and I'm not ENJOYING playing like I usually do.

I was just curious, since you guys are fellow artists/musicians and probably have gone through the same thing, what are some of the things you guys to feel the rythym again? To get the juices flowing?

[frenchie]

daily routine tends to screw up the link you've got with your emotions ... people that are "robots" too .... flee all this .... my advice would be to go on a trip to the countryside ( no phone , no nothing , like that you'll be forced to speak with the locals ) with the most shitty acoustic guitar you can find that cannot even stay in tune ( weird but personnaly i've always found my best riffs on a shitty guitar , you know sometimes it's as if destiny tells the guitar to put this string out of tune so you can have the flash on an harmonic sequence you wouldn't have dared or thought to try , ever ..).... a guitar which makes you struggle a lot to put out a simple sound makes you really appreciate your well set up electric guitar when you go back home cuz then you can realise properly the riffs the shitty guitar made you think about , the trick is that since it's too hard on an old battered acoustic to put out playing subtleties or even textures you have to imagine them , imagination is a muscle , gotta exercise it ..... shitty guitars have a soul , everyone should have one ..

[Brandon]

daily routine tends to screw up the link you've got with your emotions ... people that are "robots" too .... flee all this .... my advice would be to go on a trip to the countryside ( no phone , no nothing , like that you'll be forced to speak with the locals ) with the most shitty acoustic guitar you can find that cannot even stay in tune ( weird but personnaly i've always found my best riffs on a shitty guitar , you know sometimes it's as if destiny tells the guitar to put this string out of tune so you can have the flash on an harmonic sequence you wouldn't have dared or thought to try , ever ..).... a guitar which makes you struggle a lot to put out a simple sound makes you really appreciate your well set up electric guitar when you go back home cuz then you can realise properly the riffs the shitty guitar made you think about , the trick is that since it's too hard on an old battered acoustic to put out playing subtleties or even textures you have to imagine them , imagination is a muscle , gotta exercise it ..... shitty guitars have a soul , everyone should have one ..

great advice, thanks

[somethin'else]

That is great advice! There's a few 'books' too... The Artist's Way & Frustrated Songwriters Handbook. I'm sure there's more. Filled with exercises musical and non. It's a muscle you gotta exercise. Sometimes takin a break and doing non-musical takes you away from it too. Like wash the car.
Iggy likes to clean the house before shows. You know, vacuum, wash the dishes... Says it helps him relax. Gotta empty yourself too sometimes.

[JimiJames]

Kool Dave !
I like Zen Guitar.... has little to do with guitar, but incorporates what frenchie is referring to... The Human Factor....

Brandon, for now, Google a blank neck. Print it out. Pick a key. Instead of the letters being notes replace them with numbers.
(I'll elaborate later.)

[Tone Slinger]

Great advice guy's, I need to try some of that.

Here is a couple of other thoughts as well. Brandon, maybe you need to stretch out a bit BEYOND Hendrix. Hendrix was pretty much straight pentatonic, and though he had alot of imagination, he was only 27 when he died and wasnt fully able to grow musically. 1/4/5 is a prison cell.

Maybe you arent a total Hendrix desciple though, but if so, Jazz is cool to explore, based on a blues type foundation. Hard Rock/Metal is too, as it involves a much different technical approach, but the blues is a good foundation for.

I understand when people claim that they have to 'feel' it (what they play) or that it cant be summoned on the spot, etc. This is true imo. BUT, if you practice and learn more stuff, from a harmonic/theory/technical point of view, then the 'inspired' moments will have more to draw from.