Now I AM burned out..................

[Plank_Spanker]

After offering Sunvalley my sage advice, I find myself in the same boat. I just folded my band that I formed three years ago. I grew very tired and stale as of late with it.

Right now, I have no idea what I want to do or where I want to go - never had that problem before. If I burned out learning particular parts, I walked away for a few days.......but I still had a goal. Right now, I have no goals. I feel a need for a complete change in direction. I need to find something different and challenging that keeps the fire in my belly burning.

I'm going to take a big dose of my own prescription - take a break for as long as it takes for me to get fired up and focused on playing again.

 

[mrmudcat]

I always turn to the blues in drastic times like these:rar

 

[Plank_Spanker]

I always turn to the blues in drastic times like these:rar

That is where I believe I'll go for a while.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I always turn to the blues in drastic times like these:rar

That sounds like a good plan. Even for a relative newb like me, the blues can be so vocal. You can talk a lot of stuff out right on your guitar.

But don't underestimate just blowing it off a few days and getting some rest or having some other type of fun. Your sage advice in that regard worked for me, and I was craving my guitar again in no time.

 

[hubberjub]

Never underestimate the power of polka.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Never underestimate the power of polka.

I was thinking a 3 piece punk country act.......................LOL!

 

[tunghaichuan]

I was thinking a 3 piece punk country act.......................LOL!

Don't be so quick to laugh, Jason & the Scorchers did just that back in the 80s, except they were a 4-piece band. :AOK

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Don't be so quick to laugh, Jason & the Scorchers did just that back in the 80s, except they were a 4-piece band. :AOK

Been done already...................hmm....................perhaps punk polka! I'll need an accordian player with attitude....................

 

[player]

punk spin on Disco?never even attempted it being blues is in the blood. :dude

 

[kiteman]

Play country? :notme

 

[pes_laul]

Like I told him: Death metal really gets the creative juices going lmao

 

[wingsdad]

... I feel a need for a complete change in direction. I need to find something different and challenging that keeps the fire in my belly burning. ...

You've got some really nice acoustic axes.

Why not unplug for a spell?

Cover your amps. Case up all the electrics. Outta sight, outta mind.

Commune with nature, savor the simple power of unadulterated wood & steel.

 

[checkedgoldtop]

The last band I was in practiced 3 days a week for 4 hours a day and played shows on weekends while recording in a town 70 miles away and working a full time job. I thought that was bad but a friend of mine lives here in Ohio and was named best new artist in Tennesee a few years back with his band while he was working 50 hours a week here and doing 2 albums on the side. They drove down every friday night and back by sunday night for years. I still jam with my friends a few hours a week and record songs in my basement but I take my time now. You just have to find your motivation.

 

[Spudman]

You've got some really nice acoustic axes.

Why not unplug for a spell?

Cover your amps. Case up all the electrics. Outta sight, outta mind.

Commune with nature, savor the simple power of unadulterated wood & steel.

That's a really far out idea.

and a good one.

 

[wingsdad]

You've got some really nice acoustic axes.

Why not unplug for a spell?

Cover your amps. Case up all the electrics. Outta sight, outta mind.

Commune with nature, savor the simple power of unadulterated wood & steel.

That's a really far out idea.
....
and a good one.

I forgot one final ingredient:

Gather up ALL of your picks, box 'em up, lock 'em up.

Work those acoustics fingerstyle.

Stay on that vacation for at least a month.

When you venture back to the electric side, it might just be a brave new world.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

I have a rather sweet sounding Taylor 12 string that looks like it needs a little attention. I'm also considering learning to play slide.

Between the two of them I could probably stay pretty busy.

 

[bigG]

You've got some really nice acoustic axes.

Why not unplug for a spell?

Cover your amps. Case up all the electrics. Outta sight, outta mind.

Commune with nature, savor the simple power of unadulterated wood & steel.

This is a good idea, wings. I've been playing only acoustics for a few weeks now. And I've been rejuvinated and loving it! Even thinking of selling off most of my electrics and amps...we'll see.

I am so into just wood n steel right now. For me, it seems the best way to go, period. Just my talent (or lack thereof) and a guitar. No cables, pedals, amps, amp settings, electricity. I have also been made aware of how sloppy some of my chord fingering has become. A simple acoustic is unforgiving, and will reveal slop immediately. And the beautiful tones and voicings that resonate thru an acoustic are heaven-sent. I'm really questioning my love of, and need for, amps and effects...(gettin' old?)

But, this is just me and my humble opinion. Interesting that this topic should come up just as I'm going au naturel...naturally! :agree

 

[mrmudcat]

I have a rather sweet sounding Taylor 12 string that looks like it needs a little attention. I'm also considering learning to play slide.

Between the two of them I could probably stay pretty busy.

Chase has been on me to explore slide ,more than the lil bit he knows:happy

He is ready and I hope I am worthy at the moment to teach him and shut my mouth:thwap

 

[bigG]

mud, do you play slide in standard tuning, ala Duane?

 

[mrmudcat]

mud, do you play slide in standard tuning, ala Duane?

Yea I do,and I live on the 10th- 12th-15th fret mostly sliding up and down:rollover . I do stray to open E,open G sometimes but my lappy's cover those tunings as well as others On guitar ,99% is standard tuning. We will be breaking out the SG with WCR pups(fillmores) for the upcoming serious sessions :crazyguy

 

[wingsdad]

... I have also been made aware of how sloppy some of my chord fingering has become. A simple acoustic is unforgiving, and will reveal slop immediately. And the beautiful tones and voicings that resonate thru an acoustic are heaven-sent. I'm really questioning my love of, and need for, amps and effects...(gettin' old?) ...

G, for me, anyway, I know the sloppiness is a matter of flabby sissyfingers from playing the lighter, softer touch of an electric as opposed to the grip & finger strength needed to deftly handle an acoustic's relatively heavier strings.

Being a 'rhythmer', as John Lennon put it (btw: Friday, 10/9 was his 69th birthday), I have no use for 'super slinky' weanie wires with no 'balls' on my electric 6's. All are strung .010-.046 (D'add EXL110 'lights') and to minimize the contrast in feel, all of my acoustic 6's, except for one I string .012-.053 (D'add EJ16 'lights') for 'big' sound, are strung .010-.047 (D'add EJ15 'extra lights'). Still, I've got a much heavier, wound 3rd on those acoustics vs. the plain 3rd on the electrics. The minimized contrast helps avoid vise-grip, hamfisted, handling of the electrics, and in turn, helps avoid a too-mushy touch on the acoustics.

Just like a baseball player swings a weighted bat in the on-deck circle to loosen up thier swing, before I pick up either an acoustic or electric 6, I warm up a few minutes with my acoustic 12. The strength needed to squeeze those 2-string courses really gets the left hand limbered up and ready. Chord grabs, hammer-ons and pull-offs are crisp and sure.

And while I totally agree there's no question a good acoustic's tone and resonating overtones are thrilling :agree , I find they inspire me to seek and get the same kind of thrills out of my electric's, in their own right. I don't go for a lot of Fx...a dab of chorus, a touch of delay or reverb. The rest is whatever underlying tone I want to coax from the marriage of the guitar's pickups and amp's preamp circuitry.

So don't give up on those electrics just yet, amigo.:nope

Case in point? Pick up that jaazz box of yours or that thin hollow-bodied Epi Casino....unplugged first, then plugged.

Gettin' old? :thwap oke Hey, I'm 59 and the guitar's been with me since I'm 11. I started with electrics and didn't discover the joys of acoustics til I was 20. I hung up my pro gig spikes almost 25 years ago.

With all that said, I hope this hasn't strayed fftopic , that being Plank's looking for a means to escape the funk of burnout and find some inspiration to fall in love again after having shut down an 8-year affair with his band.

 

[bigG]

I hear ya, wingsdad. And thanks. I'm 59, also, and I think you're right. It's not age so much (he tells himself) as it is being used to those .009s I use on my electrics. My new Martin M-36 is strung w lights (.012s) and my almost new (pre-owned) Taylor 310 with mediums (.013s). I believe my little Martin 00X1 is mediums...SO...

it probably is the thickness/tension difference of the electric .009s vs the heavier acoustic strings that's giving my left hand a bit of a fit now and then. My main problem has been keeping my ring finger curled out and in properly so as not to mute the adjacent higher string when on the 4 and 5 strings, especially when fingerpicking. These heavier acoustic strings are making me VERY conscious of getting that right!

I was half-way kidding about selling off most of my electrics and amps...but I do really have WAY more than I need, and many don't get played very often, truth be told. And, being on this acoustic jag...not at all. I will give it some time before I act on a whim and suffer "seller's remorse". :agree

Thanks, again! :thankyou

G

 

[peachhead]

Yea I do,and I live on the 10th- 12th-15th fret mostly sliding up and down:rollover . I do stray to open E,open G sometimes but my lappy's cover those tunings as well as others On guitar ,99% is standard tuning. We will be breaking out the SG with WCR pups(fillmores) for the upcoming serious sessions :crazyguy

I've been messing around with slide for a while, different tunings, but lately just got back to standard, and more electric slide. Man, I'm having a ball with it. Just what I needed to get me more into enjoying an amp.

 

[mrmudcat]

Yes sir peach brother!!!!:agree

Plank time to get some glass.........and reinvent/challenge/reinvigorate your arse:applause

After your lil break............

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Plank time to get some glass.........and reinvent/challenge/reinvigorate your arse:applause

After your lil break............

I agree. A good friend of mine (wicked slide player), has been on me for years to learn slide. He lives a few states south of me, but he's only a phone call away.

Time to pick up a slide and have some fun!