For most guitarists, the biggest challenge is to stay inspired and to keep playing and practicing. If you are making regular progress and enjoying your playing it is easy to stay motivated. But what if your life goes off the rails for a while and you find yourself blocked?
The Dreaded Guitarist’s Block: How to Overcome It
The Dreaded Guitarist’s Block: How to Overcome It
Do you have it? That feeling of not being able to pick up your guitar and play without feeling a sense of dread or fear. Or do you feel uninspired or unmotivated by the prospect of playing? If so, you’re not alone. Nearly every guitarist I know has gone through this at some point, and many still do. It’s completely normal, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to get past.
I’m going to take a look at what causes this problem in the first place and some ways you can overcome it, so let’s get started.
The Dreaded Guitarist’s Block: How to Overcome It
Tonight I had the pleasure of jamming with some old friends who have become great musicians. While we were playing, it became obvious that there is a difference between someone who plays all the time and someone who doesn’t.
I was one who didn’t play all the time. The good news is that I was able to remember most of the songs we played and was able to add ideas and embellishments to them. They were songs we had written several years ago, so I guess that helped! But, there were a few times where I just blanked out completely and couldn’t remember what came next.
It got me thinking about how complex our brains are but also how fragile they can be sometimes. Sometimes being a guitar player feels like you are running an obstacle course where you are trying your hardest to balance on a narrow beam while avoiding 5 or 6 swinging axes floating at different heights. You feel like if you misstep even an inch you could get hit by one of those flying axes and then you have no idea what direction to go in next.
When learning to play guitar, many people face a common problem they don’t talk about: The Dreaded Guitarist’s Block.
The Dreaded Guitarist’s Block is when you have a lack of inspiration, a fear of failure or getting started with playing guitar. This can be caused by many things:
Nerves about playing for friends/family.
Fear of losing inspiration (this is natural).
Not knowing which guitar exercises to learn.
Shyness or embarrassment about how you play in public.
Not having enough time to practice due to work/school/family.
As a guitarist, songwriter, and teacher I often get asked how to overcome what many call “Guitarist’s Block.” The Dreaded Guitarist’s Block is when you simply lose inspiration for playing the guitar. It is a common problem that plagues all of us at one point or another.
There are simple steps that you can take to get back on the right path of musical motivation and inspiration. This article will outline 4 of these steps so that you can be on your way to overcoming your Guitarist’s Block once and for all.
1) Write Down Your Goals
How much time do you spend each week practicing the guitar? If you are like most people, probably less than an hour or two!
The first step in overcoming the Dreaded Guitarist’s Block is to make a commitment to yourself by writing down your goals. This will really help keep you on track with your playing and will give you some direction when it comes time to practice.
Writing down your goals will also help you set aside more time for practicing each week because it is now out there in black and white for everyone (including yourself) to see!
Guitarists can be a peculiar bunch. Some of us spend years practicing our craft, and earn a living playing music. Others are absolute beginners, only picking up the instrument for the first time.
We all have something in common though: we can suffer from what’s known as “Guitarists’ Block.” It’s not an official medical condition, but it is a very real problem that many guitar players face.
So what is Guitarists’ Block? Well, it’s actually quite simple. It’s where you become afraid to play guitar. You may love the instrument and want to learn everything about it, but you get paralysed with fear when you pick up the guitar and try to play. Your mind is telling you that you’re going to make a mistake or sound bad, so why bother?
This might seem like an odd thing to happen given the number of people who play guitar, but it can happen to anyone at any level of ability. This article will discuss why this happens, and how you can overcome it.
I was trying to play a solo on my guitar, but I was missing a rhythm section. I didn’t feel like putting the time or effort into recording my own rhythm tracks and instrumentation, so I searched online for pre-existing backing tracks and found that they are all overpriced and subpar. So, I decided to create a website where musicians could find high-quality backing tracks at no cost.
I started by contacting all of my musician friends, who have since become my first contributors. They have been sending me their high-quality recordings, which I’ve been editing and uploading to the site. Currently, there are over 200 free backing tracks in various styles of music, including rock, blues, jazz, metal and acoustic.
My goal is to make this website the ultimate resource for guitarists looking for high-quality backing tracks.