Guitar Nerds Anonymous

Hi all, just after some advice really.

I've been playing since I was about 12 (I'm 22 now). I was bought an electric to begin with and had weekly lessons for a good 6 or seven years with a great teacher who I really got on with. After a few years I bought myself an acoustic because I started to prefer the natural sound and the way it lended itself to being used for solo singing/songwriting. I also bought some recording software and a microphone and produced a few tracks that I'd written, focussing on meaningful lyrics with fingerstyle guitar and some lead guitar. The feedback from my friends was good. I intended to find a female vocalist and maybe a drummer (something like tablaa or a box drum, not a modern drum kit) and do a few gigs but it never happened because all my time went into university work and the associated social life of living as a student and I sort of forgot the guitar.

In the last 3 of years I've rarely played for more than half an hour at a time (there's been one song that I still haven't finished writing that I've been working on for this entire time!). A few people have said that I should try to get back into it because I have some talent but I find it very hard. I've been 'stuck in a rut' before, but this feels more like a valley.

Any ideas for how I can get a bit of that early enthusiasm back? Could it be I need to make a conscious effort to play with other musicians and if so what's the best way to do that? I used to do some jams with another guitarist but we were on completely different wavelengths about the styles we were into so that failed pretty quickly and sort of put me off playing with other guitarists. Maybe someone on a different instrument would be better?

Write something in an hour, or just in one go. Just knock out something and go from there. I never intend to write anything, yet I often come up with ideas, not necessarily anything great. The secret is never to actually sit down and think what you want to write beforehand.

When you pick apart any record it can seem unoriginal, it's not the parts it's how they come together. You have to let it free. I don't write much but when I do it's the last thing on my mind.