Guitar Nerds Anonymous

On a similar note I'm selling my Matamp 2x100w valve head once it's back from service:

Any stoner rockers?

i need some serious motivating. other than weekly band practice i haven't touched a guitar at home in weeks. seem to have lost all incentive to write and record too. heeeelp!

I don't have any advice but I'm going through the same thing. Haven't practiced in weeks. When you work out the solution would you let me know? :-)

i suspect it's down to several things;

• too busy at work to have any creative energy in the evenings.

• nagging feeling that i'm too old to ever contribute anything musically important anymore (even though i know what i was producing in my 20s was mostly rubbish and what i'm doing now, i'm actually rather proud of).

• lack of enthusiasm for the sadly necessary task of herding, controlling, managing and guiding my current bandmates.

• inertia about changing the above situation because although although it can occasionally be trying, the basic recipe is good and they're lovely people.

• frustration with home set-up, no space to set up mics, 8-tracks etc.

all of which has conspired over the last few months to all but stop any kind of creative recording, writing or practicing.

I found running a band really hard work; musicians are by definition hard work. Much more enjoy someone else doing it, and just turning up and doing the fun bit, having used about 1/4 of the previous time actually getting proficient on what I'm supposed to be performing. Also is an incentive, as if you contribute less in other areas, your "session" approach really has to deliver to carry you.

Herding bandmates is no fun. I did that for a while, until the band I was in started gathering momentum, and it was hellish.

These days I play strictly with people who want to do it - the whole thing, not just part of it - and it's much more fun. Even just jamming out in a living room somewhere can be much more inspiring than gathering in some damp horror hole.

How's that thing you were doing with the girl from here going Dooks? You still up for a jam any time soon?

i suspect it's down to several things;

• too busy at work to have any creative energy in the evenings.

• nagging feeling that i'm too old to ever contribute anything musically important anymore (even though i know what i was producing in my 20s was mostly rubbish and what i'm doing now, i'm actually rather proud of).

• lack of enthusiasm for the sadly necessary task of herding, controlling, managing and guiding my current bandmates.

• inertia about changing the above situation because although although it can occasionally be trying, the basic recipe is good and they're lovely people.

• frustration with home set-up, no space to set up mics, 8-tracks etc.

all of which has conspired over the last few months to all but stop any kind of creative recording, writing or practicing.

Yup. Sounds like a recipe for stagnation to me.
Number 1 is really hitting me hard right now (along with two small kids).
I didn't start playing guitar until I was 32 so I've long since given up on achieving anything other than mediocrity :-)
I'm currently considering picking up a different instrument to try and jolt me back into regular practice in general.

I might be on my own here, but I reckon this is about the best guitar playing around at the moment.

YouTube - The ENABLERS (Tundra) - The Destruction Most of All

Enablers are a great band. Certainly not everyones cup of tea. One of my buddies was obsessed by there and forced me to listen to them and go and see them live.

Haven't heard Tundra, so cheers for the heads up on that one!

Herding bandmates is no fun. I did that for a while, until the band I was in started gathering momentum, and it was hellish.

These days I play strictly with people who want to do it - the whole thing, not just part of it - and it's much more fun. Even just jamming out in a living room somewhere can be much more inspiring than gathering in some damp horror hole.

How's that thing you were doing with the girl from here going Dooks? You still up for a jam any time soon?

i am mate. i had a couple of sessions with Gloria and really enjoyed it. then we both got busy and let it slide. maybe all three of us should get together and try something? can you pm me your email and i'll contact you both to discuss the sort of thing we'd like to try?

I found running a band really hard work; musicians are by definition hard work. Much more enjoy someone else doing it, and just turning up and doing the fun bit, having used about 1/4 of the previous time actually getting proficient on what I'm supposed to be performing. Also is an incentive, as if you contribute less in other areas, your "session" approach really has to deliver to carry you.

this drives me mad. it's the difference between rehearsing and practicing. in my book you practice (if you need to) at home on your own and you get your sh*t together so that when you turn up to rehearsal with five other (paying) people what you're rehearsing is playing together. it's for working out the subtleties of fitting various parts together and trying different arrangements. you should know what you're doing well enough to be able to play variations on it well enough to fit in with any eventuality.

what you shouldn't be doing in rehearsal is practicing your instrument. as far as i'm converned if you need to be noodling and noodling noodling about in rehearsal trying to get your parts right you're not well practiced enough to be at rehearsal. that or you're just plain not good enough at your intrument for the parts you're trying to play. either way you should shut the fuck up!

This is true. But what I mean is, you get into a more professional mind-set. The reason for your being there is purely to deliver on the music, rather than a be juggling kittens/massaging egos/etc etc, so you can just concentrate on raising your game musically, rather than being 1/2 kackered and 3/4 fed-up before you even open your case.

oh i see. yeah that too. man i sound like a bundle of laughs to play with don't i? i'm really not a joyless taskmaster. i've always maintained that it's more about enjoyment and fun than "professionalism". now more than ever in fact.

however, i do have a threshold of low quality below which it ceases to be fun for me and at the moment i'm constantly striving to drag things above it. i just don't enjoy playing with people who forget their parts half the time and are out of tune and pissing about the rest.

Was talking about starting a band up last night... However, the prospect of rehearsals fills me with dread... Actually, the whole idea of playing in a band again makes me a bit queasy...

#pastit

And anyway, after the fist couple of platinums and million plus deals, it's hard to keep the raw magic alive.

These days I rarely speak to the rest of the Nolans.

It's a shit business... Etc...

i am mate. i had a couple of sessions with Gloria and really enjoyed it. then we both got busy and let it slide. maybe all three of us should get together and try something? can you pm me your email and i'll contact you both to discuss the sort of thing we'd like to try?

Incoming!

NEVER play in a band where said band is any given members sole source of income.
and never play in a band with a fucking hippy.

Never play in a band who name their albums before they've been recorded.

I don't know quite how this works but it's a bad omen.

haven't really played for over 10 years, lost all interest in the band i was in, when the bassist wanted to play guitar, or rather he was going around the other guys house, with a electric robbing my part.
told them to stick it up their arses, then they stopped playing.
now evertime i pick it up and play a bit, my mrs always says, "you always play the same stuff"
grrrrrrr!! if she shut up/buggered off/out for a bit and leave me alone i might learn something new :)

haha. replied to your message and set the ball rolling with gloria br. let's see what happens.

"never trust a band that types out their set lists" HMMB

haha. replied to your message and set the ball rolling with gloria br. let's see what happens.

"never trust a band that types out their set lists" HMMB

so true. i played in a band once where the self appointed 'leader' (read failed guitarist who worked in a guitar shop) went so far as to print out helpful 'rules', amongst the most memorable being:

'All band members must take to and leave the stage as one'

'All band members must wear shirts with muted colours so as not to distract from the music'

and the rather telling: 'All band members must look like they are having fun whilst on stage'

we didnt last long.

Dooks,

Being in a band can be stressful, especially if you think you're a better singer, guitarist and songwriter than the person who sings, plays guitar and writes the songs! And that person is a know-it-all American with an ego the size of a country who thinks he's the next big thing on the music scene, and the fact that we are all fat, bald and well over 35, playing fucking awful psychedelic rock is somehow irrelevant.

I solved that one by leaving the band and vowing never to be in another.

Then before you know it I'm playing bass in another band and loving it. I've never been the bass player before. It's ace. I'm playing the bass because nobody else in the band can, which makes for zero ego clash. We're only playing covers for fun so there is no songwriting arguments, no pressure and 2 gigs a year. I made it quite clear I would leave if it ever got serious. Everyone else feels the same.

Apart from that I'm much happier being the Trevor Horn and making everything myself in my little home studio. (Trouble is I never want to see another computer by the time I get home so I don't tend to record anything these days. I even bought myself a new PC and a legal copy of Sonar.)

I reckon if you have musical block it's no bad thing to give it a rest for a while. Then buy a new guitar, take up another instrument (bass, piano, drums, whatever) and give yourself a break from the old routine.

On a similar note I'm selling my Matamp 2x100w valve head once it's back from service:

Any stoner rockers?

Boner Time!

I would buy that....

...if I had the money

i might be selling a well used blues deville, 2x12 soon :(

nice one blue quinn! i love playing bass as well. i was "the bassist" for quite a long time before recently going back to guitar and singing. most satisfying job in the band i reckon.