Inspiration to improve? Help!!

[pookdj]

Hey all..

This is my first post.

What brings me here? Total lack of inspiration, I've been playing accoustic for about 2 years, self taught, and try to learn new stuff to get better as often as I can.. but I'm so bored... bored of the stuff I know... I started obviously with strumming, quickly learnt metallica - nothing else matters as my first attempt into finger picking.. I can play a bit now, a lot of jack johnson type stuff, and all the classics everyone learns (hotel california, blackbird, stairway to heaven etc etc), and just taught myself Classical Gas. But I desperately need someone, anyone to be my muse... Tell me what to learn, how to get better... Different styles?? Blues, jazz, Spanish guitar... I need some fun back into my guitarring life.

Oh, and anyone have anything they like to just bash out for a good old wail... I've cobbled together what I think are the right chords for Free - Allright now. woah woah oo woahooo...

Cheers fellas and fellettes if there are any.

[martinedwards]

"gonna use my ears, gonna use my eyes, gonna use my fingers"

A mis quote of a pretenders song sums it up!!

listen to the radio, find a tune you like, do a google for the tab, learn, practice and perfect!!

[PhantomLord]

get an electric! opens a whole new range of songs and styles.

[pookdj]

I'm poor, so can't afford one.. plus, I'd like to improve on the instrument I have.

[martinedwards]

DON'Tget an electric!

DOimprove on the instrument I have

Yes, an electric WILL open up all sorts of goodstuff, but master the acoustic first. In 20 years you will be so glad you did!!

[phingerboard]

Well if you aren't feeling inspired by what you already play and/or listen to....

Flick on one of the public radio stations. PBS, College, whatever. One of the ones that plays a different kind of music every four hours. Just let it roll and see if something comes along that puts some wind in your sails.

iNSANE horn players always get me going good. Maybe you'll find something new that does it for you too.

[mishmannah]

Hey all..

This is my first post.

What brings me here? Total lack of inspiration, I've been playing accoustic for about 2 years, self taught, and try to learn new stuff to get better as often as I can.. but I'm so bored... bored of the stuff I know... I started obviously with strumming, quickly learnt metallica - nothing else matters as my first attempt into finger picking.. I can play a bit now, a lot of jack johnson type stuff, and all the classics everyone learns (hotel california, blackbird, stairway to heaven etc etc), and just taught myself Classical Gas. But I desperately need someone, anyone to be my muse... Tell me what to learn, how to get better... Different styles?? Blues, jazz, Spanish guitar... I need some fun back into my guitarring life.

Oh, and anyone have anything they like to just bash out for a good old wail... I've cobbled together what I think are the right chords for Free - Allright now. woah woah oo woahooo...

Cheers fellas and fellettes if there are any.

Welcome to our world, pookdj. Hope that you stick around for a bit! :D

Can I just say that this site, and the community here is an inspiration to me...I have seen and heard what other people play, and it has really encouraged me to try different styles. :D :toohappy: :D

[PhantomLord]

Yes, an electric WILL open up all sorts of goodstuff, but master the acoustic first. In 20 years you will be so glad you did!!
i just think it's better to have both, but if he can't afford one, that's fair enough, just start listening to new music and try all sorts of new stuff.

[JailHouseRock]

I'm poor, so can't afford one.. plus, I'd like to improve on the instrument I have.
It's okay. Just stick to your current guitar. I bought my first acaustic guitar when I was 22. Since I ain't got much money, I could only get a cheapo acoustic with high action. After a while, it became good and I like the tone a lot. And my buddy even wanna trade it with his electric guitar lol. Save some money and get an electric after you have enough bucks ;)

[wildcorn]

Classical music is free ... if you can read notes.
http://www.mutopiaproject.org/

Genres (under guitar category):

Baroque
Romantic
Classical
Renaissance
Hymn
Folk

I'm currently trying to play Bach's prelude (first item in the guitar category), its suprisingly catchy. What you'll find on the mutopia project are high quality transcriptions of music where the copyright has expired. Its typeset with lilypond (http://lilypond.org/web/), which means the output pages are so pretty you could print them out and hang them on your wall. Also each song comes in .pdf format, and .mid format, so you can hear what your playing should sound like.

[poppedje]

Indeed some of the Bach stuff is very much fun to play, I'm kinda into him at this point too, although I never liked classical music.
What I've also found fun is to look for some stuff of the real advanced players that people regard as being guitar legends. I'm currently trying to play Travis Walk by Stevie Ray Vaughan... Not that I'm anywhere close to as fast/ good sounding as it should be, but it's fun to try. And this particular song isn't actually very frustrating, I found it quite a lot easier than I thought it would be...

[pookdj]

Thanks guys.. .some useful stuff... Reckon I'm going to go the classical route for a little while..

[MetalWerk]

Not that I personally need the inspiration since I've only been playing for about a year, but I've ventured into song writing and it's changed everything. I originally thought gearing up for a first live performance was the ultimate goal, but I've changed my mind (since I make my own rules).

People are impressed when you play something complicated, but they're 5x as impressed when you tell them it's your own song. I think it takes you from being a master craftsman to a true artist.

[poppedje]

I used that to improve too, but mainly just some chords and then added some additional notes which seemed hard to me ( at that, long past, point... :p ). So if you loose inspiration but still want to improve, you could always try to write something difficult yourself. It's not that hard, I'm also playing for only a little while ( well, about a year, but I consider that nothing).
Anyways it will teach you some stuff about writing your own stuff, and about how music 'works'.