Anyone keep buying more guitars to keep the interest going? ( and failed)

Legionreturns

ac30man said:

Legionreturns said:

At least you only have one expensive hobby! My bikes are still worth more than my guitars at the moment. And my climbing gear is worth more than the bikes! 

[Img]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0899/9232/products/my_biggest_fear_is_that_when_i_die_my_wife_will_sell_my_bicycles_for_what_i_told_her_they_cost_-_white_grande.jpg?v=1474007616[/img]

I feel MUCH better now. Cheers!

Happy to help! Point of order. Bikes take up MUCH more space than guitars. A point not lost on significant other.

Sadly (!) my bike insurance dictates that my bikes have to be kept inside or they're not insured. Honest!  

Bridgehouse

richardhomer said:

Funkfingers said:

@ac30man Don't buy more. Buy better. 

That good advice. A really great guitar definitely encourages you to play in my experience....

So when you getting that Terry Morgan then?

ac30man

richardhomer said:

Funkfingers said:

@ac30man Don't buy more. Buy better. 

That good advice. A really great guitar definitely encourages you to play in my experience....

Funkfingers said:

@ac30man Don't buy more. Buy better. 

I honestly have everything I ever wanted. Really top notch stuff (IMHO) still don't want to play :-(

ac30man

Legionreturns said:

ac30man said:

Legionreturns said:

At least you only have one expensive hobby! My bikes are still worth more than my guitars at the moment. And my climbing gear is worth more than the bikes! 

[Img]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0899/9232/products/my_biggest_fear_is_that_when_i_die_my_wife_will_sell_my_bicycles_for_what_i_told_her_they_cost_-_white_grande.jpg?v=1474007616[/img]

I feel MUCH better now. Cheers!

Happy to help! Point of order. Bikes take up MUCH more space than guitars. A point not lost on significant other.

Sadly (!) my bike insurance dictates that my bikes have to be kept inside or they're not insured. Honest!  

They must be nice bikes! The best thing about guitars is, if you buy the right ones at the right price you can't really lose much and sometimes you make a few quid (rare for me). You definitely put things in perspective.

I do also have a one year old Vespa with only 330 miles on it....there's a pattern emerging here! I keep buying and not using stuff. 

Funkfingers

ac30man said:

I lost the end of my finger on my fretting hand which holds me back and makes it impossible to play some chords. 

How about switching to an instrument with fewer strings and on which you will rarely be obliged to hold down chordal shapes?

Bass guitar.

Legionreturns

Put it this way, if I sold my bikes I could buy a VERY expensive guitar! 

fandango

ac30man said:

Bridgehouse said:

Do you play live/with others?

It can really rekindle the passion and let you concentrate on the music not the gear.

Hi. I don't really get the time anymore to play in a band. My work is sometimes short notice response, so it means I would be a bit unreliable and that's not really fair to others. I always loved playing along to music at home but not anymore. I lost the end of my finger on my fretting hand which holds me back and makes it impossible to play some chords. It just mutes other strings or can't reach the note. This happened before i started playing which 30 years ago this month.  I stopped for about 10 years of that time though haha. 
cheers

It doesn't have to be a band per se, but just playing with others every now and then. The 'others' will understand you can't make every week, but it's the buzz of hanging out with other musos to get the mojo flowing.

Have you tried an open mike night? Or tried reaching out to a few other local musicians via word of mouth.

Let's hope this gets your goose flowing and your mojo working again: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z5QQc5q_og&ab_channel=bluzdudemi

And if you're not a fan of Johnny Winter, there's plenty of other versions, including those by Muddy Waters, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton, BB King, Canned Heat ....

monquixote

I had a slightly different experience.

For a long time I was building up to better and better guitars/amps/pedals and every time I went up to the next level of quality it was hugely exciting and really inspired me. 

Once I'd got to the point where I had a PRS and a nice amp and a few boutique pedals I stopped getting that buzz and lost interest in GAS. It hasn't really had the impact of making me concentrate on my playing though and now I'm no longer in a band I find myself playing less and less.

Hoof

I've been in a similar situation for the last couple of years. Since I quit playing in originals bands I lost a lot of the motivation to play: to CREATE. I started playing in covers band and it kind of helped but I'd play when I had something to learn and being the singer/mainly rhythm guitarist most of what I needed to learn was well within my abilities so I'd spend a few minutes getting the riffs down and put the guitar down. Job done.

I tried buying new gear, spent shed loads of money but nothing really excited me. They were just tools to do a job. I continued with the band but to be honest it was a bit of a burden. I only really carried lately because the other guitarist was having some serious issues with stress and depression and I worried that if I quit it might have tipped him over the edge. 

Then something struck me a few months back: I was missing time/space alone to actually do what I really spent a lot of time doing years back: playing along to new CDs. I learned almost everything I know about playing and application of music theory from figuring out interesting new music. I had let adult life get the better of me and I'd settled into a rut where just finding time and space to play had become more hassle than it seemed worth so I played at band practice and that was pretty much it. 

Then I got made redundant at the beginning of last month and I've probably not played guitar this much since I lived with  my parents and spent hour after hour jamming along to records. My ability is coming back (I hadn't realised how much I'd lost!) and I'm learning new things again!  I've played more at home in the past six weeks than I have I the past 2 years.

I've not been this excited about the guitar for years.

Next monday things change again as I'm starting retraining for a new career so I won't have as much time as I've been lucky to have but I've got the bug again. I'm excited about going to band practice again instead of it just seeming like a chore. I'm even stockpiiling new riffs. I feel  creative and energised again.

Legionreturns

I'm a relative noob at guitar, but I can draw parallels from climbing. I had a really bad injury from a climbing fall a few years ago, and after 8months of rehab I found I was making excuses for not going out on the rock again. Confidence was low, motivation was lower. What eventually got my keen going again was people asking me to instruct. At first it was indoor at climbing walls, then back on the cliffs. I found that although I was climbing much lower grades than before, I was passionate again and passing that on to people who wanted to learn. 

So, have you thought about teaching? Not necessarily commercially. Just finding someone who is not at your level and impart your pearls of wisdom. You never know, it might just spark something in you again. 

Sassafras

Give it a rest for a while and listen to lots of different types of music.

Funkfingers

Interacting with other people is a good suggestion. Regular get togethers enforce some sort of practice regimen and discipline. Other people can/should bring surprising new ideas to the playing situation.

In the words of Douglas Adams, share and enjoy.

underdog

I just like buying guitar related things though I've not bought a guitar in 18 months now, I did not long back buy an amp, this month has been buying stuff for a my first pedal board experiment 

ellwood

All the time. My playing is average, and I have cycles of interest. I have worked hard to build my own business and can now afford to start buying again after selling all my gear last year to get things going. 

However I don't have much time to really play, and can't commit to a band these days.

But it's nice to have stuff there that I want to play when I do feel inspired...

imalrightjack

@monquixote sounds like he's had a journey I'm attempting to complete, gear-wise. And I'm equally dissatisfied and play no more. I spend more time on here, Facebook, EBay, fantasising about new guitars, as though it'll result in me wanting to play more or that it'll make me better. Recent acquisitions have meant that the Ibanez Little George Benson that had become my newest friend and inspired me (see last month's solo of the month) has been gathering dust. So more gear has had a reverse effect. 

Just typing that out has made me think hard about the pointless pursuit of 'the next guitar'.

JonHosker

Yep..- happy to say i genuinely was chasing the guitar / quest for tone until March and I just had a moment when I decided the three electrics I have are just great and I will not be selling or buying. Good feeling really after 10 years of swapping.  Still need some pedals...but slow steady buying for keeps policy.
Worked for me....

Freebird

Start recording, preferably your own material, and then it becomes an intellectual exercise. The gear you already own consists of tools that were made to do a job, i.e. make music.

It amazing how much fun you can have with just a Tele, Les Paul, P-Bass and a Kemper Profiler Amp 

Dominic

Owning lots of gear is great but there's nothing like as much fun as sex with a wild stranger !

Bridgehouse

Dominic said:

Owning lots of gear is great but there's nothing like as much fun as sex with a wild stranger !

Wild as in feral?

Freebird

Dominic said:

Owning lots of gear is great but there's nothing like as much fun as sex with a wild stranger !

I never mix sex and rock 'n' roll