I've got some lovely gear, that's took me a long time to assemble. I'm really happy with all of it...ie I'm not blaming the tools. However I seem to have slipped into a really contrived style of playing ( which is a poncey way of saying that I'm playing the same old clichés every time I pick my guitar up ). I'm a home player, never been in a band, never played in front of an audience, and never really wanted to. I'm a veteran player of 35 continuous, blissful years.
I'm having the thought of going full circle, back to the beginning, selling all of my gear and investing in one acoustic.
I wonder if there's anyone here who's actually done just that? I'd be really grateful to hear your experiences and insights. The best thing you've ever done, or a huge mistake that didn't really solve the initial "problem"?
Cheers all
Comments
I wouldn't sell anything, that could be a costly mistake.
ukulele/keyboard/old vibraphone /etc.
This...in spades.
If you haven't already, then experiment with different tunings. You'll almost certainly need a few pointers at first as to where to fret chords etc but you can find that stuff online dead easily.
Nice easy one to get going is Open G - think Keith Richards. Ignore the bottom E entirely and then of the 5 other strings, three of them will be exactly as you're used to - but the tuning opens up all kinds of nice sounds you don't normally get.
More importantly, try and find a local jam night and go have fun.
^ This for me ^
I've learned some songs that I'd never have thought of just by hearing them on the radio or coming across them on the net. These are usually songs that are not heavily Guitar orientated, but they still have a chord structure so who says you can't learn it?
Examples:
Kate Bush - Wow.
Katie Melua - The Flood
They're just great songs with a lovely melodies.
I also like learning solos that were not performed on the Guitar on the original Track, such as Sax solos or Trumpet solos, this can give you a whole different approach to how you phrase your passages on Guitar.
I'd even go as far to say that I love the sound of the Guitar but prefer to play improvisations with similar phrasing to a Sax player, although I'm no expert yet ;-)
Examples:
AWB - Pick up the pieces
Foreigner - Urgent
Spandau Ballet - How Many Lies
Chi-Lites - You Don't Have to Go.
Obviously, you might pick completely different tracks if you chose to do it.
I get to feel like you do sometimes and varying consistency in my playing is my main Bugbear, but from reading your O.P, it seems yours is a severe case of Boredom and that's easy-ish to cure that.
Go for it :-D
Yep, I'd be nagging away at that belief until you thought, "I'm gonna do it!" Of course, I'd make a pretty strange girlfriend ;-)
Listen to some dream theater.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Use a looper.
Play solos avoiding the root note at all costs.