Motivation

[hannaugh]

When you know you need to practice, but you come home feeling tired and demotivated, how do you light that fire under your rear?  I'm just curious how different people do this. 

I'm trying to complete 1000 hours of practice/music study this year, and I'm a little ahead of schedule, but my lead has been shrinking since the last week or two I've been coming home from work unusually tired and just wanting to read some H.P. Lovecraft and go to bed early.  I think I might just be having to fight off being sick since everyone around me is sick, but this fatigue is killing my practice, so I'm looking for some new ways to motivate myself. 

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

My motivation?  Its realizing that Hannaugh is about to get in 1,000 hours of practice this year!  You're kicking my butt, I have nothing to offer.  Good work, that is discipline.

Keep in mind, even with athletic training, sometimes you need a break.  You often come back stronger than before if you take a little break once in awhile.  So don't beat yourself up if you're not feeling well.  You might need the time off.  Give yourself a little rest and see what happens next week.  You have to stay healthy to keep on your schedule, so don't neglect your health for the sake of your goal.  You'll get there.

 

[Tonar8352]

Book a gig; nothing beats the motivation of having to be ready to play in front of people.

 

[pabloman]

I like to try out different genres or styles and become somewhat proficient at them. If you have the opportunity to jam with some jazz guys or classical dudes then that's gonna be motivation so you don't look like a wanker. If I haven't kept up the chops and exercises and have been kind of sloppy I just say it's Blues week arty07:

 

[AprioriMark]

Go for a 5-15 minute walk.  Don't let yourself think about the same old things.  Look for beauty in something you wouldn't normally look at.  Come home, pick up your guitar, and put your hand on it in an abnormal place, and do NOT play anything you know.  Don't even play one comfortable chord.  Let your comfort and creativity fall off the back of the truck for a moment or two.  Habits and routines can be good things, but music is for expression of the things that we don't understand (and have labeled and defined).

-Mark

edit: I have to add that I support your 1000 hours of practice.  Putting in work is always good, whether in the vernacular of the day or in honing another art.

 

[NLD09]

I feel like the better things in life should feel like a relief when you're able to get to them. Be it your music, art, favorite TV shows, relationships, whatever. Perhaps rather than practicing for 1000 hours you should just play and practice because you enjoy it. Who cares what kind of schedule you keep if you're not motivated to play every time you see your guitar?

 

[Jusatele]

I listen to some of the songs that started my playing and soon I am playing them

but I do have another thing, I put on Sirius radio Bluesville, after about 2 songs my axe is in hand and I am picking up on some of the cool rhythm runs or stealing a lick or two and then it takes off till the wife walks in and I realize 2 hours has past.

 

[hannaugh]

I feel like the better things in life should feel like a relief when you're able to get to them. Be it your music, art, favorite TV shows, relationships, whatever. Perhaps rather than practicing for 1000 hours you should just play and practice because you enjoy it. Who cares what kind of schedule you keep if you're not motivated to play every time you see your guitar?

Well, I'm mildly anemic, so I get tired sometimes.  Before I knew I was anemic, I was tired all the time.  I came home from school and watched tv and would sleep for 10-11 hours straight because I didn't have the energy to do anything else.  At first I thought I was lazy, and I had this horrible feeling of self-loathing, then after a while I thought I had chronic fatigue syndrome because I realized I didn't feel physically right.  I got very depressed because I didn't have the energy to do the things I enjoyed doing, and when I did make myself do things, they were a lot less enjoyable because I was so drained.  That's what this feels like, but I don't think it is anemia, I think it is my immune system using all my energy to try to keep me from getting sick. 

Also, I'm keeping track of my hours for three reasons:  1) I want to be able to say at the end of the year that I spent 1,000 hours of my time working on my creative goals rather than watching tv or wasting time with unimportant stuff.  2) I keep track of my time on an excel sheet that has each part of my practice (sight reading, scales, etc...), and I enter the number of minutes I spent on each thing every day because if I don't keep track of those different categories, I end up favoring the ones that are the most fun and I fall into habits and never really learn anything.  I'm trying to keep myself at least kind of balanced on what I am learning and practicing.  3) I'm kind of curious about the 10,000 hours rule.  Yeah, it's kind of a stupid reason, but hey. 

Since I have started keeping track of my hours, it has made me far more accountable for my practice and more critical of how I am practicing, and as a result, my playing has made some amazing leaps and bounds in the 8 months since I started doing things this way.  There is definitely something to be said for structure and discipline.  Oddly enough it makes me feel freer and I have a lot more fun now when I play than I used to (when I'm not exhausted). 

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I find that I have to write things down on a list.  15 min warmup, something loud, finger picking the next part of the song I am working on 5-10 times.  Whatever it is, I write it down, and then I am not willing to have it stare me down.  I finish it and cross it off.  I really hate losing, and that is sort of what this turns into.  If I am lazy, I lost.  Tonar's suggestion is also a big one for me.  Nothing motivates me more than the thought of crashing and burning at a show because I didn't practice.  The odd thing for me is there is a satisfaction after I am done with my list of things to do.  Hah, Done.  That being said, in the last couple of years my medical status has dropped a bit, and I have to be content with being able to do less.  I am not happy about that, but I just have to schedule better so I can be reasonably efficient.
Patrick

 

[stubhead]

What I've been doing for many years, and attempting to instill in teenage boys* (students), is playing first thing in the morning. Just maybe feed the cat, OR start the coffee, but certainly before e-mail/shower/grooming/what-all else. You want to get to your brain before it clutters up with the daily detritus like work, family, other humans beings....

Even if you can only get in fifteen to twenty minutes (an hour is way, way better) after that first contact is established, at some level your brain will be working on music all day. And if you say "but I'm tired in the morning, if I wake up at 5am to practice till 6am I'll be even more tired" - go to bed earlier.  It's just a matter of what's important to you - REALLY important.

Here's a PDF that summarizes current brain research vis-a-vis sleeping - the short version is you wanna fall out of bed practicing in the morning, and fall into bed practicing at night. Pay attention to page 5, "Mental Practice."

http://madisonjazz.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/practicingandcurrentbrainresearchbygebrian.pdf

*( :laughing11: :laughing3: :laughing7

 

[elfro89]

Invite a friend over to jam with, or try something brand new. Whenever I find myself feeling like I can't be bothered, It's mainly due to my routine being too repetitive. You could also just need a break. Take it from a guy who spends most of his time practising, you need a break every now and then. Giving yourself a few days away from musical thoughts can give you a fresh look on it.  I also try to find new ways to spark my interest, right now for instance I'm really fascinated by the world of inversions on chord extensions such as the Major 7th, that chord alone leaves you with 4 different tonal centres each sounding unique and somewhat modal. now think of all the root chords that exist, each of their inversions sounds different and unique when used as tonal centres. To me finding out which I like is exciting. There is obviously hundreds of possibilities with these chords and that fascinates me. You could also try something completely non-guitar, and what I mean by that is listen to something completely different like a flute concierto and try and imitate it or rather try and think like a flute player. It can be a rewarding experience. Piano is another good one and violin another. You could even be more obscure with it and look at instruments only found in certain parts of the world. How about a didjeridu? that constant drone can be powerful. Anyways good luck with the practice  :icon_thumright:

 

[hannaugh]

These are good suggestions, guys.  Thanks!

I think I'm gonna try the harmonica just to give myself a little break from guitar once in a while.

 

[stubhead]

elfro, you're a prime candidate for Pat Martino's re-envisioning of the guitar. He basically takes the three-note augmented and four-note diminished chords as building blocks, and the alterations of those chords to m7's, M7's and minor chords are his roadmap. I can't link straight through, but here:

http://www.patmartino.com/

pull up "Articles" on the left, then the:

"Master Class / Sacred Geometry / Simplifying the fretboard with Pat Martino" from April 2004 Guitar Player magazine.

It's a fascinating idea to find new lines, he's just abandoning keyboard-based theory altogether. I have to print this stuff out, I can't sit in front of a computer and play, but he's got books out too.

 

[Jusatele]

Hannaugh, have you ever tried harmonized scale studies? or worked up and down the neck just hitting every A note as you go
try running scale 13243546576172 forward and backward, stuff like that the book "fret board aerobics" is full of those kind of studies and it will put new problems in front of you, one a day, to hammer out. New material is a must to keep the mind in the game.

 

[Steve_Karl]

elfro, you're a prime candidate for Pat Martino's re-envisioning of the guitar. He basically takes the three-note augmented and four-note diminished chords as building blocks, and the alterations of those chords to m7's, M7's and minor chords are his roadmap. I can't link straight through, but here:

http://www.patmartino.com/

pull up "Articles" on the left, then the:

"Master Class / Sacred Geometry / Simplifying the fretboard with Pat Martino" from April 2004 Guitar Player magazine.

It's a fascinating idea to find new lines, he's just abandoning keyboard-based theory altogether. I have to print this stuff out, I can't sit in front of a computer and play, but he's got books out too.

Good find on the Pat Martino site. Thanks!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aWPYko255Y&sdig=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMs73HliZrM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ-gdgFuabA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhTiXxT2HM4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

 

[hannaugh]

Hannaugh, have you ever tried harmonized scale studies? or worked up and down the neck just hitting every A note as you go
try running scale 13243546576172 forward and backward, stuff like that the book "fret board aerobics" is full of those kind of studies and it will put new problems in front of you, one a day, to hammer out. New material is a must to keep the mind in the game.

I'm going through Barrett Tagliarino's books right now.  They are helping me a lot.  It's not that I'm getting bored, it's more that I'm not in the mood to do anything that requires effort.  Just a lack of energy.  Today I felt a little better though.  I think I might need to re-adjust my sleeping schedule.  I have tomorrow off, so I'm going to make sure I take my iron first thing in the morning and try to have a productive day of music (with a few breaks so I can play with the new kitten!). 

Some of these suggestions are awesome for future reference though, because sometimes I do get bored/get confused about what I should learn next. 

 

[Steve_Karl]

Slow Down a song in WMP with minimal artifacts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0U9Y-fMujM

 

[Steve_Karl]

  It's not that I'm getting bored, it's more that I'm not in the mood to do anything that requires effort.  Just a lack of energy. 

I think it's important to also allow oneself the comfort of not feeling like it without judgment.

 

[elfro89]

elfro, you're a prime candidate for Pat Martino's re-envisioning of the guitar. He basically takes the three-note augmented and four-note diminished chords as building blocks, and the alterations of those chords to m7's, M7's and minor chords are his roadmap. I can't link straight through, but here:

http://www.patmartino.com/

pull up "Articles" on the left, then the:

"Master Class / Sacred Geometry / Simplifying the fretboard with Pat Martino" from April 2004 Guitar Player magazine.

It's a fascinating idea to find new lines, he's just abandoning keyboard-based theory altogether. I have to print this stuff out, I can't sit in front of a computer and play, but he's got books out too.

Cheers stub!  I'll look into it  :icon_thumright:

Hannah I am THEE most lazy guy and can never be bothered doing anything, the toilet is 6 foot away from my bedroom and I still can't be arsed going for a piss at times. However I'm a complete workaholic when it comes to music. For me the difference is whether or not something feels like a chore. I HATE CHORES! The only time I don't practice is when it starts to feel like it, and thats when I take a few days away from guitar and musical thoughts. (which is bloody hard I must say) but I ultimately feel better for it. Obviously only you can decide what it is what's preventing your practice. I know what its like to have a job and lots of other crap that pulls me away from the stuff I enjoy doing, and coming home after being out for 12 hours the last thing I want to do is pull out my guitar and practice.

Having expectations of yourself is fine but don't put too much pressure on yourself when it comes to learning things otherwise it might do more harm then good. For instance, I don't keep time of how long I play but my motivation for starting a practice session is because something sparks my interest, something gets me excited enough that makes me think everything else can go to hell! and I'll sit for nearly a full day. I'm not saying you do this or think like this but for me, if my motivation to begin a practice session was to meet my target of 1000 hours practice I would go insane. I'm not saying don't keep track of how long to practice but having several goals like scales, chords, general music stuff and logging how much time you have spent on each, you might find you have done more then 1000 hours of practice without even realising it. Just a thought.

 

[OzziePete]

You Tube clips of old and seeing the old stuff that originally got you going, are good motivators as are the clips of players doing some fantastic stuff.

But I do like the premise of having to do a live gig, nothing motivates a player more than avoiding the fear of making a fool of themselves before a live audience!

Book some shows, however small, the fear factor will kick in, I'm sure.