Do you ever feel like...

[Chanmandolin]

You need a reset. I was having a practice session today and was starting to feel a little frustrated. So, I took the strings off my mandolin, cleaned the fretboard, cleaned the body of my mandolin, re strung it up and took a 30 minute breather.

It made all the difference in the world. Felt like a new day, new mandolin in my hands. Just wanted to share.

Have a good day Cafe'!

[CES]

Yep. New strings can certainly help (I hate changing them but am always glad I did). Playing multiple instruments helps as well. Mando gets the majority of my time, but I go through periods where I'll focus on guitar, banjo, bass, or OM, and it helps keep things fresh. The downside, of course, is that I'm dividing my practice time, but it's worth it to me to avoid stagnation.

[JeffD]

Well, I would never take all the strings off my mandolin. I change them one string at a time. The set up is soooo good I don't want to mess with it.

But I do know what you mean. Ways to make your same old mandolin seem brand new and fresh. Cleaning it, getting a new strap, new stickers on the case, or even a new case, taking dramatic pictures of it, or selfies with it, ... yea I have done it.

[T.D.Nydn]

Incentive and inspiration can come at any time,,but driving self motivation can be tough to constantly keep up,,sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to open that case and get that instrument in your hands..

[farmerjones]

New strings are sweet!

On the other side, I went a ridiculously long time without missing a single day of practice. Looking back it was a made-up fear. You're not going to forget how to eat with a fork, the same way you're not going to forget how to play mandolin. Now, I go days without playing, guilt free. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to play. I just don't beat myself up for not playing.

[jasona]

Not only a rest, I have gone on extended hiatuses from playing. Interestingly, when I get back to the mandolin, I find I have processed some niggling issue of technique mentally in the meantime. Not always but often, and it may be something you would not notice with daily practice. I certainly don't progress with new technique during these times!

[MediumMando5722]

Some do better playing every day. I do better playing when I feel like it. I also switch back and forth between mando and electric guitar. I'll spend a few weeks at a time focused on either one. When I get sick of one, the other is a joy to pick up.

The only thing I've found I lose from extended breaks is a little speed, but it doesn't take long to get it back.

[NursingDaBlues]

Yeah, I have those moments of frustration regularly. However, rather than resorting to such drastic measures as a string change, I'll do one of the following -- depending on my mood and the depth of the frustration:
- Pick up another instrument and pick around on it.
- Do something totally different like go for a walk/jog; wash the car; do some laundry; and then come back to the practice session.
- Put the instrument away with the intent to come back to it at some later time -- could be later in the day, could be tomorrow, could be next week.

I just know my limitations. Some days the fingers just can't remember what they're supposed to do or where the frets are. Some times the brain can't process what I'm supposed to be working on. Sometimes my brain and my fingers are on separate planets. And sometimes playing is almost chore-like. When any of that happens, I just back away.

[Denny Gies]

I agree with JeffD. Sometimes I tell myself to take two aspirins and call myself in the morning.........seems to work for me.

[Lowlands Blue]

I find that a lot of nights after work, being tired and somewhat tense doesn't make for a great practice. On the weekends when I sleep in and get to relax the quality of my playing is so much better. So during the week I tend to focus on my study and memorizing tunes and then fine tuning them on the weekend.

Although I too changed my strings yesterday which made things instantly better

[Bertram Henze]

... after work, being tired and somewhat tense ...

...as illustrated by the avatar.
I have that also, and I use those moments to detect parts of tunes that are susceptible to lack of concentration and rehearse those.

[Lowlands Blue]

haha, yup, that's a pretty accurate picture for most of the week!

[dhergert]

I honestly believe that a person plays an instrument better after they've had it partially or completely apart for maintenance and have put it back together. Maybe this is real, maybe it's sort of a zen type of thing, being one with the instrument, I dunno... But I've experienced it too. Maybe it is new strings, but I've had the experience without changing strings, just doing the disassembly, adjustment and re-assembly work.

One of those mysteries of life...

[JeffD]

Some do better playing every day. I do better playing when I feel like it..

About the same thing for me.

If I am not behind my mandolin playing like mad I am likely wanting to. Very few things I do that I wouldn't rather be playing mandolin.

[bratsche]

Mando gets the majority of my time, but I go through periods where I'll focus on guitar, banjo, bass, or OM, and it helps keep things fresh. The downside, of course, is that I'm dividing my practice time, but it's worth it to me to avoid stagnation.

I found that playing multiple instruments definitely helps how I play all of them. I don't even think of it as "dividing my practice time", but rather multiplying it!

bratsche

[Ivan Kelsall]

Changing mandolin strings isn't my favourite 'thing to do',but i sure like the results !. Very often,we forget just how good our mandolins sound with new strings. The gradual deterioration in tone is so slight,that we think they still sound good,until we put new strings on - that's when we usually get a nice surprise !,
Ivan

[JeffD]

Take a break from the genre you are working on, and try something way outside your experience. Makes the mandolin into a brand new instrument.

I started learning the Phrygian dominant scale, used in Middle Eastern music and Klezmer music. Just improvising in that scale and I could not recognize my mandolin anymore it was great.

[Br1ck]

A surefire cure is to just go buy a more expensive mandolin. From reading this forum, it seems to be a pretty popular theory.