What do you do when you're Just. Not. Feeling it?

Something I learned a long time ago:

Attachment 187847

Change. Strings.

If I’m looking for motivation, I listen to music. I might work on some tiny goal, like learning a little lick. If I need a complete break from playing, I clean up my music library.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BrianWilliam

Pick up a fiddle: when I do, it makes me feel really good about my mandolin playing :)

---

Good advice too for people who don't play the fiddle ;^) You think mandolin is hard?
Try this...

I frequently have a tune nagging at me. Then I feel compelled to give it a go, playing slower, faster, looping particular sections, creating my own variations on the melody, etc. If there’s nothing rattling around my head, I might skip a day. And there’s always a backlog of old lessons to pull up for review.

Ride my bike, walk, hike ! Give the mandolin a break for several days !

I'm not much of a gadet guy, but i got a looper. It seemed somehow more organic than just a recorder. But that's really what it is. Lay down a guitar track, and play along. Recently learning electric bass. So i need something to follow. Mr. Looper is great. Btw, you need a pickup to play with mr. Looper.

If you play for a lifetime, I think you'll learn early on that plateaus will come so you accept this. Sometimes you need some time away from it. When you need inspiration, there are lots of ways to find it.

For me, inspiration comes by watching music documentaries, or music performances, that kind of stuff often makes me want to pause and play my own instruments. Also, just listening to music. The occasion will then come to wonder what kind of mandolin arrangement I could do of a song that grabs me. Then there's this tried and true method: Noodle around until you can write something new on your own, for good or bad. Or call a friend or a few friends to come over and jam with you. Or get out to a jam session or picking party.

Another thing is to develop a new practice routine. Ever come up with a practice routine? Probably you have tried to bring some order to your woodshedding, and if so, then think about changing it. Nothing's written in stone. Try something different for a while. And if nothing else works, as Pete Martin said, a few days off can work wonders.