Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 52

Thread: No motivation

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Santa Barbara
    Posts
    40

    Default No motivation

    I’ve lost all motivation to practice or learn new tunes.
    No more jams due to the pandemic.
    The great 48 is now canceled. It was the greatest jam scene!
    All the festivals are cancelled.
    I don’t preform live anymore.
    I noodle around aimlessly for maybe 20 minutes in the evening.
    There is no point learning anything new because there is no one to share it with.
    Help me! I’m a lost soul.

  2. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Jimmybikes For This Useful Post:


  3. #2
    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Posts
    5,658

    Default Re: No motivation

    Start a YouTube channel. Plenty of places like here, Facebook, etc. to share and enjoy music.

  4. #3
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Beautiful Salem County, NJ
    Posts
    2,004

    Default Re: No motivation

    Sounds like it's time to learn a new genre. How about the blues? You've got the basis for lyrics right there in your post.

    On a more serious note; we've all been there. I hope it passes for you soon. This whole thing is getting to a lot of us. We're with you.
    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

  5. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Bob Clark For This Useful Post:


  6. #4
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Saint Augustine Beach FL
    Posts
    6,618

    Default Re: No motivation

    I hear you man!

    You know with a little bit of tweaking, that could be a pretty good poem.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  7. The following members say thank you to Charles E. for this post:


  8. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Marcellus, NY
    Posts
    245

    Default Re: No motivation

    I’ve been playing trumpet for 56 years. My last paying gig was two weeks before Easter. I still warm up every day to keep in shape, but with no concerts in the near future, my focus is not as sharp. So, I started playing cello (along with mandolin and mandocello ). This opens up a new way of focusing my musicianship as the cello pitches are infinitely variable not to mention a different clef and tuning. I’m probably not going to make any money playing cello, but I am enjoying the journey.My suggestion is to try a different genre or instrument or both!

  9. #6
    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Summit County Colorado
    Posts
    1,302

    Default Re: No motivation

    Quote Originally Posted by Sterling View Post
    My suggestion is to try a different genre or instrument or both!
    Yes! Time for jazz fiddle

  10. #7
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Blue Zone, California
    Posts
    1,866
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: No motivation

    JamKazam...

    It is much better than not jamming! Online jamming may not be perfect, but what jam has ever been perfect?

    JamKazam does do best with a wired ethernet connection to a router, and relatively hot gaming-level computer hardware is a big plus. Configuration is also not the easiest thing in the world, but if things are kept simple it works nicely. And lastly, distance and the number of people in a session makes a big latency difference; as a rule small jams consisting of geographically close people work the best -- although I've been in jams with 10-12 people spread across North America and they've worked surprisingly well.

    Zoom, Skype and etc., are tuned for meetings, teaching, etc. JamKazam is tuned for multiple real-time synchronized musicians. There are other similar online services that are also reported to work pretty well (Jamulus, etc.).

    I jam for free with an online group on JamKazam daily at 4pm PT. It was originally started by, and most often is hosted by a Wernick Method Jam Camp affiliate.
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
    "It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."


    2002 Gibson F-9
    2016 MK LFSTB
    1975 Suzuki taterbug (plus many other noisemakers)
    [About how I tune my mandolins]
    [Our recent arrival]

  11. #8
    ************** Caleb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    DFW, Texas
    Posts
    3,676

    Default Re: No motivation

    As someone who has played alone (with very few exceptions throughout the years) for almost 30 years, this is hard for me to understand. I have loved playing with other people when it has happened, and I still long to find a group of folks to play with, but I have kept on playing simply because I love making music. I would suggest trying some other styles on mandolin for motivation, or maybe taking up the mandola, guitar, cello, or anything to make learning interesting again. Hang in there.
    ...

  12. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Caleb For This Useful Post:


  13. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Ms
    Posts
    398

    Default Re: No motivation

    as others have said start working on various genres but then you may already do that but long to be around folks that play...I've played by myself for the last 6-7 years as there is no one to play with and I'm fine with that altho I would like to have just one or a couple people to work on things with and I don't do jams or even like the word jam ha

  14. #10

    Default Re: No motivation

    Hang in there Jimmy, this too shall pass. Maybe a break is exactly what you need, take some time and don't play - put your mando in the case and go do something else...you will rediscover your love for music and mando.
    Northfield F5M #268, AT02 #7

  15. #11
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Vancouver BC Canada
    Posts
    1,001

    Default Re: No motivation

    ''No more jams due to the pandemic.''

    ??????????. Not sure why . We've jammed outside a few times ...kept our distance .....just wear a mask-or not as long as you are distancing .
    Most summer jams are outside anyway . Most festivals are outside and most of us jam outside at festivals . Keep your distance ..keep the circle a bit smaller and enjoy some jamming . Its actually the one thing we CAN do to socialize , keep our chops up , be inspired , escape the 'reality' of the pandemic ......If some of us are off work due to safety concerns and lockdowns it gives us MORE time to get together for a safe outdoor jam .

  16. The following members say thank you to roysboy for this post:


  17. #12
    Registered User Tom Sanderson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Saint Augustine, FL
    Posts
    606

    Default Re: No motivation

    Do you read music (notation)? If you do, work on sight reading and try some of the more difficult stuff like Bach cello suites, etc. . If you don’t read music, why not work on learning to? There’s plenty of information out there for free and it will open up a whole new world.

  18. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Tom Sanderson For This Useful Post:


  19. #13
    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Peace and Love
    Posts
    2,403

    Default Re: No motivation

    One of MandolinCafe’s closest guarded secrets, you can even post half a tune.
    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/group.php?groupid=67

    Or go out for a run/hike? I always wondered how far I could hike in 24 hours, maybe do that sometime...

  20. #14
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    2,117

    Default Re: No motivation

    Find beauty in the sounds you can make with your instrument.

    Listen to the music that is in your head. Let it come out.

    Let it surprise you to see that sometimes you cannot (yet) play what is inside your head and try to get there.

    Look forward to the time when playing with each other will be possible.
    Olaf

  21. #15
    Registered User William Smith's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Sugar Grove,PA
    Posts
    3,364
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: No motivation

    Most of us get into that funk! I went years without playing due to being death bed sick! No Joke man. Just go to a quiet place and see where that takes you-get your mind off all the BS and start to noodle around and that has helped me in the past and before long I was playing tunes I played years ago that I forgot all about? The brain does hold stuff in there!! Be Well

  22. #16
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Richmond, VA
    Posts
    8,076

    Default Re: No motivation

    All the regular jams in our area are cancelled and the church music group in which I played mandolin and octave mandolin has been shut down, as singing in church has been suspended. But the mid-1800s period band I'm in has started practicing again every other week, observing precautions. We have a gig scheduled in October that the organizers are still hoping will happen. Also, one of our band members has hosted a jam at her house recently.

    I think if you only do instrumentals, like fiddle tunes, you are in better shape. Singing seems to be the big problem due to the forced exhalation. If the players keep 6' apart and wear masks and the contact surfaces in the room have been properly cleaned, it should be fine. I imagine if you hosted jams yourself with those rules, people would come.

    Our band also has recordings of us doing all our tunes online. I jam along to those recordings for practice. I'm sure you could jam to YouTube videos of tunes you do. Sometimes I download audio of YouTube tunes and slow them down if necessary with Transcribe! and jam along.

    I find it's helpful to have a personal "repertoire list" that you strive to maintain for when things open up again. Also, if you can afford it, expand your horizons to octave mandolin or GDAE tenor banjo. A slightly different instrument can get you going off in new directions.

  23. #17
    Front Porch & Sweet Tea NursingDaBlues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    My heart is in The South.
    Posts
    522

    Default Re: No motivation

    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmybikes View Post
    I’ve lost all motivation to practice or learn new tunes.
    No more jams due to the pandemic.
    The great 48 is now canceled. It was the greatest jam scene!
    All the festivals are cancelled.
    I don’t preform live anymore.
    I noodle around aimlessly for maybe 20 minutes in the evening.
    There is no point learning anything new because there is no one to share it with.
    Help me! I’m a lost soul.
    This has been a difficult time for many folks; probably more than many of us realize. I’m glad that you reached out. To reach out can take a lot of strength.

    Isolation comes in many forms: Separation from people in general. Separation from folks with whom we’ve established some sort of bond or relationship or friendship. Separation from previously commonplace activities. Separation from things that we enjoy doing.

    The events of the past several months can also create a substantial amount of anxiety. Sometimes we don’t even recognize that we’re experiencing anxiety – maybe we think we’re feeling a little unsettled. Or don’t have the focus we once had.

    Combine isolation with anxiety in the face of events in which we may feel powerless, well many folks begin to withdraw. Motivation goes by the wayside. Simple pleasures become a rarity. And a depression can set in.

    What I’m about to suggest can take even more strength. I recommend that you reach out to someone. Maybe your doctor. Maybe a pastor. Maybe a professional therapist. Tell them what you’re experiencing inside. Then follow their guidance.

    I sincerely wish you well. And I would imagine so do all the folks on this forum. Please take care.

  24. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to NursingDaBlues For This Useful Post:


  25. #18

  26. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to DavidKOS For This Useful Post:


  27. #19
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    S.W. Wisconsin
    Posts
    7,500

    Default Re: No motivation

    We've been getting together at a couple local farmers markets. Keep the jam small and play for ourselves. sound carries outside well so the venders and shoppers like it. We are outside and stay apart but it has allowed us to jam. We also have started a concert series off the porch of an old Victorian house. Audience brings chairs and sits apart in the lawn, tip jar gets passed for the performer. A fairly safe gig in these unsafe times. You may contact one or two folks you play with and meet in a park or someone's lawn. It's not a gig or big jam, but it's playing music with someone else.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

  28. #20
    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,210

    Default Re: No motivation

    Ah feel yer pain....


    but don't bring me down!

  29. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to mandocrucian For This Useful Post:


  30. #21
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Kalamazoo, MI.
    Posts
    7,486

    Default Re: No motivation

    Yep, I’m about as motivated as molasses in January!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  31. #22

    Default Re: No motivation

    I once read that Hendrix always wore his guitar and played when at home. I soon after started wearing my mandola and playing to whatever was on TV, along with the soundtrack melody and chords by ear, composing music on the fly to the news, etc. My logic is, if I can imagine it, I can hum and play it.

    That's a little different from playing tunes, but it makes me play along with things in many styles, in what might seem to be inconvenient keys, and breaks me out of standard patterns.

    But, that bit of advice doesn't provide motivation, which comes from within.

  32. The following members say thank you to Explorer for this post:


  33. #23

    Default Re: No motivation

    It is OK to take some time off.

    Try some yard work or planting flowers. It is fun to watch stuff grow.....

  34. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Jeff Mando For This Useful Post:


  35. #24
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Mesa, Arizona
    Posts
    41

    Default Re: No motivation

    This is good advice. I too am finding it hard to get motivated. It helped that I found a group that is doing a Zoom jam every two weeks. Even so, I still need to talk to friends about what's going on. That helps too.

  36. #25

    Default Re: No motivation

    There are many benefits of such an existential crisis. Privilege is blinding.

    The steady draining of immanent meaning from objects clears the way for some marvelous new totalization, so that in a world depleted of significance and subjectivity, myth can furnish just those ordering, reductive schemas necessary to elicit unity from chaos (Eagleton, Ideology of the Aesthetic)

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •