Ever just feel lost?

[Faith Nicole]

Hey, yeah I don't post much. I do lurk a lot.

I love playing music with the guys, I always enjoy the gig (barring certain creepy fill-ins). Lately though I've been sitting at the house, plenty of time to practice, yet I find myself staring around feeling lost. I end up reading instead until bedtime.

I know that I need to practice, we have songs queued that I need to familiarize myself with before our next rehearsals .. but I can't seem to do it.

 

[Seamus OReally]

Ah, the dreaded ennui. I know it well.

Since you’ve made commitments to others, force yourself to do it. If that doesn’t help you shake it, talk to your band about maybe taking a break.

 

[Dadocaster]

It happens. May you just don't dig what you are playing.

 

[Bob the builder]

What's lately?
a week?, month?
Maybe just your brain rebooting

 

[Faith Nicole]

What's lately?
a week?, month?
Maybe just your brain rebooting

Past few months. It strange since I always enjoyed practicing, especially when I'm alone in the evenings.

 

[Faith Nicole]

Ah, the dreaded ennui. I know it well.

Since you’ve made commitments to others, force yourself to do it. If that doesn’t help you shake it, talk to your band about maybe taking a break.

Break? Nah, I love playing with the guys. Always a fun gig. Plus I've only been with them for 10 months now. They are going on 15 years together.

It happens. May you just don't dig what you are playing.

Love the music. Gets me dancing, which can be a bit difficult onstage in a constrained space holding a bass.

 

[Dadocaster]

Break? Nah, I love playing with the guys. Always a fun gig. Plus I've only been with them for 10 months now. They are going on 15 years together.


Love the music. Gets me dancing, which can be a bit difficult onstage in a constrained space holding a bass.

Bass headstocks are responsible for many injuries every year.

 

[Faith Nicole]

Bass headstocks are responsible for many injuries every year.

Yep .. good thing that I stand next to the keyboard player who happens to be short and sits down

I have been know to walk behind him, turn around, and bump into him while staring and grinning at the drummer. Typically while the keyboard player is singing "Stand By Me"

 

[monte merrick]

It’s not the best of times in the world right now- didn’t you just go through a hurricane? You might have a sort of sprained heart… forcing it doesn’t work out that well usually but wrapping it each day in a supportive ace bandage , so to speak, might. Reading probably isn’t hurting at all but spending some time unpacking might open things up faster. I switch from music to writing or the other direction if necessary when something isn’t adding up( ie, that thing I love and know I love isn’t doing what it usually does)

 

[Dadocaster]

Yep .. good thing that I stand next to the keyboard player who happens to be short and sits down

I have been know to walk behind him, turn around, and bump into him while staring and grinning at the drummer. Typically while the keyboard player is singing "Stand By Me"

in the mid eighties I worked in a music store that was pretty small and had a big line of glass counters a walkway and the wall with the instruments. So many near misses, a few good clonks, mostly headshots.

 

[Quikstyl]

Hey, yeah I don't post much. I do lurk a lot.

I love playing music with the guys, I always enjoy the gig (barring certain creepy fill-ins). Lately though I've been sitting at the house, plenty of time to practice, yet I find myself staring around feeling lost. I end up reading instead until bedtime.

I know that I need to practice, we have songs queued that I need to familiarize myself with before our next rehearsals .. but I can't seem to do it.

Gotta get back in there. Slap on some music you like, listen, relax. Find what moves you to want to play, not what makes you have to play.

 

[Faith Nicole]

It’s not the best of times in the world right now- didn’t you just go through a hurricane? You might have a sort of sprained heart… forcing it doesn’t work out that well usually but wrapping it each day in a supportive ace bandage , so to speak, might. Reading probably isn’t hurting at all but spending some time unpacking might open things up faster. I switch from music to writing or the other direction if necessary when something isn’t adding up( ie, that thing I love and know I love isn’t doing what it usually does)

I've been thinking, what I can, that it's likely not music related. More like mentally overwhelmed so I escape into a book instead. It is frustrating though

 

[AntStrat]

Life happens when you're busy making plans......John Lennon

Don't call your escape frustrating, go with it and enjoy your reading. When your head feels it's time for music (and it will happen) then it will be a new adventure.

 

[simoncroft]

Sorry to hear you've reached this impasse. It happens to us all. When my tinnitus got so bad, I didn't feel comfortable even being at a gig, I didn't play guitar for about six months. Yeah, no one goes deaf playing a guitar or bass that isn't even plugged in, but the joy went out of it for a while. I spent a lot of that time writing, designing visual things, editing video… anything creative that wasn't making music.

But I found workshop and tutorial threads on here that drew me back in. Got me fascinated with musical approaches I'd never tried before, and opened up exciting new avenues. I'd got in a rut, and learning new approaches got me out of that.

FWIW, I rarely play bass at home, unless I have a specific reason to practice something, or just keep my fingers up to speed. Playing guitar, or keyboards, seems a lot more fun.

 

[33db]

NM

 

[stratocarlster]

It's not much different to those many times when we wake up and don't want to go to work. We do it, because it's our job. Playing bass in that band is a job. You need to practice. Set aside an hour, and do it. Clock on and clock off, if that what it takes.

 

[sunburst_xxii]

Sometimes, yes. But... as the great man himself once sung (or sang, I'm not entirely sure which !! ) :

 

[NobodyReally]

Sometimes you just need a breather. When you're gigging regularly with a band, covers or originals, after a while it starts to feel like a chore. Sucks the joy right out of it. You maybe need to step back from it until you start to miss it. May take days, maybe months. But whatever it takes, please just don't ever give it up...

 

[Boyd L]

Insightful, introspective people often need a daily (or regularly occurring) "decompression" experience to help them function to life's daily expectations. It can be an emotional balancing exercise. Different people require different things to achieve that emotional symmetry. For me it has been a variety of things depending on where I currently am in life, but it was always something that allowed me to experience an emotional balance instead of a deficit.
A simple thing we do in my professional life is encouraging students to express themselves. Writing is a broad application practice. Writing about anything often leads us to a better place, provided enough time because we will often end up writing about something that is causing an internal, emotional, deficit. It's simple, maybe it won't help, but I bet it won't hurt.

 

[sozzled]

I've gone through that and recently went through that again. I use to overthink, speculate and wallow in dark moods and learned to put a stop to those thoughts by allowing the distractions run their course and/or get busy with other things unrelated to music, like cleaning out hoarded areas or reorganizing or restructuring daily routines and food diets. Depression can be conquered.