How do you stay interested in guitar once the days of gigging are over?

[shar-vell Dan]

Me and @shar-vell Dan are starting a RATT cover band called TTAR.

dats sooo 80's -

 

[Jakem]

I never force myself to play guitar these days anymore. If the inspiration is not there I just don’t pick up the guitar on those days and at least for me that keeps it enjoyable. On the other hand it can be very few or no practise hours at all per week…

 

[DISTORT6]

The pursuit of the perfect riff blasted through tube amps and 4x12's.
Since Day One.

 

[VonBonfire]

Playing guitar without any gigs seems like a giant waste of time to me. Id sell all my gear.

 

[Geo]

Playing guitar without any gigs seems like a giant waste of time to me. Id sell all my gear.

I play the guitar because I love to. I need it, it's like therapy.

I no longer have the urge to play with and for others.

 

[anomaly]

I don't know how I stay interested, but I do. I always feel the need to pick up a guitar and play on most days. If the whole experience is just about being in a band for you then I can see how your interest would fade. I don't know...?? Maybe learn new songs or riffs and play along to some songs??

I haven't been in a band since maybe 2012 or 2013?? But I still play. I was thinking about maybe doing a reunion show or jam with my old band but I'm wondering if the vocalist can still pull off those songs? He's in his 50's now and some of it was some fairly extreme metal.

 

[anomaly]

I play the guitar because I love to. I need it, it's like therapy.

I no longer have the urge to play with and for others.

Ya playing guitar is like therapy for me too. I'd be lost without it.

 

[Jakem]

I never force myself to play guitar these days anymore. If the inspiration is not there I just don’t pick up the guitar on those days and at least for me that keeps it enjoyable. On the other hand it can be very few or no practise hours at all per week…

Forgot this from my previous post: Buying new gear is very inspiring!

 

[rstites]

I've been there and still am really. It's now been 20 years since my last serious gig (probably 300 local gigs in the decade after and a handful of sessions, but those are even a decade in the past now). I don't know that I have the energy or desire to go back out and play gigs now, especially just a local dive for a handful of people.

OTOH, I still want to write, create, and record, but there's a wall toward me getting everything set up for recording. I don't know what it is either as I'm fairly technically competent but just never get around to it. Meanwhile, the desire to play ebbs and flows, but I've definitely lost a lot of my chops in the meantime, and even what I do have tends to get me to hand-cramp area after an hour or two of playing.

Actually, I signed up for this place about the time I was realizing everything was in the rear view mirror, hoping for inspiration. Sadly, while I love chatting, I don't know that it's really helped me rekindle the effort into playing. At the same time, it also hasn't led me down the path of gear swapping!

 

[shar-vell Dan]

I usually "make" myself play whether i wanna or not. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Surprisingly i have some of my best jams on my X-100 Rockman when nobody can here me cuz its hard to be creative when you know you're annoying
the neighbors.
Tom Scholz's vision & creativity continues to enhance my life just like it did in 1981.

 

[marvcus]

I gave up gigging about a year ago. I notice my interest in playing guitar is fading. No new material to learn, no rehearsals, don't need any new gear. What do you do to keep it interesting?

You need to be one of those over the hill YouTubers that does gear videos where you start with “What’s up, guys?!” and then proceed to literally yap about a piece of gear for 20 minutes, with 30 seconds of actual play time. The world DEFINITELY needs more of those.