Ever fall out of love playing guitar?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mailman1971
  • Start date Start date
Every damned week lol. It’s more like a sickness at this point.
 
Never, if I go without playing for too long I start getting downright depressed...I have to be making progress daily, and maintaining my chops. I CAN'T go without playing guitar.
 
I'm currently there right now. I first picked up the guitar in 1985 and been gigging regularly since 1991. Never put the guitar down for any extended period of time until now.

I played my last show with my Ozzy tribute on August 29, 2021. The next day I was diagnosed with a tumor in my left lung which was diagnosed as stage 3 lung cancer shortly after that.

I've been going through chemotherapy and radiation treatment since Oct. 6th. I finished treatment a few weeks ago on Jan. 6th.
I've hardly touched a guitar since that last show. I bought 3 new guitars since my diagnosis to hopefully inspire me to play more but it hasn't really helped. Even bought some instructional DVD's and online courses to inspire me but hasn't motivated me to want to play.

I still get on here and other guitar forums and love to talk gear I just don't feel like playing. I changed strings on one of my newer guitars yesterday. Played it for about 5 min.

Talked to my Dr about it and they said it's perfectly normal. Talked to a drummer friend who is going through throat cancer and he didn't play his drums for 7 months so glad to hear I'm not the only one.

I feel once I start to heal some, and life gets back to some normalcy, I will be ready to play again. I'll be 50 next month and my 10 year anniversary with my Ozzy tribute is later this year. My goal is to play that 10th anniversary show.
 
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I started playing guitar in '95. I started building guitars around '04 and picked up bass around the same time. '06 I started learning to play a hammered dulcimer. Sometime in '09 I think I attempted to learn drums. I still like and noodle around with the hammered dulcimer but not very often. I've somewhat given up on drums recently since I never got that good at it. I've never walked away or fell out with playing guitar or bass since I first picked them up. I've also never stopped building either. I will get at least one refinish or scratch build in each year. I used to churn out more but found better satisfaction in taking my time; quality over quantity.

One thing I have fell out with and walked away from multiple times is playing with people and gigging. As I've aged my tolerance for band drama, wanna be rock stars, craphole clubs, their pain in the ass owners and all the other shit that goes along with being in a band has exponentially gone down. Each time I started to miss playing live with people and went back, it didn't take long for me to get sick of all the crap and walk away again. It's been about 10 years since the last time I walked away and have no plans to go back. I don't even care for playing with friends anymore. Now a days I'm more than content with a good drum machine and some recorded tracks to play along with. And I still get to crank it up and have fun.
 
I'm currently there right now. I first picked up the guitar in 1985 and been gigging regularly since 1991. Never put the guitar down for any extended period of time until now.

I played my last show with my Ozzy tribute on August 29, 2021. The next day I was diagnosed with a tumor in my left lung which was diagnosed as stage 3 lung cancer shortly after that.

I've been going through chemotherapy and radiation treatment since Oct. 6th. I finished treatment a few weeks ago on Jan. 6th.
I've hardly touched a guitar since that last show. I bought 3 new guitars since my diagnosis to hopefully inspire me to play more but it hasn't really helped. Even bought some instructional DVD's and online courses to inspire me but hasn't motivated me to want to play.

I still get on here and other guitar forums and love to talk gear I just don't feel like playing. I changed strings on one of my newer guitars yesterday. Played it for about 5 min.

Talked to my Dr about it and they said it's perfectly normal. Talked to a drummer friend who is going through throat cancer and he didn't play his drums for 7 months so glad to hear I'm not the only one.

I feel once I start to heal some, and life gets back to some normalcy, I will be ready to play again. I'll be 50 next month and my 10 year anniversary with my Ozzy tribute is later this year. My goal is to play that 10th anniversary show.
Hope you kick it's ass bud and start feeling like playing guitar like you used to! Good luck.
 
Hope you kick it's ass bud and start feeling like playing guitar like you used to! Good luck.
Thanks man.
I get new scans this Thursday and we'll see how the treatment worked.
I've got a long way to go in healing. Just taking a shower is exhausting and I get winded from it. Doctor said for every month of treatment expect 2 months of recovery so I'm looking at 6-8 months of recovery.

Stood up while I changed my strings yesterday so that's a start.
 
One thing I have fell out with and walked away from multiple times is playing with people and gigging. As I've aged my tolerance for band drama, wanna be rock stars, craphole clubs, their pain in the ass owners and all the other shit that goes along with being in a band has exponentially gone down. Each time I started to miss playing live with people and went back, it didn't take long for me to get sick of all the crap and walk away again. It's been about 10 years since the last time I walked away and have no plans to go back. I don't even care for playing with friends anymore. Now a days I'm more than content with a good drum machine and some recorded tracks to play along with. And I still get to crank it up and have fun.

I feel this for sure lol
 
I'm currently there right now. I first picked up the guitar in 1985 and been gigging regularly since 1991. Never put the guitar down for any extended period of time until now.

I played my last show with my Ozzy tribute on August 29, 2021. The next day I was diagnosed with a tumor in my left lung which was diagnosed as stage 3 lung cancer shortly after that.

I've been going through chemotherapy and radiation treatment since Oct. 6th. I finished treatment a few weeks ago on Jan. 6th.
I've hardly touched a guitar since that last show. I bought 3 new guitars since my diagnosis to hopefully inspire me to play more but it hasn't really helped. Even bought some instructional DVD's and online courses to inspire me but hasn't motivated me to want to play.

I still get on here and other guitar forums and love to talk gear I just don't feel like playing. I changed strings on one of my newer guitars yesterday. Played it for about 5 min.

Talked to my Dr about it and they said it's perfectly normal. Talked to a drummer friend who is going through throat cancer and he didn't play his drums for 7 months so glad to hear I'm not the only one.

I feel once I start to heal some, and life gets back to some normalcy, I will be ready to play again. I'll be 50 next month and my 10 year anniversary with my Ozzy tribute is later this year. My goal is to play that 10th anniversary show.
I know once you feel better you'll be tearing it up brother. Stay positive man!! You've inspired a lot of us to play just by seeing the stuff you are doing with the Ozzy Tribute stuff. I'm 51 now and gets harder and harder to find time but it will come.
 
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