Musicians Block. Options

[Joe]

GMC,

I've been plagued with a never-ending case of musicians block for the past couple months. Nothing I play seems to sound good enough, everything sounds similar. This kind of feeds on itself, and when I pick up the guitar and play it almost seems like I'm just going through the motions and not really making music, just playing notes on a guitar. Maybe some of it is all the theory I've been learning, and it just hasn't settled down in my brain yet. Kind of like when first learning scales and getting "stuck in the box" but I'm past that stage.

Maybe part of it is because I haven't had a chance to crank up and jam out with my friends. I am going to go do this tomorrow. But I'm worried that I won't catch that spark, and I'll just make everything sound awful because of my lack of inspiration. I listen to things I recorded months and years ago and it sounds better and more alive than my playing now.

Anyone else go through this? I hope I find the cure soon. Whenever I get like this I always remember a quote, I believe it was Hendrix, talking about how you'll go through phases where you "hate the guitar" but you just work through it. I've worked through this in the past, but it's never been this bad. Maybe it's compounded by my own expectations, where I put more pressure on myself to play better because I've been playing longer, learning, and should be playing better. Ach.

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