What do you do to get out of a rut?

[Doug Stuart]

Lately I feel like all of my impromptu breaks sound the same. What do you do to expand yourself when you get into a musical rut?

Doug
www.crbluegrass.com

[Bill Jensen]

There are two things I do:

first: there is a natural psychological rhythm that accompanies the learning process. When you first learn something, it feels wonderful and innovative. As you become accustomed to it, you lose the sense of excitement. Eventually, it seems cloyed and bland. This last response is not necessarily an accurate assessment. So, the first thing I do in your situation is try to determine if my playing is really in a rut, or I am just in a psychological 'downturn'. If the latter, I do some deep breathing and try to play without the 'condemning mind' getting out of control.

Second: If I think that I am really in a rut, I try and find a concrete way to change my approach to soloing. I look for a lick, a new scale, something limited and definite that I can add to my playing. I try to apply it in a logical and controlled manner to tunes that I play on a regular basis. When I am sure that I understand the application of the new idea, I look for ways to expand it into as many playing opportunities as possible. What I am looking for is a small, expandable idea that I can use to add a new color to my current repertoire of ideas.

I have found Kaufman's 'Parking Lot' series a great source of ideas. I go to the advanced leads and find two or three interesting measures. I look for the underlying idea the measures contain and adapt it to as many playing situations as I can. If I do it right, I return back to the top of the psychological process and enjoy playing . . . until I get used to the new ideas and, once again, crash into the 'slough of despond'.

Hope that helps,
Bill

[Andy Highfield]

I find getting a new guitar often helps!!! :) :)

A cheaper option is learning some new tunes, especially stuff slightly outside your comfort zone. You band sounds great, by the way.

Andy

[Dave Engel]

Hi Doug,

I stumbled upon this quite by accident, but while I'm by myself, I'll hum a lick and do all sorts of things to it, then if it strikes me, quick get on the guitar and pound it out. Just for fun last week, I added Charlie Daniels (Devil Went Down to Georgia) ending of Lonesome Fiddle Blues to your everyday guitar version and it sounded pretty neat. Now when I play it, when I get to the end, someone will say "I know that song".

Dave

[Dave Skowron]

Whenever I get into a rut, I listen to music that is totally outside the realm of anything I'm playing. Some Woody Herman or maybe a little bit of Deep Purple or something. That usually ignites a little spark and I pick something new out of it to add to my own tool box.

[Ray Fairbanks]

I know EXACTLY what you mean, Doug! Here are a couple things that I try when I don't feel as though my breaks are sounding "inspired":
- Capo up and use some different open strings (ie, if everyone's playing in G, I'll capo to the 3rd fret and play along in an "E" chord formation, and I have a few different open strings to play with
- Focus on the melody; sounds simple enough, but it sometimes keeps me focused, and you may find some cool little fills along the way
- Add something a little quirky if it fits (I like to add the Woody Woodpecker theme, Flintstones theme, Sailors Hornpipe, Santa Claus is coming to town, etc) - makes it a little fun, too
And lastly, relax! When I don't feel relaxed, I fall into that rut real quick! But if I feel relaxed, it always sounds better.

Enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and ideas. Thanks for starting the thread, Doug!

[ronnie edwards]

hi doug,there are several things you can do to get out of a rut,learning something new is always a good start.some specific things would be to take a musical phrase or lick and transpose it to several different keys.a lick you always do in G position do it in D.it will take on a whole new sound and challenge.also take a melody like say red haired boy,and do it totally in closed position,whether it's an octave higher or the very same notes or both doesn't matter.one of the best things i have ever done for my own playing was to almost always practice without the capo.from my experience of flatpicking almost 40 years one of the things i still see prevalent in bluegrass and acoustic music in general is guitar players who can't play fluidly in closed position.also players who don't have even sustain,which comes from not playing well in closed position.

[Mark Parchment]

I feel like I'm in a rut most of the time. It seems like I beat my head up against it till it's not fun anymore. That generally is followed by a period of time when I really don't play much. Then I'll hear something I am inspired to learn, actually sit down and work on it, and suddenly I'm enjoying it again. So I think that's one key element of getting out of a rut, just reminding yourself that it's supposed to be fun. I like the suggestions regarding listening to stuff outside your normal vein. That, and occasionally aimlessly noodling with an ear open to the possibilities that appear from time to time. Recording myself, waiting some period of time, then objectively listening with fresh ears also helps me. One other thing is to deliberately try to be as outrageous as possible, play yourself into corners and see what happens as you try to keep from crashing and burning. Sure, you might crash and burn, but you also get that true creativity sometimes. When all your impromptu breaks sound the same you are probably trying to "play it safe" so fall back on your established palette of breaks and fills. Go for broke once in awhile. Crashing and burning probably won't kill you! At least it hasn't killed me yet, and I'm famous for it!

[Eric Skye]

What works for me is to go see live music.

[Jimmy Love]

I agree.

[Joseph Land]

I have a rather large collection of Guitar and Banjo tabs I have collected over the years. When I get into a rut, sometimes I just open one of my books or binders and randomly pick out a song and that is what I start working on. As a good example, I was in one of my Banjo ruts last month and randomly picked out "The Sheik of Araby" and spend 3 days playing along with my Band In A Box program. Came out of that with 3 new jazz chords on the Banjo. The next logical step was to see what I could do on the guitar for rhythm backup and some flatpick lead on the song.

[Jimmy Love]

What Dave said. Listen to some music that you would normally not listen to. Find a different perspective and take on solos. Listen to some blues, or rock, or jazz, anything. Not necessarily to copy the styles, but to get a different taste in your mouth. It will come out a bit in your playing.

[Howard Gotfryd]

Hello! This is my first post here, and I hope it helps.

As my old country friend, Darrell, says of ruts: "The first thing you have to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."

To agree with Dave Skowron's post, what works for me is taking some time off from playing, but also listening to some other genre of music that might not normally be on my play list. I'll listen to more classical music, for example, or even the hip-hop stylings of a group such as Jurassic Five. You get the idea ... It gives me a fresh sense of rhythm and melody, and frequently I return to the guitar and the kind of music I usually perform with renewed, ah, vigor. Good luck, and I hope you get out of that rut.