chat

I’ll echo the “taking a break” advice, getting some distance helps bring things into perspective.

Another thing that might help: music is both wonderful and intimidating in that there’s just so many facets of it, you can spend a lifetime learning it all and still only scratch the surface. Maybe take some time to explore aspects of it you haven’t touched or didn’t get deep into. Maybe that’s theory (or a school of theory you haven’t explored), maybe that’s learning more about the physics of music, maybe learn a new instrument, maybe learn how to make your own pedal or plugin.

Corgi I love what I have heard of your music.

I hope you find a way to love it again

Maybe you just need a break? To reset and refind why you liked it in the first place?

If it's not making you happy it's time for a break. Maybe the break never ends, or maybe you miss it after a few weeks and you come back with renewed interest. Never know till you try. Do something else with your time.

Sounds like you are burned out. An indefinite hiatus might be necessary. Music, like any art, requires your soul to be in it to truly create something great. If your hearts not in it you can't force it to be. Just lay it all on the table and have a heart to heart with these people by expressing the feelings you mentioned in the post. If they care for your well being then they will come to accept it.

Sorry for your situation Corgi its never easy losing passion for something you love.

I dont know what to do and I want to cry and scream

the tragic irony of this being great song writing material

if going to band practice / shows is making you feel this way, especially if your band is making you feel this way -- its better to stop. You can always make music on your own :)

There's nothing wrong with taking a break until you're happy making music again. Hell, there's nothing wrong with closing the guitar-playing chapter of your life and moving on.

You shouldn't be caged as "corgiwithalaptop the guitarist." Playing the guitar should bring joy and fulfillment to you and those who you care about, and if it no longer brings joy and fulfillment, it should be replaced by something else that would bring the same joy and fulfillment. Don't think about the thousands of dollars of equipment because you can become trapped through sunk cost fallacy where you have to keep on doing something that makes you unhappy because stopping means you've "wasted" thousands of dollars.

Don't beat yourself up about it. 7-8 years is a natural amount of time to devote to a serious hobby and you are well past that. I thought I would rock climb forever until it became a slog to convince myself to go and then I stopped. Now I have a different hobby and am very happy. Anything you don't do as a job should ultimately be done for joy, play, and experimentation. You are not doomed to do the same thing for the rest of your life after becoming good at it, and certainly not because you've spent a few thousand bucks on it.

You need a break. 10 years is an incredibly long time. Take a few months off to do something new and interesting. Join a roving band of swinging enthusiasts. Take up competitive masturbation. Embrace your inner hedonist and become embroiled in a satanic sex cult. The possibilities are endless!

'Tis the season for burnout, and Hellworld certainly isn't doing us any favors. For whatever it's worth, you're talented and you definitely have way more follow-through than I ever did. Take some time to rest and recuperate, and maybe just dabble in a side project or something completely unrelated -- something you find fun so that you can unwind without focusing on the social pressures or local music scene bullshit. It's really up to you whether this somehow ends up involving doing covers of classic Castlevania songs on an autoharp, or stomp-clap-hey renditions of Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath, or just taking a break from music altogether. And hang in there

I always feel extremely demotivated when releasing music, because it only reaches like 3 or 4 people.
And it’s important to ignore this feeling of wanting to give up. The fun in making music is the act itself. And if you don’t like being in a band, don’t be in a band. You can make music all by yourself.
There are still other ways to work with other people if you want the connection to people, like participating in game jams.

I’m up for a freaky Friday style swap - I’ve been burned out AF too recently. It’s hard to find that spark (or remember it’s still there) when it gets buried by bullshit. Hope you can

Fire the band. Start again. Heck, I'll fix up my thunderbird and come join you if need be.

Sounds like it’s time to cut ties. If your band doesn’t even talk anymore they’re only going to bog down any passion you still have left for music. Take a break, explore a different interest a while, and if/when you decide to pick up your instrument again, do it on your own terms for reasons that belong to you and you alone.

fuck the band or whatever but keep playing! my advice, start learning a bach tune. can’t go wrong there.

Since this is a leftist site, I might as well try throwing literature at you, haha

One of my favorite musicians wrote a free short ebook that addresses this kind of feeling. You can get it here (ik the website looks a little sketchy, but I promise it’s legit. You might have to check your junk folder for the email it sends): https://teach-your-knowledge-media.kit.com/b59723ec00

Don’t let the stuffy title turn you away; it’s actually an earnest (and rather rambly) stream-of-consciousness-style collection of thoughts that deals with a lot of the personal and emotional aspects of creative work. I don’t write music myself, but even so, reading this thing made me feel better about my own present lack of artistic output.

There's no shame in stopping, or in taking a break.

Another perspective: you aren't enjoying playing. Do you enjoy listening? Do you have music you just like to sit and listen to?

There's so many ways to engage with music, and I don't think you're not a musician if you take time to figure out what inspires you, if anything. Regardless of what you play, it's a deeply personal thing to play your instrument.

Maybe give yourself permission to just not try for a bit, and see how you feel if you were to "decide" to be done.

Source: am musician, have dealt with burnout, have had to think a lot about why

This could be any number of things going on. You've had a staggering amount of milestones and major life changes just in the past 3 years or so; this might subtly change how you're reflecting on things and thus how you feel about them. Is it just playing guitar that you feel this way about, or are there other things that also provoke disdain or anhedonia or similar feelings?

Uncovering our interests is something that's a continuous process. There's no script or command for what to do, just a bunch of us weird apes in a sandbox world. Turn toward yourself and follow where it goes.