People usually try to reignite their passion for playing by buying a new guitar, amp, or effect box! I’ve been guilty of it too. I’m not sure if there’s a guitar player alive that hasn’t. Unfortunately, the passion is usually short-lived. We end up searching for the next guitar toy before we’ve even put the last one to good use.

I fall out of love with playing guitar. What now?

I suspect many of us fall out of love with playing because of frustration. Sometimes you feel like you’re not making any progress or don't feel like playing your favorite riff again... It can be tough to find your way out of the rut without the right strategy. The good news is that the right tools for this gig are free and easy!

Six Tools to Rekindle Your Guitar Love

Tool 1. Change things up!

A change is as good as a holiday! The first tool is also my preferred one. If I start to feel like things are getting stale, I completely change what I’ve been practicing. If I’ve been working a lot on blues, then I’ll get into something else. I’ll dig some jazz, acoustic fingerpicking, explore effects. Maybe I'll try some new theory idea or play left-handed… Whatever it takes to fire up the passion again.

Tool 2. Refine your Goals

Long-term goals should be fluid and flexible! If you find yourself in a rut, it’s worth checking in with your long-term goal. If your goal has changed, it’s time to try a different path. Having goals is an excellent way of maintaining motivation. If you’ve not seen the Effective Practice series, check it out now.

Tool 3. Expand Your Listening Palette

I’ve found myself a couple of times falling out of love with music, not just guitar. That’s pretty scary for a professional musician. I’ve heard the same from many colleagues and students over the years. Sometimes, we struggle to connect with music. If that's your case, expand your listening palette!

Does it seem a bit obvious? Well, maybe, but it’s something that very few people actually do. Thanks to services like Spotify and YouTube, it’s easier than ever to explore new music. Finding a good curator can be tricky!

Here's my suggestion: Start with an all-time favorite on YouTube. Then, check the suggested videos. It’s an excellent place to start! I like the suggested playlists on Spotify, too. Feel free to look for some of my favorite guitar music playlists! :)

Tool 4. Dig Deeper

If you don’t fancy going too far away from music styles you like, dig deeper into the music you do like. Try and dig deeper into your favorite artists! I suggest picking your all-time favorite and finding a complete discography. Listen to the stuff you are not so familiar with!

If you’ve already gone there, you might read a biography or find interviews. Discover out who they like and try that. ;) I found this route a great tool for finding incredible stuff I would never have found otherwise.

Tool 5. The Forced Five Minutes

I’ve often had students say that they haven't found time to play anymore. Work gets in the way, ‘life takes over’... To be honest, I think that is rarely the case. It’s much more likely that motivation is down. There’s always that 15 minutes you wasted watching rubbish TV when you could have been playing.

There’s a tool for this scenario too!

Finding 30 minutes a day to practice can be tricky for many people. Finding just 5 minutes to play sounds more achievable for most of us! So do it.

When I’ve used this tool myself, the 5 minutes have flown by, and I often find that I play a lot longer because I’m enjoying it! There should be nothing set. The aim is to play. And I mean to play as in play around and have fun – the real meaning of play!

Tool 6. Take Some Time Out

It’s also fine to have time off – without guilt! I’ve often found that taking even as much as a month off seems to have helped things fall into place when I came back. But I do expect to need some time to get the muscles working again!

Well, I hope these tools are useful if you fall out of love or struggle to make time for our six-string friend. It’s quite normal to have times when you’re not practicing as much. Ensure you recognize it and have some tools to help you get back in the saddle when you want to. ;)

Safe travels, my friends.