Lacking enthusiasm for playing

usually i'd say "just leave it as the itchy fingers will return" but if you haven't played (or practised) for a few weeks, you might find that the rest has rejuvenated your talent. i always find after a 2 week holiday that i play so much better.

it might be that your just fed-up with the same old chords and riffs? try playing in different keys. or try writing a song or two. it always helps me.

phill

This fill-in-the-blank post could be on any forum on the internet. Try [chessboard] or [rubik's cube] or [hackeysack] or [joystick] and see if it changes your perspective.

We are all still blinded by the light and selfishly want you to stay in the fold to justify our personal preoccupation. Like Scientologists.

What time zone / Local are you in?  Join the skype jams.  It will make playing fun for you again.  The one weekend I was able to meet up with 2 other people, I realized that my insecurity of my voice not being good or that my playing was not that great, flew out the window!!

I go through wanting to get rid of all my stuff every so often.  I just sit it down for a while.   

Don't worry about it.  Have fun with it, and the  best way is to find someone who helps you to have fun by playing with you, not over you.  This is a very hard thing to find (till I came here).
trust me, and it gets frustrating!  Ill bet you have met a few guys but they play great and don't want to help you along other than saying  " you need a metronome" or practice more. or they just want to show you all the riffs they know.  I meet kids who outplay me all the time.(I have been playing since HS and im 44).  I just keep doing what makes me happy and screw the rest of them if they don't see the joy  and fun I get out of it.

KEEP PLAYING.  Do not try to be a guitar hero, just play.

Cheers everyone for your tips, and in particular Beamer. 

Rabid, I don't think we're on the same page. Perhaps not in same Library.

W

You gotta wanna.
Otherwise put it down and find something that does interest you.
Trying to learn to play guitar (or doing anything....., sports, work, have sex, crossword puzzles) without enthusiasm is  a sure path to frustration and depression.
If you don't enjoy it , don't do it. One day you may get the uncontrollable urge to pick it up again.
I started playing around 22. Played a few hours a day for my own enjoyment.
Few years later , I got busy , playing got boring, and put I it down.
Few years later picked it up again. And it felt good.
Got busy again building a business. Picked it back up when the business went bad.
Finally I got to where I do not want to put the damn things down.

For an example of playing with enthusiasm..... I was fired from a pretty good job a few months back.
I saw it as an opportunity to play 4-5 more hours a day for a few months.
Right now I'm nursing a sore ring finger from playing 9ths in a load of Blues progressions all day yesterday.
I start with an idea of practicing for an hour or two , then finally look at a clock and see 5 hours have gone by. 
Happens all the time.  I make a lot of "sorry, I got caught up and forgot " calls.

When I was working my schedule was:
Get out of work at 10pm, eat something quick, start playing by 11pm.
Wake up at 5-6 AM in my playing chair with the damn thing still strapped on and my hand clutching the neck.
Play for another hour, till 6 or 7am, then go to bed for real.
Get up at the "crack of noon" , go to work, and do it all over again.

And I SUCK! Seriously. If I can get through "Over the Hills and Far Away" without a misstep it's a very good day.
I play with friends on the weekend, 8 - 12 hour sessions with a break for dinner.
They tell me I'm better than I think.
But nobody's gonna pay to see me play. Not yet anyway.
I'm always forgetting songs, still can't sing and play at the same time.
And I've been playing for 30 years!

Pathetic? Yes. But nobody is going to stop me from playing.

So don't worry about it. If it's not your thing right now, find something else to do.
It'll be there when you get back.

Hiya Beamer, I'm in the Wales in the UK. To be honest I'm going to take danzigi advice, I think I need to take a break without guilt tripping myself into playing. I've got a lot on at the moment with work and all in all it's been a very busy year. Perhaps it'll calm down towards the autumn/fall. 
I hope so anyway.

I find nothing gives me a boost like a new guitar. Doesn't have to be an expensive one, just different. I bought one at the end of last year and haven't been able to leave it alone since. I found that I can do things on it that I hadn't been able to do on the old one and the boost to self confidence is amazing. Really feel like I'm making progress now. It's well worth putting in silly bids on e-bay when there is no reserve. I picked up a Rickenbacker for well under half what it's worth when the auction ended at 7:00am on a bank holiday Monday. You never know!!

There is that. My Michael Kelly looks at me all forlorn with its spalted maple eyes...
Does it weep?