Sometimes it's like cheryl crow said...
" I think a change...will do you good"
It's true, sometimes you just need to be around different people with different outlooks and/or different musical styles. Sometimes it takes an instrument change.
I'll tell you a little of my experience...
When I got my guitar I only listened to Tool, NIN, Filter, STP, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and other common 90s bands. I started out playing in Dropped-D cause all my favorite bands at the time played in that tuning. I quickly ran into the wall of finding out that ALL music can't be played on the lower 3 strings of the guitar. I quickly lost hope and faith in my ability and stopped playing for about a month. My beautiful silverburst sat in the corner staring at me and the guilt was eating me alive. I wanted to play...but couldn't get anything but that grungy dark sound.
It was then that I realized I HAD to make a change. I couldn't do it on my electric guitar...I had to start fresh with a new guitar. And I had to start from the basics.
I got on Craigslist and did a local search for a cheap (REAL CHEAP) guitar and I found my $20 yamaha fg-403s. I committed myself to learning open chords, barre chords and all of the notes, scales and chords associated with "Standard" tuning.
Since that day, I've been inspired and I'm creating my own songs instead of playing other people's songs all the time. I've never felt so alive and creative and all I had to do was step out of what I knew and was comfortable with and struggle a little. Yes, it was hard...it's still hard to this day because it's the unknown. But I now have REAL callouses, I can play REAL chords, I can write my own songs, I can play so many different variants of chords that I never would have know existed if I'd have stayed playing in Dropped-D and doing the same things all the time.
Try a change, I promise you won't regret it...
Dm
"Talent instantly recognizes genius,
but mediocrity knows nothing more than itself."
-Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle
