Feeling burned out.

If you band of four years is playing the same stuff all the time and never adding anything new there's your problem .

 

Sometimes I just wait it out ... I posted a similar thing here a month ago ... it passes. Our emotions are tied to our physical conditions, so illness, stress, fatigue can play havoc on how we feel about things. Other times I choose to "woodshed" on something new. Lately I've been doing a lot jazz stuff on acoustic guitar (I also sing). My money-maker is country music or blues, so it's quite a departure from the norm, and keeps me interested and learning.

 

After playing for 30 years, I started talking lessons. I can play but I was getting bored.

The lessons are making it fun again. I am excited to practice and learn more, but I am loving incorporating what I learn into what I am playing with my band.

 

Maybe you can get the fire back thinking how lucky you have been to have good bands and gigs. There are allot of guys out there who wish they had your success.

 

Lessons are good, and so is picking up another instrument. Doing that changes how you think about what you are doing and makes you a better player, even if you don't get all that serious about the second or third or however many instruments you eventually try playing.

 

the truly educated never graduate

 

you cud try the coke-n-hooker weekend with your bros or have everyone learn The Brown album by The Band.

We're gonna do both

 

if others in the band feel the same, take 3 months off from gigging, and work on totally new songlists

 

It's Christmas so I would start by putting down your bass, putting on some stretchy sweat pants and eating a lot of turkey. Nothing like a good food-fest to revitalise body and soul.

 

I had the same feelings a couple of years ago. After playing in a very successful cover band for 14 years, I was burnt out. I still wanted to play but wanted to do something different. So after a year of not playing, I formed an acoustic/electric trio with my wife and former guitarist and now cover everything from Buddy Holly to The Band Perry (and very vocal driven). I now look forward to rehearsals and find myself practicing more!

 

Take a break. "Separation makes the heart grow fonder" and all that. Everyone needs a vacation now and then, even from something or someone they love!

 

For writing, I always found sadness or an hue thereof would really help my creativity (or at least help my come up with less cheesy stuff) so you can always use that low feeling somehow. Once it passed I wrote about how there was nothing to write about! lol

For motivation, I found a couple of weeks of some high energy exercise activity for at least 30 min a day to help wear me out, and then at least 8-10 hours of sleep every night for those couple of weeks helps clear the system of any (undesirable) funk. That helps me bring up the energy levels both physical and mental, and then one good jam or party and I feel like a million bucks again. YMMV!

 

I second the suggestion to take a break, I know in your setup is probably hard to do because there's probably no temporary replacement. I play in a church band, 2 days a week; last month I was feeling burned out so I backed out totally; after 3 weeks I started missing it so I went back. Now I take a day off here and there, but I am enjoying it again. In my setup it is easy because there's another guy who can play bass.

New material usually helps me rejuvenate my interest, specially if it is challenging.

Please let us know how you make out.

 

There are good points here and there, lol

For me, I do a couple of different things

Musically
1. Stop playing bass or any music for a couple of weeks, except for gigs
2. Find a few songs that you would like to learn, that doesn't necessarily fit into any project, and jam with them, woodshed'm whatever
3. I play guitar as well, so I will start jamming on my guitar, sometimes just free jamming, other times jamming with some songs, just general goofing off.
4. I also love to mess around with effects, and other stuff, so I will get a drum pattern going, and do bass or guitar jams with that

Otherwise
5. Get out and spend time on another hobby or home project

 

Get into a really good TV series and binge watch it. Being engulfed in a really good story is a good escape, and for me, helps the dust settle on current music life dilemmas and any other cranial construction and calibration projects. I find good entertainment really creatively inspiring too. Don't forget good food and exercise too! Get those nutrients and mood altering endorphins rockin!

 

+1 on lessons, enjoying the holidays, and binge watching a tv series.
Every couple months my girl and I try to spend a long weekend in a cabin. She's a full time student so we both need it. Its good and restful usually and no playing with no electronics to keep my brain on playing really freshens up the brain!