Throw it all away, burn it down. I hate music.

[Papazita]

Does anyone else ever feel like just giving up? I'm not in it for success or money, I just play for the fun of it and my own enjoyment. Lately though, I've been stuck in one of those ruts where nothing is right, nothing sounds good, I'm continually frustrated and I hate everything. There's no fun, there's no enjoyment, so why bother?

And then the next day I'll feel just the opposite.

10 minutes later I'm back to hating everything. I'm at the point now where I don't know whether I want to pack everything away and take a break, quit entirely (which would save money), or get rid of every instrument and piece of gear I own and start over from scratch.

 

[Paulabass]

I feel like throwing in the towel every time I hear Rocco play. I study his grooves, and just as I think I getting somewhere....BEAST MODE.

 

[kesslari]

Right now there's a lot of emotional chaos "in the ether". It does impact us individually.
I am finding, at least for me, that emotional negatives seem amplified right now. I remember "this too shall pass". And I find small actionable things that I can work on - learning a melody that I enjoy, picking up a groove, or (when things are craziest) just playing songs that settle me down when I play them - things like "Inner City Blues" or Oliver Mtukudzi's "Wake Up".
Hang in there bass brothers and sisters.

 

[Mvilmany]

Take a break from it. Focus on another creative outlet now. It’s different if music is your livelihood and/or you have committed gigs. But if you are playing music for fun and it’s not fun, then give it a break.

 

[Lagado]

"Habit converts luxurious enjoyments into dull and daily necessities."

Aldous Huxley.

You need psychological holidays, other interests, it keeps things fresher. Live in a few different worlds, most people are these days. If you can't beat them, join them...

 

[pisces_bass]

I'm almost 2 years back into playing music after a 15 year break. When playing music turns toxic, it's certainly not worth forcing it. When I came back into the fold, my chops were gone but my ears were fresh. My goals and tastes are different and expectations of myself and others gone. It's fun and simple again. Take a break!

 

[jdh3000]

I quit playing once for 6 months because I was burnt out all the way around... people I played with, the music, the places we played... when I came back my fingers felt like I was starting over.
Don’t completely stop for that long, just take a bit of a break and maybe try listening to some different stuff.
I find classical music very renewing when I feel frustrated, actually about anything. I don’t really think about playing it, but just let it cleanse my mind.
I think we all, whether pro or amateur, feel a bit of that now and then.
Take a few days and try it again, try learning some other styles, maybe take up another instrument... but keep play because it will be more frustrating to break yourself back in.

 

[40Hz]

When I get tired of music I take a break from it and focus on something else (in my case: learning something completely new, writing, physics, making things, learning a foreign language, computer technology, electronics, and outdoor physical activities) and do those for awhile until I’m refreshed and interested in pursuing music once again.

That’s the advantage of granting yourself the luxury of having multiple interests. Why not give it a try?

 

[Jazz Ad]

It's a hobby. You don't HAVE to play daily, practice steadily, improve or make any progress. You just need to enjoy yourself. Pressure is useless.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

the next day I'll feel just the opposite

I'm not even having that, it's all bad all the time for me lately, for months & months. I get disgusted just playing one song, so I put the bass back on the wall & won't touch it for a few days.
When I felt like this years ago I did sell up, everything.
That was at the end of December & in the first week of April I had a u-bass, & a week later I had an electric bass & amp.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, maybe stash my basses under the bed until I feel better about trying to play them.
Learning how tone-deaf I am has put the biggest wrench in things, & really really makes me want to quit!

 

[LBS-bass]

It's ok to take a break. I'm in the same boat today. Keep thinking I'll sit down and play something, but then I don't want to. The mood will hit me again eventually, I suppose. In the meantime I'm doing other stuff.

 

[40Hz]

Learning how tone-deaf I am has put the biggest wrench in things, & really really makes me want to quit!

You might want to spend a half hour with this video and hear what one of your fellow musicians has to say about listening and hearing.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is an internationally recognized classically trained orchestral percussionist.

She’s also deaf. She started losing her hearing when she was just eight, and has been diagnosed as being profoundly deaf since the age of 12.

 

[40Hz]

It's ok to take a break. I'm in the same boat today. Keep thinking I'll sit down and play something, but then I don't want to. The mood will hit me again eventually, I suppose. In the meantime I'm doing other stuff.

Not uncommon. Especially in these crazy times. We’ve all had our lives disrupted of late. But doing “other stuff” (I like that expression ) is the smart and healthy way to deal with disruptions in our personal schedules and plans. It’s a good strategy: Let go, shift focus, reorient, regroup, return.

 

[Pings Bass]

No. I gave up gigging to raise kids, but never once gave up being a musician. I was born this way. I could no sooner give up breathing. If all my instruments were destroyed you'd find me banging rocks together in the woods.

 

[juancaminos]

I agree with those who say "take a break" I've done this two or three times in 50+ years. In fact I am doing it now. Partially because of the pandemic and partially because I am trying to retire, downsize and relocate which has caused more anxiety for me than I expected.

 

[bassliner50]

Drop the guitarists, find a real pianist. So refreshing.

 

[PWRL]

You might want to spend a half hour with this video and hear what one of your fellow musicians has to say about listening and hearing.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is an internationally recognized classically trained orchestral percussionist.

She’s also deaf. She started losing her hearing when she was just eight, and has been diagnosed as being profoundly deaf since the age of 12.

I had the chance to see her in the late 90's. She was amazing.

 

[BarfanyShart]

I took a multi-year break from bass. I had to study other instruments, make up some stuff on my own, focus on other things, get into listening to new types of music ... and I ended up back at bass, but in a whole new way that I am now finding very exciting and important, even though I am 100% just a hobbyist nowadays.

 

[Bajo Clarkko]

My apologies to the OP, and the rest of you if I come across like a jerk right now, but....

Early this morning, about 12 miles from where I live, some criminals burned down a bank that I has previously used. There was also a bank next door, and it too, BURNED TO THE GROUND.

In doing so, they put dozens of really nice people out of work. I’m not holding my breath assuming that the safe deposit boxes survived the carnage, in which case, dozens (hundreds?) of nice folks, just like us, had precious, valuable, irreplaceable possessions, family heirlooms and documents destroyed. Forever.

The natural ebb and flow of our feelings towards our music is what might be considered a “First world problem.”

Again, I offer my apologies. Rant over.

 

[Lagado]

I decided one day that I wanted to take some time out, do something else for a bit. I hardly touched a bass for two years. But I'd been playing for 25 years already by that point. Wants and needs change, people change.