Not staying focused on one thing?

[Dominik Gräber]

Hey friends! Haven't been super active here or even played much guitar lately.

I often find myself in having too many and changing interests at once and I wondered if some of you experienced something like this as well.
There are so many ideas in my head, styles I want to try, Covers I want to learn. But by the time I started digging into one thing, my mind is on something different again.

Sometimes at work I can't stop thinking about how excited it will be to learn a rhcp cover and by the time I am Home I would love to write an egyptian inspired Instrumental... Is this crazy?

You got any stories like this too you'd like to share? What are you doing in these situations?

 

[iridecently]

I totally understand where you are coming from, especially when I put pressure on myself to do something I will find a dozen other things to do
But honestly, it probably isn't that bad if you are constantly changing what you want to play as long as you are playing something? I picked up my guitar today wanting to learn a Queens Of The Stone Age song and actually ended up practicing minor pentatonic scales. It might not have been what I set out to do, but I still played
So I'd say just do what you want to do and if you want to change that after 5 minutes that's fine too, it doesn't have to be this strict regimen of playing as long as you are playing and having fun!

 

[idssdi]

This is kind of a constant struggle for me. I kind of always want to do too many things. What i try to do is prioritizing things so for example at the moment musically speaking I want to sing, play gypsy jazz, play blues, play rock, play metal(we're not even speaking about me wanting to do electronic music and all my music courses for now). What I do to get all of those done is basically make a list of songs that has all of those in them. For example I just learned a Django song and now I'm working on a prince song etc. I put it in an order such that every style I'd like to play comes around once in a while and just work through the list. It requires a ton of discipline to follow the list because there are some songs that are like 40th in the list and I'm at like song 10 now but I just persevere. It's also not a list set in stone, I kinda keep adding stuff at random places if I feel like it but I do stick to the list to fulfil all my musical needs.

Hope that helps.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

I totally understand where you are coming from, especially when I put pressure on myself to do something I will find a dozen other things to do
But honestly, it probably isn't that bad if you are constantly changing what you want to play as long as you are playing something? I picked up my guitar today wanting to learn a Queens Of The Stone Age song and actually ended up practicing minor pentatonic scales. It might not have been what I set out to do, but I still played
So I'd say just do what you want to do and if you want to change that after 5 minutes that's fine too, it doesn't have to be this strict regimen of playing as long as you are playing and having fun!

It's Not so much about Not playing but more about having the head to Bring something to an End. Don't wanna know how many Songs I started to learn and then lost interest but glad I'm not alone

 

[Dominik Gräber]

This is kind of a constant struggle for me. I kind of always want to do too many things. What i try to do is prioritizing things so for example at the moment musically speaking I want to sing, play gypsy jazz, play blues, play rock, play metal(we're not even speaking about me wanting to do electronic music and all my music courses for now). What I do to get all of those done is basically make a list of songs that has all of those in them. For example I just learned a Django song and now I'm working on a prince song etc. I put it in an order such that every style I'd like to play comes around once in a while and just work through the list. It requires a ton of discipline to follow the list because there are some songs that are like 40th in the list and I'm at like song 10 now but I just persevere. It's also not a list set in stone, I kinda keep adding stuff at random places if I feel like it but I do stick to the list to fulfil all my musical needs.

Hope that helps.

There's probably nothing that can actually help me with this. Was just curious what you do in these situations. Personally I right now just don't stick long enough to one thing to even work through a list

 

[William B.]

I got something similar with not finishing stuff, I keep just wandering off. I got some 99 issues, some hinder me more than others.
I still try to do stuff that would make me better at the time, if my fingers hurt, I'll do dishes with reverse hands. Does that make sense?

 

[Lucrezia]

Ugh, I can totally relate! I want to take it as a good thing, since it means we’re interested in so many different things and are exited to do the most of them we can. But on the other side, I’m constantly learning new songs or starting different lessons on here and I often don’t even finish them. That’s something I’d definitely like to change about my playing, though I still think that the important thing is to play and have fun doing it

 

[chris_is_cool]

I absolutely know the feeling. What helps me is to dedicate at least some tiny part of my daily practice to something that I focus on for weeks, even if its just 15 minutes. And then I spend however long I want on whatever I wanna do that day (which might coincide with further practicing that focus topic/song/technique/whatever or might be something completely different). So there is always at least some consistency going on.

 

[beatrix]

Hey friends! Haven't been super active here or even played much guitar lately.

I often find myself in having too many and changing interests at once and I wondered if some of you experienced something like this as well.
There are so many ideas in my head, styles I want to try, Covers I want to learn. But by the time I started digging into one thing, my mind is on something different again.

Sometimes at work I can't stop thinking about how excited it will be to learn a rhcp cover and by the time I am Home I would love to write an egyptian inspired Instrumental... Is this crazy?

You got any stories like this too you'd like to share? What are you doing in these situations?

i can totally understand you!
i’m always struggling between guitar and drums. one day i want to be a guitarist, so i focus on guitar, the day after i want to be a drummer, so i focus just on drums. setting aside the other instrument for a bit. i never know what to do, and i think i’m gonna get crazy someday

 

[ari.mac]

Haven't experienced that yet. But I tend to procrastinate. Like I want to learn a song and then I go "oh ok, I'll do this tomorrow, I'm going to practice again this or that today" and that tomorrow becomes a week or a month even...so yeah, have to change this!!!

 

[AGA]

You are definitely not alone Dom! This is a very common problem for a lot of creative people!
I definitely have gone through it too!
In my case it's pursuing songwriting, production, musicianship & developing myself as an artist. It requires so many skills to develop in each category that it takes YEARS and the patience of a saint to get good at the craft! I always joke that making music gets in the way of making music.

I'm definitely still learning, but a massive breakthrough for me came after I focused COMPLETELY on learning how to finish projects. The rest falls into place once you know how to take something from beginning to end.

 

[idssdi]

As far as finishing a song/project goes. Try to teach yourself to not start a new project before one is finished. It's a tricky thing to do but it's a certain type of discipline that I developed over the years. Finishing something simply feels better than not finishing something so I'd definitely recommend to try and do it. At least for me not finishing something eats me alive and it's frigging horrible so I formed a habit of always finishing what I started(most of the time anyway)

 

[Alicia Willis]

If you find the a answer to this let me know lol. I’m very much the same, it’s honestly the reason I rarely learn entire songs
I’m still in the phase of wanting to dapple in everything and not really being very structured, but I try to look at it in a positive light. I’m finding what I do and don’t like and once I make my mind up then I can really go after what’s important to me.

I will say, for me if I give myself a strict deadline for something I stick to it if others know about it. Kind of why I did my one week challenge awhile back. Others knew about it so I had to hold myself accountable. That helps me.

 

[idssdi]

I will say, for me if I give myself a strict deadline for something I stick to it if others know about it. Kind of why I did my one week challenge awhile back. Others knew about it so I had to hold myself accountable. That helps me.

This is definitely key! Holding yourself accountable is one of the most fundamental things to finish something you started. I personally put a lot of value in keeping my word so if I say I'll do something I tend to keep myself accountable to actually do it. Dissapointing other people is one thing, dissapointtng yourself is even worse

 

[Muz Malek]

Hey friends! Haven't been super active here or even played much guitar lately.

I often find myself in having too many and changing interests at once and I wondered if some of you experienced something like this as well.
There are so many ideas in my head, styles I want to try, Covers I want to learn. But by the time I started digging into one thing, my mind is on something different again.

Sometimes at work I can't stop thinking about how excited it will be to learn a rhcp cover and by the time I am Home I would love to write an egyptian inspired Instrumental... Is this crazy?

You got any stories like this too you'd like to share? What are you doing in these situations?

It's really not wrong. It's good to keep getting inspired in all sorts of ways so that we don't get bored easily hahahah.

Not crazy at all man. Having multiple things to want to do in mind is what keeps us especially mentally healthy

 

[redlipsofdeceit]

Oh, I know the feel. I always wanna do so many things, and I also change my mind and lose interest about something very quickly. It's really easy for me to get bored. So, one of the consequences is that I procrastinate A LOT. And I end up doing nothing for a while.
I know I should be more strict with myself, but I just can't do it. My mind is always at full speed.
If you find the secret to solve this problem, let me know. I also need it.

 

[Gabby Heafy]

Hey friends! Haven't been super active here or even played much guitar lately.

I often find myself in having too many and changing interests at once and I wondered if some of you experienced something like this as well.
There are so many ideas in my head, styles I want to try, Covers I want to learn. But by the time I started digging into one thing, my mind is on something different again.

Sometimes at work I can't stop thinking about how excited it will be to learn a rhcp cover and by the time I am Home I would love to write an egyptian inspired Instrumental... Is this crazy?

You got any stories like this too you'd like to share? What are you doing in these situations?

It's totally understandable your situation! .. it happens to me very often to have a lot of things in mind, then I don't end up doing anything I thought or do everything together at once! Lol.. take your time, analyze your ideas and it will surely dedicate you to what you want to do and do good to you... good luck!

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Haven't experienced that yet. But I tend to procrastinate. Like I want to learn a song and then I go "oh ok, I'll do this tomorrow, I'm going to practice again this or that today" and that tomorrow becomes a week or a month even...so yeah, have to change this!!!

SOMEDAY, SOMEHOW.....

 

[Dominik Gräber]

As far as finishing a song/project goes. Try to teach yourself to not start a new project before one is finished. It's a tricky thing to do but it's a certain type of discipline that I developed over the years. Finishing something simply feels better than not finishing something so I'd definitely recommend to try and do it. At least for me not finishing something eats me alive and it's frigging horrible so I formed a habit of always finishing what I started(most of the time anyway)

Thing is, I get not much out of learning a whole cover besides me having fun with it. So if it's not fun, I doubt it's worth pursuing.

 

[idssdi]

Thing is, I get not much out of learning a whole cover besides me having fun with it. So if it's not fun, I doubt it's worth pursuing.

Aah, I see. That's a fair point!

There are some songs that just seem more fun to play than they actually are sometimes. Maybe just say 'im gonna learn this secrion' and not necessarily the whole song? I mean that gives you the feeling you completed what you set out to do which still feels great! I mean maybe there's one bit of a song you love so you coukd set that as a goal instead of doing the whole song. It's kind of a similar idea