To Tired to Write and Record

Fusioninspace said:
Anyone else have this problem...

By the time I get home from work, help the kids with the homework, do my honey-do list, etc., I'm just too frick'n tired to do anything productive in the studio. The weekends are even worse.

I do get to play at church routinely - and that's a total blessing from both a spiritual and musical perspective. And I keep my chops up for that.

But beyond trying to spend a few minutes with the guitar everyday, I don't get the quality time to actually "create" something of my own. That last spurt of writing/recording was about 2 years ago :(

...and it's driving me crazy lately.

Any advice?
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I hear you. It is GOOD to know we are not alone. I really thought this was an age thing though. But I'm sure most of you are younger than I, so maybe that's not it.

The artistic temperment doesn't help any - we are more sensitve to the way we feel than non artists. Add to that the challenges that await most of us returning from a long day of work and it's no wonder this thread has so much response.
 
You guys sound like....



...me!

I make time to play my guitar, but it really takes dedicated focused time to write and record. I'm convinced that busy-ness is the enemy of creativity.

I read a business article recently that made a good point: "You don't find time for what's important, you make time."

The more I've thought about that, the more I see it applies to many areas of my life.

I am not suggesting that writing & recording are more important than the things you are doing - if you're like me it's less important...it just happens to be way more fun than staining the deck or mowing the lawn.
 
Man, this is a common difficulty! I'm retired now, but I raised three kids and held down a serious day job and...

...when the kids were small, I took an involuntary leave of absence not only from recording, but from playing at all. When that didn't take so much time, I got into a band, and slowly worked up a strategy for getting time to record (built a great sounding room out of a garage apartment behind my house). Until I quit working full time, I couldn't devote myself to it, but luckily I had the foresight to acquire gear (digital mixers, a recording computer etc) while I was still working so that when I retired I was ready to roll.

I sure wish I had the answer to the conundrum, but I have juggled art, music, recording and writing with the need to put food on the table and health insurance in the portfolio for so many years that maybe I'm not the one to consult.

The best advice, or pretense to advice, I can give, is: Don't give up. Some of us are blessed and have no familial responsibilities or a trust fund or what have you, but me and you weren't born with the requisite silver spoon.

But that's no excuse for giving up, brothers and sisters.
 
I do this for a living, so of course after hours and hours of recording, mixing or whatever, the last thing i want to do is to go to my homestudio and "do" something. But as many have stated there are different cycles of creativity, sadly mines are from 1 am to 6 am, so when i wake up the next day i feel like hell, my ears feel tired, my eyes burn. Kind of how im feeling right now....
 
Fusioninspace, I notice you're in St Louis. I get up there every couple of years to visit a musician friend and his family in Valley Park. Small world.
 
I get frustrated on several levels.
1.) The wife doesn't have a clue or understand the motivation behind the creative process, let alone recording. Most of the music she listens to is designed for primitive mating rituals and arousal of the genitalia. Disco dose suck BTW.
2.) Time
3.) Finding players that can play what I want them to. ( I write some weird stuff )
4.) Trying to stay motivated in view of the the above stated.
5.) Age
6.) arthritis

The only time I get to play anymore is on Sunday at church and I play bass there, which is a double frustration because none of the guitar players really know how to play ... but are double clueless on bass.
 
lpdeluxe said:
Fusioninspace, I notice you're in St Louis. I get up there every couple of years to visit a musician friend and his family in Valley Park. Small world.
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No kidding! We live right down the road from there. About 1/2 mile this side of the landfill :)

...So for me it's not only my guitar playing that stinks. :rolleyes:
 
I also love recording in my basement, but I too find myself tired at the end of the day. Whoever invented the 40hr work week never had a home studio!
 
Henry Mars said:
I get frustrated on several levels.
... [selective delete]
The only time I get to play anymore is on Sunday at church and I play bass there, which is a double frustration because none of the guitar players really know how to play ... but are double clueless on bass.
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And that's another thing! How can a guitarist feel they are a guitarist if they can't play bass! It's just a couple of octive lower guys, come'on! Keep a freak'n rhythm! It's like the competent guitarist has to play bass 'cause the other guitarist can only shred!!!!! (that's just a personal rant)

And why is rhythm spelt that way anywho?
 
Fusioninspace said:
And that's another thing! How can a guitarist feel they are a guitarist if they can't play bass! It's just a couple of octive lower guys, come'on! Keep a freak'n rhythm! It's like the competent guitarist has to play bass 'cause the other guitarist can only shred!!!!! (that's just a personal rant)

And why is rhythm spelt that way anywho?
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When played properly bass really is a different animal IMO. It is not that I hate playing bass. I just like guitar a lot more.
As for shredding ... I was playing crap like that before it was called anything. Gave it up to play music. :cool:
 
Henry Mars said:
When played properly bass really is a different animal IMO. It is not that I hate playing bass. I just like guitar a lot more.
As for shredding ... I was playing crap like that before it was called anything. Gave it up to play music. :cool:
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Haha. My opinion too. I've been a full time guitar player and a full time bass player, and I agree that they are different animals. I like to switch back and forth from time to time because the bass scratches an itch that the guitar doesn't, and vice versa.
 
lpdeluxe said:
Haha. My opinion too. I've been a full time guitar player and a full time bass player, and I agree that they are different animals. I like to switch back and forth from time to time because the bass scratches an itch that the guitar doesn't, and vice versa.
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Definitely. It also is a nice alternative to the writing process on guitar - I've come up with some pretty interesting stuff starting with a bass and not a guitar. It's a good change of pace...

(I'm also a "shred" guy who's a big fan of stuff like Massive Attack, so it helps keep me in check, lol)
 
Fusion,
I don't know what kind of work you do, but here is what I used to do before I quit my job to go into the poor-house.... er um I mean the music-ministry ;-)
I bought a $50 hand-held recorder. I would carry that around and whenever I got an idea I would walk someplace semi private (if at work) and hum/sing it into the recorder. Driving to and from work were sometimes the most productive times of writing for me; I kept the radio off and the recorder handy, and wrote lots of songs that way. For me it was using the available time I had in a different way, sometimes. Sometimes, I would just pray or meditate to clear my head so that some ideas could/would come. And then eventually I would carve an evening or two out and lock myself in the studio every couple of weeks..... Send the wife and kids to the movies, or give them money to go out and get chinese for dinner... In my case, I'm blessed because my wife is also a musician and understands me pretty well....

Peace!

~Shawn
 
I am sorry to hear that. I have a very demanding job (so most say) as a special education teacher. I go from 7:20-2:30 without a break. I get tired alot, but coming home to my studio wakes me right up. I guess having played for a living for 20 odd years is just in my bones. I have to play to stay sane. I put in at least a couple hours 7 days a week, and play about 60 gigs a year. I think if you like your job, the tired you get is a lot different than the tired you get from a job you don't like. Do you like your job? I love mine, and I love to play music. I feel like I am still 17 in my heart even though my body tells me I am in my 50's sometimes. Follow your heart and it will all be ok. Walter
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=71994638
 
eyema_believer said:
Fusion,
snip snip... Send the wife and kids to the movies, or give them money to go out and get chinese for dinner...

~Shawn
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Hey, that is actually something that could actually work actually. I've thought of loading up my studio and going somewhere, but then I'd be to tired to do anything else after I loaded/unloaded/setup.

But even sending them to Chicago (or grandpa's) for the weekend is probably something realistic that could work. I think I would need a three day weekend to write/record something of merit - at least that's what it's taken me in the past. But then I've still got to pay for the trip :confused:

I would like to thank everyone for their very supportive/creative/educational comments. This has been a very therapeutic thread for me (and maybe for some others as well).

Today's project is to start with converting 8mm camcorder tapes to the computer so I can burn them on DVDs. Jeez, something else to get in the way of recording.

But I guess that's personal choice, isn't it...
 
...Grass is greener...

Fusioninspace said:
Anyone else have this problem...

By the time I get home from work, help the kids with the homework, do my honey-do list, etc., I'm just too frick'n tired to do anything productive in the studio. The weekends are even worse.

I do get to play at church routinely - and that's a total blessing from both a spiritual and musical perspective. And I keep my chops up for that.

But beyond trying to spend a few minutes with the guitar everyday, I don't get the quality time to actually "create" something of my own. That last spurt of writing/recording was about 2 years ago :(

...and it's driving me crazy lately.

Any advice?
Click to expand...

Uncle Snappy sez "The grass is always greener when it's fertilized." "A fertile imagination is only slightly different from a dirty Mind." "If smoking weed can get you into heaven then musicians have a free pass."
 
Fusioninspace said:
And that's another thing! How can a guitarist feel they are a guitarist if they can't play bass! It's just a couple of octive lower guys, come'on! Keep a freak'n rhythm! It's like the competent guitarist has to play bass 'cause the other guitarist can only shred!!!!! (that's just a personal rant)

And why is rhythm spelt that way anywho?
Click to expand...

A four string bass is only one octave lower than guitar.
 
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