In a rut

[emanresu]

I've known this phrase for ages. It is so common.
But I never bothered to check the meaning until yesterday.

Ok. I checked it out yesterday and oh.
Are you in it? Jazz-wise?

[mr. beaumont]

Whenever I find myself in a rut musically I usually discover it has nothing to do with the music.

[James W]

I've known this phrase for ages. It is so common.
But I never bothered to check the meaning until yesterday.

Ok. I checked it out yesterday and oh.
Are you in it? Jazz-wise?

These days if I find myself in a rut with jazz I take recourse to non-jazz things like playing/reading some Bach or even just practising economy-picking scale patterns. The idea being that these things, while ostensibly non-jazz will have an indirectly positive effect when I return to jazz.

[Christian Miller]

Listening to jazz and copying what I hear usually sorts me out.

I think being in a rut comes from lack of external input.

Our own creativity is stimulated by contact with others.

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[Rob MacKillop]

I love being in a rut. It just means something is about to be born, and I can't wait to find out what it is!

[AllanAllen]

I got too much happening to be in a rut. Which I think is the secret.

2-4 trio gigs a month, I’m constantly learning new tunes to keep it from getting stale.

I have my first pit gig next month, first rehearsal is in 2 weeks.

I just stumbled on a rhythm guitar mentor so I’m also working on my big band style. Which, after talking to someone who actually does Freddie Green professionally, I was doing things so backwards. I can’t believe how hard I was making it for myself.

Burnout seems way more likely than a rut.

How much are you playing out to avoid the practice rut?

[Tom Karol]

When I feel like I'm in a rut, it's time to work on some new tunes that I've never tried to play before.

[lammie200]

I just try to take advantage of another art, or even a craft. Visual arts, literary arts, carpentry, etc. Being in a rut musically and just taking a sidetrack into something else creative for a while gets me back to the music. For some reason I haven't had to do that for a while though. Probably because I am so busy doing other stuff anyway.

[ragman1]

Ending of winter but not quite spring. Nothing you can do. Stay in bed

[ragman1]

How much are you playing out to avoid the practice rut?

I used to play out a lot, which was okay, but I'd go home and carry on. Fatal burn out. Took a week or two to get over it, just wandered vaguely about with a completely blank mind. Like a TV screen that's on but there's nothing on it.

Got over it, of course, but it's one of those things that you think will just continue with no end to it.

[AllanAllen]

I used to play out a lot, which was okay, but I'd go home and carry on. Fatal burn out. Took a week or two to get over it, just wandered vaguely about with a completely blank mind. Like a TV screen that's on but there's nothing on it.

Got over it, of course, but it's one of those things that you think will just continue with no end to it.

I have other interests to avoid burnout. Movies help, I’ll watch some James Bond Sunday night instead of practicing after a Friday/Saturday gig weekend.

Something low brow, I can just chill with.

[Jimmy blue note]

In a rut? Can't muster the will to pick up the guitar? Too much effort for disappointing returns?
Time to buy a new guitar.

Or at least a new pedal.

But seriously, jazz is not a music that's about putting on a perfect broadway stage performance every night, it's about finding honesty in everything you do. You're human. People go through cycles. There are periods where you will be inspired to grow in ways you didn't think were in you, other times when you're not feeling like the instrument can offer you anything.
Learn to play in a way that is honest and there will always be something to be said; even if you don't have a guitar in your arms. That's what art is.

[Strat-itis]

Why are you asking if we're in a rut? :P

[starjasmine]

The phrase to describe mating season for deer (and certain other mammals) is "in rut." Could that be the meaning you are referring to?

[DawgBone]

I have other interests to avoid burnout. Movies help, I’ll watch some James Bond Sunday night instead of practicing after a Friday/Saturday gig weekend.

Slacker.

[ragman1]

I have other interests to avoid burnout. Movies help, I’ll watch some James Bond Sunday night instead of practicing after a Friday/Saturday gig weekend.

Something low brow, I can just chill with.

Well, movies are a different thing. What causes burnout is nothing but intensive music all the time.

[kris]

I feel bad when I don"t play concerts.

[Jimmy blue note]

I feel bad when I don"t play concerts.

I feel bad when nobody claps.
And if it's because everyone has walked out...

I sure hope they validate my parking.

[DawgBone]

I feel bad when nobody claps.
And if it's because everyone has walked out...

I sure hope they validate my parking.

The mildly disinterested crowds can be the most difficult to deal with but that is pretty much every gig inside Austin city limits, because it's residents are so jaded and spoiled by endless live music.

[AllanAllen]

The mildly disinterested crowds can be the most difficult to deal with but that is pretty much every gig inside Austin city limits, because it's residents are so jaded and spoiled by endless live music.

I don’t even think it’s that. If the audience hasn’t been in a band, they have no idea the work it takes to get on stage, let alone get up there and kill it.

They know music as that thing from the radio and bands do that. No idea how much goes into the polish between a 10 year old butchering hot cross buns and you know, what we do.

[DawgBone]

I don’t even think it’s that. If the audience hasn’t been in a band, they have no idea the work it takes to get on stage, let alone get up there and kill it.

They know music as that thing from the radio and bands do that. No idea how much goes into the polish between a 10 year old butchering hot cross buns and you know, what we do.

There are hundreds of bands playing every weekend, it's definitely a jaded thing with audiences in the Austin area. It doesn't mean everyone at the bar isn't listening, but many of the gigs will have muted reactions regardless of the quality of the performance.

[rpjazzguitar]

Some 20 years ago I set a goal and have worked on it ever since. After about 16 years I got regular gigs playing this music, at which point there was a routine of picking tunes, going over the hard parts in rehearsal, playing the gig, rinse and repeat. There was progress in terms of expanding repertoire and skill level, but it was all pretty predictable. I don't think I'd denigrate it by using the word rut, but it was all a familiar cycle.

Then somebody invited me to a different kind of show and I ended up feeling like a kid again and now I'm pursuing both styles.

So, that leads to an idea about breaking out of a rut. Get out more. Hear different kinds of music and maybe something will speak to you. I think, without being certain, that, for me, it had to be live music. I don't think I'd have responded to recordings the same way. It has also helps that there's a social component to all of it.

[DawgBone]

Some 20 years ago I set a goal and have worked on it ever since. After about 16 years I got regular gigs playing this music, at which point there was a routine of picking tunes, going over the hard parts in rehearsal, playing the gig, rinse and repeat. There was progress in terms of expanding repertoire and skill level, but it was all pretty predictable. I don't think I'd denigrate it by using the word rut, but it was all a familiar cycle.

Then somebody invited me to a different kind of show and I ended up feeling like a kid again and now I'm pursuing both styles.

So, that leads to an idea about breaking out of a rut. Get out more. Hear different kinds of music and maybe something will speak to you. I think, without being certain, that, for me, it had to be live music. I don't think I'd have responded to recordings the same way. It has also helps that there's a social component to all of it.

There is such a treasury of jazz and blues recordings that I think the only way one doesn't get out of a rut is to fail to utilize that resource.

[MiniMerckx.22]

Spend several hours in the best art museum you can get to, go out of your way to be exposed to new music while simultaneously vowing to not touch a guitar for 5 days. You'll be fine.

[Aiq]

Judith Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way has some tips on rekindling creativity. Visits to a museum is one, she calls it taking yourself on an “artist’s date”.

She deals with spiritual imagery but if like me you are not religious you can just think of higher power or the universe.