How do you get in the groove?

[Reg]

So, in case of sounding stale/playing pet-licks etc., go 'back' not forward in terms of complexity. Slow down, think of a theme and build on it. I like it.

This has been a very useful thread already!

Any other ideas? Do you avoid playing in certain situations/states of mind? I mean, like most people, I suppose, I get home from work and think I have to play guitar for a while, at some point, otherwise I won't have done anything productive, but then find that when I actually play I really don't produce very much.

So aside from the advice already given, before even picking up the instrument, do you decide 'I'm not going to play because it will be a waste of time', or 'I'm going to play anyway cause maybe I'll get a tiny bit out of it', or do you do something specific first to get 'in the mood'?

Usually if you leave what your playing up to what ever your axe can pull off at that moment... your going to have bad days. If you put your time in learning the basic approaches to soloing over tunes,(liston and copy or study and apply) Its pretty hard to have bad days if you put in the time, some are better than others, but you eventually get to a level where the bad days are good ,if dig playing there great. 10,000 hours or 10 years is a standard time frame to get good at anything( Malcom Mc Dowell has a book about it), I saw a pretty good guitarist learn how to read well in 6 months, not the norm. There are always exceptions. Drink and smoke etc...are great for social reasons, but most of the time shorten your time span, not great. get in the groove by getting better, put your time in...Reg

[bass2man]

All great points and I do what it seems like a lot of folks do....if I am not in the "mood" after a tough day, I usually start with a swing blues or rhythm changes playing some solos I'vs learned (I have been working out of teh Joe Pass Book)..after a few chorus' the improvisation comes out. What it does for me is give me confidence to take on something more difficult to work on...gets me in the groove...and rids me of the "i'm never going to be able to play this stuff" attitude.

[RippinRich]

I try not to think to much about what I'm going to play. I know that there are times when I might be walking the dog and listening to my I-pod and I'll be listening to a great tune and think, ah man, I can't wait to get home and play. Then the mood pass's and when I get home I have to make myself pick up the axe. I'l then just start running some scales or open my scale book and work on a scale I have never even looked at. The next thing you know, I'm playing some thing totally different then what I started on and three hours will have past and I still don't want to stop playing.

Then there are those days when I pick up the guitar and I just put it down after a few minutes. There are times to play and create and then there's times to just listen to music and or not. More often then not though, just warming up with some scale runs turns into a great practice for me. I never use artificial things to get into the mood such as alcahol. I know I'll get much more from a straight practise.
Hope some of this helps.
Rich