How often do you feel inspired when performing (only when improvising)

[emanresu]

There is no right way to do this poll. If you have a better idea, post a comment, make it your own, and if it makes sense I'll ask to delete this one.

[ragman1]

I can't see much wrong with your question. The answer's probably occasionally. There are moments of real highs which one might call inspiration. But to expect it to happen all the time is unrealistic, it doesn't.

Unless you're on something maybe. But I wouldn't know.

[Gabor]

rarely. However I have this observation, if I skip one or more days, then inspiration is higher when improvising. This lowers after the first hour.

It is like a stock, what has limited supply. It runs out quickly like a bad battery in my phone, then take time to recreate.

I admire musicans who have unlimited invention, like Chick Corea, Mehldau, Brecker, or Bach, Mozart.

[Christian Miller]

I often find inspiration comes from getting involved in a process or idea while playing. Starting a solo with a ‘what if?’ I find is a good way to do this

[emanresu]

I often find inspiration comes from getting involved in a process or idea while playing. Starting a solo with a ‘what if?’ I find is a good way to do this

A fun idea can do that. But I feel it's kinda like the chicken and egg problem. Got to be inspired to play very well, got to play very well to get inspired.

[emanresu]

I wonder who did click "all the time"

[AllanAllen]

I have a lot of emotions ranging from nerves to excitement to, I’m going to put this guitar on the floor walk out the door and quit forever.

[pauln]

It is a sort of a curious question. A lot going on in performance
is comprised of balancing opposed motives, perhaps the most
serious being inspiration vs musical judgement. Inspiration can
pose risks to musical judgement because it may sneak up quick
and entice you to "do this or that" which a moment's reflection
would inhibit so to maintain alignment with musical judgement.
Too much self control in the way of musical judgement inhibits
more intuitive expression, causes missed creative opportunity,
may even provide low level distraction diminishing insights into
the music (new thing to hear, learn, understand, and perform).

[emanresu]

Oh. Derail of the OT is absolutely cool here.
What does inspiration mean anyway?

edit: in another conversation far far away. a friend said something like.. "good music should be meditative. classical music never is"
that actually made me do this poll.

jazz impros are mostly very pushy.

edit 2: I wanna unlock the inspiration. get nobel prize for proper category. and play browser games while drinking beer the rest of my life.

[AllanAllen]

Classical music is never meditative? That’s a load of crap.

[emanresu]

Hm, even the most calm nice pieces, they still are quite intense.

[pingu]

I wonder who did click "all the time"

Vihar

[emanresu]

I'm obsessed with that "inspiration" thing.
See, when in spotlight, when well prepared, it happens. If not prepared well... we get the drowning feeling. That's the simple part.
But at home, when practicing, it gets complicated. Practice a lot - get numb. Practice a bit, leave days off - get nice sharp feelings when playing but out of shape.

The poll sucks quite a bit. It is such a complicated topic with a pile of trivial but important variables.

[grahambop]

A lot of interviews I’ve seen with the jazz greats suggest that when their playing reaches an inspired level, their mind goes totally blank. It seems the best ideas are coming from some subconscious place, left side of the brain, whatever. So I don’t really know how you prepare for that.

I guess it’s what Charlie Parker meant in that quote about practising stuff hard in the woodshed, but on stage, forget it and ‘just play’.

[rpjazzguitar]

Every now and then, usually when the rhythm section is brilliant, I'll play something I've never played before. If that's what inspiration is, then my answer is "rarely" or less often than that.

But, if it's just playing a line I like or making the band sound good during my solo, then I think "sometimes" is correct.

Thinking about it, the situations in which I feel inspired have often been those where I've had the opportunity to play tunes I know with musicians who are well above my level -- and they kick the energy level way up.

[DawgBone]

If the stage is open back or concrete I know it's gonna be tough to feel inspired. It can be done but the sound of the guitar, especially an open back cab, is not good on either of those stages. Rugs can mitigate the problem some but I still despise a stage without at least some heavy curtains behind the band.

Generally if there are other hot dogs there I rise to the occasion as I don't like being showed up or bullied by other guitarists. I gigged one night a few years ago with a side group and the name guitarist who was a special guest tried to throw me under the bus by giving me first solo, first song, and it was kind of a chicken pickin' deal. Oof, this ain't gonna be good. Way out of my specialty. Somehow I pulled off a Daniel in the lion's den and the name player didn't try me again the rest of the night. I don't even think he looked at me after that, lol, but I knew what his intention was, to establish some kind of musical dominance over me.

I honestly never know what will happen until I hit the first couple notes. That usually tells me how the night will go. I've felt like a champ and played like a rank amateur. I've felt like yesterday's trash and played like never before. No telling what might happen so "most of the time" for me. We'll see how tonight turns out. Good stage, band shell, but some volume restrictions. Maybe I'll just have him mic up the amp backstage...

[emanresu]

If the stage is open back or concrete I know it's gonna be tough to feel inspired. It can be done but the sound of the guitar, especially an open back cab, is not good on either of those stages. Rugs can mitigate the problem some but I still despise a stage without at least some heavy curtains behind the band.

Is it a sound problem or something psychological?

[DawgBone]

Is it a sound problem or something psychological?

Probably some of both. The beauty of a Twin Reverb is it essentially sounds the same everywhere you use it, so repeatability in tone with the same settings is one of it's benefits. But I have to overcome the fact that though the audience is hearing it more or less as I normally would, I am not. So I almost have to blank out how I sound so that it doesn't negatively affect my performance. This is very difficult to make happen for me.

Put a piece of corrugated tin close behind your amp and you'll get the idea of what I'm talking about, In Texas there are those types of stages as well. GIves the open back a really harsh response to the player but more or less dissipates once it reaches the crowd. Concrete, tin, and open back stages are sterile, dry, and harsh, there is no room resonance. A good carpeted wood stage with a band shell is like a resonance chamber and the amp in full contact with the floor really sings, so good playing becomes easier. I run on volume so it may make my experience different to others. i hope this makes sense.

[pauln]

In spite of the ubiquitous advice to practice, prepare,
be all "cool concentration", etc., anyone with a lot of
time on stage might recall times when someone had
become upset for some reason, to the point of being
angry and maybe losing some self control, muttering
to themselves, "F this S", etc... then, remember that
what subsequently came out of their instrument was
probably and quite profoundly their best playing ever.

There is a lesson in that, pointing just how deep and
generally inaccessible are the deeper emotional roots
of music performance. Learning to touch those deep
inspirations' intensity without actually being on verge
of loss of control takes time to recognize and develop,
in order to be able to call upon it during performance.

And I guess it is also nice to hope that if you yourself
experience an angry moment, the residual effect may
actually result in some of your very best playing ever.

[Christian Miller]

In spite of the ubiquitous advice to practice, prepare,
be all "cool concentration", etc., anyone with a lot of
time on stage might recall times when someone had
become upset for some reason, to the point of being
angry and maybe losing some self control, muttering
to themselves, "F this S", etc... then, remember that
what subsequently came out of their instrument was
probably and quite profoundly their best playing ever.

Well one out of two is a start I suppose

[Christian Miller]

A fun idea can do that. But I feel it's kinda like the chicken and egg problem. Got to be inspired to play very well, got to play very well to get inspired.

Nah, just set yourself a novel opening condition and then get absorbed in the process. Could be 'next solo I will mostly play semitones', 'I will only play this one rhythm for as long as I can bear', 'I'm gonna play the melody even though I don't really know it very well', 'I'm going to play only notes in chord shapes', 'I'm going to start at the bottom of the guitar and go all the way to the top and then turn back when I get to the top and do it as many times as feels sane' - you might not end up following though on it, but it usually trips me up just enough for a few bars to stop the same stale stuff from coming out. I would say this happens increasingly on gigs which is nice.

Sometimes writing and practicing a solo is the best way to be creative, paradoxical as it may seem; especially if you mess it up on the gig and then have to improvise your way out of the mess haha.

Inspiration is not a bolt from the blue (well, it can sometimes be like that); it's a state that you can get practiced in getting into touch with with practice and technique, probably like meditation or something (I don't meditate though.)

[AaronMColeman]

I listened to a really cool book (forget the name) but the concept was that "getting in the zone" has incredible benefits to overall health and helps define what I think of as inspiration. It is a combination of playing just a little outside of the comfort zone...a place where you should be fine but could also fall off the cliff, it's pushing as hard as you can without being a total mess...then mix that with working on something you find to be worthwhile. It combines skill with intrinsic motivation. If that makes any sense, that's where I see inspiration coming from.

Playing live I clam up and start playing old standard riffs I could play in my sleep. The inspiration is hard to find there. However, when I'm jamming with a friend or to a backing track, I'm loose and working on things that are just within or just outside my skill level. That motivates me and inspires me. For me to improv live with inspiration I need to loosen up some, which means I need more skill than I have right now so I'll confidently play at the edge of my ability.

[AaronMColeman]

Nah, just set yourself a novel opening condition and then get absorbed in the process. Could be 'next solo I will mostly play semitones', 'I will only play this one rhythm for as long as I can bear', 'I'm gonna play the melody even though I don't really know it very well', 'I'm going to play only notes in chord shapes', 'I'm going to start at the bottom of the guitar and go all the way to the top and then turn back when I get to the top and do it as many times as feels sane' - you might not end up following though on it, but it usually trips me up just enough for a few bars to stop the same stale stuff from coming out. I would say this happens increasingly on gigs which is nice.

Sometimes writing and practicing a solo is the best way to be creative, paradoxical as it may seem; especially if you mess it up on the gig and then have to improvise your way out of the mess haha.

Inspiration is not a bolt from the blue (well, it can sometimes be like that); it's a state that you can get practiced in getting into touch with with practice and technique, probably like meditation or something (I don't meditate though.)

A bag of ideas is inspiring! Sometimes I'll sketch out a song and keys and write down what I'm going to play while I practice: first time melody on the high strings, second time through all minor arpeggios, third time melody on lower strings, fourth time through focus on diminished options, fifth time just let that pentatonic rip! Things like that help me dig into that bag of tricks.

[emanresu]

What if the word "inspiration" is too much. There sure are levels of inspiration.
Lvl 0 would be old and stale.
Lvl 1 it was worth it.
Lvl 2 its good enough to listen again.
..and so on.

edit: for me, a simple solo that "makes sense" is lvl 1. But the trouble is, it doesn't happen very often either

[Christian Miller]

It's terribly important not to judge your own playing while actually doing it. Save that for the practice room...