The Inspiration Game

As any musician will tell you, the most important part of playing music is often the hardest to find…

Inspiration.  

Right now, I have a gig to practice for.  10 songs, 3 of which I’ve never heard, the show’s on Friday and, as of today, Monday, I haven’t practiced a note of it.  Considering I’ve only known about the gig for a few days, it’s not bad; but it is time to start practicing and learning the tunes.  Here I go!  

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But I don’t wanna.  I want to play drums, and maybe watch a movie.  Maybe I’ll write a blog entry instead.  I’m just not inspired today.  The problem is, if I only practiced when I was inspired, I’d suck at the show.  

Sometimes you need to chase inspiration.  Once or twice a week, I feel like I am helplessly drawn to my guitar like a moth to a flame.  The rest of the week though, I have to work for it.  I start to play for no other reason than that I know I should, I have things to learn, and I don’t want to embarrass myself.  

Usually I am not inspired to play, but I start playing anyway.  The payoff is that regardless of why I started playing, after a while, the chops start getting warm and I’ve re-established that connection between thoughts and sound.  Now the engine of creation is primed. You may not have great ideas everyday, but you still have to get those creative juices flowing and get in a creative place.  You never know when inspiration will hit, but you want to be ready when it does.  

To close, Blah blah blah blah.  

Blah blah blah…

I’m gonna go practice.