Anyone who has ever played a musical instrument has reached a point in there lives where they seem to hit a "plateau" of sorts. This is the point where it seems like you just run out of ideas, or "get in a rut" as some players say. In such times it's very easy to get frustrated and loose interest in playing or practicing. Many players simply quit playing when they first reach this plateau. This month, I'm going to give you some great ideas to help you keep fresh and eager to play.

One of the main causes of falling in a rut is the fear or reality of running out of new ideas. Hearing yourself playing what seems to be the same thing over and over can certainly bring on such thoughts. I have heard many players talk about this. Whenever I feel like I'm getting in a rut, I start listening to lots of different styles of music. Even though I am mainly a bluegrass player, it's these times that I start listening to more jazz, swing, blues, etc. There are so many great new ideas that can be found in the music itself- lots of new riffs and chord progressions, for example. Sometimes you need exposure to other styles of music just to give your brain a good dose of creativity. To get this jumpstart I often focus on specific players and listen to the way they play certain licks. For example, I have picked up great ideas from hearing players like B.B King. These players have a totally different attack than the players I am used to listening to in bluegrass. Not that it's any better, it is just different. Hearing anything new can provide the incentive to play or learn a new lick. There's a wealth of great music out there!

In addition to listening to other forms of music, I sometimes find myself listening to bluegrass players who play different instruments. I have learned lots of neat stuff from listening to mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and banjo players. Banjo licks can be adapted very easily to the resonator guitar because the standard "G" tuning is almost identical to the banjo. That is, in "G" tuning, your top four strings (1 through 4) are tuned he very same as strings 1-4 of the banjo. If you listen to resonator guitar master Josh Graves, you can obviously hear the licks that he adapted from listening to Earl Scruggs while they were bandmates. Josh Grave's style has lots of really neat 'banjo style" licks that just sound awesome when played on the resonator guitar. Considering that Josh was one of the very first to ever play 3-finger style resonator guitar, you have to realize that he didn't have other resonator guitar players to listen to or copy. There were no others. I would assume he borrowed ideas from not only banjo players, but also from some of the Hawaiian style players of that time. Collectively, he came up with his own trademark style.

Following Josh Graves' example, let's address the idea of developing you own style or sound. You can get some great ideas from some of the wonderful players who are playing the resonator guitar these days. There are many resonator guitarists out there to learn from. Some say, "You can shake a tree, and a resonator guitar player will fall out." The key here is to seek out ideas and influences to emulate, but not to totally copy a given player's style.

The best players are those you can recognize just by hearing them play. Players like Jerry Douglas, Rob Ickes, Josh Graves, Mike Auldridge, and Randy Kohrs are all fairly easy to recognize by their style and sound. That's what makes them so unique; you can tell after just a few notes which player you are hearing. That's because they have developed their own "sound" and it's this quality that distinguishes a great player from an average one. When starting out, it is easy to get caught up in sounding like a carbon-copy of the player you most admire, but it is very important not to get too deep into copying, or you will be one of many who all sound alike. Here again, it's best to seek fresh ideas in different forms of music, and different instruments besides the resonator guitar.

I hope these ideas will help you to stay fresh and enthused about playing. We have all hit these "plateaus", and they are not fun. At times, almost anyone might feel like just giving up…but then, when you get out of that rut (and you will), you can't imagine how much fun things will be. Sometimes I think that hitting these plateaus and then getting over them is what we really enjoy about playing this instrument; the joy of getting out a rut far exceeds the frustration of being in one!

Keep up the picking,
See you next month,
Phil