Struggling to stay interested in electric guitar! Any advice

fourowls

Hi all
Excuse the whinging title, but I have a beautiful Fender 2 by 10 tube amp and a gorgeous G & L Tele but since focusing more on GJazz I have just lost interest! Does anyone have recommendation for how I can still maintain interest in the electric side of things without Gypsy Jazz taking over my life? I just find that GJ is a style that requires devotion and dedication, and being a PhD/Doctoral student, I am a pretty focused person who likes to try and master one thing (I focus on Yang Taichi, Japanese language {as I lived there and have been married to a Japanese for nearly 20 years} and Gypsy Jazz!
What do you others do? Are you monogamous and only play GJ or what other styles (in particular Jazz?) do you play? I guess if I get rid of it (tube amps that are a bit older are hard to sell also) I am worried about regret but I pick up the tele, and I am like,,"What do I play...what's the point", but I pick up a SelMac guitar and I have heaps of stuff to do, so many songs to learn, right hand technique, appeggios and the beautiful list goes on...
Did I mention I think too much!! Gypsy Jazz has spoiled me! Are there great GJ type of songs for electric! Thanks for helping, I was gettting a bit down (in a quiet manly Scottish way..lol)
OR CONVERSELY SELL UP AND GET A D HOLE TO MATCH MY OVAL HOLE DELL'ARTE...YEAH!! ..sigh there I go again
Andy!

fourowls

stuart wrote: »

I have a beautiful Hofner archtop which is still my most expensive guitar, it took me nearly a year to buy on a crippling payment plan and it's been gathering dust for the last five years. I had a telecaster which I got for my 40th because I always wanted a telecaster - I swopped it earlier this year for an acoustic amp ... So yes, I know where you are coming from and have no answers. This is an addiction, no doubt. The only thing that has given me a flicker of new interest has been watching Julian Lage play his tele. That might bring me back in, once I've mastered this genre. That's if they'll let me have a Tele in the old people's home.

LOL...not sure if this makes me feel better!! LOL...but I do relate to what you're saying...but I just was thinking of finding a repotoire of electric jazzy songs to see if I can kindle my interest. At the end of the day if you have a 'Cold Cold Feeling' what can you do? However I will give it a try with real music, not just noodling or rooting around, and no 'elevator jazz' which bores me. Gee I admire people who buy a guitar, and just stick to it and are happy! Maybe these days there is too much choice...

Jazzaferri

Don't sweat it. If you are in an acoustic phase of your musical life accept that for what it is, enjoy it and when the time is right you will get back to electric.

I went 45 years before I got back to electric and find myself playing it mostly fingerstyle. Even figured out how to get an OK pompe with the back of the fingernails. Still play lots of acoustic but the sustain of electric allows me to say things differently.

fourowls

Jazzaferri wrote: »

Don't sweat it. If you are in an acoustic phase of your musical life accept that for what it is, enjoy it and when the time is right you will get back to electric.

I went 45 years before I got back to electric and find myself playing it mostly fingerstyle. Even figured out how to get an OK pompe with the back of the fingernails. Still play lots of acoustic but the sustain of electric allows me to say things differently.

Whoa..did you say 45 years?? I am like only 41, so that put's things into perspective!! A lot of experience on this site indeed. You're right though, stressing it or trying to reach an ideal perfect situation is not going to happen by over thinking. I might just put on some backing tracks and have some 'love time' with my Tele and Fender and just see if I can't find what it was that attracted me in the first place. If deep down I just know the magic is not there (but I love the acoustic side instead) then I just have to accept it and move on!
Thanks for getting back to me, and I will think less and just enjoy playing.

rgrice

I just sold my '77 Fender Pro Reverb and got a Blues Jr for portability and the off chance that I may return to Rockabilly. I have a '65 Grestch Double Anniversary in rare factory cherry red and a '74 Fender Tele that have resided in my closet for the last three years whilst I pursue GJ exclusively.
This after playing Rockabilly exclusively for 35+ years.

Buco

My Strat have filed for divorce after a heated argument on the airplane. Ukulele got in the way and almost got it's back smashed.
Cites irreconcilable differences. Wants half of my Selmac just to spite me but my lawyer will try to negotiate with the other to settle and take the Parker Fly.
I bet they'd make a fine couple and I have no use for either.

fourowls

Buco wrote: »

My Strat have filed for divorce after a heated argument on the airplane. Ukulele got in the way and almost got it's back smashed.
Cites irreconcilable differences. Wants half of my Selmac just to spite me but my lawyer will try to negotiate with the other to settle and take the Parker Fly.
I bet they'd make a fine couple and I have no use for either.

LOL it's a bit like that...can they live in peace? Sigh...I keep thinking that GJ just needs lots of attention! However...I won't make any rash decisions...

ChrisMartin

Dunno mate. Every time I thought I was bored and sold my Teles I pretty soon got an urge for another. There have been a few since the late '70s. Right now my only solid electric is a Burns which can do a fair Tele impersonation so I am sticking with that for now. My only real interest in electric these days is trying some Jeff Beck stuff, but you might find some electric Birelli on YouTube that inspires you. Meanwhile the GJs are taking over at Martin Towers; a Bucolo, a few Di Mauros, a Sonora and a nice modern pair from Tony Petrarca in France; one a 'petite bouche' one a f-hole like the Di Mauro 'Chorus', and chances are when the wife is not watching another will appear! I have no thoughts on the amp, but if you only have one electric and like it, you may regret selling it if the ennui passes.

alton

I have a 100 watt Plexi with two matching cabs, a beautiful 30 watt amp handmade by a gentleman in Vermont that is like an AC30 crossed with a JTM45, two 70's Strats hot rodded to my liking, a '72 SG, a '79 Les Paul, a '60 gretsch 6120, and a bunch more amp heads, cabs, and guitars that have followed me home over the years. Don't even get me started on pedals - I collected overdrives for years.

Funny thing is, even with all that stuff, for many years I never played with any real practice routine or any real regularity. After my teen years when I spent too much time working on shredder chops, I stopped practicing regularly. I stopped learning new things. I would go weeks, if not months at a time when it seemed that the only times I would pick up a guitar was during band rehearsals and shows. Buying a new piece of gear would get my interest going again and I would play often again, but after a few weeks the novelty would wear off.

Then a couple of years ago, the Django bug bit me. Now I can't wait to get home, pick up my cheap Gitane, and hack my way through GJ. Rarely a day goes by when I don't get some good practice time in. I feel like a kid again, when the guitar was fresh and exciting. It was exactly what I needed.

Plus a Selmer style guitar is so much easier on my poor damaged hearing than several hundred pounds of Marshall cranked up to that special place of excess where they sound best. That's worth a lot to me these days.

fourowls

alton wrote: »

I have a 100 watt Plexi with two matching cabs, a beautiful 30 watt amp handmade by a gentleman in Vermont that is like an AC30 crossed with a JTM45, two 70's Strats hot rodded to my liking, a '72 SG, a '79 Les Paul, a '60 gretsch 6120, and a bunch more amp heads, cabs, and guitars that have followed me home over the years. Don't even get me started on pedals - I collected overdrives for years.

Funny thing is, even with all that stuff, for many years I never played with any real practice routine or any real regularity. After my teen years when I spent too much time working on shredder chops, I stopped practicing regularly. I stopped learning new things. I would go weeks, if not months at a time when it seemed that the only times I would pick up a guitar was during band rehearsals and shows. Buying a new piece of gear would get my interest going again and I would play often again, but after a few weeks the novelty would wear off.

Then a couple of years ago, the Django bug bit me. Now I can't wait to get home, pick up my cheap Gitane, and hack my way through GJ. Rarely a day goes by when I don't get some good practice time in. I feel like a kid again, when the guitar was fresh and exciting. It was exactly what I needed.

Plus a Selmer style guitar is so much easier on my poor damaged hearing than several hundred pounds of Marshall cranked up to that special place of excess where they sound best. That's worth a lot to me these days.

Yes I agree..and to some extent I regret not catching the Django bug earlier...as I love learning now, practice better but with electric I just root around! It is this lack of dedication and perhaps purpose that is depressing, not to mention the money spent,,,then losing when you sell as tyrekickers offer you crap prices. I have had Gitanes and to be honest, I loved them better than my French made Gallato (Mateos built) that I bought for a few pennies..perhaps I like a bit more of a full sound rather than the classic 'dry and plinky' GJ tone...I have a Dell'arte Pigalle (early run model) coming which gets a lot of reviews. What I really want to have is a nice oval hole (say the Dell'arte) and a nice D hole (like a Gitane D500 or longer scale D hole..).

ChrisMartin

Andy, just make sure to try a few other D hole models if you can. We all sometimes get lucky with a guitar that works for us and sometimes we are disappointed if a guitar does not do what we imagined. If you want a D hole for 'pompe' you may find a shorter scale easier as some chords can be a stretch, even a 12 fret neck will work for that. If you want it for a different sound don't forget there are different timbers for a particular tone, back and sides of rosewood or mahogany against a potentially brighter maple sound? Or maybe even a cedar top?