SR Guitarists, Hitting a plateau.

Not a guitarist, and don't play one on TV ('cause if I did, everyone would change the channel), but from a drummer who has gone through similar doldrums, I generally think about mixing up a few things, just to expand my horizons and perhaps learn a few new chops along the way.

1.) I generally play a mid-sized kit - 8" 10" 12" 14" 16" toms, snare (13 or 14 depending on the style and sound) and 22" kick w/ dbl bass pedal, 3 crashes, 2 rides, 3 splashes, a few other effects, etc. When things start to feel stale, I'll sometimes cut the kit back to 4 or 5 pieces, and one or two cymbals at most, just to work more on grooves and time signatures, rather than fills and such. Sometimes, I'll play all "left hand lead" (I'm a righty, so I'll move my main ride to my left and play the hats open handed, rather than cross handed). Not saying you can just start playing guitar left handed (I'm sure that is more challenging than switching hands drumming), but maybe try to play some familiar songs using just 2 or 3 strings and half of the frets available on the neck? Or, maybe borrow a bass and experiment with it?

2.) Vary the music that you play along with. I'm no big fan of country music, but I find that many country drummers are incredibly adept at keeping "in the pocket", working the groove and still keeping metronomic time. Just trying to hang with their playing always proves quite the challenge for me.

3.) Sometimes, just walk away from it for a week or two. I've gone through spells where I didn't touch the kit for nearly a month, and when I finally got back to it, I surprised myself at the fact that I felt more re-energized rather than rusty.

If it is something you love, don't let it get you down. It's like all things in life - highs, lows, peace, turmoil. If you played perfectly every day, you'd probably get even more bored with the lack of challenges. And, this is why I still prefer live musicians to sampled stuff - the perfectness of the imperfections.

But I'm just a drummer, so you might want to seek out real musicians for advice :hihi: