Sometimes what I do is play something that I would normally never listen to. I think we all go through this, what do I do next, thing from time to time. Recently, I was listening to some Henry Mancini, and I started playing a funny little number from the movie "The Great Race." Not normally something I would bother with, but I just wanted to see if I could pull it off. So I start playing a number from the movie called "They're Off" because I wanted to put together a medley of songs that people know, but don't know the name of. Kind of a "Hey, I've heard that song before. Who does that?" and it's really cool when you play it heavy with distortion. Things like that generally keep me busy until something else comes on the radar screen, then I'll go to that. In the meantime, I'm not standing still. I've thrown bits and pieces of things from tv shows, the French national anthem, "The Theme to Peter Gunn" you name it. Works for me.

just noodle. thats what i do or i listen to music find something i like and try to figure it out, i will most itmes.come up with something different

Ive found that if I get frustrated, the more I try and fix things the worse it gets, so now when it happens I leave it until the fire gets relit, this may be a couple of weeks or even a couple of months, this has happened to me all my musical life, sometimes a proper rest works wonders, I know it's a bitch but it is natural and it will pass, it always does, burnout is a common problem with overdoing it, take a break for a bit, until you have to play again.....

Been there and every time it happens I take a couple lessons. Just getting some fresh insight makes a big difference. Try taking some jazz or classical lessons. Look to a genre that you don't play or don't play much and learn about it. You can then integrate what you've learned into what you already know. Then everything you already know becomes fresh.

great suggestions

i sometimes try and explore some new sounds when i'm struggling... i bought a midi pickup and this opened up a completely new field of sound to play with... it also changed how i played a bit - sensitive little sucker...

new sounds bring out new melodies and progressions

have you tried screwing around with time signatures a bit?

create some riffs in 7 or 11 or 5 and you'll really start getting some fresh ideas...

i'm learning Audioslave's Be Yourself... its great

I go to the store and buy something I have never thought of listening to and go home and play with it. Hell, I had this cd from a Vegas steak house called the B O A, and I jammed with it.

The best thing to do is not take it too seriously. Emotions change. When I was a kid my mom used to tell me "No two days are alike" I would say something like "Yeah, it'll be worse" Then she would say "Yeah, but at least it won't be the same!" Hell, write a song about not being able to write a song." Call it "Now what the hell do I do?" LOL.

A lot of these ideas are really good, I like changing styles every now and then to keep me busy. I was in a rut actually a couple weeks ago, I ended up putting in a cd and just playing along withe very song i knew and I found myself much more interested in playing again.

Now if that doesn't work you could always buy something new, I know that whenever I get a new pedal or amp or even a new strap I immediately have to take it home and take it for a test drive. I just got a new pedal and I've been playing for hours on end every day just messing with it.

Hope you get out of that rut soon man.

This is kind of an example of what I mean. Just pick some stuff, have fun, and make it all yours.

thanks you guys. I really appreciate what you're all saying. I've been trying out some of the suggestions. I'm really digging on playing stuff that I wouldn't normally play. I usually play in a minor keys or modes but I was working through some new chord inversons that I came up with and found this really cool inversion of cmajor7. I'm sure I'm probably not the inventor of it or anything, but it was new to me and I'm playing around with that a bit. I still haven't quite strung together a song, but I'm not feeling quite so stressed, so thanks guys. I'll keep trying the suggesions out.

Dude don't worry we all hit highs and lows just play what you know till you get back in the groove

i hope to someday be good enough to not know what is left to do. where im at now all i see is mounds of stuff i need to learn to be a guitar player. yours is a rut i wish i was in.