My Tonal Awakening

[Slowy]

nah, powdered rhino horn....

Snake oil dammit, are you telling me thats not what its for?

No, you're fine. It's like tone; if you think it works, it does.
As long as it's like buttah

[Cdog]

This thread is depressing. If buying better gear won't make me a better player then I've been living a lie

[slash-ed]

This thread is depressing. If buying better gear won't make me a better player then I've been living a lie

Rhett's fucked.

[crowbgood1]

This thread is depressing. If buying better gear won't make me a better player then I've been living a lie

be even more depressing if the oil never worked on your snake.

[Capt. Black]

ah, the oil of the snake....

Or Chefs Special Sauce, as it is sometimes known.

[Slowy]

This thread is depressing. If buying better gear won't make me a better player then I've been living a lie

Buying better gear will make you feel better.
Drinking more will make you feel you're playing better.
What more do you want?

[Bg]

ah, the oil of the snake....

Or Chefs Special Sauce, as it is sometimes known.

Yeah, I saw you lapping it up last week

[hamo]

Alan was on the money I reckon - gear can be fun, if you don't take it too seriously.

I reckon some folk are born to be musicians, and some of us are always just going to be people who play the guitar, and I'm fine with that. Some people can just grab a guitar and tap their foot and entertain a crowd. Me, I can't sing to save myself, and I'm not that musical - or that entertaining.

[Capt. Black]

ah, the oil of the snake....

Or Chefs Special Sauce, as it is sometimes known.

Yeah, I saw you lapping it up last week

In case anyone is wondering... It tastes like chicken.

[sizzlingbadger]

Many years ago I saw a band playing in Hamilton. Can't even remember their name, but they were cool, and their guitarist was AWESOME. Great guitar parts, and great tones too. He was rocking a great looking strat, had a tweed amp behind him, and although I couldn't see his pedalboard, I could hear some OD, delay and at one point a super smooth tasty wah.

Of course I'm thinking to myself, 'That Strat sounds amazing, must be a US. Small tweed combo, I'd say it's must be 5E3. Maybe even a vintage one. Can't see the pedalboard, but probably a Vox wah, analogue delay and a TS9 or something'


Went to talk to the guitarist after the show - the amazing Custom shop US Strat was a Squire, stock except for a new MOT pickguard. The vintage 5E3 was a SS Roland Blues Cube. The amazing boutique pedalboard was a Boss GT-5.

And that was my tonal awakening. I had better gear than him, and sounded no way near as good. But he was, and will still be, a much better player than me. He had that thing going on where his touch on the guitar was just magic. He was playing simple notes and chords, but with great dynamics, tons of restraint and he was 'feeling' every note.

I asked him why he didn't have better gear, and he said that there was nothing wrong with his gear, his guitar stayed in tune, sounded good and was easy to play. His amp got him loud, sounded good and fitted in his car. His multifx had all the sounds he needed and was light and portable.

Nice gear helps, but tone is in the fingers and the mind, and I think I'm fairly over gear elitism. What is important to me now is a passion to make music and owning the gear that enables that. I've been through many stages where my passion for gear has distracted me from actually making music.
No more! I want to be creative, a songwriter and have music flow all through my life.


and that's my brain thoughts at this moment in time

awesome, I am just coming to the same conclusion myself

Ignore what the interwebz says and just practice and enjoy what you got.

[sopachrga]

I've always looked at like this:
Some people play guitar because they (similar to computer hardware nerds) like buying new gear and playing with toys etc.
Guitar forums are mostly filled with people from this category.

While others play guitar solely as a musical outlet. Those who play for this reason, can easily be lead down a bad path by not being able to control themselves when put in amongst people who fit the first category. It's easy to get distracted and get caught up in the GAS loop. Where you start spending more time worrying about your gear than you do playing it. I've fallen in to this trap a few times, but usually only when my band was inactive. Fortunately once my bands kicked back in to gear again I snap out of it and start focusing on my playing.

People from the 2nd group have to be reasonably thick skinned to exist on gear forums and still be able to resist the GAS monster.
We have a couple of obvious candidates of people who don't do so well at this here.

[mr_sooty]

People from the 2nd group have to be reasonably thick skinned to exist on gear forums and still be able to resist the GAS monster.
We have a couple of obvious candidates of people who don't do so well at this here.

[GrantB]

I'm a combination of the worst of each.

[sopachrga]

People from the 2nd group have to be reasonably thick skinned to exist on gear forums and still be able to resist the GAS monster.
We have a couple of obvious candidates of people who don't do so well at this here.

Yeah, you are one of the prime suspects here.
It's tough to fight though, Talking about gear, buying, selling and trying new stuff is damn fun and it can be pretty exhilarating trying to win auctions and do deals etc. But ultimately all it does is distract you from your primary goal, of being a good guitarist. The often quoted comment of "No one cares about your tone when the rest of the band starts" is really true. What people do care about, is how good your playing is.

[crowbgood1]

I've always looked at like this:
Some people play guitar because they (similar to computer hardware nerds) like buying new gear and playing with toys etc.
Guitar forums are mostly filled with people from this category.

While others play guitar solely as a musical outlet. Those who play for this reason, can easily be lead down a bad path by not being able to control themselves when put in amongst people who fit the first category. It's easy to get distracted and get caught up in the GAS loop. Where you start spending more time worrying about your gear than you do playing it. I've fallen in to this trap a few times, but usually only when my band was inactive. Fortunately once my bands kicked back in to gear again I snap out of it and start focusing on my playing.

People from the 2nd group have to be reasonably thick skinned to exist on gear forums and still be able to resist the GAS monster.
We have a couple of obvious candidates of people who don't do so well at this here.

All relative to what you are doing. I'm sure it would be hard to keep up in a 'grind core' outfit with a Blues Junior, a Telle and no pedals.
Also if you entertain the public with music your GAS might not just cover guitar gear. There may be P.A. GAS or a few forum guy have 'home recording' GAS.
Though there are a few musicians out there who play live all the time with not much gear at all. There is a fellow in my neck of the woods who gig 2-3 times a week and only has a Cort acoustic. They are also so broke they don't have internet and computers so you wont find them in this forum often.