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The right gear can make you a better player


docjeffrey

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Yes, I'm familiar with "it's all in the fingers.." blah blah blah.

 

But ever since I made a radical change to my setup, I've been peppered with unsolicited comments from people who have heard me play for 20+ years about how great I sound these days. They actually look forward to my typically short solos, intros and outros.

 

It's all come since I made my Gibson Les Paul Alex Lifeson the centerpiece of my rig and replaced my pedalboard with a Pod HD500 (I don't use the amp models). I think that judicious use of the Floyd and extreme tweakability of the HD500 effects account for the bulk of the recent attention. There's nothing like a well placed dive bomb or perfectly sync'd delay and phaser to get people to turn their heads away from our amazing drummer. Rock on. And remember that the right gear can make a difference. Just ask my hero Alex Lifeson, Jack White, Jimmy Page, or Joe Bonamassa.

 

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I've had some people tell me that they like the way I play on certain guitars better than others. I like to switch it up for variety, but for me, my amp/pedalboard is the constant. My bandmates actually complain when we play shared-equipment shows or studio rehearsals and I'm not using my Vox. I love my amp, too, but it's nice to see that others appreciate it as well.

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I agree. A guitar, amp or pedal can inspire you and that's what really makes the difference.


Doc, good to see you; I haven't seen you around much lately. Did your home and loved ones make it through the wildfires OK?

 

Thanks for that! No problem with fires in our neighborhood. It moved north and west of us. My wife and I took our new car on a road trip to a couple of family reunions, both in CA. My cousins all got together in the wine country (most of them grow zinfandel grapes around Lodi) and my wife's family met in Yosemite. On the way back, we stopped in Durango and Pagosa Springs, CO.

 

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Getting the right gear usually means sifting through the 'wrong' gear. That shows dedication, especially when the right gear might mean a trip to a custom shop or custom prices.

 

This is what I repeatedly tell myself when I sound terrible and my only option is to throw money at it.

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I believe that gear can inspire one to play more, and hopefully improve. I've been a guitar owner for 10 years now but still can't play much. I've picked up some guitars this last year, an amp and some pedals and right now I'm more inspired than ever. We'll see what happens.

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Absolutely. If you don't have gear that satisfactorily produces the sound you want, it absolutely circles back to your playing. Not having enough sustain or having a really harsh tone will make you think twice about playing in the upper registers. No clarity and muddy bass will make any complex chords sound bad. All of a sudden you become constrained and your playing suffers. Plus, it's not just for my sake - if I'm not getting good tones, my band's sound will be less pleasing on the whole. Which is why there is a certain standard of gear I need to have.

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Cousin George with a stone guitar...................

 

 

 

My cousin is actually a very good guitar player..........

 

 

 

It's stuff like this that inspired me as a 10 year old. I'd stand with my mouth open at Aunt Catherine's house and watch George in action..................

 

 

 

 

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Yes, I'm familiar with "it's all in the fingers.." blah blah blah.


But ever since I made a radical change to my setup, I've been peppered with unsolicited comments from people who have heard me play for 20+ years about how great I sound these days. They actually look forward to my typically short solos, intros and outros.


It's all come since I made my Gibson Les Paul Alex Lifeson the centerpiece of my rig and replaced my pedalboard with a Pod HD500 (I don't use the amp models). I think that judicious use of the Floyd and extreme tweakability of the HD500 effects account for the bulk of the recent attention. There's nothing like a well placed dive bomb or perfectly sync'd delay and phaser to get people to turn their heads away from our amazing drummer. Rock on. And remember that the right gear can make a difference. Just ask my hero Alex Lifeson, Jack White, Jimmy Page, or Joe Bonamassa.


ALa.jpg

 

Could you post some example clips of how the right gear made you a better player?

 

 

 

Not that I entirely doubt you , but it would be cool to help visualize your point with examples.

 

You are one of the more vocal people around here when it comes to beating the higher end gear= better gear drum.

 

It is obviously important enough to you that you have been very consistent about posting this point.

 

Let's say there are those of us that aren't entirely convinced.

 

Show us.

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Could you post some example clips of how the right gear made you a better player?




Not that I entirely doubt you , but it would be cool to help visualize your point with examples.


You are one of the more vocal people around here when it comes to beating the higher end gear= better gear drum.


It is obviously important enough to you that you have been very consistent about posting this point.


Let's say there are those of us that aren't entirely convinced.


Show us.

 

 

I don't think this is meant to be a money thing - it sounds like he's found gear that fits his playing style better rather than just spent more.

 

Regardless, I don't think this is something that you can "prove" in clips, but come on, you're a musician, you know what it feels like. When you plug into a rig that's really happening, often times it can bring your playing up a notch and also makes playing more fun. In the same way some rigs can frustrate the crap out of you when you can't dial in the right sound or feel.

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Regardless, I don't think this is something that you can "prove" in clips,

 

 

why not?

 

if it makes you a better player, you'll play better... if you play better, the music will be better... that "better" music can be captured in the form of clips

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I've thought a lot about this over the years. My basic takeaway is if you've got the chops, you've got the chops, and if you don't you don't. No matter what, that's going to come through no matter what you are playing. That said, I have most certainly noticed the aforementioned inspiration that happens when your tone doesn't suck. I, like I'm sure many of you here, can get a quick grasp of a certain setup and what its sonic capabilities are- strengths, weaknesses, etc. And we'll play the {censored} out of that gear and exploit all those strengths and try to avoid its weaknesses. It's not huge, but it's there.

 

$20 beat up 1960s Norma guitar through a boombox I dug out of the trash? That's what I started on, and it was a HUGE leap when I moved up to a Squier strat and a real amp. Maybe some of it was because I finally had a properly intonated guitar, or maybe because I finally had a bridge pickup (the Norma had a single slanted P-90 honkalike in the space where the mid and neck would be), or maybe it was because I had an amp with some real gain and an eq, as opposed to the boombox where I had a tone knob and switched between a razored and intact speaker to "change channels". Either way, the sound was so much more like the tunes on the tapes I was trying to learn riffs from.

 

Then one day, this awesome guitar guy I knew came over and wanted to jam. I played my Squier through the Quantum amp, and he played my Norma through the boombox with a razored speaker cone. He still ran circles around me, and sounded so much better on that garbage equipment than I did on something better.

 

I never forgot that lesson. It's chops or no chops.

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