Insight, Yo.

[Idunno]

By Chris Loeffler -

 

"I believe one of the biggest issues at play is this; while gear is enabling, it can also be used as a an excuse not to continue to improve and grow as a player. Forums are filled with people chasing elusive tones by cycling through dozens of expensive pieces of gear, and they fall into the habits collectors of any other hobby...acquisition can feel like progress. GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) is real, and it can be painful. As such, a small (but very vocal) group of players replace learning music theory or techniques with purchasing more and more gear. They plug into it, play with it for a few practice sessions with their friends, and move on to the next piece of gear."

 

Article: Player Meets Collector...Why Music Gear Isn't a Bad Thing

 

--------------------------------------------

 

I believe this statement about gear (GAS).

 

When I came to the forums in 2004 expecting to reap the rewards of music from the various members I found little music and lot's of hodaddies, which is a word from my time pointing to guys who bought surfboards, stuck them in the sand at the beach to chat up the babes but couldn't surf. But, they could talk the talk. Challenged by surfers, they'd pack up and go to another spot on the fringe and continue to stalk the babes. That was Huntington Beach, CA, 1968-1971. Since then the usage of the word has spread to capture any such acts of fraud and I apply it to people who are guitar slutz but don't seem to desire musicianship over ownership. The romance is genuine, I believe, but centered around the guitar itself and not the music it's a tool for making.

[t_e_l_e]

i hear you, but some people (me included) would like to advance more in playing but actually the time to play, practice and improve is not there.

having a 40h+ daytime job, two small kids etc. you don't have the possibilty to play 2 to 3 or more hours a day with your guitar

 

you'd be happy if you can grab one for 5 to 30 minutes unplugged or in "silent mode" not to wake someone up

 

i'm guilty myself at the time when there was no progress in rhe band (unregular practice with only have the people showing up, fustration etc.) and otherwise no time to play music i bought the one or other piece of gear.

i now have a ton of pedals, 6 amps and count 11 guitars in my collection and have GAS for more

 

but i also found out i can play in the night when kids sleep with my unplgged electric without waking them up, so since a couple of months i have my daily night practice seesion with picking and finger execrises for half an hour or more.

 

it improved my playing and lessons from guitar world online can be fun but it takes some dedication to do it every day.

 

 

 

 

[Chris Loeffler]

It's funny, because I wrote that a month or so ago and was able to attend a guitar workshop put on by a local music festival non-profit last week. Gear wasn't mentioned in any of the workshops I attended. Page Hamilton, who I believe plays Freyette amps and hard-to-find Prescription Electronics effects pedals when on tour, played through a solid-state Polytone amp he purchased in the 80's and a Boss Distortion (Turbo Distortion, I believe) and sounded fine.

 

When I made a joking comment to him about how there's enough gear out there that there's barely time to play he responded, "Gear is cool, but you play the guitar because you want to make music. You gotta play your instrument and learn theory if you want to make music."

 

 

[kwakatak]

GAS makes sense when the gear you're using either gets in your way or holds you back. For some of us, GAS is a seven year itch where their single guitar was adequate until something happened to the guitar that killed the joy of playing. A lot of people I talk to are mere hobbyists who can get by with a $300 guitar. Then there are those who have to have not only a dozen guitars but 5 or 6 examples of the same freaking make and model just because of the year it was made and the rarity of some material. I can't even comprehend why somebody would even waste their money unless it were solely for investment purposes. I can't imagine that there's that much difference.

[DeepEnd]

GAS makes sense when the gear you're using either gets in your way or holds you back. . . .

Gotta agree. A while back a new member started a thread asking for recommendations for a new guitar. He was fairly new to playing but had set a budget of $600. One response he received was essentially "Shut up and play the guitar you have." But the guitar he had was a $59-with-a-gig-bag-and-tuner special and I knew he wasn't going to learn well on it. I have a decent enough guitar that I no longer have an excuse.

[sdelsolray]

I've had GAS periods over the years. They generated their own curiosities and exploration, mostly positive experiences, but it did take a toll on instrumental performance woodshedding. There are only so many hours in a day, or week or month.

 

These days I have much less GAS mostly because I've acquired quality gear that works well for me and because the music is more important than the tools.

[Neal]

I GET it. Absolutely. Some of us, including you I think, definitely go through the acquisition phase when we hit a period that we think ..hey, maybe I AM pretty good. Some because they think this or that will MAKE me better.

 

I think it's pretty normal, and helps the economy. Sometimes we grow up.

[Grant Harding]

Remember that GAS doesn't come from nowhere. We're all victims of advertising that says "Buy this guitar if you want to sound like Johnny Shredder."

[Idunno]

Then, on the flip side we have this bit of trendiness making the whole of guitar musicianship kinda pointless.

 

The Demise Of The Electric Guitar In Music

 

While I'm not in the habit of gravitating to the electric side of the house, it seems best to keep it that way if EDM is a clue. Best to grab some synths and get knob-savvy, a la Anderton, et al, if a career in music is desired. It most undoubtedly tells us buying electric guitars for professional reasons is an exercise in self-flogging.

 

Musicianship is graying and wrinkling before our eyes. It will become something of a curiosity, probably in my lifetime, as the industry revamps with machine-music sourcing to supplant the high cost of human hands. Machines are everywhere doing everything.

 

Anecdotal - I spoke with an engineer a couple months ago about 3-D print-creation of a human heart. He was performing experiments in zero-G conditions on a special airplane outfitted to perform repeated parabolic flights. In the absence of gravity the heart won't collapse upon itself while being created, and the process is far cheaper than experimenting in space at $125,000.00 per flight. The experiment was a success. What's next? The brain? Yep, we're becoming obsolete as a bio-mass.

 

Everything humans do is being scrutinized for possible viability with machines. EDM music is not new but the article tells us it is now so pervasive that an expert traveling as a tourist cannot hear anything but EDM.

 

I remarked to my wife a couple times that, while in public stores, all they played was synth music under chortling female vocalists. I walked out of a Barnes & Noble the other day because it grated on me so much. I can't think of the last time I heard any Elton John publicly played. It must all be controlled by the music industry, subliminal socialists that they are.

 

Ranting aside, what of the acoustic guitarist? On this and other similar forums any outsider looking in might think he's missing something. But the truth is the forum members are actually the deficit ones. The return lies only as a recreational undertaking.

[Delmont]

Yup. They've got me pegged.

 

Del

http://www.thefullertons.net

( •)—:::

[Phil O'Keefe]

Remember that GAS doesn't come from nowhere. We're all victims of advertising that says "Buy this guitar if you want to sound like Johnny Shredder."

 

That approach hasn't worked on me since I left my teens... yet I probably have more guitars than many of you do. And there's a reason I have a variety - they provide different sounds. I don't have twenty Strats - I have different guitars that each have their own distinctive voices. As a producer and engineer, I find that to be an invaluable resource when recording.

[recordingtrack1]

I almost pulled the trigger on a Yairi DY77 that was on ebay just last night. It was dead square mint with herringbone inlays. It was gorgeous. I couldn't make myself do it and a guitar that should have sold for at least a grand went for $625. What a freaking steal! I kept looking at my guitar cases stacked in the corner and thinking, "I just don't need another guitar". I'm starting to worry about me. I think my passion for new guitars has gone away. I hope it is only temporary, but who knows. All that said, I play at least a little bit every day. I got plenty of guitars to choose from. My acquisitions never felt like progress, but they did make me feel "enabled" and that left me with no excuse for not practicing.

[katopp]

I am sad to say, that I am finished and done. All basic grounds covered - soundwise. I am now even weeding out from the 28 acoustics that I used to have. I'm down to 20'ish. GAS is dead and gone. Whenever I go into a music store now, I say "Nice, but I have better at home" and that's it.

[Neal]

So then..a few of us have grown up. Phil, you have too, but it IS in your best interest on a few fronts to defend the GAS. Not saying, like most as well, that we can't appreciate good wood, but the fervent urge for the latest thing or newest model has quietly subsided.

 

Katopp, don't be sad. At least this rite of passage is easier than some tribes, no scarification but in the wallet, and the being apart in the hut was good for practice.

[Glenn F]

GAS is a complex phenomenon for me. There are a number of personal issues at play, as well as external ones *cough*HCAG/EG forums* cough. Although I'd had an adolescent fantasy of having a room full of nice guitars, and that fantasy has come to fruition, I still want *one* more. The next is going to be a Walden G2070, which I have already paid for and am awaiting. I am re-selling the Takamine that I got in August, because the pre is unrepairable, and even after all the suggestions to get rid of the tobacco smell, it still smells. It is also a large, heavy beast.

 

I am a competent player, though my abilities have leveled off. It would be nice to re-direct the energy I put into GAS back into learning and recording, but I am not feeling it now. I am past the point of thinking that 'this guitar will get me back into learning/recording like I used to be.' If that happens again, it won't be a new guitar that inspires it.

 

That said, I have a group of guitars that are 'untouchable.' My Martins, Lakewoods, Taylors and my Hanika are not going anywhere, and I don't really want to spend the money for another 'A' list acoustic. 8 is enough. Besides, we don't have the space. My electric collection, there are one or two I would think about selling and then getting something else, but when I pull one of those out and play it, I reconsider. So, I tinker around the edges. I want a couple of decent yet cheap acoustics to take out of the house, perhaps gig with, travel with, etc. So, that is where my GAS lies these days. I've read as much as I can find on Walden gits, and the reviews of these guitars are almost unanimously positive. They also go cheap, 2nd hand. It is a shame they've gone under.

 

On a personal note, I suffer from depression, and have faced a lot of loss in my life, especially in the last 5 years. GAS is a way of getting my mind off of things, albeit not in a very healthy way. I wish I could just be happy with what I have and play with the passion and dexterity that I used to, but I have to face the fact that these things may be gone forever. Which only depresses me more, and elicits more GAS. D'OH!

[DeepEnd]

. . . I am re-selling the Takamine that I got in August' date=' because the pre is unrepairable, . . .[/quote']

Sorry to hear it. Have you contacted Takamine/Kaman about a replacement preamp?

[Idunno]

I had some urgent GAS when I came back to playing in 2004 after a 29 year hiatus. I had no idea the market had expanded into so many choices since I quit in 75. I messed up a lot. I knew what I didn't want (Gibson, Martin, Guild, Ovation) because I knew them (I told myself) and what they had to offer me wasn't where I wanted to re-engage at. New to me was Taylor, Larrivee, Breedlove, Seagull, Walden, Norman and I'm fuzzy about the rest, if any, at that time. So, I made a bunch of learning goofs and lost lots of money in the process. I was looking for a particular sound and the gauntlet of finding it wasn't cheap for a gear-noob to rummage through. Through it all, though, I never had more than three guitars at a time and, of those, at least one was a goner waiting for the axe. IOW, I was not collecting.

 

If Yamaha had produced the NTX1200R at that time, and I'd discovered it, I think I'd have saved a bunch.

 

___________

 

@ Glenn F,

 

I can appreciate a tobacco smell repulsion. I quit 5 years ago this October and have since become sensitive to that odor.

[Glenn F]

Sorry to hear it. Have you contacted Takamine/Kaman about a replacement preamp?

 

Yes I did, and it's money I don't want to invest in the guitar, given its smell and weight.

 

___________

 

@ Glenn F,

 

I can appreciate a tobacco smell repulsion. I quit 5 years ago this October and have since become sensitive to that odor.

 

15 years for me on November 30. I quit the day after George Harrison died of cancer. I really can't tolerate the smell of tobacco now.

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

Yes I did, and it's money I don't want to invest in the guitar, given its smell and weight.

 

15 years for me on November 30. I quit the day after George Harrison died of cancer. I really can't tolerate the smell of tobacco now.

 

 

Good for you for quitting! I should have quit when George died. I quit about six years ago or so....

 

Have you tried spraying Fabreeze in the case and letting it air out? You might have to do it a few times, but it really does help - especially if you let it air out for a few hours in the sun. You can also put a few drier fabric softener sheets into the accessory compartment to help kill the cigarette smell, and they'll eventually freshen the guitar's smell too. Baking soda can also be used on the case fabric - sprinkle a bit on it, let it sit awhile, then vacuum it up before you put the guitar back in.

 

[strayGoat]

Interesting topic. I think it's different for just about everyone. Most of the really great players I know aren't gear-heads, and many of them know next to nothing about the instruments they own/play or get wrapped up at all in the variety of strings on the market. They just play.

 

At the same time, I've known excellent players who really like to have a variety of tones at the ready, and for that reason like to own a stable of gits.

 

I've known people who can't play worth a damn but own a killer stable of expensive guitars.

 

I think my own high number was six acoustics, two electrics. Having gone totally broke for several years, being relegated to one guitar (a Yamaha FG730S) after necessity forced me to sell all the others completely changed my own perspective on GAS. I wouldn't say that I felt even remotely deprived. I missed some of the guitars I'd owned, but can't recall ever thinking, "Man, I wish I owned a Lowden instead of this Yammie." I was very glad to have a good guitar to play - not having anything to play would have been tragic. There were times during the worst period of my life when being able to sit down with a guitar for a couple of hours felt like my only link to sanity. The Yammie may literally have saved my life.

 

I also think that removing myself from guitar forums did a lot to diminish GAS. The constant exposure to gear discussion (don't get me wrong, I really love talking about guitars and guitar manufacturers, so I don't mean this judgmentally), NGD announcements, etc., is a very real GAS accelerant. Actually, I knew basically nothing about guitars or guitar strings - ABSOLUTELY nothing about bracing (don't think I'd ever heard of bracing) until I started frequenting this forum. I used to walk into guitar shops and just ask for "Light gauge guitar strings," never imagining how they were made, or that there could be such an insane variety of different brands and constructions and alloys. The more I started to learn, the more I wanted to sample all of it.

 

There is definitely - for me, at least - a wall between playing and GASing. They feel like two separate and distinct worlds. I have the player self that just wants to play and improve. And there is also another side of me that just finds guitars fascinating as pieces of art, and fascinating on a technical/mystical/scientific/spiritual/artistic level. I think acoustic guitars are pieces of magic. Since my interest in them was initially sparked, I've never been able to regard them simply as tools. So in that sense, having several seems no different to me than an art lover having more than one painting on a wall. I don't think serious playing and collecting have to be mutually exclusive.

 

I now own two factory guitars. I don't expect I'll be buying any more unless I have a fire or something. My playing just isn't that varied. When I owned a lot of guitars in the past, most of them felt wasted since I can't play more than one at a time. Seems a shame to have something like a SJ-100, for example, sometimes sitting in a case for months at a time. Wherever my bygone herd of acoustics may be now, I hope they're getting played a lot.

 

 

[Glenn F]

Tried Febreeze 3 times, fabric softener, and the baking soda. The smell is coming from inside the guitar, and leaks out when I play it. As I said, too, its size is too large (it is a JUMBO) and the pre is dead. I had hoped it was just a wire, but my luthier friend checked it out for me. Too bad, as it is a really nice-sounding guitar.

[Idunno]

By strayGoat -

 

"There is definitely - for me, at least - a wall between playing and GASing. They feel like two separate and distinct worlds. I have the player self that just wants to play and improve. And there is also another side of me that just finds guitars fascinating as pieces of art,..."

 

I've read and approve of this message.

 

--------------------------------

 

That's the reality for most, I think. I can't imagine the collector spirit after a certain age, nor can I expect that the rock star spirit will dwell beyond a similar limiter.

 

Personally, I seek to render my favorite covers as instrumentals because it's their melodies that originally got my interest up. That melody can be either the instrumental work or lyrical counterpart, it doesn't matter. I also want to develop my own melodies along those lines. Obtaining skills is not a study unto itself as much as it's just a tag-along companion free-loading on the muse's learning curve.

 

The instrument itself has been another constant companion in the form of a question about sound, playability and other stuff tertiary to actually making music. Sometimes I focused on it - and lost a lot of money - and other times the muse ushered itself back in and, together, we freely and easily ignored the other guy.

 

Collecting has never been a factor. The art form of instrument making itself has always been like the silent pantomime seeking my attention just out of my field of view. It's there gesticulating to me but I just don't care enough about it to give it a nod or any kind of measure.

 

The Goodall I bought was the last gasp of a person who still couldn't get his ear to STFU, and it wasn't until I bought a Yamaha NTX1200R that I realized what was amiss. Metallic-ness. It was bugging me like the tinnitus I've lived with as a constant, unwanted companion, albeit on an oblivious level. That plugged nylon sound cleared up the zing sound of metal guitar strings my ear was not identifying - for lack of a frame of reference. All those freaking steel string guitars I bought and all of them were for an ear that wasn't too fond of them.

 

Whatever.

 

I think a chance at a do-over would be a measure of crisis containment so I won't tally the losses. I still appreciate a decent steel string with the right technique and melody.

 

---------------------------

 

Good reply, BTW.

[garthman]

 

. . . . and it wasn't until I bought a Yamaha NTX1200R that I realized what was amiss. Metallic-ness. . .

 

Yeah.

 

These days probably 85%+ of my playing is on nylon strings.

[Glenn F]

I think that this is a true and interesting perspective. I was under the illusion, for a long time, that a new guitar would bring back my passion for playing and recording which had been lost, ironically, just as I had acquired the technology and equipment to make studio grade recordings--in my livingroom. I advanced as a guitarist far more quickly when I had ONE acoustic guitar, and then ONE acoustic and ONE electric. The collecting bit has had virtually no positive impact on my recording and playing skills, though I will say that what I have recorded in the last few years sounds absolutely gorgeous. My Martins and Lakewoods record very well. I do aesthetically love a well-built guitar made of beautiful tonewoods. They are like drugs to me.

 

Anecdotally, the last time I attended a trad session in Ireland, there was a fairly well-known Irish Bouzouki-ist playing. During a break, I asked him what tonewoods his Bouzouki was made of, and he hadn't the foggiest clue. He was a pure player. Like I used to be.

[Idunno]

I think that this is a true and interesting perspective. I was under the illusion, for a long time, that a new guitar would bring back my passion for playing and recording which had been lost, ironically, just as I had acquired the technology and equipment to make studio grade recordings--in my livingroom. I advanced as a guitarist far more quickly when I had ONE acoustic guitar, and then ONE acoustic and ONE electric. The collecting bit has had virtually no positive impact on my recording and playing skills, though I will say that what I have recorded in the last few years sounds absolutely gorgeous. My Martins and Lakewoods record very well. I do aesthetically love a well-built guitar made of beautiful tonewoods. They are like drugs to me.

 

Anecdotally, the last time I attended a trad session in Ireland, there was a fairly well-known Irish Bouzouki-ist playing. During a break, I asked him what tonewoods his Bouzouki was made of, and he hadn't the foggiest clue. He was a pure player. Like I used to be.

 

 

Hah!

 

This is the point, exactly. In my prime I couldn't be bothered, much less knowledgeable, about guitar sizes, materials, makers and reputations. There was no internet. There was no such awareness other than the occasional album cover showing a guitar make or occasional TV coverage of artists where certain times in the broadcast the shot might get close enough to reveal the same. And, no one cared. We just wanted to play and we worked hard at learning to play music. We were drawn to the music, not so much the guitar.

 

These days it's like learning to play the guitar is the goal and music is the vehicle. I think I've seen so many technicians playing the guitar, or more succinctly, the fretboard, top and sides, than I've seen musicians playing music. I won't name names but all the percussionistas and fretboard acrobats bring more noise than is necessary. Fretboard noise from all the changes, when less is more, and tapping out parade ground cadence to the annoyance of the music is now the new concept of playing guitar. And to think all this time I've been striving to play music.

 

Anyway, I rant no mas.