Nobody actually uses off-brand guitars

[smorgdonkey]

I like a lot of their songs...I suppose it is because they can rehash classic rock but make it sound new in some way, plus they were fantastic when I saw them live.

 

A friend of mine and his girlfriend won backstage passes and his girlfriend just loved them so she was all excited. I guess the band were just complete azzwipes and my friend and his gf ended up leaving after not staying too long. Gf was rather disillusioned by the whole experience.

[poolshark]

 

Musicians are basically haters, I find. They get so jealous and uppity that you have a decent band and they don't. They're not gonna give you an ounce of credit over having money for a decent Fender and normal people don't give a {censored}.

 

 

I tend to agree. There are plenty of good dudes out there - generally the ones who actually play out, IME - but plenty of haterade-fueled bedroom warriors as well. I think the good ones would encourage you to play whatever you like, and the others would probably post about it on Harmony Central.

[ihavenofish]

 

they didn't want to be interviewed even though their manager set it up. whatever. Navy Blues is still awesome.

 

 

we did the photography for the cover of action pact (which was then posterised). I don't recall any comments about them being dicks... but I wasn't at the shoot.

[harold heckuba]

Its all about pride--- do you have pride in yourself? Do you want people laughing behind your back?

Complimenting you to your face and then telling people you suck? Hitting on your girlfriend while

you are onstage?

 

There are only two brands to consider- Fender and Gibson. Other brands are as disingenuous as

Jeff Beck's toupee. These brands can turn in struggling, puny Jeffrey Wielandt into a hulking super-

stud Zakk Wylde.

[ihavenofish]

 

Its all about pride--- do you have pride in yourself? Do you want people laughing behind your back? Complimenting you to your face and then telling people you suck? Hitting on your girlfriend while you are onstage? There are only two brands to consider- Fender and Gibson. Other brands are as disingenuous as Jeff Beck's toupee. These brands can turn in struggling, puny Jeffrey Wielandt into a hulking super- stud Zakk Wylde.

 

 

Gibson and fender are low end cheap junk. why would anyone with a successful career want to play them on stage.

[honeyiscool]

 

I tend to agree. There are plenty of good dudes out there - generally the ones who actually play out, IME - but plenty of haterade-fueled bedroom warriors as well. I think the good ones would encourage you to play whatever you like, and the others would probably post about it on Harmony Central.

Yeah, the ones in good bands with a decent following and a few decent demos tend to be really nice to everybody because they don't have any insecurity or haterade to dish out. And those guys and gals didn't get to that even modest level by fussing over what kind of brand of guitar is cool, they were too busy writing songs and having fun playing music to give a {censored}. The ones who think they're better than they have to show for, though, those guys, they are such haters. Stop hating on other people and their gear, try to write some decent music and get some decent recordings, I say. Maybe pick up a microphone, try singing, get on a stage, do SOMETHING. Whatever, though. It's their loss.

 

There are plenty of really nice people in {censored}ty bands, too. And you know those guys are gonna be good in two years because they'll actually stay together and practice and get tighter over time.

[steve_man]

 

Yep, Canada has a lot of cool bands. Some of my favorites were involved in that whole Scott Pilgrim project: Broken Social Scene, Plumtree, Metric. I'm not exactly a Sloan fan but they were involved as well, and I'm always raving about Leslie Feist, I'm not a fan of her music personally, but I really like her sound and I like her loose guitar jammy stuff. There is great music all over the world, as long as you don't try to have one standard for good like (cough) some people on the board (cough) try to have.

 

 

Feist was a member here for a while. Had a few conversations with her about her dual Vox Pathfinder setup based on a thread I started. Very down to earth.

[honeyiscool]

She's one of the main reasons why I got interested in Vox Pathfinders in the first place.

 

My band uses a Pathfinder 210 mini stack as our main rhythm amp. Works great.

[TheBlueStrat]

It doesn't matter if you use off brands or sub brands like Epiphone or Squier, because 99.9999999% of the audience are not guitar players, and couldn't give a lesser {censored}, as long as they are drunk and there is music playing.

[RayinVegas]

It doesn't matter if you use off brands or sub brands like Epiphone or Squier, because 99.9999999% of the audience are not guitar players, and couldn't give a lesser {censored}, as long as they are drunk and there is music playing.

 

 

So, so true.

 

That said i have

 

Eastwood Map(white)

Peavey Predator AX w/ custom P/U's (surf blue)

Fender Acoustic

Takamine 2006 LTD edition Acoustic Electric

[tlbonehead]

I see all kinds of gear here in the live music capital of the world. Sorry your town is so boring. Maybe move?

same here.

[Ovid9]

Around here, most of the cover bands use Fenders and Gibsons, and Fender/Marshall/Mesa amps. I take that to mean 1) We don't have many gear options around here besides run of the Mill GC stuff 2) most of the guys don't spend a lot of time on internet forums learning about great off-brand gear 3) its tried and true and they wanted that since they were little.

 

If this cover band thing actually gets playing out I'll be bringing some different options to the bars, Agile, Godin, Ibanez, and Peavey or Acoustic amps and ya know what, nobody except maybe one or two people will notice or care.

 

Original bands seem to have greater variety as they seem to be younger/spend more time online and are poor and have to buy what they can afford.

[steve_man]

I also live in Austin. While you will occasionally see a ton of offbeat amps, pedals, etc, I have not seen a lot of the musicians stray too far from the standard fare. Mostly Fenders, Gibsons, PRSs, Taylors, Martins, etc.

[Helldogg]

If you're a good enough player you won't spend all your time worrying about what's on the headstock. Also of you can play the hell out of a guitar no one will notice your headstock either. Unless of course you are an aging gear elitist who needs to justify spending money on gear instead of lessons.

[Spike Li]

Actually, more like how did Scott Pilgrim having a Rickenbacker make any sense at all?

You know I read the comic before I saw the movie (it all started as a comic) and yeah I picked that up straight away haha. "How the hell does this guy, who is so poor he shares a studio apartment and sleeps in the same bed as his roommate afford a Rickenbacker!!?". It is later explained that he borrowed it off his brother (theres even a gag later when Scott breaks the bass in a fight and his brother asks for it back), but seeing as how Scott Pilgrim is an ode to Geekdom, I think its far more likely that the author included the Rick as a reference to the anime FLCL where one character has a Ric bass



That or the author just likes em

[Spike Li]

Ya that's because you're a guitar player. The rest of the crowd was probably thinking "Wow electric guitars!" and enjoying the show.

So true, I totally realised this right after I made that post
Im not a bass player (yet) or a drummer (yet) so I couldnt care less what brands those guys play, yet an Epi Headstock urks me...

[Flintc]

I wonder if guitarists are nonetheless more adventurous than bass players. On the bass forum I often read tales of people showing up for a gig or (especially) studio work and told to go get his Fender or go home. In fact, the electric bass is still called a "fenderbass" in some places, to distinguish it from an acoustic double bass. As though there is no other band.

 

Last band I saw live, a couple weeks ago, the guitarist was playing a Ric and the bass player ... a Fender. What else?

[jjpistols]

I also live in Austin. While you will occasionally see a ton of offbeat amps, pedals, etc, I have not seen a lot of the musicians stray too far from the standard fare. Mostly Fenders, Gibsons, PRSs, Taylors, Martins, etc.

 

Which clubs do you frequent? A lot of the younger players seem to avoid old man guitars like les Paul's and strats (I was told as much, being an old man in this case), but Epi semis are huge. Rics and gretsch get some action. I haven't seen much PRS at the local level, and nice acoustics only at Moody Theater shows, which are always touring bands, like Wilco, Loretta Lynn, Nick Cave, etc. buskers and coffee shop players I see lots of Washburn, some entry level Martin, Ibanez, etc.

 

SGs and Teles were bigger a couple years ago, but still have a presence. P90 sg classics seem to dominate.

[riffy]

Shoot man, I cart my Agile 3000M with me to a gig in a heart beat... I will also take my Mustang III over my tube amps as well... If they sound good, that is all I care about... If you can play, you will make ANYTHING sound good..

 

Gary

[steve_man]

 

Which clubs do you frequent? A lot of the younger players seem to avoid old man guitars like les Paul's and strats (I was told as much, being an old man in this case), but Epi semis are huge. Rics and gretsch get some action. I haven't seen much PRS at the local level, and nice acoustics only at Moody Theater shows, which are always touring bands, like Wilco, Loretta Lynn, Nick Cave, etc. buskers and coffee shop players I see lots of Washburn, some entry level Martin, Ibanez, etc. SGs and Teles were bigger a couple years ago, but still have a presence. P90 sg classics seem to dominate.

 

 

Don't really do the club scene...but I catch bands at different outdoor venues, coffee houses, etc.

[fretmonster]

I'm estimating 7/10 of the guitarists I see playing locally (in my UK city) play Strats of Teles - be they MIA, MIM or Squier - 2/10 use Les Pauls (Gibson or Epi). The other 10% play Ibanezes, Gretsches, 335s, SGs, custom-builds. partscasters - sometimes a Vintage or Yamaha will make it to a gig but very rarely. Cheap guitar round here means a MIM or a Squier. Even at metal gigs I normally see humbucker-equipped Strats, Teles and LPs. Acoustics and basses vary much more than this, but when it comes to solid-bodies, it's Fender, Squier, Gibson or Epi all the way. What's going on? There are loads of top-quality off-brands out there - the guitar stores are full of them, people are posting NGDs all the time. Why don't I see people playing them in public?!?!

 

 

What, no Gordon Smith stuff? No National Home Brand loyalty? I've heard those are very high quality.

[honeyiscool]

Around here, most of the cover bands use Fenders and Gibsons, and Fender/Marshall/Mesa amps. I take that to mean 1) We don't have many gear options around here besides run of the Mill GC stuff 2) most of the guys don't spend a lot of time on internet forums learning about great off-brand gear 3) its tried and true and they wanted that since they were little. If this cover band thing actually gets playing out I'll be bringing some different options to the bars, Agile, Godin, Ibanez, and Peavey or Acoustic amps and ya know what, nobody except maybe one or two people will notice or care. Original bands seem to have greater variety as they seem to be younger/spend more time online and are poor and have to buy what they can afford.

Well the cover band circuit guys usually get paid and they're often going for a certain look as well, as well as sound and a certain amount of versatility in the realm they need it.

 

Original bands can make good use of unusual equipment to make unusual sounds. You don't have that luxury when you're playing Clapton. Either you sound remotely like him or you suck.

[BG76]

 

If you're a good enough player you won't spend all your time worrying about what's on the headstock.

 

 

Not true at all. In fact, a lot of guys who are great players really are into guitars. When I was in college I probably practiced 6-8 hours a day every day and when I hung out with my friends we talked as much about music and gear then I tend to to talk about sports with my friends who don't play.

 

I never got into cheap guitars because when I started playing I got a Les Paul Standard used as my first good guitar and just was good at managing my money.

 

When I was a kid there were under age places where my bands would play. This would have been in the later 80s up until about 1992. At that time most kids had Ibanez, BC Rich NJ/USA or Kramer with Marshall, Peavey or Laney amps (there was a big Laney dealer locally). I played a Les Paul and a Tele into a Vibrolux and a JTM-45. We all paid about the same for our stuff (I probably payed less).

 

Back then with no cell phones, internet, etc... there were less things to spend money on so most of the kids I knew who were in bands were pretty serious about it and most of us worked stupid jobs like paper routes, McDonalds, etc... and would save.

 

I remember when I was starting out kids had Charvette, Squier, Westone, Series 10, etc... but I don't remember anyone actually thinking those were better then the guitars we bought a couple years later.

 

I tried to watch that Scott Pilgrim movie because my wife's sister's boyfriend's brother and his boyfriend brought it to her house and said how great it was. I honestly thought it was the most borning dumb movie I ever saw. The first 10 minutes were ok, but then it just got boring and stupid.

[Angry Tele]

[Angry Tele]

dick dale would only play with a bassist that played a Fender

 

 

I wonder if guitarists are nonetheless more adventurous than bass players. On the bass forum I often read tales of people showing up for a gig or (especially) studio work and told to go get his Fender or go home. In fact, the electric bass is still called a "fenderbass" in some places, to distinguish it from an acoustic double bass. As though there is no other band. Last band I saw live, a couple weeks ago, the guitarist was playing a Ric and the bass player ... a Fender. What else?