OT: Good guitars not important for creativity

[Guitar Heel]

I don't take advice from anyone who hypenates the word "surprise."

[Wanderlei]

Seems like a lot of cats are really defensive regarding the Original Topic/Statement. Why?

Because cats like to argue?

[Bedlum Bednarik]

because its true....Not. The valid points already brought up are: gear is fun plenty of creative people acquire TONS of gear (Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons et al) Gear can be a muse (ive written songs just to showcase my amps tremolo, same with delay and fuzz, then we have all those pedals and whatnot known creative people have had people invent or build for them)

Gear is like the muse of last resort.I think what some around here are trying to conveigh is how many of these HCers are about their gear.Obsessive to the point of hilarity.Seriously some of the questions, opinions and such you see posted on a daliy bassis around here is just sad .And who owns this site? MF, people who would want you to buy, buy ,buy new gear untill your in a coma. Someone stated earlier that no one thinks that good gear is a prerequisite to good music. I doubt that. Im willing to bet some of these people faced with a small crowd and pos squire would blame the guitar the second they {censored} up.

[scolfax]

I don't take advice from anyone who hypenates the word "surprise."

 

 

My bad, typo fixed. Had to cut and paste from a PDF.

[vanderwaal]

...Someone stated earlier that no one thinks that good gear is a prerequisite to good music. I doubt that. Im willing to bet some of these people faced with a small crowd and pos squire would blame the guitar the second they {censored} up.

 

 

i face small crowds with my squire all the time... i {censored} up a lot too... and i'll be the first to tell you that when i {censored} up it is most certainly not the guitar's fault. good gear is most certainly not a prerequisite for good music. i'm not saying that i'm the world's greatest songwriter but i'm a damn site better songwriter than i am a guitarist. a better guitar would not make me a better songwriter. a better guitar would make me a songwriter with a better guitar and i don't really need that.

[vanderwaal]

I agree partially. Tools can make a big difference and having good tools can open up creative avenues you might not otherwise have ventured...

 

 

ah yes but having bad tools can open up creative avenues as well. creativity, art, expression... these things should be the goal. tools are just tools.

[DaveAronow]

 

Wow. Lots of folks hating on this blogger for his perfectly valid, if somewhat obvious statement. Does anybody really think creativity is possible only with the best gear? No. Does anybody really believe that the best gear will transform a relatively untalented person into a great artist? No. Does anyone really think there's something wrong with appreciating great gear (which can be art in itself)? No. Someone please point me to the controversial parts in the OP -- I just don't see it. I can even agree, with qualifications, with his insinuation that the "gearhead" mentality (which I possess in full) can sometimes hinder creative development. I am always amused at the way this exact same argument plays out in different interest groups. Go out and find some photography, or backpacking, or cycling fora for more examples.

 

 

 

"There

[bigconig]

Some of the best artwork in history was done with only white paint on a blank canvas. . .

[Dom1412]

Some of the best artwork in history was done with feces on a padded wall

[DaveAronow]

 

Some of the best artwork in history was done with only white paint on a blank canvas. . .

 

 

I dont think anyone is saying you cant have art with pure simplicity.

 

The dude that wrote that article is saying it CANT be the other way around though.

[vanderwaal]

Perfectly valid? Are you high? The dude said there is NO correlation between gear/equiptment and creativity. This is the most idiotic thing I( have ever heard. If this was the case, we would need NO gear, NO equiptment, No medium to bring our ideas to life. Everything would just be imagined and it would then just pop[ into reality. So, no artist anywhere ever has been instantaneously inspired to create something new thathe never would have even imagined, had he not been introduced to a new color, a new sound, a new tone, a new instrument that requires different playing techniques, different building techniques? I would say it is more the other way around. I dont really know if I heve ever met an artist that would say he HASNT been inspired to do something out of his normal creative style when introduced to a new way to go about things. If we narrow this whole discussion down to just guitars, to keep t extremely on toipi I can speak personally for myself and I know for a fact I speak for many others because Italk to them about it all the time.... sometimes just picking up a new guitar that feels different is all it takes to inspire something new. Add a new tone to that and it can at times, be like turning on a faucet. My absolute best personal example I can use to back up this arguement is keyboard workstations. When I get a new keyboard, or just monkey around with one at the store, as I scroll through the different tones, EVERY single different patch inspires me to play something new. Something I have never even thought of before and something I would have NEVER came up with had the new sound not opened the flood gates. The first thing I do is press a key, listen to a tone, or combinanation of tones depending on the patch, and it is like floodgates open and ideas just start popping in my head. I do no thinking whatsoever. It is like the tone istself tells me what to play. My hands just do what the sound tells me I should play. I can give a thousand other examples of how gear, equiptment, technology, could be ANY NEW stimulus, has intantaneously on the spot inspired artistic ideas in me that I would not have thought of without that stimulous. Could I still create art without it? Of course. Just not THAT art. Sometimes that stimulus is more expensive than other times. Sometimes not. I am not arguing over the price for gear being worth it or not. I am only saying that the clueless author of that article that says there are ZERO caseses of a piece of gear or equiptment or the specific attributes of that gear bringing about artistic stimulation that leads in tons of cases to art being created, alot of it great, well, it makes me believe tha dude isnt even qualified to comment. He has no idea what he is even talking about. I argue that anyone that agrees with him also hasnt a clue.

 

 

dave, man, you're taking this a bit seriously, aren't you? maybe i got something different from that line than you did but assuming that i'm clueless (and i know you didn't specifially call me by name) because i can find value in what the line says to me is a little harsh. to me, what the line says is that creativity exists without tools which i think is an incredibly valid point. the tool is inanimate and thus doesn't create (create being the root of the word creativity) anything. anything that you create with it was in you to create all along. seems like a perfectly valid interpretation to me and i think i have a clue.

[DaveAronow]

 

ah yes but having bad tools can open up creative avenues as well. creativity, art, expression... these things should be the goal. tools are just tools.

 

 

Yup. Sure. I agree with this. Inspiration can come frrom ANYWHERE. Sometimes that "where" might happen to be a very expensive piece of gear.

[buddhapaugh]

Perfectly valid? Are you high? The dude said there is NO correlation between gear/equiptment and creativity. This is the most idiotic thing I( have ever heard. If this was the case, we would need NO gear, NO equiptment, No medium to bring our ideas to life. Everything would just be imagined and it would then just pop[ into reality. So, no artist anywhere ever has been instantaneously inspired to create something new thathe never would have even imagined, had he not been introduced to a new color, a new sound, a new tone, a new instrument that requires different playing techniques, different building techniques? I would say it is more the other way around. I dont really know if I heve ever met an artist that would say he HASNT been inspired to do something out of his normal creative style when introduced to a new way to go about things. If we narrow this whole discussion down to just guitars, to keep t extremely on toipi I can speak personally for myself and I know for a fact I speak for many others because Italk to them about it all the time.... sometimes just picking up a new guitar that feels different is all it takes to inspire something new. Add a new tone to that and it can at times, be like turning on a faucet. My absolute best personal example I can use to back up this arguement is keyboard workstations. When I get a new keyboard, or just monkey around with one at the store, as I scroll through the different tones, EVERY single different patch inspires me to play something new. Something I have never even thought of before and something I would have NEVER came up with had the new sound not opened the flood gates. The first thing I do is press a key, listen to a tone, or combinanation of tones depending on the patch, and it is like floodgates open and ideas just start popping in my head. I do no thinking whatsoever. It is like the tone istself tells me what to play. My hands just do what the sound tells me I should play. I can give a thousand other examples of how gear, equiptment, technology, could be ANY NEW stimulus, has intantaneously on the spot inspired artistic ideas in me that I would not have thought of without that stimulous. Could I still create art without it? Of course. Just not THAT art. Sometimes that stimulus is more expensive than other times. Sometimes not. I am not arguing over the price for gear being worth it or not. I am only saying that the clueless author of that article that says there are ZERO caseses of a piece of gear or equiptment or the specific attributes of that gear bringing about artistic stimulation that leads in tons of cases to art being created, alot of it great, well, it makes me believe tha dude isnt even qualified to comment. He has no idea what he is even talking about. I argue that anyone that agrees with him also hasnt a clue.

Maybe he overstated his argument Dave.

I guess I was not reading him too literally. I get his point---even if his choice of words was not as well-thought out as it could have been.

It seems to me he is encouraging creativity and suggesting to all burgeoning artists and creators to NOT WAIT for the PERFECT TOOL!! Use what you have. Make art now. Create right here.

I think it is easy to get discouraged from creating when you get caught up in envy and acquisition because you are comparing your Squire to someone else's Vintage Strat and assuming you cannot write a song. I feel his message is an empowering one... and still wonder to myself why so many wanted to flame what he wrote... when his emphasis was on creativity and artistry regardless of having the best/most tools or not.

[DaveAronow]

 

dave, man, you're taking this a bit seriously, aren't you? maybe i got something different from that line than you did but assuming that i'm clueless (and i know you didn't specifially call me by name) because i can find value in what the line says to me is a little harsh. to me, what the line says is that creativity exists without tools which i think is an incredibly valid point. the tool is inanimate and thus doesn't create (create being the root of the word creativity) anything. anything that you create with it was in you to create all along. seems like a perfectly valid interpretation to me and i think i have a clue.

 

 

I want talking about YOU.

 

 

You and I are arguing two doffernt things it looks like.

 

I made it ridiculously clear, the part of his "manifesto" that I had a problem with.

[vanderwaal]

Yup. Sure. I agree with this. Inspiration can come frrom ANYWHERE. Sometimes that "where" might happen to be a very expensive piece of gear.

 

 

ah but it might also be a cheap piece of gear or a stick or a rock or old run down barn and even all of that doesn't matter since inspiration isn't creativity. it may be the impetus but the creativity is purely human and exists outside the inspiration.

[DaveAronow]

Maybe he overstated his argument Dave. I guess I was not reading him too literally. I get his point---even if his choice of words was not as well-thought out as it could have been. It seems to me he is encouraging creativity and suggesting to all burgeoning artists and creators to NOT WAIT for the PERFECT TOOL!! Use what you have. Make art now. Create right here. I think it is easy to get discouraged from creating when you get caught up in envy and acquisition because you are comparing your Squire to someone else's Vintage Strat and assuming you cannot write a song. I feel his message is an empowering one... and still wonder to myself why so many wanted to flame what he wrote... when his emphasis was on creativity and artistry regardless of having the best/most tools or not.

 

Yeah, I see that part of his arguement, but to me, that just seemed like more of a cover for his bigger arguement, that says anyone that feels the need to buy expensive gear to help in their quest to creat new, different, sometimes better stuff, is wasting their time because there are "NO cases" of that coming to fruition. "None" "ZERO" "NADA" Also, there was a HUGE air of arrogance about that post that just ruffled me a little. I just detected it as being composed toi preach to people or to belittle theminstead of trying to inspire people. I cant possibly imagine him having any ewxperience in any artistic medium whatsoever if he believes that sometimes artistic ideas can be or are NEVER stimulated by gear/equipment, etc. Sometimes that gear is expensive.

 

I am MORE inclined to believe the author was just trying to troll as opposed to trying to inspire people. I didnt like his ABSOLUTE either this or that, all or none, attitude about the whole thing.

 

I think that is the biggest problem I have with it.

 

I wasnt even riled up about this at all. It barely even hit my radar. What suprised me was how many people were seeming to agree with him. Not a large percentage overall, but the fact that ANYONE would qagree with this, just made me do a big double take and say, HUH? Have these people ever even dabbled in any kind of artistic expression in their lives? Ever? Even crayons, stick figures and notebook paper would sometimes be enough to see a need for something better. Most people experience at least that, before they even get to kindergarten.

[Dom1412]

But the feces!

[waxbytes]

Jimi Hendrix used nearly every effect available in his day when making new songs. Not everyone is hampered by having more options.

[DaveAronow]

 

ah but it might also be a cheap piece of gear or a stick or a rock or old run down barn and even all of that doesn't matter since inspiration isn't creativity. it may be the impetus but the creativity is purely human and exists outside the inspiration.

 

 

Of course it can. I am not , never have and never will say it cant be that way. That dude is saying it ONLY can be that way. See the difference here? This is why I think he is close minded, lacks any kind of experience whatsoever, or is just talking down to people to try to get a rise, or all of the above. I thought hte first posted quote was silly and ridiculous. I was ready to dismiss it as nonesense. I just thought everyone else was seeing the same side of his idiotic arguement that I saw, and was wondering why the few people that agreed with that side of it, actually DID agree with that side of it. I see y'all were just agreeing with a different point he was making. O.K. That is fine, I see that one too. But The thing he said, as you will notice from my first post on this , about inspiration NEVER coming from, or being inspired by gear, be it expensive, is the thing I have beem agruing about from the begining. I thought that was clear from my first rant on this.

[DaveAronow]

But the feces!

 

I HAVE noticed what you have been trying to do here Dom, and I appreciate it.

 

I have just been to busy in an important internet arguement crisis to comment on it.

[DaveAronow]

 

the word "surprise."

 

 

Whut about peepuz what dont no how 2 spelz duh werd hyphenate?

[aliensporebomb]

that guy sounds REALLY bitter.

 

 

Yep, that totally came across to me too.

 

Hey, it's DOUBTFUL he had anything as inspirational to the musical psyche

as a beautiful woman with a Les Paul between her legs but hey, if he wants

to use a #2 pencil and an old take out menu go right ahead.

 

I know, to me, that a good instrument will ELEVATE the technique you

already have.

 

When I helped my friend buy his first guitar he was a REALLY late bloomer

(he just turned 40). I knew there was no point in messing around with

some cheap copy guitar and if he was going to go all the way and get a

teacher he needed every advantage he could get so he ended up with a

new american standard strat that I thought was the best playing strat

in the store for right around $1000.

 

Sure he could have gotten a Squier affinity but my friend is taking lessons

and is actually learning how to play and enjoying himself.

 

I remember starting out my fingers were bleeding and cracked because

I was forced to learn on some cheap no-name piece of junk.

 

I don't see a REAL advantage in getting the worst piece of junk you can

grab, you need to have something that inspires you and makes you want

to play every chance you can get.

 

Anyway, yeah, I sense bitterness too.

[vanderwaal]

Of course it can. I am not , never have and never will say it cant be that way. That dude is saying it ONLY can be that way. See the difference here? This is why I think he is close minded, lacks any kind of experience whatsoever, or is just talking down to people to try to get a rise, or all of the above. I thought hte first posted quote was silly and ridiculous. I was ready to dismiss it as nonesense. I just thought everyone else was seeing the same side of his idiotic arguement that I saw, and was wondering why the few people that agreed with that side of it, actually DID agree with that side of it. I see y'all were just agreeing with a different point he was making. O.K. That is fine, I see that one too. But The thing he said, as you will notice from my first post on this , about inspiration NEVER coming from, or being inspired by gear, be it expensive, is the thing I have beem agruing about from the begining. I thought that was clear from my first rant on this.

 

 

correct me if i'm wrong but this is the specific line that you have a problem with, right?

 

 

There

[halmot]

correct me if i'm wrong but this is the specific line that you have a problem with, right? if so then i think you might be confusing inspiration with creativity. what is said in the line above is that creativity doesn't come from these things. and that is absolutely true. creativity never, ever comes from a tool. now, a new piece of equipment (or an old piece, or any tool...) might inspire you but it does not create. you create and that creativity exists within you even with out the inspiration.

That's exactly how I read it. And I'm not high.

Relax, everybody. Nobody wants to take your toys away.

[Bedlum Bednarik]

Yeah, I see that part of his arguement, but to me, that just seemed like more of a cover for his bigger arguement, that says anyone that feels the need to buy expensive gear to help in their quest to creat new, different, sometimes better stuff, is wasting their time because there are "NO cases" of that coming to fruition. "None" "ZERO" "NADA" Also, there was a HUGE air of arrogance about that post that just ruffled me a little. I just detected it as being composed toi preach to people or to belittle theminstead of trying to inspire people. I cant possibly imagine him having any ewxperience in any artistic medium whatsoever if he believes that sometimes artistic ideas can be stimulated by gear. Sometimes that gear is expensive. I am MORE inclined to believe the author was just trying to troll as opposed to trying to inspire people. I didnt like his ABSOLUTE either this or that, all or none, attitude about the whole thing. I think that is the biggest problem I have with it. I wasnt even riled up about this at all. It barely even hit my radar. What suprised me was how many people were seeming to agree with him. Not a large percentage overall, but the fact that ANYONE would qagree with this, just made me do a big double take and say, HUH? Have these people ever even dabbled in any kind of artistic expression in their lives? Ever? Even crayons, stick figures and notebook paper would sometimes be enough to see a need for something better. Most people experience at least that, before they even get to kindergarten.

I have to agree with you here,but, I think the reason some would agree with that post is the way gear is marketed to us these last ,ohh 25 years. Signature guitars, amps,fxs,strings straps, picks and other mindless dodads.Its gotten worse over the years.And its on showcase right here at the HC boards.It took me years till I learned that GAS was a waste of my time.I just feel its a good thing to try and get that in some of the young guys minds around here.They get enough mindless marketing, a little balance is good for the soul and pocketbook.