When I first started playing I used compression a lot, but I had a real heavy picking hand at that time. And could be fairly sloppy with the other.Now in the last few years compression has seemed to get in the way of my playing.Is this just me or do others feel that compression really isn't necessarry. I think it's a crutch. I just rely on the natural compression from the amp. It's enough for me. I might use compression in the future, but only for deliberately excessively compressed guitar effects, that "squeezed" effect etc.