Is G.A.S. Ruining My Guitar Playing...

[Jakeislove]

I'm not huge on stuff but did tweak thee guitar a little.

I have an LP, amp, and acoustic. Not playing much has to do with traveling for work. The acoustic was a gift and never gets played. I've read more than enough horror stories about guitars destroyed by airlines but should consider bringing it as checked baggage.

 

[acstorfer]

I have been very fortunate (?) with life events greatly diminishing my GAS

1. Being out of work for several years leaves me with very little $$$. My funds put me in a position of not even being able to dream of getting new gear. Well actually I was able to make some fantastic flips so that helped too.

2. My medical issues put me in too much pain to play often. I am able to medicate myself to alleviate the pain, but usually my pills make me either too tired or too loopy to play.

3. In all honesty my rig is pretty good. Short of a Custom Shop Telecaster, my Tele is pretty much as good as it gets. Sure, the Vintage Reissue '64 Telecaster in white blonde makes me drool, but I'd still always favor my '52 Reissue Hot Rod because of the Seymour Duncan minihumbucker in the neck. Additionally I would have a very difficult time trying to get used to the 7.25" fretboard radius. That's actually a deal breaker for me. As far as an amp goes, an Orange OR-15 is nothing to sneeze at. I've had a lot of amplifiers and the Orange may actually be the best "bedroom" amp I've ever had. Even at 7 watts I have plenty of clean headspace for my needs. At 15 watts I have plenty more for beyond my needs. As far as the drive goes, well it's an Orange. Even at low volume the gain is simply outstanding. I have been up and down on pedals these last few months, but right now while even being low on pedals, they are all quite capable and there are many guitarists who would love to have the pedals I own. I will go on record and say my cabinet is in need of replacement though. The speaker is very, very good. The cabinet is built like a tank and it will never break apart. It is a big behemoth though. It's way over the top heavy, and while I can't say it bothers me, it is ugly as hell!

Sadly my circumstances have changed though. I am about to come into a considerable amount of money () and I have enough GAS to drown in. While I would love a Fender Custom Shop Telecaster again I absolutely love my Tele. I couldn't possibly justify paying over $4,000.00 for a Telecaster that is identical as far as specs go to the Telecaster I already own and love. The only differences would be is a white blonde finish, black binding, and a highly visible birds-eye neck. Well I probably would go with a rosewood fretboard seeing how I have maple already covered.

There are really only two things I plan to change as far as my rig goes. I am going to replace my Orange with a Swart. Although I haven't figured out exactly which model I will go with, I am leaning towards the STR - Tremelo. I haven't ruled out any of his amps though, including the AST (in case I may ever need closer to 20 watts than 5). Also I think the AST might have an effects loop which is always handy, but seeing how reverb and tremelo are already built in it really would only be useful for me if I wanted a delay pedal. With it I would get a Swart Nightlite attenuator. It would be a shame not to use that amp to it's full potential. Actually it wouldn't be a shame. It would be a crime! Okay, okay, built in reverb be damn. I wanted either a Damage Control Glass Nexus, a Damage Control Timeline, a Strymon Big Sky, a Strymon Blue Sky, and a Strymon Timeline for so long that I will definitely get one of those.

Now how does my rant have anything to do with this thread? It really doesn't. I wrote about what I covet, instead of discussing how GAS may be detrimental to my playing. Although I guess that while I could have been playing instead of talking about my GAS I guess it tells all of us that it does affect my practice time .

Oh, to keep myself interested in picking up and playing, learning or trying to learn a new song has me going for hours, GAS be damned.

 

[Bytor1958]

I got rid of a few that I wasn't playing that I thought I needed. Now I'm down to 3 major #1s as I'll call them. All Epis, 1 Materbilt DR500MCE, 1 LP 60T+ and My favorite, 1 Dot ES335. That gives me everything I'm looking for.

 

[LeftyF2003]

I've set myself to not add any new gear for the foreseeable future. I'd rather spend the time to get really intimate with what I have and work on new songs and recording. Much more rewarding in the long run, though I wouldn't have all the tools if I hadn't spent the time to surround myself with the gear that gets me my sound. If a new piece of gear inspires you to play more then it's worth it

 

[SWeAT hOg]

There is no such thing as 'The tone' unless you keep your playing confined to a bedroom.
The same gear with the same settings with the same person playing it will sound entirely different in a working situation, where even the same venue can sound different according to the size and density of the audience.
Stacks of variables come into the equation on gigs.
The size of venue. The height of the ceilings, the walls, carpeted or non carpeted floors. The audience size etc etc.
Anyone setting their gear up for the ultimate bedroom tone ( whatever that happens to be ) is going to be in for one hell of a surprise should they ever start gigging.
You find a basic sound you like and will then need to constantly adjust from venue to venue.
Same with effects..Whatever sounds good in a bedroom will have to be tweaked at least 50% down in the mix for live performance.

Even after practicing for an hour or two, I will be dialed into something that sounds great when I'm finished, but these settings will sound like ass the next time I play-in the same room!

 

[splatter]

I've been thinking lately about how obsessed I've become with gathering gear and trying to tweak it as opposed to how much I've really been “playing” guitar. I think sometimes I spend to much time and money chasing a sound and not much else.

I buy a new guitar and it feels fantastic, I play it for a week and all the sudden I need a new one. Everyone needs a Telecaster right, but what about a Stratocaster, a Les Paul, an SG? Where's my hollow body? How come I don't have one of each with P90's...suddenly I have 15 guitars!

Now the thrill is gone, I need to get some more amps. Fender, Marshall, VOX. OK how about a dozen pedals.

Then let's try some modeling...You can spend every waking minute playing around with the settings on that stuff...and I have by the way.

I think it's time I got back to playing my guitar and stop concentrating so much on gear. I hope all of you out there are spending some quality time just playing and enjoying...

The funny thing is you see all these guys on forums with massive amounts of gear so you just assume that they can play . By that I mean are good at it . The truth is not many are very good at it . At least not good enough to justify all the gear they own .


I'm not implying I can play . I wish the professionalism of my playing matched that of my gear

 

[splatter]

I've learned that no matter what guitar I buy , eventually it will be sitting in the case and I will be playing my LP axcess . So this helps to control my gas .

 

[Dun Ringill]

Although I agree that GAS can and will get in the way of playing I have found it can also be helpful. Each guitar seems to have it's own muse and different things come out of them that may or may not work on different guitars.

I suppose that is just part of the addiction cycle.

 

[Phil47uk]

Even after practicing for an hour or two, I will be dialed into something that sounds great when I'm finished, but these settings will sound like ass the next time I play-in the same room!

Yep, dead right..You might play differently, you may hear it differently according to your mood etc, that's why this ultimate tone quest people get obsessed with doesn't really exist.
They might for instance spend months trying to replicate the exact sound that Jimmy Hendrix had on a certain track, but what they fail to realise is that Jimmy Hendrix himself never ever sounded the same at any gig as he did on the original track anyway... And that includes ad libbed guitar solos.. No two were ever the same, simply because it's impossible.
Tell an ad libbed story to an audience and five minutes later try and tell the same story.. Even if you got every single word correct and in the right order which I very much doubt , it would be impossible to get the dynamics, inflections , phrasing and punctuation in the same order too..

The secret to playing like ones guitar hero in a working situation is to listen how the guy plays and phrases and not to worry about spending an eternity on buying and tweaking gear..
Give Jimmy Hendrix anyone's guitar on this forum and he will still sound like Jimmy Hendrix...
I remember once doing a gig and ad libbing a solo in the 'style' of Hendrix as I thought it might fit. During the break a guy came up and said "What Hendrix song was that, I haven't heard that one before?"
It's very much like being a stage impersonator where they can sound just like an actor or politician when in fact the person they are impersonating has never uttered those words before....And can even do the mannerisms like the guy who does De'Niro in this sketch.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfDoDWlSp1o[/ame]

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

Amen, when I was a childe I had one guitar=25lb Hondo 2. I sweated,practiced 4-6 hours EVERY day. Then after 5 years-this was the 80's,harder to learn back then- I got "decent." I bought gits every 3 months. I ended up selling all but two-86 Sg+74 Custom. I was done with R+R!!!!!!

Years went by-----------I got the GAS. I bought 10 more. Now, I'm done. I have 12 gits- Teles+Lp's+Sg's+Hamer+Strat. I have humbucks+minis+P90s-Sc. I got rid of 3 amps. I now own three. I have 21 pedals. That is an army. I know focus on playing. I have written more complex songs. I'm turning into a prog-rocker. FEZZ is auditioning a keyboard player in two weeks. Watch out world. Guitarists go nuts with collecting.

I have one typewriter. I have written much nonsense on it. I never say,

"Need a new typewriter. My words aren't cutting through."

Yes, guitars+amps+pedals=SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!

 

[artis_xe]

I have one typewriter. I have written much nonsense on it. I never say,

"Need a new typewriter. My words aren't cutting through."

there's an idea
will get you a typewriter " that makes sense " for Christmas

 

[SparkyJones]

GAS only strikes me about once or twice a year. I don't count the times I buy pedals, because honestly, a hundred dollar pedal is a drop in the pan compared to a $2000 amp or guitar. I don't buy too many pedals to consider it a problem anyways.

But to answer your question, yes thinking about and constantly purchasing gear may indeed be ruining you. Every time I think about how much I could improve my amp all I do is pick up one of my acoustics and play for a few hours. It reminds me that playing/tone is in the fingers and not the resistors.

 

[Alligatorbling]

ive come to have anti gas it seems... im shelling off a lot of the boutique and mojo items and staying with plane jane and basic tools.

granted my gear collection is vast, still.... i dont feel the need to try 70some odd dirt boxes looking for someone elses sound, or trying to create my own.

does this mean im different? i dont know. maybe youre different.

am i out of touch? i dont know, maybe yeah yeah yeah blah blah blah.

i like overdrive.

 

[revtime]

I have one pedal. Its a blues driver and I don't use it very much.
I have several amps but I mostly use a Mustang 3. I use the stock settings (OH MY) I have a clean tone, a gritty tone, and a metal distortion. I never understood the journey for the holy grail of tone. If I had to fiddle with knobs n buttons everyday searching for MY tone I would never get anything done.
Now I won't lie and say I don't play around with flangers, reverb, and auto swells and the like but its just for fun. I am not on the lookout for MY tone.

 

[MooCheng]

I used to think that.

But I understand now,...there's Collectors. And they serve a purpose too.

Curators,..preservers of old guitars,...guitar lovers.

I can't hate on someone who doesn't have the inclination or ability to play well but who really, truly loves guitars.

I used to,..I use to be a Player Snob. But I outgrew it after seeing how much good Collectors do.

Who else is buying those expensive guitars and then selling them for thousands less? They take that hit. That depreciation.

There's a lot of Players out there playing nice guitars because some Collector got that guitar first,..kept it in good shape,...and passed it down the line when the time came.

hell the only reason I have a nice guitar is because someone was collecting them who hooked me up.

Changed my whole view and appreciation.

it's easy to be a snob,..not so easy to be grateful.

The guitar world is huge,...everyone has a purpose from players to collectors to builders and pickup makers.

it's a community.

It could be argued collectors provide the market to artificialy inflate the price of quality guitars thereby, keeping them beyond reach of many players. Gibson unashamidly aim some of its most expensive at this market, the cash cow that keeps giving... its business, I guess, Gibson is in business to make money, weather or not its pricing policy is moraly right is another matter.

If collectors want to spend vast amounts on guitars its fine by me, each to there own, I don't think there doing us any favours, then again there not doing us any harm. These days a $2k / 3k guitar can play and sound every bit as good as $ 7k / 12k guitar so the reality is, collectors are not really depriving us of anything worthwhile

 

[Pete M]

I've come to realise that GAS is normal but it is unhealthy. Given enough financing we'll all go falling down our particular rabbit hole never to return. It's crazy that for the amount one guy will spend on pickups the other guy will buy a 57 LP junior and the next guy will have a mountain of pedals that all sound similar.

Everything I ever bought off of GAS ended up sold. The ones I kept are the ones I built for the most part. Beware Casinos and 12 strings are a sure sign of madness. These days I actively seek to play what I have and force myself to play. I have 2 great LPs (p90 & humbucker) and an acoustic that are battle ready. Sure I still get GAS everyday but it needs to be managed. I don't need more guitars, I don't need more projects or more things to spend my money on and I'm just enjoying what I have. I've already wasted 2 or 3 lifetimes worth of not playing enough.

 

[Alligatorbling]

measurbation is more dangerious than GAS.

I once spent 3 days doing a setup on a guitar. It was my Gibson Les Paul at the time. Tweak, measure, tweak, measure, eyeball, play single notes at various attack, over ... and over... and over.... call becky over beside me and say "you hear that?" playing a note over, letting it ring... repeat.

eyeball it, tweak it, measure it, look at it, play a note....

i did 0 playing in those 3 days.


today when i do a setup i fret the 1st fret and fret where the neck meets the body, eyeball the string gap to see how much relief is going on. adjust accordingly. tune it, check the tunings on the 12th fret to see they match the open. if i want, adjust action a little... done.

 

[jc2000]

Agreed... if spent as much time practicing as I did gassing over guitars I would be a rock star. lately the older I get the more content I am with gear I have. Gassing has slowed down tremendously, so there is hope.

 

[Sp8ctre]

Lot of great comments and personal experience here! I hope we can all strive to play more and improve. New gear is great, but when the quest for gear becomes more important than the goal of playing we've lost sight of the reason we started...

 

[Ed B]

GAS doesn't get in the way of my playing. I gets in the way of my savings.

I'm surprised at some of the responses from members that I thought were comfortable with themselves. We really are just strangers.