Accumulating Gear You Need Not The Gear You Want

Originally posted February 7, 2018 to the S&R Blog.

I think I am going against the conventional mindset of almost all guitar players by saying this but,  instead of buying all the gear you can afford, buy the gear you’ll really use. The infamous scene from This Is Spinal Tap has Nigel Tufnel being interviewed by Di Bergi. Throughout the interview, you see a room full of a plethora of gear in which Nigel admits to some of the gear having never been used let alone had the price tag removed. Hilarious, but goes to my point. But before I go on, let me say this – if you have the means to buy every guitar, amp, and pedal you’ve ever wanted, then, by all means, do it. But there is a reason you see memes such as this:

Funny right. Well for the 99.99% of us who cant buy out a Guitar Center’s inventory, here is a tip for you: Buy gear that you need and that you’ll get the most use out of.

Now I will be the first to say that I would love a 1959 Gibson Les Paul or a pre-war Martin D-45 – however, I do not only not have the means to pay for it and even if I did, would I get my money’s worth out of it. Yes, I know most of you are gasping at my claims but hear me out on this one.

If you have one of these instruments, would you go on tour with a $300k guitar? – if you said yes, then I probably can’t take you seriously; most professionals leave their prized instruments at home and take road worthy ones out. Would you check your 1933 Martin onto an airplane while you travel to your gig across the country? Would you bring this instrument to a local open mic night or jam in the park? Probably not.

Now I am not about to say you shouldn’t buy nice/expensive/historical guitars – by all means if you have the finances to do so, do it. But I am saying that for the working musician, first purchase the gear that will be really useful and helpful to your quest for musical glory. Here are three tips that will help you get the most out of your gear:

Tip 1: Get The Most Bang For Your Buck: The JCM 800 is a killer amp. It has changed and progressed music many times over. However, it’s kinda a one trick pony. It does the gain channel really well but when you try to dial in a clean sound, it simply can’t compete with something like a Fender Twin. The same could be said in reverse for the gain settings.

I fully believe this is the exact reason for the rise of modeling amplifies. Aside from the drastic advancement in amp modeling technology, digital amps have the ability to go from a soaring Mesa/Boogie Mark V high gain amp to a crisp clean Supro and then to a distorted Dumble amp all with the click of a few buttons. Yes, these “amps” are digital clones of the real thing but for the price of the cheapest amp I just mentioned, you not only get that amp, but also the other two and hundreds more alongside effects and cabinets.

I am not an endorser of Fractal Audio or Kemper, but they are the industry standards and for the price of 1 amp, you can have many – talk about a real bang for your buck.

Guitars are a bit more versatile than amps but unless you like to do odd guitar matchups like Rob Scallion, you probably wouldn’t play Ywinge lick son a Gretch Country Gentleman or play Brad Paisley licks on an Ibanez TAM100. If you do either, please record a video and send it my way. I would love to see that.

But Griz, what about the rule of thumb for music that boundaries should not be limited by creativity? – to that you are correct. If your sole musical statement is to shock and awe people by playing black metal on a nylon string guitar – that’s your thing. By all means, do it but the point of this post is to get the most out of your gear, especially if you are on a limited budget.

If you can only afford one guitar, which one should I choose? That is a great question, and this answer is not an end all be all answer but I think it’s a pretty good starting point. Personally, you cant go wrong with a Telecaster. They are some of the most versatile guitars out there. Strats are up there as well. Strats can mimic a Les Paul humbucker sound much better than a Les Paul can mimic a single-coil strat sound. But some of the best muli-purposed guitars out there are the PRS 408 and 513. These guitars are essentially the Swiss army knife of guitars.

Tip 2: Buy Gear For Different Tasks: Buy gear that is the standard (or accepted) in your genre(s). A country picker wouldn’t be taken as seriously if they showed up to a gig with a Jackson Soloist. In his Back From the Gig Podcast, Jim Lill deep dives into having gear that is expected for the gig saying, unfortunately, no matter how much you sound like Chet Atkins on a 8-string guitar, image is still a necessary part of the game of tones.

I am a full believer in having equipment that will be used regularly and for specific tasks. The most obvious is having a single coil and humbucking guitar in your collection. Say you prefer Gibson over Fender. That’s awesome but I would suggest having both a P90 and Burstbucker equipped guitar. This way you have multiple sounds to pull from when writing or playing.

I would take it a step further as well if you have the means. If you are like me, you play a bunch of different genres. My guitar playing ranges from punk-rock to country, jazz to rock. *****I’ve mentioned this video before where he says to limit the number of points of instrument to sound points of weakness to your actual playing.***** If you want to learn how to play slide, you should have a dedicated slide guitar. The same goes if you play (or want to learn to play) in a variety of alternative tunings. This way, when you feel inspired to play slide, you are not having to go through the process of changing your tuning. It sounds silly, but having to constantly change the tuning of your guitar could turn you away from learning a new tuning since you constantly change from say open G tuning back to standard every time you switch your playing style.

Personally, I would only need a Telecaster guitar for country playing, a strat guitar for single-coil and bluesy stuff, a Les Paul or SG style for the humbuckers and more of a slide and an acoustic guitar. I wouldn’t NEED any more instruments as I would have the tools I need to make the music I want. Maybe a backup of each if I was touring but with those guitars, I have the tools of my trade. The key word is NEED, obviously us guitar players want all the gear but we only need a few that have unique tonal qualities.

Tip 3: Acquire Gear That Will Inspire You: At the end of the day, guitar players just want to play. There is a scene in the documentary,  It Might Get Loud, where the Edge is discussing how he came to buying his Gibson Explorer – an odd guitar for U2. He said he saw it in the music store and it captured his attention. He picked it up, plugged it in and said there were songs in the guitar and just begged him to play it. Ultimately, you should strive to find gear that inspires you to play, write, or create music – or whatever you are trying to express because, ultimately, that’s what guitar is all about.

Hopefully, this hopes you think about your first guitar purchase or next gear acquisition. Find something that will inspire you to play but can also be versatile. But we all know if we hit the lottery, the guitar stores will be emptied out real quick.

Until next time, let the music play!