Has anyone ever implied that you were not good enough of a guitar player to justify your expensive gear?

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I always tell beginners to buy the best gear you can afford. You can never go wrong with a quality instrument. They can grow into it or sell it because it retains it's value better. The cheap chinese shit is a dime a dozen out there, nobody wants it.
 
To be serious for a minute….
I think this whole, “I get killer tones on shit gear” is rationalization. I think players get hung up on price and buyers remorse and that freaks em out.
If I bought a PRS McCarty 10 top rosewood necked BEAUTY, a real prom queen, and spent 5grand on it, I might feel weird about it.
If I bought the same guitar for 2800, well, that’s not so bad, right?
What if I got it for 1000..? Feels like a killer deal, now I don’t mind playing it instead of it being a trailer queen that stays in the case forever..
I think PRICE spent, especially if it’s a TON of money from the buyers bank account level, really affects that feeling, and IT SHUDNT be. If that high end guitar isn’t for you, who’s it FOR?
I didn’t get to any useful “shred” levels, any useful technique, until I’d LEARNED how to set up a guitar properly, but also requires a PROPERLY built guitar, not a $100 hunk of crap. Can I play on one, sure, we all can, but I can’t EASILY play every Demanding phrase or lick I have, so, to me the 100 guitar is Limiting.
I’d rather have a beginner on a monster guitar and “grow into it” if the passion to learn and develop is REALLY there, than some young player on a piece of shit get discouraged and Quit before growth and development worthy of said high end guitar really begins..
 
It’s like ‘do you REALLY NEED A CORVETTE?’

No..,. But I wanted one. Stay in your own lane punk. 10 items or less.
 
No, its never happened once, and I am 100% the guy that judges people.

But I don't judge people for owning the gear and being a beginner; I judge them when they pretend to be an expert on the internet for clout.

I think of it similarly to Gary
thegame said:
My self imposed rules regarding this:

Beginner hack (or playing like a beginner) with expensive guitars and amps (quantity irrelevant) = embarrassing and pointless
Intermediate player with 1 or 2 expensive guitars and amps each = perfectly fine
Intermediate player with a warehouse of expensive shit = fine as well but the intermediate player with just a few guitars/amps is probably better than you.
Pro/advanced players = anything is fine. You've earned the right to play whatever you want and I don't mean that in a financial sense.
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Only i'm probably quite a bit more judgemental with the beginners when they talk a whole bunch of shit on the internet, pretending to be advanced crystal lettuce/haunting mids toan experts.

part of the reason i'm so judgemental is that I naively believed I was talking to other players who have been touring, gigging, recording for years, and was only recently disabused of this notion.

It feels like stolen valor.
 
Well to be brutally honest, I’ve always said that.

Why?

Because if you concentrate on your playing and theory to make a shit setup sound good, then you’ll appreciate better gear that makes it easy. How many decent players can plug into garbage and still sound good? You know why? Because they’ve put the time in that matters and likely didn’t start out on premium gear, and even if they did, they’ve spent the time woodshedding and practicing.

I honestly feel like this thread is a chest pump for those that treat it as a hobby. It wreaks of TGP brown pants.

If you’re serious about your playing you’ll cut your teeth on whatever you can get your hands on and do the work. Good gear shit gear solid state or tubed.

I have more of a problem with people that go insane with nice gear and don’t even try when they play. If you don’t know how to roll your guitar volume back, basic chords, or how to solo in any key other than E or A, then you need to spend less time on the gear to sound good and more time playing. Because at the end of the day we make music for enjoyment - it’s about what you’re playing through the gear, not the gear itself.

I’ve personally worked my way up over 21 years starting out with pawn shop POS guitars and a solidstate fender 2x12. I’ve got the amps now because I’ve learned to utilize them as they should be utilized, as tools. So many people plug into an amp and the amps play them, instead of them playing the amps. You can hear it at practice level on YouTube and you can definitely hear it at band practice levels played live.

Just how I feel about it regardless of how much disposable cash you have or what you want to say your justification is. Realistically we all need to practice more, always.
 
Gainiac said:
I had crystal lettuce on my salad for lunch today.. it was…. DELICIOUS!!! :LOL:
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YuqbhxM.jpg
 
glpg80 said:
Well to be brutally honest, I’ve always said that.

Why?

Because if you concentrate on your playing and theory to make a shit setup sound good, then you’ll appreciate better gear that makes it easy. How many decent players can plug into garbage and still sound good? You know why? Because they’ve put the time in that matters and likely didn’t start out on premium gear, and even if they did, they’ve spent the time woodshedding and practicing.

I honestly feel like this thread is a chest pump for those that treat it as a hobby. It wreaks of TGP brown pants.

If you’re serious about your playing you’ll cut your teeth on whatever you can get your hands on and do the work. Good gear shit gear solid state or tubed.

I have more of a problem with people that go insane with nice gear and don’t even try when they play. If you don’t know how to roll your guitar volume back, basic chords, or how to solo in any key other than E or A, then you need to spend less time on the gear to sound good and more time playing. Because at the end of the day we make music for enjoyment - it’s about what you’re playing through the gear, not the gear itself.
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It's going to be unpopular, but I agree.

It doesn't annoy me as much that these people exist or are on tgp or whatever, thats fine

It's just getting argued with by people who can't fucking palm mute. Like seriously? I've played hundreds and hundreds of gigs, and am fairly proficient as a player, and THIS GUY is going to tell me what I really need to do to get my setup right?
 
pipboy90 said:
I'm fairly sure I would be a richer man if I had never discovered TGP or RT.
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How do I fucking like something 5 times because this is the most relatable comment I’ve ever read.

In reality the only times I’ve ever had that question is from myself. I’ve been lucky enough to own some pretty cool stuff over the years but the only one wondering if I’m cool enough for it is me. Which isn’t bad because it just pushes me to practice more.
 
Didn’t read the whole thread….doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. Okay what you like thru whatever amps and fiddles you like…if you can afford it!
 
rottingcorpse said:
I'm an old man who can't fuck for shit anymore.
I'm slow and sloppy. I have to use lots of whiskey and coke to last longer than 5 minutes.
But nobody says a fucking word when I bust out my $7k Real Doll that looks like Morgan Fairchild in her prime.
Wait....what were we talking about?
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You win. Everything. ?
 
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Not really, the only time I ever justify a gear purchase vs not is based on how much I'm going to use it with where my playing focus lies at the time...

So that Nash strat that I bought last year would've been perfect for my previous band, who played a lot of grooving hard rock and cover tunes that any decent versatile guitar would've been fine for. That's a justifiable purchase.

However, at the moment I'm playing in a heavier band using 7 strings, so dropping that kinda cash on a vintage style strat would be harder to justify. I bought it anyway because I wanted it.

I do feel that your playing skills need should probably be at a certain level before you go dropping a lot of money on gear. It's pretty ridiculous to buy a $4,000 first guitar if you've never played a note, because you literally have no idea what you even want or need out of an instrument. Once you get a few years beyond that, buy whatever the hell you want.

I probably don't take you very seriously as a musician if I see you with expensive gear and your playing sucks, but it's not my place to judge you based on it. If you're part of a scene where the kind of thing matters, it's good to be aware of it. Don't be too proud to invest in some lessons or ever think you're too good to sit with a metronome for a few hours on some easy riffs.
 
Fordman65 said:
I think that's complete rubbish. Who are you to tell anyone how they spend their time? WTF does it matter to you if someone spends majority of his/her time buying/selling gear vs practicing? Why do you care? The reality is, unless music is your income, nobody "needs" to practice more. I "need" to put food on the table, I "need" to keep a roof over our heads. Why do I have to take learning guitar seriously? I take my job that pays me 6 figures seriously. Guitar allows me to wank around every so often and not be serious. I have fun when I play and screw everyone for thinking I should treat this any differently.
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Yeah, do you NEED anyone to take your opinion seriously on RT?

Because there are people out there who seem to have that, as a "need."
 
cobrahead1030 said:
Not really, the only time I ever justify a gear purchase vs not is based on how much I'm going to use it with where my playing focus lies at the time...

So that Nash strat that I bought last year would've been perfect for my previous band, who played a lot of grooving hard rock and cover tunes that any decent versatile guitar would've been fine for. That's a justifiable purchase.

However, at the moment I'm playing in a heavier band using 7 strings, so dropping that kinda cash on a vintage style strat would be harder to justify. I bought it anyway because I wanted it.

I do feel that your playing skills need should probably be at a certain level before you go dropping a lot of money on gear. It's pretty ridiculous to buy a $4,000 first guitar if you've never played a note, because you literally have no idea what you even want or need out of an instrument. Once you get a few years beyond that, buy whatever the hell you want.

I probably don't take you very seriously as a musician if I see you with expensive gear and your playing sucks, but it's not my place to judge you based on it. If you're part of a scene where the kind of thing matters, it's good to be aware of it. Don't be too proud to invest in some lessons or ever think you're too good to sit with a metronome for a few hours on some easy riffs.
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Yeah that seems totally reasonable to me :dunno:

Honestly, less people would care if most of the "beginner gear experts" would shut the fuck up when theyre obviously out of their depth.

Theres tons of dudes I know on here who aren't pro level players or anything, but they have a couple nice amps and guitars, and you can tell they've put some serious effort into it. And they don't put on any airs about it. And i'm fine with that.

But in all seriousness, people who can't play (or cant record - some producers, engineers, studio owners have great ears) need to kind of check themselves with some of the discussions on places like RT.
 
Man, idk….
I’m feeling like some of the more angry, negative responses are about guys feeling like they’re getting disrespected by the proverbial “15 year old with 30k of gear” on various forum discussions, then a look into the OP’s original point.
I think back to the shit I played on back when.
After LEARNING what it took to become more skilled over the years, and how a KILLER SET UP, low action, guitar would have helped me back then..?
I’d wished 1000x over that I’d had ACCESS to the micro-leveled setups on comfortable necks, and high-gain amps that I’d eventually come to ACQUIRE, in years later..

I still don’t think it’s wrong for ANYONE to have a high end piece of gear, if they intend to USE it.

If they Don’t..? Then it sits In a case, they DONT play music, don’t.. CREATE, or grow as a musician, and sit on forums to PISS other people off with empty, negative opinions.
That’s what creates a TROLL.. that’s Horseshit.
that’s not a REAL musician, desperately trying to improve a skill set, THRILLED to get a Killer guitar or amp, and (as we all know) that IMPROVES GROWTH over time more easily by a factor..
but.. that’s just my 02.. ?
 
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