What Is It Like Going To NAMM?

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all bagging aside, it can be a load of fun especially when you bang around with friends and get to see the premiere of really cool new gear played by rippers like andy wood, eric gales, tom quayle, phil sayce, gambale, ej, doyle dykes, jonathan butler, chris poland, andy timmons....

the peculiar thrill of getting to "see it first" seems to be a big deal for many people and goes hand in hand with NAMM and GAS trends. how many times have we seen it from zendrive pedals to engl powerballs to the marshall JVM group buy to diezel VH-4 and herbert to camerons to the axe-fx early frenzy to the now hot friedman stuff..on it goes.

i have seen my heroes go off at after parties at NAMM like holdsworth and lane rest their souls. went to the extreme reunion with bruce egnater, hung out with peter diezel and played prototypes of the herbert with him at the helm, mixed sound for ohm and steve fryette's band at tone merchants, filmed concerts for ohm, guthrie and scott henderson.


i've brought my feedback to friends who ended up purchasing stuff for their stores, and influenced others and made personal gear purchases with info learned at NAMM from amps to speakers to pickups to effects to tubes.

all in all it's been a fun ride.
 
haters gonna hate.

worst day at namm beats going to work. lol
 
fuzzyguitars":1hn4qaow said:
haters gonna hate.

worst day at namm beats going to work. lol
Click to expand...

Not if NAMM is part of your job. It's an effing grind. And the show hours are just a small part of what working NAMM entails. I work from home in my underwear, take naps, make my own meals and play my guitars as loud as I want anytime during the day. NAMM is cool a few times, but I have a great job that I like a lot more than going to NAMM.
 
fuzzyguitars":2altbdz8 said:
haters gonna hate.

worst day at namm beats going to work. lol
Click to expand...

You need a new job man.

NAMM is miserable if you work it. It never ends. Plan on not sleeping for at least a week, being perpetually hungover, totally sensorally overstimulated, insane migraines, and then you get to be sick for two years after you catch a red eye home at 4am.
 
well working namm and going to namm are two very different things

I always have a great time.

I do wear noise reduction ear plugs and haven't gotten the namm migraine in years.

the only sore throat that I get is from yapping with all my buds that I only get to see at namm every year.

but you're right, if NAMM was my job, I would probably not like going to it as much.


But hey, it's all good, if you don't like going, there are tons of folks who do want to go!
 
Is it better to go to it earlier in the year or later or does the time of the year even matter? :confused:
 
I haven't gone and likely wouldn't. I don't do good with sensory overload and crowds.

If I were to go, I would probably have more fun on the extracurricular activities. Bars seeing legends play, and parties, etc.

Also i only buy used, years after the stuff is today's new stuff. I can't justify taking a 40% hit walking out the door with something new to find that it is not 'the one'.
 
I've had great times attending the NAMM convention over the years. As many of you know, the convention is for music manufacturers to make business with retailers, view new products coming to market, have artists demonstrate new products, have artist meet & greet. My friend is an endorsed drum artist for DW and has hooked me up with a NAMM pass over the years. It was also great running into old friends that I haven't seen in a long time. The company after party events or other shows outside of NAMM are great to go to as I love watching other artists play their all star jams onstage or seeing a band reunion occur.

As I've read all of the posts on this thread, there are a lot of things that I agree with:

Getting a NAMM pass: Unless you're a member of NAMM who's a music gear retailer or you know of someone who's a NAMM member, it's not easy to get a visitor pass for the convention. You'll have to call your industry connection or friend to start working on getting your pass in November.

Hotel rooms are not cheap for this event with their room rates marked up for the convention event. You usually have to book sometime in November if you plan to attend the Winter NAMM convention in Anaheim. If you're a NAMM member, you'll get preferential booking and a discount. Hopefully, your rooms are clean & presentable, the other people next to you are quiet, doesn't stay up late all night partying in their rooms, making noise, or causing trouble. The cheaper hotels attract the partying type of NAMM visitors who like to drink/party at their hotel rooms.

Getting there: I've taken Southwest Airlines and arrived in under 2 hours. Since I live in northern California, I've also rented a car, drove down to Anaheim, crashed at my friend's house in L.A., then get my hotel room and NAMM pass. It all depends on how close you live to the Anaheim convention center and what hotel that you're booked at.

Attending the convention: As many of you have said: It's sensory overload with large crowds. After awhile of going around the convention center, I need to go outside, and take a break. I get the NAMM book, mark the booths that I want to visit to view products or check out artists demo/meet & greets, and try to score passes for the company after party (if it's an exclusive event!). I usually will bring a snack, water, hand sanitizer (along with frequent hand washing), and avoid eating at the convention center itself (food is lousy). As some of you have said, take your vitamin C, stay healthy, and avoid getting a cold aka NAMMthrax!

I like to leave the convention center before 6pm, dine at the nicer restaurants that surround the convention center or outside of the area with friends, avoid the convention crowd at dinner time, and attend the after party or shows at the nearby hotels or outside of the NAMM convention. I've run into all sorts of well known artists during this part of the day since everyone is tired from working the convention at their booth and want to sit down to have dinner & drink. Most artists are kind enough to allow to have their pictures taken with you, While some artists are better with a verbal hello/compliment & a handshake, depending on the circumstances since dinner time is also another way for industry people to do business. The Anaheim Hilton lobby is party central along with the other hotel ball rooms since most of the company after parties or events are held at these places.

Getting back to your hotel room aka the hotel row crawl! Lots of us who've been out enjoying the evening will eventually have to get back to your hotel rooms to sleep off their excesses. Most folks will have to walk back if they're booked close by, take a taxi/Uber/Lyft, or drive back to the hotel. Don't get caught drunk driving, if you're out & about.

Guitar George
 
BEFORE the internet... it was a lot of fun.
AFTER.... every year gets worst....
 
I only ever go when I can stay with a buddy in Irvine. So I don't deal with the hotels. And my buddy is a guitar guy too. We both ride our motorcycles there, lane split up the 5 and Katella Ave., the cops stop the crowds for us, we ride right into the Sheraton bike parking area, pay nothing, grab our badges and head in. We're usually inside the convention center 20 minutes after leaving his garage in Irvine. I wouldn't do it any other way.
 
Ive gone to two summer NAMM's in Nashville and I thought it was great... had a great time. Cool shows around town as well. If you get the opportunity I would go!
 
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