I love getting a new piece of gear. I bet you do, too. Nothing feels better than New Guitar Day, or any variation on that theme, to many of us. All of sudden, there is wind in the sail and all hands are on deck. I don’t know who loves their gear the most, guitarists, drummers, or recording guys, but we are all prone to gear-related flights of fancy bordering on the obsessive and unhealthy at times that lead a lot of us to amass rather large piles of musical equipment, large enough piles for our spouses and loved ones to question our sanity and reason. ‘Why can’t you just have ONE guitar?’, they always say.
Musicians are not the only ones who suffer from Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or G.A.S., but it often hits us hard. I have been told that photographers, golfers, and film makers go through the same thing with their stuff lust, but have always been too busy with my own to really pay attention. These days, however, I often try to puzzle out why, exactly, do we love/want/need gear to the point that it becomes a focal point in our lives and, sometimes, something that actually keeps us from making music? I also think about how we can learn to use our love of hardware for the best possible purpose and make it something that makes our music better.
First, I think we all love new gear because a new piece of kit represents new possibilities. A guitar with a different sound or feel can lead us to write and play things that we might not come up with playing Old Faithful. New studio gear often increases what our recording rigs are capable of producing many times over. It’s like discovering new territory within yourself. Sometimes, we all need that kick that comes from change. It raises our awareness and discourages complacency which, we know, is the enemy. That kick, fun though it may be, must be kept at least partially in check, however, or music becomes secondary to gear shopping. This can happen a little at a time and often starts out unnoticed. This is never good ands can only lead to frustration. I have seen good players go through one expensive amp after another, sometimes more than one in a week, looking for some imagined tone that might never exist. Personally, I once had five Telecasters that were all set up exactly the same way, all with the same pickups and gears. At some point, I realized that I didn’t need five guitars that made pretty much the same sound, and found new forever homes for a few of them. I have two, currently.
So how do we learn to use our never-ending infatuation with gear for a positive purpose? I think we do it by realizing that whatever instruments and amps we use are only as good as we are and by learning to get as much out of the stuff we are already using as we can. I have met many players who don’t really use their rigs very well. They just plug in, set the knobs the way some magazine article said that they should, and go to town. If they only took the time to learn where the sounds are in their rigs, they and their audiences would be much happier. How do you learn to use an amp? Turn it on, play something, then turn one knob or control up or down by one number. Play and listen again. Turn the knob again. Play. Listen. Do that with every control and combination of controls on your amp ands you will start figuring out what it really does. Then, apply that same approach to all your other pieces of gear and learn to sound good.
Exploring gear and sounds in this way is great fun for those of us who are G.A.S. inclined and can make you see something you already own in a whole new light, which is never bad. The real goal is the knowledge to use the gear around us to do what we need it to do for our gigs and sessions. No producer or audience will ever care if you have a big stash of primo gear tucked away; they just want to hear a great song. If you can use gear to its fullest and can actually write, play, and be musical, then any new item you add to your set up will be something that enhances your already-good sound, not something that comes off as a desperate cry for attention and help. Remember: listen and play. If you learn to do that, you will be able to get workable sounds out of damn near anything. They are all in there, somewhere. Your job is to find them. 