I am going to keep this one short and to the point. It’s your songs that matter. Nothing else. Not an expensive guitar, a cool studio, premium cables, boutique pedals, or anything else. None of that is even remotely important. Songs are what connect with people, become part of their lives, and, if they are good enough, allow part of us to live forever. Spend your time, money, and effort becoming a better musician, a better lyricist, and a better person. Those are the investments that matter, because they will lead to songs being written. Spending money on a fancy guitar doesn’t make your half-baked riffs any better and a big, expensive studio session will only produce a clean and pristine recording of your mediocre song if you go in there without something actually WORTH recording. Too many people these days seem hung up on specs and hardware, as if any of us ever bought a record because of the microphones used to record it. You like tape? Cool. Pro Tools? Awesome. Gibson or Fender? Vox or Marshall? WHO CARES? Write a great song, one that truly connects with an audience, and no one will care about the rest. Remember, only a faulty craftsman blames his tools. Go live life, have experiences, meet people, fall in love, get dumped, start a band, go broke, read books, or do anything else in the world. Just come back and tell us about it. Sing us a song that’s real, one that is actually meaningful and not one that just sounds that way. Spend your life in pursuit of this, above all, as an artist. Connecting with people is all that counts, and it happens because of great songs. The rest is just window dressing.