Will Buying Better Gear Make Me Sound Better? |
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Aug 6 2021, 04:37 AM
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Will buying better gear make me sound better? I have gotten this question a LOT over the years. I’m sure everyone has asked this question at some point. When we first start playing, we look at our heroes playing high end guitars and amps and we can’t help but think, “I want to sound like that, so I better buy that gear!”. That’s why big name players get endorsements. Vendors know that young players are looking at their heroes and drooling over the gear that they are using. These days, it boils down to a guitar and a rack processor in many cases. In some cases, it still comes down to a guitar and a big tube amp. Either way, it’s only natural to want to play this gear. Of course, this gear is not cheap. Thus the problem. Say you are starting out, and you want the Jackson guitar your idol uses and you want his AXE FX with his presets. This is a natural thing and quite common to see. Of course, the price tag starts to head in to several thousand dollars.
So what’s a player to do? Well, in many cases, they go for an approximation of the gear. They get a guitar that is similar but not the same, and get whatever else they basically can and then spend a LOT of time in forums spending way too much time worrying about upgrading their pickups, getting a better amp or processor, etc. Convinced that having this gear will make them sound like their idol. Sadly, it just doesn’t work that way. If you take a new player and give him Dimebags full rig, it won’t help. It takes Dime to make that rig sound like Dime. It takes time for any player to be able to play like that. Just grabbing their gear won’t really do the trick. I often read in other forums and on facebook where players are clearly spending way too much time trying to track down parts, presets, etc. thinking this is the key to getting the tone they want. Sure, it never hurts to have nice gear. But what they seem to be missing is that they should be spending their time practicing rather than focusing so much on the gear. *Here is a lesson from Ivan on some great gear https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/misc-less...s-dd20-and-ce5/ One can start with a cheap guitar and cheap amp/plugin and start to make progress. Dime for example could make a 30 dollar micro amp sound great. It’s because so much of his tone comes from his hands. It’s his technique and ability that make him sound like him. Having great gear is always nice, but spending more time worrying about gear than on learning how to play just defeats the purpose imho. I wish I could share with all of these players the importance of practice rather than equipment. It’s something that one realizes over time. After one gets past asking “what’s the best axe/amp/etc.” and figures out that it comes down to the player in the end. |
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Aug 6 2021, 09:27 AM
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Been there, done that, far too often, I think at a subconscious level you can think it will make you sound like a better player too.
I remember reading an interview with Steve Vai and he'd gone to see Queen but was backstage in the day talking to Brian May. He was so excited when Brian said he could have a play through his rig with his guitar, he said something like, "I was so excited, I was finally going to sound like one of my heroes but when I played, I sounded like Steve Vai....." Then there's always this to watch for those thinking of going down the rabbit hole of hero tone searching. $100 guitar, Peavey practise amp and a cheap & cheerful Digitech RP200. https://youtu.be/D9v5e1TTwts https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/forgott...lien-strat-copy Bottom line, hero tone searching will take up a lot of time researching, searching for the gear, testing it, putting it on ebay because it wasn't what you thought it would be etc, repeat process. Use that time to get you hands working with the gear you've got, and keep in mind Mr Vai and Mr Satriani above. Once you've got it out of your system, you'll enjoy you guitar a whole lot more  -------------------- SEE MY GMC CERTIFICATE  “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.” Israelmore Ayivor |
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I certainly have. Especially when I was starting out. Like many players, I really thought that having a great guitar would just make me a better player and sound better. It wouldn't have hurt I'm sure! But sadly, when starting out, we just don't have enough info to make great choices sometimes. Live and learn 
 
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