Anyone else getting sick of GAS?

[Frodebro]

If your impulse control is that bad; it's probably time to take a break.

Okay, this post is about like Keith Richards recommending abstinence…

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

I may have clicked on one of these *once* and now my feed is full of this kind of thing.

Now YOUR feed will be full of it too. Hahaha!

I did not press play

But apparently I have listened to a hot DJ playing 90s hiphop on YouTube

 

[ian_dissonance]

The solution is productivity. Having some goal to achieve like learning a song or writing a track or a gig.

This is the big one. I know a couple gear Wh*res, constantly upgrading and trying new stuff and flipping old stuff. The biggest difference between them and most of the other guitarists I know? They don’t actually have any musical goals other than “play guitar”. They’re not in bands, they’re not working on writing music with any sort of self-imposed deadline or goal. I’ve been too busy with band shit, recording, gigs, mixing, etc to even think about learning new gear. I don’t even want to, because that will get in the way of the other stuff.

 

[ChordInversion]

I got over GAS when I stopped selling, At that point, I considered myself stuck with any gear that I bought, and I decided to give old items new life rather than bother to shop at all. It's been great. My incoming gear hasn't gone completely to zero, but the flow has slowed to a trickle.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Yeah, I had taco dip on Christmas Eve, and then brussle sprouts yesterday, as well as cauliflower. Goddamn, I can’t stop letting em fly!

 

[jellodog]

Yeah, I had taco dip on Christmas Eve, and then brussle sprouts yesterday, as well as cauliflower. Goddamn, I can’t stop letting em fly!

No parpsnips?

 

[Shredder777]

This is the big one. I know a couple gear Wh*res, constantly upgrading and trying new stuff and flipping old stuff. The biggest difference between them and most of the other guitarists I know? They don’t actually have any musical goals other than “play guitar”. They’re not in bands, they’re not working on writing music with any sort of self-imposed deadline or goal. I’ve been too busy with band shit, recording, gigs, mixing, etc to even think about learning new gear. I don’t even want to, because that will get in the way of the other stuff.

I stopped screwing with amps before the pandemic. Got a Zoom G11 which I was playing direct. Everything sounded good and I didn't have to think about programming or menu diving. I just played. Now I remember why I like(d) it so much.

I was practicing Andy James and Petrucci stuff every day for a couple years without having to worry about getting it to sound a certain way. My technique got alot better.

 

[Shredder777]

I got over GAS when I stopped selling, At that point, I considered myself stuck with any gear that I bought, and I decided to give old items new life rather than bother to shop at all. It's been great. My incoming gear hasn't gone completely to zero, but the flow has slowed to a trickle.

That affects it too. Shipping charges and selling fees mean that its hard to get a good price anymore.

Anyone else remember the golden days of ebay circa 2009-2010? You could flip gear pretty easy, lots of buyers. Ebay fees were almost nothing. Shipping a full size head was only $50 if I remember correctly.

 

[paisleywookiee]

No parpsnips?

Nah, I stuck to the old reliable flammables.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Nah, I stuck to the old reliable flammables.

Bro do you even rootebega?

 

[paisleywookiee]

Bro do you even rootebega?

Dear lord you don't want me eating anything vaguely related to cabbage.

 

[Richard_G]

I like gear! Did I really need every item I've bought over the years? No. By far! Did some of the acquisitions make me play more guitar than I would otherwise do? Definitely! Am I inspired by the gear I'm currently using? Yes! Do I have many regrets (gear wise)? Not really. I've sold a lot of gear that didn't fit the bill. I've taken my losses, but nothing extreme. I'm more worried about a few pieces of gear I should never have sold. And my collection is modest in comparison to others

I guess I'm fine.

 

[GTR37]

Whenever I just want a quick solution to get a riff down for a demo , I always ask myself what would GASP100 use

 

[la szum]

the relentless advertising is exhausting and kind of numbs the excitement for everything.

Factor in a load of people in youtube getting a load of freebies and pretending to be excited for 5 minutes before moving onto the next thing they don’t actually care about, and it makes me not care in turn.

I don’t think most gear needs to be as important or amazing as companies want us to believe. The best gear I have is largely boring stuff that just does what I want it to reliably and without fuss.

Brilliant, Ed. Brilliant.

I wonder if this is why the younger generations (Gen Z, and Millenials to a lesser degree) are so
deeply disaffected. What is there to be motivated about? There is no mystery anymore. There is
nothing worthy of pursuing. Not even sex for some. It's so eerie to me... and yet maybe there is
an upside in that they are not deluded into thinking there is One Big Thing out there waiting for
them to chase it.

 

[la szum]

If everything was free, we could try everything and have a set of amps/pedals/gear that worked for us and that would be it.

But its not free. The only reason GAS exists is because shit isn't free.

There are boomers who came from the middle class in the 50s and now are wealthy just riding the stock market. And the married couples inherited even more wealth when their parents passed. (And because they had high paying jobs, they are getting large free money social security disbursements even though they don't need it.) And their kids who didn't have to pay for their college and hit the ground running with a 150K salary at age 21.

There is lots of wealth out there. And these people like to stack it up behind them when they make YouTube videos. If we lived in a better world, stacking up gear in the background would be perceived as gauche, rotten, braggy, materialistic behaviour, and these people wouldn't get any views.

The internet has shown us wealth disparity, and it makes people feel worse about themselves. It feeds GAS.

But that doesn't mean we don't love gear.

In some cultures it is an high indicator of douchery. Not in Mad Max Consumer Driven Heaven that is the West, though.

 

[la szum]

No parpsnips?

Parsnips are out. Kohlrabi is in.

 

[Frodebro]

Brilliant, Ed. Brilliant.

I wonder if this is why the younger generations (Gen Z, and Millenials to a lesser degree) are so
deeply disaffected. What is there to be motivated about? There is no mystery anymore. There is
nothing worthy of pursuing. Not even sex for some. It's so eerie to me... and yet maybe there is
an upside in that they are not deluded into thinking there is One Big Thing out there waiting for
them to chase it.

I think living in the age of instant gratification has had a very negative impact on people. I learned to play the guitar by sitting down with a record player, and shortly after that a CD player, and plugging away until I learned the song. And when I did, there was a feeling of accomplishment that excited me about learning the next one. Now, all you have to do is go online and there are hundreds of tutorials out there that show you exactly what to do. While there is still some sense of accomplishment, I honestly believe that the harder something is to achieve, the greater the sense of reward once you finally do achieve it.

 

[la szum]

You mean we have to work it??

It's still not easy for me to play guitar, or sing, or do anything musically related.
It's all a grind. A glorious, never-ending. want to impale yourself, delight that
rewards time on task and effort. Just like Life was meant to be.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

I’ve come to the conclusion that I have far more gear than I really need and that I can make all of it sound great. I’ve actually sold gear this year instead of buying. Only thing I bought this year is a pedal steel. I’m committed to not buy anything next year. When I start GASing for something it usually just takes a few minutes of playing to make it go away.

 

[ucnick]

Not GAS per se, but I have been having this recurring dream in which I see myself playing a silver guitar, not sure if it was a Tele or not but seem to think it was a bolt-on. Anyways, there was this silver Blacktop Tele that popped up on Reverb and price was good so bought for myself as a Christmas gift, it was a reasonable price. Seems to be a good guitar, I played it some but have caught the flu so don't feel like doing much but it's getting a setup plus locking Hipshot tuners and new strings as soon as I feel better. We'll see if it takes care of the recurring dream...