It don’t matter cause the audience can’t tell the difference..

[Frodebro]

good so take out the TV sets.

Gear for joy:
Kegs and Titties.

Beer and titties are two things that I am intimately familiar with from those days, amongst other things…

 

[ian_dissonance]

Interesting. So if I’m going to a local blues jam my gear would be super important because I would be composing new music on the spot, but if I was sitting in with a jazz combo playing some standards my gear isn’t important because somebody else composed the pieces?

What percent of the composition do I need to personally do to make it worth bringing my good gear? What if someone else composed the piece but I composed the guitar part? Or what if someone else composed the guitar part but I’m performing it for the first time? Or what if it’s original music but I’m filling in for the regular guitarist who came up with the parts? What if it’s an original arrangement of a piece someone else composed?

If a buddy asks me if I’d lay down a guitar part for a song he’s working on do I need to bring better gear than if someone is paying me to play a Broadway show?

Nobody has composed an original blues song in 70 years. And pretty much all of those descriptions are times where you are the only one who is going to care about gear. Actually, they’re all times where only you are going to care about gear. If you’re sitting in with a jazz band and you have the chops, why would it matter if you have a $12k hollow body or a $175 Squier? Because smell your own farts or?

 

[maguchi]

If the audience can't hear a diffrence anyways, then it should be fine for the player to tailor his sound to what the player likes instead of a audience

 

[metropolis_4]

Nobody has composed an original blues song in 70 years.

70 years huh? So nothing on here was original?

And pretty much all of those descriptions are times where you are the only one who is going to care about gear. Actually, they’re all times where only you are going to care about gear. If you’re sitting in with a jazz band and you have the chops, why would it matter if you have a $12k hollow body or a $175 Squier? Because smell your own farts

When are the times when others care about my gear?

You said before that gear was more important for compositions I wrote than for compositions someone else wrote

 

[ian_dissonance]

70 years huh? So nothing on here was original?

When are the times when others care about my gear?

You said before that gear was more important for compositions I wrote than for compositions someone else wrote

No what I said was it matters more when you’re creating than when you’re performing, creation needs inspiration, performance needs things to work.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I remember when I was 12 and started my first passive-aggressive covers vs. originals argument

 

[Frodebro]

If the audience can't hear a diffrence anyways, then it should be fine for the player to tailor his sound to what the player likes instead of a audience

In my experience, after hundreds and hundreds of cover band gigs in my younger days, most of them don't really pay that much attention to the toanz. As long as they recognize the song and all important riffs, close enough is good enough. Most of the time their attention is more on drinking, dancing, and deciding who they want to hook up with for the night.

 

[metropolis_4]

No what I said was it matters more when you’re creating than when you’re performing, creation needs inspiration, performance needs things to work.

You don’t do anything creative when you perform? You never improvise or create during a performance? (Even if someone else wrote the song)

You don’t think inspiration is important for a performance?

 

[KingsXJJ]

Never let anyone tell you what you can or can't do.
Just look at Beethoven. Everyone told him he would
never be a musician, just because he was deaf.
But did he listen?

Let me fix that for you.

HE SAID: JUST LOOK AT BEETHOVEN. EVERYONE TOLD HIM HE WOULD NEVER BE A MUSICIAN, JUST BECAUSE HE WAS DEAF.
BUT DID HE LISTEN? HE SAID, DID HE LISTEN? AHRG, NEVERMIND!

 

[KingsXJJ]

I remember when I was 12 and started my first passive-aggressive covers vs. originals argument

I don’t get it, I want everything I play to sound great. I am guilty of paying around with cheap gear but…

If I’m playing for others, covers or original, laying down a track for something or just composing… I like to sound the best I can.

If it’s covers, I enjoy getting my tone as close to possible to the original. I think some in the audience, whether heavy fans of the tune or other musicians appreciate that. I know I do when I go to a covers show.

 

[maguchi]

In my experience, after hundreds and hundreds of cover band gigs in my younger days, most of them don't really pay that much attention to the toanz. As long as they recognize the song and all important riffs, close enough is good enough. Most of the time their attention is more on drinking, dancing, and deciding who they want to hook up with for the night.

Yeah, exactly, since the audience don't know or don't care, why shouln't the guitarist dial in the sound he likes.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I will say though, from my cover band days, I got most songs "close enough." But for those couple tunes where I where I nailed the tone & the solo, and got extra-enthusiastic applause from those 2 guys in the back right after the solo, it did feel great!

 

[paisleywookiee]

70 years huh? So nothing on here was original?

When are the times when others care about my gear?

You said before that gear was more important for compositions I wrote than for compositions someone else wrote

Despite the name and some of the motifs, that's more a jazz album. But it's definitely brilliant.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I know that's what he meant. That's why I mentioned the guitar player for Taylor Swift. Or a band like Metallica.

Their shows just don't hinge/depend on the minutia of the guitar tone. So in that sense, they are actually CORRECT to say that their audience don't care about what rig they're using. Are they racing to the bottom? Absolutely not. These are as far from the bottom as you can possibly be. Impeccable, multi-million dollar productions.

Have you ever been to a Rammstein show? Paul Landers uses a SansAmp. Here's a picture I took the last time I saw them:




Dp you think they were racing to the bottom there? Please.

Some audiences are not guitar tone oriented. That's all.

A guy like Eric Johnson on the other hand, does play for an audience that largely cares about his tone/rig, so he brings the A rig every time. His audience does not care about lights/dancers/fire so he does not bring any of that.

The wedding band guitar player knows that unwinding the Super Lead in the banquet hall and blowing the bride's mom wig clean off will get him an 1-star review on Yelp really quick. So he takes the modeler to the gig. Rightly so.

My band... we market ourselves as an old school, loud. hard rock band. Amps are definitely part of that. So I took my Super Lead to the gig tonight. It went great.
That said, we carefully look for venues and audiences that want that. I have NO problems passing on a gig that I feel wouldn't be a good fit for us, hell I'll even recommend a friend's band that is more appropriate for that gig.

It's called "knowing your audience". And it's the exact opposite of racing to the bottom.

I agree with all of this haha. I’m probably just previously getting hung up on some semantics, I don’t think we disagree kn anything lol

 

[timbuck3]

And a bunch of dentists, lawyers and other overpaid people

Whats overpaid?

 

[deadpool_25]

Everyone always up in here trying to convince someone else one way or thing is better than another. Dats bunk. When u makin art...

 

[James Freeman]

I think a lot of artists were inspired by the tone they got from their amps to write a certain kind of music, particularly in the early days of rock.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Whats overpaid?

Most in the western world. But especially lawyers.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Most in the western world. But especially lawyers.

Well the Western World is a bit misleading.
While the cost of living supposedly is 20% less in Germany compared to California, wages are lower and taxes are higher.

I mean 3k here is thought of as a good number for monthly pretax income.
15 years ago my income was 5k in WA, and household income a bit later in LA was 8k+

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Well the Western World is a bit misleading.
While the cost of living supposedly is 20% less in Germany compared to California, wages are lower and taxes are higher.

I mean 3k here is thought of as a good number for monthly pretax income.
15 years ago my income was 5k in WA, and household income a bit later in LA was 8k+

And I am no better :)