Why gear doesn't matter...

[fleetfootmike]

Or, why spending X,000 on a new guitar/camera/whatever won't do a thing to change the person behind it.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

Obviously, written for photographers. But can apply just as well to guitarists.

Comments

[demoneyes.livejournal.com]

Methinks he over-eggs his own arguments just a tad - as he himself does say, several times, gear does matter. Good gear makes it easier to overcome technical or operational difficulties and get good results. But not-so-good gear doesn't prevent your getting good results whilst good gear doesn't guarantee your getting them.

I do get better results with my new Fuji camera than with my old Ricoh. It has a better zoom so I can compose easier; it has a shorter shutter-delay so it's easier to catch an expression; it has better auto-exposure so flash photos come out useable more often; it has an LCD which is visible outdoors so I can check whether shots had the right exposure/compensation and try again if it didn't look right; it has a "last 5" multishot mode which makes marvellous 'action' pictures practical. And it's smaller and lighter so I'm more likely to carry it around. But none of those help unless I choose to take that picture and none of them help me choose what to put in it.

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

I was, after I'd posted it, thinking the same.

It is possible to hit a point where crap gear impedes your progress. But, as you say, better gear doesn't in and of itself guarantee an improvement.

[aunty_marion]

I think the same applies to almost anything. In archery, for example....

I hit a point with my first bow where I couldn't tune it to be any better than it was. And *I* was better than the bow was, so it was frustrating. So I traded up to a better bow, which I could tune to my (then) more exacting standards. But then when I decided I needed an even better bow, my archery didn't improve concomitantly. (actually, it went downhill, where it has stayed, but that was another matter)

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

The question becomes not just 'do you *know* your gear isn't the best' but 'can you actively recognise this by its effect on your performance?'. I know, for example, that I could make good use of a better acoustic guitar than any of the five (all cheap copies) that I own. But I don't think I'd be a much better guitarist playing a Turner Model 1 ($3000) through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head (also $2-3000), than I am playing a Tokai Les Paul ($500) through a Marshall JCM800 ($600). It'd be nice, though :)

[billroper]

That actually turned out to be my criterion for buying a new guitar. If I can tell the difference between two guitars when I'm playing them (as opposed to Joe Flashy Guitarist playing them), then I'm allowed to think about buying the more expensive guitar.