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.

[madfilkentist]

As a counterbalance to this, I'd want to remind anyone starting out on an instrument that using a cheap "beginner" instrument will have a much harder time of it. Above a certain basic level of quality, much is optional. But equipment which doesn't even reach the basic level can cause great pain (sometimes literally), making the beginner think he just doesn't have the aptitude.