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Anyone else think their guitar is better than they are?


davidl

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My guitars can't play a note without me even the really custom ones. [cool]

 

Damn straight! This question always comes up, and my guitar is like that girl that can do better, way better, but for some reason, she likes you. You don't know why, but you never ask because as soon as you do, she will "oh yeah I can" then leave you.

 

That's how I view it

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I think I'm just about even with the guitars I own and my ability. My main guitar is a Gibson USA Studio Plus. So it's like a top end of the lower end Gibsons. :huh: Kinda like me.

 

But, take by good friend and drummer in several of my bands over the years. He also plays a little guitar and went a got himself a real nice Custom Shop R7. What the hell, he had the money so why not get something really special, even if he mainly just strums some chords on it. Plus, he lets me play it at gigs all the time, so it does earn it's price tag so to speak B)

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When I bought my Cherryburst Les Paul Classic Plus, the top was nicely figured enough to impress a few "country boys" at work.

I stopped by the office on the way home from the guitar shop, and showed it to a friend.

 

Seeing people gathered around a pickup in the parking lot, here come all my redneck co-workers thinking something cool is up.

They know nothing of guitar - certainly not electrics - and after being duly impressed visually one of them says;

 

"Damn! That shore is purty! You play that good?" [woot]

 

Do you have to be Jimi, SRV or EVH? to "justify" owning a nice guitar?

And an LP Classic (even with a nice top) isn't exactly an extravagance.

 

Go figure.

 

[blink]

 

 

The way I see it, I can't blame my playing on the gear anymore.

I don't own any cheap sh!t, so if I screw up it's ALL on me.

 

[-(

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No...so far i have only bought sub-$1000 guitars so i don't think my guitars are better than me. :)

That is pretty much how I look at it. My skill level determines how much I will spend on a guitar and gear. So far I dont have any guitars worth more than a few hundred bucks. I have a couple of basses at the $1k mark and that seems just about right if you add up skill, playablility, durability and useage. I spent that much on them because I knew I was growing in that direction and would need them, not because I merely wanted them.

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When I bought my Cherryburst Les Paul Classic Plus, the top was nicely figured enough to impress a few "country boys" at work.

I stopped by the office on the way home from the guitar shop, and showed it to a friend.

 

Seeing people gathered around a pickup in the parking lot, here come all my redneck co-workers thinking something cool is up.

They know nothing of guitar - certainly not electrics - and after being duly impressed visually one of them says;

 

"Damn! That shore is purty! You play that good?" [woot]

 

Do you have to be Jimi, SRV or EVH? to "justify" owning a nice guitar?

And an LP Classic (even with a nice top) isn't exactly an extravagance.

 

Go figure.

 

[blink]

 

 

The way I see it, I can't blame my playing on the gear anymore.

I don't own any cheap sh!t, so if I screw up it's ALL on me.

 

[-(

 

 

Thanks for all of the responses folks.

I guess the bottom line is that my gear is what it is and I will continue to improve. Maybe I'm too critical of my own playing. Others seem to think I play fairly well. I was in a bit of a guitar funk last night.

 

Dave

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I've been playing for nearly two years now and I'm absolutely sure that my Guitars are better than me. My biggest problem is that I was pulled into bass playing for a local band for eight months while I was still trying power chords for the first time, and only after moving on from open chords. My Guitar development pretty much stopped during this time. When this band imploded last March, i went back to the Guitar after trading all my bass stuff for Guitar stuff. Only two weeks later, I'm not sure why, I actually gathered enough musicians here in work to start a covers band where I play rhythm guitar. I've pretty much gotten past the power chords and barre chors and suspended chords stuff and now I'm learning rhythm parts for cover songs, and now the bass gig with the old band has started back up again as well, so I'm splitting my time between the two. I play primarily now a Gibson les Paul Swamp Ash Studio though a Marshall HDFX amp head and cab with a Boss GT6 pedal board for effects. I also sometime bring a Fender Strat, Tele or an Epiphone Casino to practice but now I'm focussed on the Gibson and have my amp and pedal board set up for it.

 

But I still think my gear is better than me and will continue this way for a while.

 

By the way, this is my first post on this forum. :)

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My guitars are definately well built, (SG, Godin Freeway, Fender DSG-20 etc) and no, I'm not up to great levels yet, but there's always tomorrow, and when there is my guitars will be there waiting for me.

 

The one Downside to owning my SG is that when I show people they always expect me to play it really well. Go Figure indeed.

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... By the way, this is my first post on this forum.

 

Welcome.

 

 

Anyone else think their guitar is better than they are?

 

Not me.

 

... Do you have to be Jimi, SRV or EVH? to "justify" owning a nice guitar? ...

 

IMHO, Neo hits the nail squarely on the head. Anytime I get asked for advice from someone interested in learning to play anything, my standard reply is, get a good instrument. There's nothing worse than watching someone struggle with a piece of junk.

 

 

... can it just help you get better sooner? I'm thinking back to when I got my first pair of good hockey skates and excelled from there. ... I wonder because I have some really great gear but I'm not that great.

 

It may or may not help you get better sooner. But you won't have to get over crazy techniques some people come up with to deal with a poor instrument.

 

If you're gonna play, there's nothing wrong with getting serious and acquiring good/fine/great instrument.

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Yeah, playability is a big thing between crappy instruments and good ones. My guitar teacher always has the volume on his second amp (the one the student would use) turned way down because the cheap pickups on the chinese and low end guitars that come through are way too loud.

 

He's also commented along the same lines that the cheaper guitars make it a lot harder for someone starting out to play well, because they just can't get any return from the instrument for what they put in it.

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Do you have to be Jimi, SRV or EVH? to "justify" owning a nice guitar?

And an LP Classic (even with a nice top) isn't exactly an extravagance.

 

Of course not...depends on what you can afford as far as I am concerned.

 

I've heard plenty of great guitarists playing crappy guitars and plenty of crappy guitarists playing great guitars.

 

Guess which sounds better? :)

 

Now, if you're just playing at home for you and a "good" guitar is important to you...by all means. I don't play gigs anymore (when I did, I played my trusty Epiphone SG) so I can't justify spending $3000+ on a guitar when *I* think my $800 guitar sounds kickass in my hands! :)

 

Its more about the player than the guitar to me, however, a great guitar in a great players hands is a beautiful thing. I think we can all agree on that.

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There are so many factors in determining the quality instrument you should buy. But if you dont have to worry about a budget and you want to go balls-out, then that is perfectly fine. That high end guitar is going to suit your needs much longer than a budget guitar, for sure. Same goes for amps and other gear.

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I'm a firm believer in buying the best quality that you can reasonably afford. Whether it is high quality kitchen knives, shop tools or musical equipment.

It doesn't mean you have to be a chef, woodsmith or pro musician.

 

Dave

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