Gear Snobs

klejst · #1 10-08-2011, 11:32 AM

How does everyone deal with gear snobs? Too many times I have seen bass players (guitar players as well) with large expensive rigs, however cannot play to save their life or have no rhythm or technique. Also when I first started out playing bass years ago I can remember people always telling me that I needed to upgrade my rig and to use more well known brand names. I take pride in my music and playing more so than really what I am using as long as it sounds great and works for what I need it for of course. Also I do stay within my financial means and the rig I have now is perfect for me. I actually do generally try to stay away from the norm, that is why I do not strive to have a rig that consists of a Ampeg 8x10 and a SVT. I have come to ignore gear snobs, however it is both annyoing and funny at the same time don't you think?

JimmyM · #2 10-08-2011, 11:51 AM

I deal with gear snobs by smoking their asses with my badass playing. A lot of bass players who can smoke me have better basses than me (not amps), but they're usually cool about it. Invariably, the gear snobs are covering for small genitalia and inadequacies in their playing. I say everyone have fun with what you've got.

klejst · #3 10-08-2011, 11:52 AM

Ha ha well said as always Jimmy!

Passinwind · #4 10-08-2011, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klejst

How does everyone deal with gear snobs?

Buy one of everything.

hdracer · #5 10-08-2011, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

I deal with gear snobs by smoking their asses with my badass playing. A lot of bass players who can smoke me have better basses than me (not amps), but they're usually cool about it. Invariably, the gear snobs are covering for small genitalia and inadequacies in their playing. I say everyone have fun with what you've got.

Yeah but you have good gear

capnsandwich · #6 10-08-2011, 12:02 PM

Like Jimmy said, just play circles around them. Most people who can play usually don't care what you're playing through, just as long as you're playing it right. It's the guys that struggle in their ability that have to boast about their gear. It's nice to have nice stuff but it's even nicer to be able to groove the hell out of stuff you currently have.

skychief · #7 10-08-2011, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klejst

How does everyone deal with gear snobs? Too many times I have seen bass players (guitar players as well) with large expensive rigs, however cannot play to save their life or have no rhythm or technique.

Hey... I resemble that remark!

I may be a bad player but at least my heart is in it. Love my SVT!!! Its worth more than the vehicle i drive. No joke.

BassmanPaul · #8 10-08-2011, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Passinwind

Buy one of everything.

Well we can't call Tom Bowlus a gear snob then! He's got two of everything!!!

christw · #9 10-08-2011, 12:16 PM

When I bought expensive gear as a newb it further inspired me to improve as a player. Now I work on improving all of the time (8 years later) and don't worry so much about what I'm playing on.

naruki · #10 10-08-2011, 12:22 PM

I've got an expensive rig and the only chord I know is the G chord. I don't even know if what I know is the G minor or major.

Having an expensive rig doesn't mean one can play well. If one has the cash for a better rig, then he has the rights to buy it if he wants to. Nothing wrong with that.

It's only wrong if he goes around showing off his rig and saying he's better than everyone just because his rig costs 5 times as much as everyone else's.

punkinfantry · #11 10-08-2011, 12:31 PM

Learn jazz bass. They will fall at your feet.

Really though, learn the nuts and bolts of acoustics and EQ and sound as a whole, as well as constantly improving your skill. It pays off big time.

Look at the bass battle in Scott Pilgrim. He's playing a Rick and well, totally sucks. The other guy just plays some scales and blasts him through a series of brick walls! There's a relevant analogy in there somewhere, I swear!

bassplayer8953 · #12 10-08-2011, 12:33 PM

Meh...play whatever you can afford, and what floats your boat.

My guitarist plays his vintage Marshall 1/2 stack when we play out, uses my pieced-together ss Crate 1/2 stack when we practice in my basement. Either way, it sounds like: him. I've played through megabuck bass rigs, and just like my Carvin stuff, I sound like me. The price you pay for the prestige of showing off high-line brands just isn't worth it IMO...

I've had people tell me I sound great, deserve to be playing through an SVT or a Mesa, but I'm quite content with my Carvins, thanks but no thanks on the advice...

Tim1 · #13 10-08-2011, 12:33 PM

Never bothers me one way or the other, not an issue I think about and I try not to be judgmental of others. If someone pisses me off that is fine, I don't have to have anything to do with them. I'm no Jaco or Jimmy, but I have too much fun playing the groove to waste my time with negative feelings about others.

Dr. Cheese · #14 10-08-2011, 12:39 PM

If you learn nothing else on Talkbass, you need to learn to take what people post about gear with a grain of salt. We all have different tastes when it comes to gear, and we all have different ears too. No one knows your tastes or your wallet better than you do. As JimmyM says, the best thing you can ever do is to play well and sound good.

Anthony Barrett · #15 10-08-2011, 12:39 PM

People like that are pencil-dicks. Also, the genuinely talented have no insecure need to let anything other than their playing do the talking. I always find that the least talented have the biggest mouths, the most criticism of other / others' gear etc.

Life's too short. Play whatever style you like. Play whatever brand you enjoy and can afford. Play to the best of your ability and have fun.

BurningSkies · #16 10-08-2011, 12:45 PM

By playing gear that even gear snobs have never seen in person.

seanm · #17 10-08-2011, 12:56 PM

Never with bass gear, I used to have problems with gear snobs when I was seriously into biking.

But then my bass gear is pretty good.

BassmanPaul · #18 10-08-2011, 01:25 PM

Making music has nothing to do with the cost of equipment. Most players use the best equipment he/she can afford. As folk get older, the money to buy "the best" becomes available. Some players are returning to the instrument as a hobby after many years of putting it down. If they can afford to invest in their hobby what right do any of us have to gainsay them? That just smacks of jealousy and snobbishness of a different kind.

As for skills on the instrument, even a beginner can teach a more experienced musician things if the older person is open to it. We all have little tricks we have developed that can be passed on.

Bottom line: don't look down on people just 'cos you can play better than he/she. That person is out doing something that they love: making music. Rejoice for them and show your respect and support. One day someone could be thinking as you were while looking at you!

Sneakypete · #19 10-08-2011, 01:26 PM

Some years ago I saw a photographic exhibition resulting from a competition in which the only rule was that the camera to be used had to be an old Box Brownie or equivalent. For those too young to know (almost everybody!) these were the cheap, basic cameras of the 40's and 50's - you held them at waist level and the image appeared upside down in the viewfinder (IIRC). The pictures in this exhibition were truly wonderful - full of imagination, good taste and clever technique. It is the same with almost any human activity including bass-playing. It's not what you've got but what you do with it that matters.All my gear is average to cheap but then so is my playing - a target-rich environment for gear and technique snobs, but do I care? I don't give a flying @£$% and that's what pisses the snobs off the most. To be fair though it isn't something I've come across very often.

jungleheat · #20 10-08-2011, 01:42 PM

I wouldn't consider myself a gear snob. I like to have nice things. But I don't have an endless supply of money, so my nice things are still budget conscious.

But if I go see a band and they're all using like behringer and bugera cheap ass GC center stuff, it just gives off the impression that they're not very serious about it and probably dont care too much how they sound. I mean, maybe they sound good anyway, but IME probably not.

Then on the other hand, you have bands where they have a bunch of fancy gear, but can barely play.

So it really depends on the situation.

I do think a lot of people could make better informed gear decisions and get better stuff for about the same as they might spend on new crappy stuff straight off the boat from the Philippines or wherever.