Here's the way the equation works for me. There are good times, and there are bad times. During good times, I acquire lots of gear. During bad times, I sell it off. When I was first starting out, I had to work long and hard to "bootstrap" myself into an initial musical economy. So there was some difficulty, but there was also lots of energy and motivation. I beg, borrowed, stole, did anything I could to get my hands on a bass guitar, until I could afford my own. When I was in college, I used to borrow my buddy's bass, and go sit in the practice room over at the music building, between midnight and 4am, 'cause that was the only time he'd let me have the bass. So then, started working on Wall Street and suddenly had more money than I knew what to do with, and ended up buying lots of great gear, but didn't really have the time to play it very much. Then ended up being homeless on the streets of NYC for a couple of years (long story), I was in Tompkins Square right around the same time Jaco was over on the West side, and we used to hear stories about this badass bass player that liked to play basketball. So anyway, my story sounds a lot like his (except I survived). At that point, I only had my one beat up old Jazz bass, it was the only one I could afford to keep, and there was no way I was going to give it up. I figured if I had at least one working bass at all times, I'd never give up playing or lose my chops. So then times got good again, and suddenly there was lots of gear again. Looking back over the years, I'd have to say that my learning was probably most rapid and most robust during the times when I was poor and had to deal with sucky gear, because it's a lot harder getting the right sound and notes out of a crappy instrument, and trying to do so tends to make one a better and more creative player. Also it can lead to some bad habits, but at the end of the day, I'd rather be a good player with bad habits, than not play at all. So the moral of the story is, if you always keep at least one working bass (doesn't have to be a "great" one, just an "acceptable" one), you can keep playing even when times get bad. And, then you've always got a source of income (ie we used to go play down in the subways, and we'd easily pull in a hundred bucks for two or three hour's work, not great pay but at least enough to eat and keep from starving).
"Bass will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no bass."
I feel really bad about all the gear I have. I know I shouldn't.. but I do..
