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G.A.S. Exhaustion

Count Bassie

Count Bassie

Supporting Member
Jun 10, 2006
16,784
64,486
Smithfield, RI
#1
I've looked for every way to be in need of something I don't have, and every way to manipulate myself and my situation to enable getting "something that fits me better". Good God, what a way to distract oneself from living life. I read somewhere that a man's eyes are never satisfied, and if you start to go that way you're liable to be gone for a while. People can end up missing you, and you can end up missing them, or yourself.
I'm glad for the good instruments I've got, and knowing that nothing in this life is perfect enables creativity- if you're going to enable something, it might as well be something that makes life better. Inventing is fun when it makes life better.
Sure you should do better if you can! Get the instrument or tool that fits you. That search just shouldn't stop you from living right now. So my instruments will get played and I'll continue having my musical life as a keel for my mental and emotional health, and not let it get replaced with a dissatisfaction that I have created, and have now put aside.
Now we'll see how long I can keep this up... 😂
 
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#3
Once I acclimated to the idea that my serious gigging days were over, a notion I had serious trouble with at the time, my outlook at accumulating gear took a serious turn..
Looking around at all the stuff I already had turned looking at gear into good old fashion "window shopping ".
Seeing shiny new objects just dosent illicit a " I've gotta have it" response anymore.
What I once would have considered "tools" have become...."toys".
And I've got enough toys. 🤷‍♂️
 
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#4
Count Bassie said:
I've looked for every way to be in need of something I don't have, and every way to manipulate myself and my situation to enable getting "something that fits me better". Good God, what a way to distract oneself from living life. I read somewhere that a man's eyes are never satisfied, and if you start to go that way you're liable to be gone for a while. People can end up missing you, and you can end up missing them, or yourself.
I'm glad for the good instruments I've got, and knowing that nothing in this life is perfect enables creativity- if you're going to enable something, it might as well be something that makes life better. Inventing is fun when it makes life better.
Sure you should do better if you can! Get the instrument or tool that fits you. That search just shouldn't stop you from living right now. So my instruments will get played and I'll continue having my musical life as a keel for my mental and emotional health, and not let it get replaced with a dissatisfaction that I have created, and now put aside.
Now we'll see how long I can keep this up... 😂
Click to expand...
Statement ! but... :smug:
 
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#8
Count Bassie said:
Good God, what a way to distract oneself from living life.
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Amen.
I posted yesterday in one of Doc's threads about getting back to one guitar and bass and maximising again what I can do with that as he'd posted Marcus Miller effectively saying that. And I'd done just that years ago when gigging a lot more - one bass, no FX, one amp and cab, and I still have all of these!
A few hours later I got distracted by some of the new pickups I've wound, and a new preamp etc and realised that I was distracting from playing and practising and getting caught up again in engineering (I'm an EE and life long nerd). Day after tomorrow I'm on leave and going to put all the rest away and delete the watch lists on several sites.

@31HZ Seneca quote was uncomfortably funny and a good reminder.
 
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#16
I find a lot of GASers will get the wrong guitar, the wrong bass, the wrong pedal or the wrong amp because they a) want it now or b) can't justify buying what they really want and then spend the next several years working up the courage to get what they were really after.

I stopped mine almost entirely by just going high end and getting what I actually wanted.
 
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#17
nonohmic said:
Nothing like a bit of practice to open your eyes to where you should be spending your time.

Honestly, some of the GAS I see on here, and also the actual gear acquisitions that I see, look freakin exhausting. Just the trips to UPS alone would be enough to make me tired of flipping gear.
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Yeah. I think a lot of guys are in situations where it's a lot easier to spend a few hours browsing Talkbass or Reverb looking at gear than it is to get a few hours of quiet time alone without distractions to actually practice and work on stuff. I'm pretty fortunate in that regard but I remembering being in my teens practicing 4-6 hours a day pretty consistently. Hard to find that time now as an older adult.
 
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#19
NKUSigEp said:
Or... You hit your midlife crisis but instead of going out and doing a bunch of irresponsible stuff, you just start collecting bass gear that you could never afford back when you actually had the time and energy to play it.
Click to expand...

Me and my bro figured out that a mid life crisis isn't really about reclaiming youth. It's about the fact that you've worked your butt off for years and finally have some money. But everyone else in your life is spending it and you're not. So you say screw it, I'm gonna buy something awesome for myself.
 
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