OK, OK, I'm guilty of it too. Just check my profile if you don't believe me. I have eight basses. Eight! Why? Well, in my originals band (my only gigging band) I switch between a 6-string bass and an 8-string (octave courses) bass. OK, so those are two different animals. I also do a weekly "just for fun" covers jam at my brother's, and I occasionally do fill-in gigs. For either of these purposes, I like to have an old-school bass. I have a 4-string P-bass for such occasions.
So, I've justified three of my basses. And they get played. The rest mainly get stored in a closet. And yet, I still have GAS.
Why? Psychology, plain and simple. We are up against an industry that thrives on the semi-pro and the weekend warrior. We're told that if we just buy this bass, or this pedal, or this amp, we'll finally get that inspiration we've been looking for, or that perfect tone, or whatever. Even when they do an interview in one of those GC catalogs, it always comes down to the "inspiration" that the artist gets from, uh, buying gear.
Actually, it seems to work for a while. We get that new piece of gear, and we write a few good riffs, or we feel more inclined to practice... for awhile. But soon, that "rush" is gone, and exactly like an alcoholic or a gambling addict we are back looking for that good feeling we had last time we opened a new box to pull out some new panacea.
I'm sure many of you will argue that you need all those different basses, amps, and pedals in order to get the variety of tones you "need". I invite you to take a gander at the gear you already have. Chances are, every piece of it has several little barrel-shaped thingies sticking out from it. The technical name for these thingies is "knobs". Try turning them sometime; you may be surprised.
Look, I get it: it's your money, and you can spend it how you want. I'm just asking you to consider the possibility that you and I might be suckers, obediently opening our wallets every time some shiny new trinket is passed before our eyes. It's a quixotic quest, doomed to failure. Every hour we spend drooling over new gear is another hour we could have spent in the woodshed, where it might have actually done our tone some good. Don't all the greats say "it's in the fingers?"
The original idea for this thread was "the TB anti-GAS pledge", and I was going to pledge to not buy any gear for one year. But just proofreading this gives me the desire to go check out a music store or two. (With that part about "that good feeling we had last time we opened a new box", I gave myself a painful longing for that very feeling.
)
We joke about it on TB, but it's a serious psychological addiction we'd all be wise to face head on.
/intervention
So, I've justified three of my basses. And they get played. The rest mainly get stored in a closet. And yet, I still have GAS.
Why? Psychology, plain and simple. We are up against an industry that thrives on the semi-pro and the weekend warrior. We're told that if we just buy this bass, or this pedal, or this amp, we'll finally get that inspiration we've been looking for, or that perfect tone, or whatever. Even when they do an interview in one of those GC catalogs, it always comes down to the "inspiration" that the artist gets from, uh, buying gear.
Actually, it seems to work for a while. We get that new piece of gear, and we write a few good riffs, or we feel more inclined to practice... for awhile. But soon, that "rush" is gone, and exactly like an alcoholic or a gambling addict we are back looking for that good feeling we had last time we opened a new box to pull out some new panacea.
I'm sure many of you will argue that you need all those different basses, amps, and pedals in order to get the variety of tones you "need". I invite you to take a gander at the gear you already have. Chances are, every piece of it has several little barrel-shaped thingies sticking out from it. The technical name for these thingies is "knobs". Try turning them sometime; you may be surprised.
Look, I get it: it's your money, and you can spend it how you want. I'm just asking you to consider the possibility that you and I might be suckers, obediently opening our wallets every time some shiny new trinket is passed before our eyes. It's a quixotic quest, doomed to failure. Every hour we spend drooling over new gear is another hour we could have spent in the woodshed, where it might have actually done our tone some good. Don't all the greats say "it's in the fingers?"
The original idea for this thread was "the TB anti-GAS pledge", and I was going to pledge to not buy any gear for one year. But just proofreading this gives me the desire to go check out a music store or two. (With that part about "that good feeling we had last time we opened a new box", I gave myself a painful longing for that very feeling.
)We joke about it on TB, but it's a serious psychological addiction we'd all be wise to face head on.
/intervention
