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gear shopping - it's a sickness

#101
Wait, so it's GAS if you buy gear when you suck? But if you've achieved a high skill level then it's not GAS?

My point is that I wouldn't equate collection with a lack of desire to play well. Sure, there are certainly people who substitute collecting in place of progressing, but I'd also bet that there are a comparable number of outrageously skilled players who just can't help help themselves when presented with an opportunity to buy cool gear.

Seems more like a personality trait/thing to me than a lack of motivation thing. Those guys have the means to do it, but it's part of their personality to be prone to using their money to buy their collection. Wouldn't you say there are a lot of other wealthy and talented players who aren't driven to stockpile massive collections?
 
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#102
I just buy what I want and can afford...sort of.


I just pay cash, or use a Sweetwater or Musician's Friend zero interest card and play with their money, being sure to pay it off before interest kicks in.


If something bores me or does not work as well as I thought it would, I just sell it and put the money back into the fun-money pool.


Never did have buyer's remorse.
 
#103
This thread definitely hits home for me.

A week ago I decided that I would only visit the TalkBass Classifieds (Bass Guitars For Sale) on Friday evenings, and limit my perusing to about 15 minutes.

It was getting ridiculous - I was visiting that specific section of the site seven days per week, often multiple times per day. It was getting to be a huge time suck...and to top it all off:

(A) I really have no serious NEED for another bass right now (hell, being that I am a bedroom bassist, I arguably don't need the four I currently own)

(B) the Canada - USA exchange rate sucks right now (the vast majority of basses for sale are out of the USA), and

(C) after five months of unemployment, I finally started a new job in late January, but at a much lower pay scale than my previous line of work.

I am not so big into amps, pedals, and all the other bass-related items out there, but yeah, bass guitars themselves are a form of porn for me. I think I'd drool over 'em even if I weren't a player (well, somewhat of a player anyways...) :roflmao:
 
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#104
You forgot about these two guys. Their collection is so vast there isn't room in any one photograph for them all so here's just a photo of the collectors, instead. :smug:

tom petty and mike campbell.jpg
 
#105
dave64o said:
Wait, so it's GAS if you buy gear when you suck? But if you've achieved a high skill level then it's not GAS?

My point is that I wouldn't equate collection with a lack of desire to play well. Sure, there are certainly people who substitute collecting in place of progressing, but I'd also bet that there are a comparable number of outrageously skilled players who just can't help help themselves when presented with an opportunity to buy cool gear.

Seems more like a personality trait/thing to me than a lack of motivation thing. Those guys have the means to do it, but it's part of their personality to be prone to using their money to buy their collection. Wouldn't you say there are a lot of other wealthy and talented players who aren't driven to stockpile massive collections?
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My opinion is simple.

If one has limited/fixed funds, wishes to progress as a musician, and has an adequate instrument, his/her cash and time could be better spent on music education.
 
#106
Never argued that point. You're 100% correct there. :thumbsup:

But your your original statement said that GAS is an excuse/substitute for lack of talent, skill, and/or motivation. That's quite different from your post above - and the equivalence just isn't there. Sure, there are untalented and unmotivated "players" who substitute gear for skills. Can't and won't argue that. But you said you believe that's the rule. So how do you account for very skilled and highly motivated players who really aren't gearheads (Leland Sklar says he's not a gearhead, he just insists on adding his magical "Producer Switch" to his basses ;))? Or marginal players who are happy to futz around on their budget bass? Or people like Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Joe Perry, Allen Woody, Steve Vai, John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, Joe Bonamassa, not to mention a lot of TB'ers, who are outrageously skilled yet still have large and/or high end collections? Whether or not those people have the money to support their GAS affliction is immaterial. They're skilled and motivated players who have GAS. I suspect that if you plot GAS vs. skill for a large sample of bassists, you'd simply get a bell curve.

Having said that, I'd say the nature of Talkbass would suggest that the curve shifts upward if you plot solely TB members since TB both induces GAS in those prone to it and also attracts GAS sufferers. But it would still probably be a bell curve ;)
 
#109
There was a time where I needed the latest technology, and wasted a lot of time and money on crap I did't really need. With music gear I spent a lot of time and money with GAS in search of tone. Once money got tight, and I made due with what technology I had, no longer did I fall for the marketing of tech. Once, I built a 5E3 clone, my search for tone ended. And I realized that the tone I desired all along was the blues guitar tone. And that's the end of GAS for me.
 
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#114
Killed_by_Death said:
I'm trying to eliminate it from my life, but I made the mistake of cruising the pawn shops this past Friday afternoon. Bad Idea!
I've been fighting with myself ever since about whether or not to go back & buy a bass that I liked.

No significant other to worry about :bassist:
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Dude, you eFFed up getting rid of that 4004 (if money wasn't an issue.)
 
#115
no, I fouled up by picking up a musical instrument at all, not realizing it takes at least 10k hours of play/practice to get good at it
most things in life I've found easy enough, but being pitch & rhythm challenged is too great of an obstacle for me

or maybe I fouled up by not putting some real effort into learning an instrument when I was young
 
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#116
I just did the gear purchase this morning. And actually felt good about it. After needing a music playback device for a year, I pulled the trigger on a FiiO x5 II that was on sale for almost 1/2 the online street price. That's because the new x5 3rd generation is comming out the end of this month.

Anyway, last music playback device I purchased was a 20gb iPod classic 4th gen back in 2004.
 
#119
Killed_by_Death said:
no, I fouled up by picking up a musical instrument at all, not realizing it takes at least 10k hours of play/practice to get good at it
most things in life I've found easy enough, but being pitch & rhythm challenged is too great of an obstacle for me

or maybe I fouled up by not putting some real effort into learning an instrument when I was young
Click to expand...

I am sad that you seem to think that you need to be "good" to make it worthwhile. (good as implied by your definition of having "at least 10K hours of play/practice"). I barely started playing, and I am already a grandfather, without much (it feels) native talent to draw upon. By your standard, I should give up too. I will never achieve the greatness, or even the goodness, that I could've achieved if I started younger or had more innate ability. SO WHAT??? The frustration of perpetual mediocrity is, for me, WAY OUTWEIGHED by the exhilaration of making music, and the knowledge that the only guaranteed way that I will never improve is to stop trying.

I honestly don't think it's your playing that needs improving. Only your outlook... :)
 
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#120
The only guaranteed way that I knew I would never improve was to keep trying.
After years of it, I simply realized my limitations. My outlook on it changed greatly over time. I didn't just decide after 3 months that it wasn't for me, we're talking years here.

My outlook on a lot of things changed, when I sobered up.
 

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