Gear Obsession - GAS'ing more than Playing/Practicing?

[Gravy Train]

Like the title says, I obsess over gear and guitars more than I practice or play. I'm always on the lookout for what's new and what a good deal I can get on a certain piece, but don't really utilize or appreciate what I currently have.

I'm really trying to up my chops with the 2 sweet fiddles I have instead of swapping them out for "the next best thing".

Does anybody else do this, or am I alone?

 

[TedEH]

Lots of people do it. It's only a problem if you think it's a problem. Embrace the enthusiasm. If you can channel that GAS into a productive "I should up my playing in order to justify a new instrument", then all the power to you.

 

[domsch1988]

I thought so too for a while.
I came to the simple solution for my whole life, that me being happy is the most important thing. After having this down, everything became easier. For a long time i though that my Guitar playing skills are only worth it if i become somewhat famous. Now i just play for my own fun. This made things much easier.

If you can afford it and new gear makes you happy, then just buy whatever you like.

 

[bnzboy]

I am definitely one of them and I try not to purchase anything expensive and only interested in used gears. I don't even have enough time to play all my guitars and equipment anymore. But if feels good to take one out and play whenever you feel like it. It is hard to let good deals pass by though.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I feel you. I've gone crazy over guitars over the last couple of years due to me having some cash to play with, but I think it's untenable for me. After my next couple of guitars come in I think I'm done buying guitars for a while. I'm sure I'll totally backpedal on that mentality when I see a good deal pop up though

 

[BurningRome]

Yeah, I'm in that situation right now. I'm so focused on finding a great deal that I'm cycling through stuff fast.

The main item's I've tried to stick to is my pedal board which consists of a boss tu2, digitech Jamman looper with built in delay & a red panda context reverb/delay pedal. I've also stuck to a guitar which is a 1977 Odyssey.

The consequence I've found from all this turning is that I don't get the most out of the item when it comes to creativity. Previously I went through so many delay pedals that it wasn't helping but hurting me when it came to writing, not to mention when I play live with new stuff it has thrown me off somewhat.

Right now I've been rotating amp heads the most....it needs to stop however I've tried to use the equipment rotation to buy, sell and make some money off those items to essentially pay for my main set up which is the effects I listed, the guitar and my Fryette Sig X with the Fryette 4x12 fat bottom cab.

But it's killing my song writing, but I also think this issue is based on personality, I think others would thrive from this.

 

[Bearitone]

I've been doing this for yeeaarrss. I have a list of pedals I want (about 15) that adds up to $2500, two custom guitars in mind, and I'm always gassing to try new speakers.

I think 20 minutes of FOCUSED practice (not just jamming) a day should keep your chops progressing

 

[Rachmaninoff]

or am I alone?

Back in the day when I had a PRS, I registered in their official forum. Much to my disgust, I only found old guys who collected instruments and kept them as furniture. After a couple months, I never came back again, because I felt that I was at the wrong place.

Let me get this straight: their behavior is not a problem. If you're happy collecting guitars as furniture, just go ahead and be happy. But to me, it was really sad to see all those great instruments never being played, so I left.

 

[Mathemagician]

I haven't practiced in 3 weeks. But I've checked this forum daily for new cool things and have gear for sale - so I can buy more gear. Lol. It's fine if you stay within your "fun money budget". Everyone's is different.

 

[Wolfhorsky]

I am in that group too
For last three years i have been spending some serious money on gear. And i love it.
I always struggle to achieve my "perfect tone" that sits in my head. And every new piece of equipment takes me closer. Then i come to a dead end with an amp/pedal and i move forward. For me, Strymon makes really great gear that inspires me. BigSky and TimeLine iz da sheeet.
Now gassing for friedman runt....
I have 8 guitars, next two are on their way. And i love all of them. Which one is better: one wife and 10 guitars or one guitar and 10 women?

 

[endmysuffering]

Happiness should be your number one concern. New lick or new guitar in other words, neither is objectively better.

 

[rokket2005]

I spent a long time looking at guitars and amps, and eventually when I decided that I had all I needed I moved on to recording gear, then synths, then to drums and cymbals, and then to camera gear. The downside here is that if I just stuck to practicing guitar I'd probably have progressed more on guitar in the past 4-5 years or so and I might have enough money to put a down payment on a house. The upside is that I can play guitar/keys/bass/drums/sing/photograph pretty well now.

 

[Gmork]

Same here! Lol. In a way i cant even justify my buying/searching/gassing habits. I love collecting amp heads but i know full well that i wont use them at all as im since ive grown extremely attached to the idea of a super portable pedalboard rig ie preamp pedals and small poweramp on my board. No need to lug around a huge amp head. I honestly dont think ill ever go back to using traditional amps. Perhaps for recording but thats it. I have a huge stack of amps that are nice to look at and know that they are MINE! lol. In the end it IS 100% justified though. It makes me happy and its not like other parts of my life are suffering because of my gear addiction. I can be happy AND eat my cake too

 

[blacai]

If you can pay your bills and food, continue doing what makes you happy.

 

[bluffalo]

i stopped looking at forums, it helped a lot.

 

[Blytheryn]

i stopped looking at forums, it helped a lot.

I can actually admit that since being on SSO I've been a LOT more about gear than about practicing.

 

[rexbinary]

I actually downsized the number of guitars and amps I own. Now feel a lot better about my gear to playing ratio.

 

[endmysuffering]

I can actually admit that since being on SSO I've been a LOT more about gear than about practicing.

Same, this site even made me buy an 8.

 

[Alonious_Monk]

I'm making an active effort to stop looking at so many rig/pedalboard threads these days. It's like being in a restaurant, you always want what the other people are having.

I see my GAS obsessions as a "quest of tone" rather than an actual obsession

 

[Blasphemer]

I do this a little bit, but in the same way that I'll look at a Ferrari or Lamborghini. I know in all real senses that I'm not going to get a $6,000 custom or a rig that takes two fulltime techs to haul around and run, but it sure is fun to pretend.

When I have real, doable GAS, I tend to slightly obsess over something for like a month until I have enough money saved, but even that's kind of rare. The last thing I did that with was my Helix, and that was more than a year ago.

I prefer playing to tweaking and collecting, which is one of the main reasons why I bought the Helix over a fractal unit. The amp parameters are so much less than the fractal stuff, but it sounds pretty much as good, to my ears.