But the question is for who? You have a $3000 halfstack to put on a stage the size of a postage stamp, through which you have a pedalboard the size of Wyoming on the floor filled with Analog pedals - about eight of them, all "True bypass", and then is the glittering prize of the show, that $1500+ guitar you have that is made out of the most precious of Tone Woods with a Plek Job done by Dan Erliwine himself! And you're thinking multiple things I've already thought before. And all of them are STUPID!

And this seems to mostly be a MALE Thing I've noticed. Female guitarists, who now comprise about 50% of the scene these days, don't seem to nearly be as up to this level of stupidity. Let me make a confession, as a "guy guitarist" playing shows, I've made every dumb mistake from obsessively talking about gear to every opportunity, to using my amp wattage as a bragging point in hopes to impress a chick. I also have witnessed towers of this stupidity the same way from OTHER guy guitarists. Seriously, we're all brainwashed, and it needs to stop!

Let me cut to the chase here - the #1 truth about being a guitarist is at least 90% of the people you will be playing to, don't give a rats ass about your tone. They don't care what make/model guitar you're playing, they don't give a fuck if you play through analog true-bypass booteek pedals, nor do they give a shit how many watts your amp is, or even that there is one on the backline. And the YOUNGER they are, the LESS they care about it. You could be playing through a Harmony H804 from a J.C. Penney catalog - stock, into a First Act MA-10 practice amp from the Wal-Mart closeout section, mic'd through the venue's P.A. system, and if it sounds good, nobody's going to complain. Only if it's truly painful to listen to, will they care.

I mean, who have you heard talk about Edward's "Brown Sound" who did not at least WANT to play a guitar? The rest of the people are either girls fawning over David Lee Roth/Sammy Hagar, drummers following Alex Van-Halen, and bassists going after Wolfie/Michael Anthony's rig. Everyone else, which makes up about 90% of the audience, don't give a f***, they're there to hear "Jump" "Eruption" "Panama" "Hot for Teacher" "Summer Nights" "Why Can't This Be Love" or "Running with the Devil".....sure, they address the band's talents as a collective and individually, but they really don't care nor have any interest in Alex's Cymbals or Edward's guitar pick of choice. They came to see a Show, not a NAMM convention! (for those who are not musicians reading this, the NAMM Convention is the National Association of Music Merchants convention where all the musicians, gear makers, and other music-related-companies get together under one roof to show off, discuss the industry, and even a little bit of hobnobbing with celebrities goes on).

I know I'm being harsh, but this goes triple if you're a small-time, local musician who has yet to record a full length, major single or album that gets at least national attention on a grand scale. Most of the people there have not heard your band, heard of your band, and if they have, they are the same locals that show up to every single show because you have something good to offer, or feel like they are doing their part as a friend to keep you guys somewhat relevant on the local scene by showing up, or because they have some personal rapport with you in general.

The problem is there's been a long-time over-shadowing importance placed on gear over the people who USE that gear. The gear is nothing without the person playing it, and a lot of why people WANT said gear, is aesthetics.

What non-musicians WANT to hear when they pay attention to your part, is a recognizable playing style. That's something no guitar, pedal, amp, microphone, or Glenn Fricker YouTube video is going to give you. People don't recognize Eddie on his tone alone - after all, a 5150 forum post a million years ago said PAUL DEAN had similiar tone, I do as well because that's the sound I like - but if you had stuck me, Paul, and Ed in the same room at the same time, and gave us the same backing track to solo over, all three of us would sound DRASTICALLY different, even if we all had the same gear.

When people come to your show, they came to see the band! Not just you. Sure, you will get a handful of guitarists, and general fans of guitar music who might ask what pedal you are using or what your "rig" is - but those are the minority, the majority, at a local show at least, are just there to enjoy a night out of the house and find some good music to listen to, maybe dance or mosh to, that's not the same old shit I Heart Radio or Spotify crams down their throats on the every day via some algorithm. And just because someone says "nice guitar" does not mean you need to rattle off every single specification of the axe you used that night and it's life story. Some of those people don't know a Fender from a car fender. They just like the pretty thing hanging around your neck that makes cool noises, or maybe they're interested in you and that's just their opening line.

Look, a point of these myth articles on this site, are to teach you every mistake I've either witnessed or committed so you don't make the same dumb mistakes in the future.

Which brings me around to the gear snobs who judge us on our choices of gear. Seriously, whatzit to YOU to tell ME what I can and cannot play, or should and should not play, especially if you're not even in my band. IDGAF if you love Gibson, or think that every rock band should have a 20 Marshall backline despite having income that's eclipsed by someone living out of their car and working at a telemarketing center. Honestly, gear snobbery and "rock and roll mythos" needs to fucking die already.

Which brings me back around to the majority of music fans not caring what you play through, the people that do either are insecure and have an itch to scratch, are jealous of your playing ability and the only things they can critique is your pocketbook or your choice of brand, or they are stuck in a time when you actually needed a Marshall on 11 and a Les Paul to get any level of gain beyond a blues-rock show because electric guitar technology was still in it's infancy (ie the 50's and the 60's). And to those fuddie duddies I say - "get with the times" - no, don't sell your Dumble, PRS, and Booteeky Tube Screamer just because it's the "old way" - but DO realize that it's 2023, having a big amp does not matter anymore, we have effects devices that can plug directly into the soundboard that has power amps 100x more powerful than your halfstack and sound just like your $25,000 all analog and vintage rig, and do so consistantly night after night. Plus, modern clubs don't like having a band that needs 10000LBS of gear put on their postage-stamp sized stage so they can watch a bunch of middle aged and older creepos put on a "show" of cover songs where everyone is so static due to lack of space it's more amusing watching the beer dry on the wall behind them.

Same sort of thing where even the entire band gives too much of a shit who is producing their albums. It's 2023, you can record a full length album, mix, and master it on a cellular phone for FREE, and then distribute it yourself, copyright it yourself, and own the publishing, so that if you DO just happen to "get lucky" you don't get sodomized by the industry financially! Nobody gives a fuck if you got some big name producer - most people don't even know the producer's name. Nobody cares if you recorded analog in the studip, they just want good music, and with capable hands, regardless the gear, you can get there.

And this is one of the big reasons I think rock is stagnant in 2023, because we are still holding a death grip on old, outdated, and ridiculous bits of our culture that are better let go of - like some kind of hot but stupid person who we cling to for aesthetic reasons, and not that they are someone we would truly want to grow old with. Once again - nobody cares about your guitar tone, they care about how the music makes them feel.

P.S.: I'm not saying give up on talking about gear and use cheap gear, I'm saying let's take some emphasis off of how "important" it "is" to have expensive, name brand, fancy schmancy gear to get our sound. You are not your gear. You are you, and what you DO with the gear you have is more important than the gear some snooty guitar snob dislikes you for not having. Feel free to go on a "tone quest" or be a "tone chaser" - just stay realistic about it - after all, limitation is a big part of what breeds innovation, and most people today don't limit themselves enough to rise to any kind of a challenge.