Not All Guitarists Have Long Hair, and not all Longhairs are Guitarists - Now this sounds rich coming from a guy who does, indeed, have long hair, have you ever stopped to take a look at us guitarists these days and notice not all of us look the same. I have long hair, Herman Li had long hair, what about the guys in Ghost though? Do you see a mullet or a ponytail anywhere in that band? Or how about Jazz guitarists, most of those guys I know in person look like your uncle or your grandpa - short hair, glasses, khakis, maybe a hat. But people usually assume if you have hair halfway down your back, you're a guitarist, and they assume the guitar is the reason for the hair. Did you know that Native Americans have long hair for tradition reasons? Did you know what some people just like the look of having longer hair? I know guitarists with short hair, long hair, and all points in between, and I know people who aren't guitarists who make me look like I have a crew-cut by comparison. Honestly, in the world of music, nobody really gives a fuck if they're a real musician. They want o HEAR what you're doing, not see what you looked like. BTW, the earliest longhairs were a sign of over-work, we were working so hard, we didn't have time for a Barber's appointment between photoshoots, studio time, mixing sessions, gigs, traveling between cities or even countries for gigs. Has anyone ever thought of that?

Not all guitarists are druggies, and not all druggies are musicians - I know Drugs are associated with creative types, but have you ever considered why? Maybe it's because crazy fuckin' "normies" out there are too busy bugging us every day to get a haircut and keep doing what were doing while NOT doing what we're doing. Depending on the style of music, it takes a surprising amount of muscle memory, brainpower, muscle dexterity, and skill to be a musician whose fun to listen to. While I'm not denying there are people who performed on controlled substances and some that still do, I'm also not going to confirm that that may be 100% the norm, because there are those of us - myself included - who DON'T go on stage or in the studio drunk or high, and in my case, I cannot legally because I work a federally funded job, and almost all that shit is still illegal, and also - I must add - I consider ALCOHOL a drug too, and it's one of the most under-estimated, overrated, under-supported addictions I have had the unfortunate case of witnessing on multiple occasions in my life, and i would not wish alcoholism on even my worst enemies. I've seen so many bands, including my own, destroyed, ruined, or otherwise, derailed by this shit, I almost want to start a new one with a zero tolerance policy. (temporarily drops the mic)

Guitarists are Not Stupid - There's a common misconception that musicians, especially those of us performing in the "rock" or "metal" genres, are mentally deficient degenerates with no marketable brainpower or skill. This is entirely untrue. My question to you that assume we are stupid...have you ever picked up a guitar, or a bass, or sat behind a drum kit, or a piano, or perhaps picked up a trumpet, trombone, tuba, or tried to play a part in a musical piece....well if not....SHAAADDAAAAAAP!!! The majority of us are actually the kinds of kids who did, or otherwise would have, gotten straight "A's" - and those of us, like myself, who took alternate paths, chose to do so for reasons that have nothing to do with music, and everything to do with life, survival, or witnessing that we have a broken, under-funded education system in this country not worth wasting our clock cycles on because we would rather find another path that is far more conducive to critical thinking and self-thinking rather than creating OBDEIANT WORKERS for the rich "ruling class" that pretends to be elected officials and c-suite execs.

Not every Guitarist is a Tech-geek or Historian type - While yes, it's commonplace to find a bunch of us who could run down every Fender guitar model and specification made since 1948, and understand how to setup darn near anything to play fast and stay in tune. Not every musician you know is also a luithier, guitar tech, or otherwise, knowledgeable about their instrument beyond being able to play and create music with it. It is NOT a requirement to be a technician to be a guitarist. It's an optional path you can choose to take because it can save you money, give you a wider breadth of options when it comes to instrument specs, setup, maintenance, and makes for an easier life on the road keeping a moody piece of wood and wire and a moody box full of vacuum tubes happy enough to perform night after night without fail.

Not Everyone of us you meet are Hornball wannabe future millionaires - MOST of these guys get weeded out first, either through an illegitmate pregnancy/ies, STDs, or because they got sick of being paid $27 every few nights to play to 15 people in a dive bar for 45 minutes while losing sleep for work. Sex is not a promise, and in a lot of genres, it's guaranteed to not be on the plate. If you're doing it for Sex, you'll probably hang up your hat by 25 when you realize that most of the hot people don't want to fuck you, and those that do, are the walking, talking posters for "fuck around and find out" and "stick your winky in crazy, and that's what you get back"...and that's assuming you don't get herpes, syphallis, gonnorhea, AIDS, or a whole gaggle of other Sexually Transmitted Diseases - remember, condoms only provide 99.1% protection, including from Pregancy. By the time they realize you most likely will be going home alone or with your girlfriend to try and catch up on sleep tomorrow enough so you can go back out and do it all over again, or at least touch up some cracked solder joints, fix that scratchy pot, and change a faulty tube (not to mention trying to budget it out so you make rent and have money for gas and food)....your pie in the sky dreams of hobnobbing with David Lee Roth and fucking Supermodels will come to an end really quick....so what DO we do it for?!?!?

THe Majority of us Guitarists (especially Lead Guitarists it seems) do it for the MUSIC!!!! - This means, we know we're losing money, we know it looks ridiculous we own 20 guitars and have the fame level of the guy at the Delicatessen at Safeway, we understand that it seems strange that we go home alone to fall asleep on a Futon next to our guitar of choice after spending half the night doing maintenance and taking care of ourselves post-gig, and trying to wipe off the smell of third hand pot smoke and vodka sweat before we clock in tomorrow at 7 a.m. sharp. We're doing it becuase we like to play music, we like the music we're playing, we enjoy performing for people (even if said people drive us nuts in public earlier in the day), and because WE WANT TO! My question to these people is....do YOU have a hobby? Do you have anything socially positive that YOU enjoy? Or even something you enjoy that puts you in a good mood? If not, then SHADAAAAAP! To other musicians (lead singers and rhythm guitarists especially), this does not mean we don't know that this could be a "career", this does not mean we don't know our worth, this does not mean that you can scam us at every opportunity with your cajolling bullshit - because chances are fairly high we have a far better grasp on reality than you do. Just because you do something great, does not mean that people will care. Just because you think you are amazing, does not mean other people don't. I'm not saying keep on keepin' on for the show if you enjoy it, I just mean....stop assuming that we're all jsut after money, sex, and power.

Music Gear, especially Today, is NOT all that expensive.... - Even with Orange Doodyhead's Tariffs, you can buy a guitar for less than $100 now that will do alright for a stage show in capable hands. Because of P.A. system technology, and the fact almost every club has one, even a humble 1x8 Combo amp bought at Goodwill for $24 will do the job....or even a $15 outdated Digitech RP-series pedal direct to the board (I've done that one). Because of this, this is why your average cheapskate like me owns 30 guitars. Guitars USED to be very expensive, even the cheap ones, and the cheap ones were of such terrible quality that people sought out only th ebig brands because those were the instruments that were proven to last. But as Asia and other parts of the world have gotten their Luthiery on par with a Japanese Fender guitar circa 1988, thanks to advances in electronics, production, computing power, CAD (Computer Aided Design), and probably soon, A.I. - manufacutring a guitar, amp, or pedal, can make a man a massive profit for very little money compared to 1955 when Leo Fender had to hire in bunch of Southern Californians to hand-assemble Stratocasters, P-Basses, and Telecasters. I can buy a full blown, working Sustainer for $70 - most units only a couple years ago were over $300. I can literally pull someone's abused Squier or Epiphone from a dumpster, and make a great playing axe out of it for just $22 in parts in some cases, or even free. THAT is how we got all these amps, pedals, and guitars. And a lot of the circuits in them, the assemblies, and whatnot, especially the stuff Fender pioneered, are easy enough for most musicians to figure out how to work with them at some level of decent competancy if they are willing to learn. Most of us play cheap chinese "junk".

Not All Guitarists Are Gear Snobs - First off, all the "Mojo" shit, is just marketing hype. The real reason guitars like Eddie's Frankenstrat, or Billy's Pearly Gates, are expensive is because of WHO PLAYED THEM. They may be exceptional, or influential examples, but without those players, playing on those records, on those guitars, they wouldn't be worth the price for them. Edward Van-Halen was not a gear snob at all, he played mostly home built guitars put together for cheap, or out of parts from endorsements he got for free, even when he was making millions at Van-Halen's peak. Billy has said "they're all special, and they're all good" - Billy's not a snob, he has an appriciation for almost anything six string it seems - he plays things that look like they are made out of an old bar table sometimes. If the pros aren't gear snobs, then you shouldn't be either. Think about Kurt Cobain. He played anything they could make Left-Handed easily from a pawn shop before he had money for Jaguars and Mustangs, which were also still cheap when HE got them. The bespoke Jaguar he used in Nirvana was $349.99 from a British guy nobody reading this page has likely heard of if it were not for the Telecaster Discussion Page Forums. I just paid that price for a friggin SQUIER JAGUAR - and it's awesome. Usually, I find your average "Gear Snob" is one of two things, a crazy person with little ability or clue what "tone" is trying to get social credibility off the name on his headstock, or some wacko who truly thinks rather than getting his Squier Affinity Strat properly setup, a PRS Custom 24 is going to somehow turn him into Carlos Santana over night. I play what I like, can afford, and whatever works. And when a $50 First Act can cut the mustard, looks cool to me, and sounds great....why do I need to save up for a 59' Burst?

Amplifiers have a knob called "VOLUME" - and Contrary to common belief, especially in 2025+, a lot of us know how to use it... - This stems from an obsolee, and outdated myth among guitar tone snobs that you NEED to have a TUBE AMP with ONE CHANNEL and turn it all the way up to 11 to get "teh mojoz". While I too have used this trick - in a STUDIO - the apropriate place at the apropriate time (recording), unless you are searching for a very specific sound, most likely, most of us Electric guitarists will be quieter than most other practicing musicians, including the guy with the Acoustic guitar. Because all you'll hear is "tink tink tink tink tink" instead of "BLHAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGG!" at 2 a.m. - if you're close enough to the guitar to even hear it. Actually, a lot of us now don't even have Amps, we use "AMP SIMULATORS" - ie software, or little boxes with headphone jacks in the form of amps, pedals, or some cube thing, designed to sound like a bunch of amps and pedals, where now we don't even have the space issue, or the volume issue. Total B.S.

Not All Guitarists Have only One, or More than One, Guitar - Some say Variety is the spice of life, I'm one of those people, hence I have a collection. While others of us like to learn one specific guitar and use it for everything. There is no right or wrong, and there is no "better way". People like me have multiples for different reasons. Some people want more than one of the same model for backups live, especially if they play out a lot. Some of us have ones we have had so long they are sentimental, like a family heirloom, or we have a emotional attachment to it to a point we don't want it getting hurt or stolen - hence a few more "Expendables" to take out live. Some of us have a lot because we just like guitars and enjoy experiencing all the different ones. Some run museums, some just play a lot for fun. Some of us only own one we use the rest of our life - like Willie Nelson and Trigger. There is no singular one-proper way to be as a guitarist. And outsiders telling us there is is laughably stupid. You don't know, maybe you're a one Tele sort of person, or maybe you wouldn't mind a tele, a Jaguar, a Jazzmaster, and a Les Paul?

Guitarists are Financially Stupid - Well, not entirely true, depends on the person. I did just spent 30 minutes pondering all of my accounts, bills, and other requirements before making a purchase on some gear today to find out I had more than enough. That's not to say there are not some real idiots out there who will put a $50 Harmony on Layaway in lieu of food while laid off and couch surfing - now that's stupid. But that's also not to say that some credit card with a certain major music shop won't screw you either, and next thing you know you're buying a Dean ML to pawn to make the bills (only to buy it back when you have the money). Another bit of financial stupidity I DO see a lot of, is buying because of brands. Nobody worth a grain of salt is going to care what your headstock or amp Marquee says. I just buy what I like, and what works, if it's in budget. THAT is how you do it.