You aren't cool unless you have a GIBSON LES PAUL!

I spend a fair share of my time looking at, reading up on, web browser window shopping, and quite simply THINKING about music gear. This is an addiction, or at least a strong interest that many musicians have. But in terms of how important it is to music itself is a topic to be explored. Many will say that it isn’t necessary, and that whatever spirit within you that yearns to escape will be enough to inspire, or at least to satisfy. Others will say that not using the good stuff will only lead to a mess of bad tone, regardless of how well you play. But what these two opposite spectrums fail to account is the point I mean to drive home; with the almost infinitely variable aspects of musical equipment, understanding what you want out of your instrument, and what items can achieve your goals is the most important thing when it comes to gear in music. With my experiences in mind, I will discuss just how important the musicians’ choice of equipment is to the realm of music.

When I was young, I made it a point to myself never to get too caught up in what sort of guitar (acoustic or electric) I was using to write music with. I felt that if it sounded good on an acoustic, it would undoubtedly be pleasing in any other circumstance. I was mostly right; however, as I delved into the exciting, and quite confusing world of guitar pedals, I began to realize how much more there was to do with just the sounds that you can make with a musical instrument, whether it be a song or just some nonsense. Pieces that I had written before became far more flavorful, or more spaced out, as many might put it. What might have been a simple and sort of boring riff became a very compelling piece, just with the addition of the right effect(s). It was in this discovery that I found the beauty of music gear as a subject of it’s own.

Many will argue that pedals are merely fancy extensions of an amplified instruments natural tone, and will usually just distract the user and the listener from the music’s integrity. But what they do not realize is that on most albums they’ve ever listened to, there has been a plethora of effects used, either during or after the initial tracking process. Effects are a staple in a lot of musical genres, from basic compressing and equalization, to very thick and psychedelic phasers, to ambient delays, and probably most commonly in the tracking process, distortion. Sure, when used too much, these little metal boxes, or plugins on computers, etc. can make a mess of the sound, but when one understands how to use them, they can make the difference between a stale and familiar sounding tone or piece of music, and a rather original sound that could captivate listeners from a wide variety of backgrounds.

While it is certainly appreciated that there are people out there that wish to keep their set up simple, one cannot be so unwilling to explore the possibilities of electronic assistance (in certain circumstances, of course). It is definitely unnecessary for a drummer to mic their entire drum set at a show that is taking place inside a person’s living room. But when playing on some enormous stage in a big theater, micing a drum set only make sense, and there’s no doubt that the person running the PA is going to do some adjustments to the volumes and the EQ on them. Using the concept of obtaining optimal sound in mind, we can discuss things like guitar amps with the same perspective. Many will talk about how awesome their 150 watt guitar amp with three channels on it, and all kinds of switches to create various tones, but how practical is a loud guitar amp with a million switches for a guitarist that is playing house shows? And, if they don’t understand how to use it, how good is the sound going to be? With some research, a guitarist with such a rig could certainly end up ditching their super fancy amp for something far more simple, and maybe more inexpensive. Using the knowledge of, say, guitar amps and their various tones and features, a guitarist could make a somewhat precise decision on an amp, and be satisfied for maybe the rest of their life as a guitarist. But what many people get caught up in, which is perhaps the biggest determinating factor in music gear choices, is trends.

Music gear trends is actually the biggest factor of musicians’ choices in gear. People have been chasing the tones of various instruments from albums of the past for years. Van Halen impressed every guitarist with his “brown sound” back in the 80's, Hendrix launched the fuzz tone into the public ear, Pete Townshend from The Who brought Sunn amps into popularity (not to mention Sunn O))) bringing them back into popularity), all of which were simply personal choices made by these musicians who felt like doing something a little different. For maybe the last century, people have been trying to mimic the sounds of the past, or at least of their favorite bands, and with the help of scummy salespeople, misleading ads, and inexpensive versions of nice equipment, musicians have been sounding terrible for quite a long time. What these musicians need is a little knowledge.

We have all seen plenty of bands with shit equipment that blew us away, as well as plenty of fully armed bands with music that we could not even force ourselves to listen to and watch for more than thirty seconds. Many of us musicians have been surprised at how good a cheap and usually bad sounding piece of equipment has made us feel when listening to someone play through it. But what set apart those that sounded good from those that didn’t (aside from our own musical tastes) was their understanding of their equipment. Maybe the guitarist knew he’d get more sustain out of his guitar if he set the action higher. Maybe the drummer knew a small bass drum would give him the tone he wanted. Maybe the band used four amps because they really just wanted to upset people a little bit with how loud they were. Maybe they wanted to nail the Led Zepplin sound. Whatever the case, the musician will never be satisfied with their sound unless they understand how to achieve it.