Are You Into Guitars Or Guitar Playing?

Dominic

Unless you are a virtuoso chord melody player,Flamenco master or a good Jazz player the Rock/funk/pop guitar is just one ingredient in a recipe .....rather like a violin it's a little bit empty on it's own but put an orchestra behind a concerto or a band behind a guitar and it's a whole different thing.....
 Hours and hours of fun to be had with drummer, bassist and a band situation whatever gear you have.
Sadly as @chillidoggy points out the whole getting it together,wanker singer, late bassist, absent drummer , squeezed into a corner of a pub with a bassist's headstock in your ear and drum kit up your arse and a decibel monitor make it hard to really enjoy /exploit the whole point of it.

Alnico

The two mentalities come to me depending on circumstance.

For the last 2 years I've been foot to the floor with GAS because 2 years ago I realised my kit wasn't what I wanted and wasn't enough to gig with so I went on a mission to change that.
Now I'm there I've gone back into player mode where it's all about enjoying what I've got. I see things that look nice but I'm all out of GAS now I've got what I've got.

Bucket

Both.

I love playing and always have done - I have been very fortunate in that it's become my living. I don't know what I would ever do if I woke up one day and didn't feel a desire to be involved in playing music, and to keep improving until I feel ready to take on anything that may present itself musically. I want to be the best guitarist I can possibly be - I've come a long way since I started, but I have a hell of a lot more work to do before I feel I'm really at my best.

But at the same time, I love gear. I am a total nerd and want to know everything about every piece of equipment I own or play.

I also have to say that it gives me great pleasure to look over at my guitar rack and see a very carefully curated collection of gear that I know is the result of countless hours of research in finding the absolute best thing - and knowing that they're all mine (apart from anything I may have borrowed) is even better.

bingefeller

Playing for me.  I don't really buy pedals these days and just have a basic amp, as long as I have a decent guitar I'm happy enough.  I'm more into learning songs.  Gear is great and all but, in the past, I found that I was getting too involved in turning knobs and not spending enough time playing.

ICBM

I think I'm into sounds and songs. I have very little interest in either collecting guitars (I've currently got as few as at any time since I was about 20) or in technique for its own sake - I play songs which happen to use a guitar because that's the instrument I've learned to use. I *am* very interested in the technicalities of what makes things sound the way they do, as I'm sure you all know...

Phil_aka_Pip

Both. But I play a lot less than I used to.

guitars4you

Totally both but it is my work as well - To be truthful I wish I played more, plus far more constructive with it as such, so it had a purpose rather than lots of doodling - But I am trying to focus more on playing a song as against trying to play/develop the ultimate solo, which on its own is pretty pointless - But my love of guitars is so big that even if I did not have the shop I'd be still hooked

57Deluxe

I'm into self delusion and unrealistic optimism...

thomasross20

Playing!

strtdv

Guitar playing, although over the years have at various stages been into guitars.

I have 3 electrics, and could probably cut down to 2. I haven't bought a guitar (or indeed even seriously considered buying one) since my Gibson Les Paul Special DC in 2015.

I've suffered from amp GAS pretty badly at times but have again ended up with 3 amps that I expect will be with me for a long time.

What I have currently let's me play everything I want to play, which is really the point of it I guess.

Now bicycles on the other hand... 

sticker

Both but i'm not a collector ,my wife would disagree with that though . I dont obsess over neck profiles or guitar weights (99% of my playing at the moment is recording and sitting down) or the latest gizmo or shiny thing ... although i wouldn't say no to a Helix .

I remember Goji once likening guitars to spanners or chisels ie just as tools used to make music and i totally get that .

Depending on the band i'm in i buy the equipment that helps me achieve the best musical results , MY problem is i've been in a fair few bands and never seem to sell the gear on from the previous band and so ive ended up with 15+ guitars and 5 basses and associated amps and effects .

i've gone years without buying anything and am totally happy with all the stuff i have but it doesn't stop the GAS .

ronnyb

Both. I've been playing for years but still have a go 2 or 3 times a week. I think i'm more interested in guitars though. To me they're works of art and i get a buzz just opening one of my cases and looking at the contents.

bluechargeboy

Playing music, no doubt about it. I love reading up about guitars and trying out different ones, but at the end of the day buying something doesn't soothe the soul like playing music. The instruments serve the self-expression. I'm so lucky to have started playing 32 years ago, it has got me through a lot!

Two things:

1) If my house burned down I would just get another guitar and crack on. New tools.
2) If I lost a hand I would try to make guitar playing work. If I lost both hands I'm thinking kazoo, or maybe learn to sing!!

Matt_McG

Playing. Until this year, I was completely never a gear person. I've owned 4 electric guitars in my entire life -- including the horrible plywood and pot-metal Marlin I started on -- and I've been playing for over 30 years.

If I had had more money, more time, more leisure, maybe I'd have gone down a different road. I've gone a bit pedal daft in the past year, because I make most of them from PCBs, and individual pedals are never a huge expenditure. But, I've gone greater than 10 year periods in the past in which I bought zero gear.

I play every day. I don't get as much time as I'd like to practice, but given the choice, I'd be putting hours in, every day, if I could.

Matt_McG

That said, some of the biggest gear heads I know, are also people who are always in multiple bands, playing all the time, and putting in the hard hours of practice. So I don't think it's either/or.

AlexC

Some really interesting posts.
As has been said by others - playing music, whether on my own or with others, has given me some of the greatest highs of my life and got me through some of the lowest points. I started playing when I was ten. I’m forty-seven now. Why I’m not a virtuoso I don’t know! It was partly being a guitarist that got myself and my wife together - who is a singer/songwriter player. 
I’m happy with the gear I have. It does the job I need it to do. Of course, I have a dream wish list of ‘ultimate gear’ I’d love to have, but I’ve had so many amps, pedals and guitars over the years that I now think of them as tools. Fun tools, sure and tools that are great to look at. I’ve had stuff give up the ghost due to age, fall apart, blow up and had to hock beautiful guitars so I could eat (the joys of working in the arts) and a terrific Tokai Strat which I’d had for years stolen after a gig.
So - to answer my own question (which is only fair) it’s playing for me.

Danny1969

I'm only interested in the playing. I like a guitar to play in tune and have a low action but other than that I couldn't give a shit about the look or the brand name on the headstock. 
I don't spend any money on gear if I can help it and if I do it's always second hand and slightly faulty (god love this place and it's classifieds). I'm fortunate enough that in some bands I have the best gear money can buy and in others I make do with what I can cobble together but as cliched as it sound the the quality of what comes out is down to how much have you practised and that's something I don;t scrimp on, sometimes practising for 4 hours a day 

slacker

Both.

I have a lot of nice gear but have spent most of the weekend playing guitar on my own or with people  

mudslide73

Both. I don't buy much but that's down to finances and I know what I'd spend a windfall on. I don't really feel the need to buy stuff that I wouldn't gig with though. Playing has been very good to me - I've met some incredible people and had some of my best times as a result.  

jonnyburgo

I'm in it for the chicks