Are You Into Guitars Or Guitar Playing?

Clarky

guitar playing and making music...

Teetonetal

Both to a point.. playing has to be with people, either writing, recording or live. I'm not into guitar playing as solo hobby. I don't enjoy practice in a self improvement sense.

But I love gear.. not into guitars or amps as such, just pedals.  Having a new pedal is an outlet. It keeps me playing and keeps me interested when nothing else is going on.

TTBZ

Bit of both but more the gear rather than playing now I think. That said I'll only buy stuff I can find a use for and if it doesn't work at band practice I'll normally get rid of it pretty quick. I don't have the budget to buy anything and everything that takes my fancy. Downsized to 1 decent guitar and a small amp. Never had or wanted a massive pedalboard, yet pedals are what I look at most online.

The downsizing hasn't really made me play any more though but at least when I do I'm not faffing around a/b'ing guitars and pedals to see which is "best".

EricTheWeary

I have been thinking about this and the answer seems to be increasingly that the gear and the playing exist primarily to give me an excuse to twat about on guitar forums. 

CHRISB50

Neither. I don't own a guitar, therefore I don't play anymore either.

I'm just here for Siraxeman's pearls of wisdom and the arguments.

DrJazzTap

Used to be playing, I really need to ignite the spark again. I don't really hanker after gear. I'm toying with the idea of setting up a small studio and recording some ideas once I get the house sorted. Truth be told it's just finding the time to do it all. 
I miss the days when i could spend hours practicing. 

JAYJO

My Guitar is just a Rubik Cube with strings. Ive got bollocks all hope of solving it but thats the beauty of it for me. Keeps me nutz.
Love my Guitars and my son thinks im Ace! That makes it all worthwhile. 
 

JezWynd

I like sounds. Modulation and delay more than driven type tones. I'm such a crap player I'd feel guilty having more than one guitar, one bass but I change pedals like socks. I don't play in a band, have no desire to anymore but will happily while away an evening trying to master a bass transposition of some Bach and wind up with a half hour of delay generated funk mayhem with a drum machine. And i'm addicted to Boss pedals (it's the pretty colours).

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

The OPs post pretty much sums up my feeling on the matter perfectly.

I have a couple of nice guitars that I like (nothing flash), a Boss Katana, and a basic multi-fx unit. I like looking on this forum and on retailer websites, and ogling all the expensive gear, and I marvel at the amounts some people are willing to spend on gear. In my financial position I could never justify spending north of £1000 on a guitar, £500 on an amp, or £100 on a pedal. 

I like playing, whether it be practicing at home or jamming with others, or playing live. Buying gear is just as a means to enhance my playing enjoyment, I would never buy something just for the sake of buying or owning something.

Dopesick

I play on average about 5-10 hours a week (mostly at weekends) but everyday I read up on pedals, amps, synths and guitars and whatnot.

As for the actual guitars themselves, I've never owned more than two at one time. Saying that, there is a new one waiting for me when I get home thanks to Gear4Music and I am ruddy excited.

Vibetronic

playing definitely. I've got a lot of nice guitars, but I don't just have them for the sake of having them. Got pretty much no interest in how they work/modding/effects/amps etc. When I'm not teaching (or work stuff related to that)/playing in 2 bands, then I'm generally practicing/playing/writing. 

Wolfetone

It's a very good question. Quite often, I will lust after a guitar and not use it much but have a regular guitar that I play all the time but still hang on to the unused guitar. I guess that puts me in both categories as I love to acquire as well as play.

AliGorie

Guitars Or Guitar Playing?

ah - the object - the guitar and or ‘equipment’.

I know a guy a design engineer who has a collection of Tacks, many dozens in fact. He knows what they’re for and uses them but they don’t get in the way of him designing engine or pumps.

BigLicks67

When I was in bands I was only really interested in song writing and making guitar arrangements to fit the song. Nowadays, I spend more time just playing and learning other peoples songs, riffs etc. I find I play more when I'm learning new things. As for guitars I've always liked them,  but it is only really a recent phenomenon that I've been affected by GAS. 

Bluebeard

Playing guitar. I only get GAS when I need something in particular.

Mickeyji

I must have owned hundreds of guitars and dozens and dozens of amps altogether - what can I say, I guess I like gear shopping But I've also been playing for a long time so it's all been spread out over 40 odd years or so.

Trying out new stuff is fun but adding up all the money that's been lost in the process of infinite rounds of buying and selling over the years is kind of sobering though...

guitarfishbay

Kind of both and kind of neither, I like making music and guitar is the instrument I'm best at.  By extension of wanting to make songs I have an interest in learning how to get the best out of instruments, or how to get different sounds.  I just like learning stuff in general.

I'm generally more impressed by great singing or drumming than guitar, and personally I really enjoy playing bass.  In the past couple of years my guitar GAS has been almost entirely pragmatically driven, as in will this be more practical or actually better at a certain need, rather than is it nice.  I'm more likely to get random GAS over bass gear.

Bezzer

Seemed a very odd question to me this, being on what was set up as a guitar forum, however reading some of the replies I guess it wasn't.

Playing, absolutely 100% for me.  Guitars are, and always be, tools for the job.  I have some very nice tools, but they all exist for a specific purpose or sound.  I do have a fair number of guitars now, not for want of trying to sell a few mind!

PVO_Dave

It used to be more about playing for me, but since my daughter was born I have a lot less time / energy for learning and practicing (something I hope to remedy once I move, with an office/music room out of the way that I can use of an evening).

I've really enjoyed learning more about putting guitars together, setting them up etc.. so good to still get enjoyment out of a hobby, even if it's from a different angle.

peteri

For me - playing, I love playing.

But I also love the gear too - one of the big discoveries for me over the last 3 years or so is that in buying more expensive gear I enjoy it more. Partly that's definitely the placebo effect, but also there is a difference in tone that I (even in my bedroom) can perceive and enjoy.

And I take pleasure from owning nice things, and in the case of guitars - gently making money. I've spent a lot more on cars and pretty much lost the lot and I don't drive anymore (live in Central London) so makes more sense.

Getting into Fractal has changed me a lot too, I used to buy so many pedals (and sell many too) - that stopped June last year, I have all I need - so now it's nice guitars.