Am I an anti-guitarist?

rico

Odd question I know but let me explain. Over the past few years I have come to the realisation that I consider myself pretty atypical in terms of my preferences in all things to do with guitar gear and music. Expensive and boutique gear just doesn't excite me one bit and any sort of widdly widdly soloing turns me right off, likewise anything to do with 'blues'. I say that in inverted commas because proper blues standards are a wonderful thing but the constant churn of 'blues rock' or modern 'classic' rock does my head in. Joe B, Matt Schofield etc etc are all great players no doubt but I find them so dull. Listen to anything on the likes of Planet Rock radio and its all the bloody same.

In terms of gear, there are some highly expensive and shiny pieces of equipment that one can buy but I can honestly say that it leaves me cold. It's not out of jealousy before you ask. For me, guitars are very much a tool and yes I have some idiosyncrasies when it comes to choosing gear but I prefer the plainer end of things whereas perhaps your typical gear fetishist ('plays like butter', 'lovely fiddle' etc etc) wouldn't be seen dead with a 20 year old plain black LP studio. I guess I have the underdog attitude to gear. There hasn't been a single bit of gear launched in the last five years that has made me think 'ooh, I really like/need/want that' (OK that's not quite true, some fuzz pedals get me going).

Am I alone in my thinking?

TL;DR: I don't like many of the things your typical guitarist would. 

darthed1981

Guitarists are a pretty broad church, I'm roughly in your category as well.

I'm very much an indie/alt rock fan and find that pretty rare among guitarists I know, but on the other hand, I be fifty fretboarders could easily tell me they are indie/alt fans, just not necessarily the noisiest ones!

One of the loveliest things about music is just what a broad range it has, something for everyone

boz_h

Are you secretly a drummer?

MartinBush

I share your views, but I wonder whether you'd think the same about some of the stuff I DO like (Television, Wire, Sonic Youth, Spare Snare - listed accidentally there in perceived order of technical excellence).

As gear goes, I own one guitar and can't get excited about new stuff as I can't afford much else I did get the opportunity to play USA and MIM strats, a USA thinline and USA Jazz bass recently at a friend's house (oh, and a Martin too) - I was most impressed by the bass (I don't own a bass), the others were just, as you say, tools.

soma1975

I've been accused of being an anti-guitarist too. Mostly by people that hear me play. 

DanR

In all of that you never actually said what you like music wise or what inspires you.

Voxman

I think this is one of the worst cases of 'lack of GAS' syndrome that I've seen.  If looking at guitar & gear porn doesn't get you going anymore, you clearly need help and there are help lines you can call - I suspect this is a depressional state aggravated by Covid19 'cabinitus'.

With regards to music, forget the new stuff for a while. There's such a wealth of wonderful music in back catalogues be it jazz, latin, country, folk, rock, blues, soul, funk, progressive etc etc that if you can't find something you like then I can only assume you're a ghost and your physical body has already left this mortal coil! 

Check out older stuff from Steely Dan, Wishbone Ash, Budgie, Fairport Convention, CCR, Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Genesis, BeBop Deluxe, Nazareth, Snafu, Wes Montgomery, Rush,  Neil Young, James Taylor, John Martyn, Nils Lofgren, Focus, Horslips, Johnny Winters, Albert Collins, Albert Lee, etc etc. And some of the greatest guitarists in the world are country players, from traditional bluegrass to modern. The list is just endless.  

chotu495

I’m firmly in the alt/indie gang, but i DO like nice (sounding) kit.

Even have a few synths lurking about 

There are no rules to all of this. Cut your own path 

Tenebrous

I play guitar & don't even really listen to that much guitar music It's not an issue. You just do you.

earwighoney

rico said:

Odd question I know but let me explain. Over the past few years I have come to the realisation that I consider myself pretty atypical in terms of my preferences in all things to do with guitar gear and music. Expensive and boutique gear just doesn't excite me one bit and any sort of widdly widdly soloing turns me right off, likewise anything to do with 'blues'. I say that in inverted commas because proper blues standards are a wonderful thing but the constant churn of 'blues rock' or modern 'classic' rock does my head in. Joe B, Matt Schofield etc etc are all great players no doubt but I find them so dull. Listen to anything on the likes of Planet Rock radio and its all the bloody same.

In terms of gear, there are some highly expensive and shiny pieces of equipment that one can buy but I can honestly say that it leaves me cold. It's not out of jealousy before you ask. For me, guitars are very much a tool and yes I have some idiosyncrasies when it comes to choosing gear but I prefer the plainer end of things whereas perhaps your typical gear fetishist ('plays like butter', 'lovely fiddle' etc etc) wouldn't be seen dead with a 20 year old plain black LP studio. I guess I have the underdog attitude to gear. There hasn't been a single bit of gear launched in the last five years that has made me think 'ooh, I really like/need/want that' (OK that's not quite true, some fuzz pedals get me going).

Am I alone in my thinking?

TL;DR: I don't like many of the things your typical guitarist would. 

There is no such thing as a typical guitarist, there are too many genres and sub genres of guitar related music to categorise all guitarists.

Also, one of my all time favourite musicians, played a 90's Les Paul Studio for the best part of his career and he's one of the all time most influential/important guitarists in his particular genre (Ian Williams of Don Caballero and so on) of Math Rock.

The guitar/gear at the end of the day it is a tool as well as it is a commodity, I think it's a great thing there are a multitude of different approaches and mindsets; it'd be boring if everyone was the same.

Teyeplayer

Hey bud, hope you are keeping well? As we’ve discussed before I echo your sentiments in many respects. 

I definitely like the things others don't and generally find the things folk rave about are not for me. 

Where I differ, is I do have perpetual gas for some guitar or other that I don’t need; what I’ve noticed and hopefully will one day learn, is that the guitar I’m playing makes little difference as the gig is always the same, so I inevitably still push into the same tonal ballpark whatever I’m playing. So in that sense I guess I treat any guitar as tool and I’m echoing your findings.

That said, my drummer loves the JM I got off you, so much so that he went and got a Lh one!

Stay safe. 

monquixote

I don't think you are an atypical guitarist just an atypical guitar forum member.

Lots of guitarists I know thought I was a mentalist when I was in my compulsive overdrive flipping phase. They bought gear when it broke.

Grangousier

I've been watching a few of the Jason Sadites videos as I have Helices and the insight is really useful, but I had to stop after a while because the noodling was getting to me. Now, I realise that he needs to demonstrate how the sound changes, it's not a fault, but after a few videos I began to feel the opposite of enjoyment. 

That bluesy, rocky widdly-widdly sound is the sort of thing that people who work in guitar shops have always made - I remember hearing it echoing around Denmark Street in the mid-1980s when it seemed out of step with the kinds of thing that most people wanted to listen to. Like, you'd have a New Romantic type with a fountain of lacquered hair, put a guitar in their hands and it would come out widdly-widdly. The only record I can think of that actually sounds like that is the last four hours of Freebird, but maybe that's just because Vaguely Bluesy Widdly-Widdly Noodling isn't a genre I listen to much. 

Although, obviously, put a guitar with a bunch of gain in my hands and it's widdly-widdly all over the place. I tried not to for a long time, but in the absence of actual music, when you're trying out a guitar, it's difficult to think of anything else to do. 

I don't think it reflects on the kind of music most people actually want to make. 

blobb

A good friend said to me once "you would hate it if it was the other way around".

I thought about that comment, and I have to agree with him.

thecolourbox

Voxman said:

Check out older stuff from Steely Dan, Wishbone Ash, Budgie, Fairport Convention, CCR, Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Genesis, BeBop Deluxe, Nazareth, Snafu, Wes Montgomery, Rush,  Neil Young, James Taylor, John Martyn, Nils Lofgren, Focus, Horslips, Johnny Winters, Albert Collins, Albert Lee, etc etc. And some of the greatest guitarists in the world are country players, from traditional bluegrass to modern. The list is just endless.  

You forgot Hanson, Voxman

Anyway, re OP, I don't think so, no. And having been through a few sprees of trying to get established "good" gear to work for me, the fact I'm fine with a Squier Mustang into a Digitech modeller now says it all really. You won't mind much internet discussion where the conclusion is "The Princeton reverb was replaced by the much more superior Digitech multi fx", but for me it's the case. I think somebody used the word "commodity" and I reckon that's it, people like having things and then justify them that way (and there's nothing wrong with that if that's your thing). But to me, justifying a £1k guitar over a £150 guitar would be like saying I need a Tesla to drive to the coop and back

I can't honestly imagine what a £1k or £2k guitar could possibly offer me that I couldn't get adequately with something of the level of my Squier. If I get chance to add a semi-hollow at some point with a similar small size and similar feeling neck then I would be tempted, admittedly. 

poopot

Nope, you’re not alone!...

I have what I need for gigs etc and that’s all fine and dandy...

I don’t “want” anything. I don’t flick through guitar mags wetting my pants at the latest releases...

I have a cracking set up that took a few years to get right and it’s all I need!...

GAS is something I get if I drink a glass of pop too quickly!...

ICBM

rico said:

Am I alone in my thinking?

No, you are not alone. I like *good* guitars and other gear, but they don't have to be expensive - I'm notorious for my Boss pedals and Peavey solid-state amps, I think . I actively dislike most "high end" products, something about the marketing annoys me.

I do like technically good playing, even flashy solo-y stuff (I like Steve Vai, for example - although more or less no-one else in that style), but that whole 'refined' jazzy-bluesy thing does turn me right off.

Funkfingers

As ever, good does not automatically equate with expensive.

On the other hand, having experienced a reasonable number of well above average guitars, you should be able to spot those qualities in another guitar, should you encounter another one. It could be an American custom shop product. It could just as easily be an intelligently modified Hello Kitty 'caster.

thecolourbox said:
I can't honestly imagine what a £1k or £2k guitar could possibly offer me that I couldn't get adequately with something of the level of my Squier. 

In that case, if/when the COVID lockdown ends, you could blow your hypothetical £1-2k on a bunch of additional Squier guitars from the same source.

gringopig

.

TTBZ

Kind of the same here but I don't mind a bit of blues wankery now and then. So long as it's the slightly unhinged Hendrix/Gallagher style blues and not "nice" TPS style blues. Can't be arsed with loads of flashy gear - I have 1 guitar (possibly soon to be 2), 1 amp and a few plain jane pedals. I like good stuff and would rather have a few good solid bits than lots of fancy looking tat. Especially when it comes to pedals, boutique is such a rip off when Boss offers the same thing for much less, with a better designed enclosure and switch.

Guitar wise I hate gaudy flame/quilt tops, next guitar will be either solid black or plaintop. Don't like those high end boutique guitar brands, between Gibson, Fender and PRS (the plain ones!) there's everything I'd need or want. I still get GAS for stuff but never really act on it - I find the whole buying/selling process a bit stressful if I'm honest.

thecolourbox

thecolourbox said:
I can't honestly imagine what a £1k or £2k guitar could possibly offer me that I couldn't get adequately with something of the level of my Squier. 

In that case, if/when the COVID lockdown ends, you could blow your hypothetical £1-2k on a bunch of additional Squier guitars from the same source.

Ha indeed yes. If you can fettle a semi hollow type thing to play like that Mustang, I wouldn't necessarily have a hypothetical £1k but might be interested that said, I don't think they exist at that small size haha