I went to a benifit this weekend for a musician friend that passed away.There were lots of pro players there and I had a blast.A local music store provided the amps for the backline(New Marshall and a new 2 channel Twin)I plugged into the twin and hated it but made it work for me.Once I started playing I realized what I USED to know,it's not the gear it's the player.It's not just your hands its what notes you play and where you put the note that affects your tone.If you play a little behind the beat you get a different tone than playing on top or ahead of the beat.I'm saying this because I got my ass kicked this weekend.I'm thankful that I got a wakeup call because I got a little out of touch.A friend of mine walks in with a borrowed strat and a Boss ODS-1 and kicked ass with a huge tone.I felt kinda silly with all of my pedals.I started to think"do I really need all of this to sound good"?

It is good to be taken down a notch sometimes. It seems like everytime I feel like I am getting the hang of the guitar someone or in some cases I prove to myself that I have a long way to go.

I am lucky enough to be playing with someone who humbles me at every rehersal and gigs are that and then some...just when I think I've narrowed the gap some I realise that he has not even gone to his "A" game...

I have improved greatly since we hooked up but to me it all adds up to that he has and is working harder at playing the guitar while I am probably working harder at having my gear and technical curiousities answered...!!

But one thing I do know deep down inside is that I can kick his butt with a soldering iron...and not even have to go to my "A" game


Chow,
Seegs

Certainly!
Music is converting emotions to sound.
And the gear is just tools to vary that expression.

If there is no emotion in your playing to begin with, no pedal will put it there.

ahh, well spoken indeed.

One of the best live tones I've ever heard EJ get was when he went out on stage to jam with B.B. (BB King Blues tour). Eric didn't have a Dumble, no 10 foot pedalboard or wall of Marshalls. He used a Strat, TS (9 or 808) and a little Deluxe Reverb. Monsterous sounding! Even B.B. was taking MAJOR notice!

There comes a point of diminishing returns with a large rig. Too much can go wrong. Mr. Murphy is ALWAYS AROUND--that arse-hole loves to follow me and I suspect most gigging musicians. Why give him any play time?? Use a small, well put together rig and just play your bootie off
If you want a change of pace, scale your board back and just swap a few pedals around every other gig. It makes things pretty fun!

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Originally posted by ToneQuest:
I went to a benifit this weekend for a musician friend that passed away.There were lots of pro players there and I had a blast.A local music store provided the amps for the backline(New Marshall and a new 2 channel Twin)I plugged into the twin and hated it but made it work for me.Once I started playing I realized what I USED to know,it's not the gear it's the player.It's not just your hands its what notes you play and where you put the note that affects your tone.If you play a little behind the beat you get a different tone than playing on top or ahead of the beat.I'm saying this because I got my ass kicked this weekend.I'm thankful that I got a wakeup call because I got a little out of touch.A friend of mine walks in with a borrowed strat and a Boss ODS-1 and kicked ass with a huge tone.I felt kinda silly with all of my pedals.I started to think"do I really need all of this to sound good"?

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hi billy,who was it that you think kicked your butt.? from what hank told me about you, i cant picture anybody kicking your butt on guitar.