The brand of your instrument does NOT matter

Price of your instrument

Recently today, I found a post on Reddit under r/Guitar (http://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/1l2d2z/im_sick_of_being_judged_for_the_name_on_my/), and thought I'd share my thoughts on it.

First and foremost, I understand that each musician likes different types of instrument brands, body shapes, wood type and more. For example, my friend Fil loves the look and feel of a Jackson Warrior guitar while I am not terribly fond of it. My drummer friend cannot stand the sight of my Neon Orange Charvette by Charvel, but I personally love it. The type of instrument a musician uses should not categorize them or diminish their value as a musician. Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave uses guitars he buys from pawnshops in his recordings. If I'm not mistaken, David Grohl from the Foo Fighters uses a cheap version of the Gibson ES-335 for the studio recordings of the Foo Fighters albums, while on tour he uses an actual Gibson DG-335, his signature model.

I understand that more expensive instruments TENDS to mean quality hardware and woods used, but that isn't everything. Companies like Squier and Sterling are increasing the quality of their products, thus making them extremely good instruments for their price range. The Sterling by Music Man S.U.B. Ray4  Bass Guitar sounded stunning when I played it a couple of weeks ago through a small Fender practice amp with the bass and treble knobs turned to neutral on the pedal. The Squire Vintage Modified Jazz Bass also sounded great to the tune of $299.99. I would certainly not be ashamed to walk the stage with those instruments at my disposal, and I don't think anyone else should either.

With all of that being said, it shouldn't matter what other people say about your instrument or the brand you use; it should be whether you like how like it. Do you like the tone you get out of it? Do you like the feel of the neck, the color of the body, the type of pickups in the guitar (or bass)? If so, then who the hell cares whether it's a Squier, Sterling, Fender, or Gibson? In my opinion, the ones who judge what instrument brand you use are the ones that are insecure about their own instrument and playing. Sure you could buy the Alex Lifeson Gibson model for $3000 dollars, and run it through a Marshall JCM 800 whilst using a Boss Distortion medal, a MXR Carbon Copy Delay and a MXR Phase 90 pedal, it doesn't mean you'll sound good. It just means you money to blow. It doesn't show that you have any real talent, other than picking out decent musical gear. You can spend ten thousand dollars on musical gear, but it doesn't mean you know how to play the instrument.

What should REALLY matter is if you can play the instrument to its fullest . Can you play your band's full setlist in one take without making any mistakes? Can you play a variation of it if your guitar string (or bass string) breaks on stage? Do you know what key to solo in if you are improvising? That's the stuff that truly matters, your musical prowess and technical ability. And most importantly, are you having fun playing your instrument. If so, then don't worry about what anyone else says, they don't know you, your instrument, or your musical tastes as well as you do. Play whatever brand of instrument you want to play, because at the end of the day, you make the final call on whether you like it or not, not anyone else. 

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Innovation

I wish I knew what happened to innovation in music. What happened to pushing the envelope and completely revolutionizing music like what Miles Davis or Jimi Hendrix or Randy Rhoads did during their time as musicians? They tried to advance musically and do things that other musicians weren't doing. Miles was so influenced by Jimi and what he was doing in music, that in his live album "Live-Evil", Miles used an electric trumpet and a wah-wah pedal. That's a god damn Jazz musician getting out of his comfort zone of Bebop and Cool Jazz and Hard Bop and trying to do something different, something that no one else is doing at that moment in time. When I listened to that record, I thought he was playing a guitar and it sounded amazing. Hell Jimi is still regarded as one of the best guitarists of his time and of all time because of what he did with guitar. Being a left player and mixing rhythm guitar playing with lead guitar playing was just so different for his time. Hearing Purple Haze, or All Along the Watchtower or Hey Joe just shows his abilities as a musician and how creative and innovative he could be. These musicians did not conform to the concept of making their music simple, they made it different, they made it technical and soulful. The second Hendrix bends a note or Davis starts to play a melody you can hear everything one has ever wanted to hear in music. One can hear emotions and thoughts, practically conversation in the music.

I feel like musicians nowadays do not try to be different. They might change a few things here or there, but there is nothing revolutionary or amazing about them. I mean bands like Muse and Lostprophets push the envelope with the creativity and ingenuity. Muse's guitarist Bellamy uses a Khaoss pad on his guitar to get different sounds, and the band as a whole are super creative and innovative in their music. No two albums of theirs sounds alike. They are always doing something different, something new, they are the Miles Davis of the modern era in rock/ progressive music. I may not be biggest fan of Muse vocally, but they are fantastic instrumentally. Bands like these guys just don't seem to exist nearly as much as they did during the 60's and 70's and 80's and 90's. I feel that more musicians are trying to just get famous and not try anything new or different that can redefine them as bands. They stick to the same power chords and root notes and trite solos and try to make a living off of it. 

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