We're all wasting our time

From a song I'm writing:

It’s Saturday evening at the Dirty Shame Inn, the regular crowd are all there

I set up my guitar, my stool, and my mic, I’ll sing all night long and no one will care

 

When I finish recording a song, I like to have my wife listen to it for some stupid reason. I'm still expecting to hear her say, "Wow, that was a really nice lick after that 2nd verse." Instead, I get, "It's good." Me: "How about that lick after the 2nd verse?" Her: "What's a lick?"

So yeah, we, the guitar players, are the only ones who hear that ****. Consider us lucky?!?

 

I will see someone on a TV show pick up and strum a guitar or plink something on an old piano. I say "That guitar is out of tune." My wife will ask "How can you tell?" to which my response was "How can you not tell?"

I can tell - usually - what guitar and amp are used on a recording. Maybe not exactly, but close, or within a brand. My wife doesn't care, and just enjoys it. Sigh.

I don't like a lot of mid-70s recordings, especially the Stones. All mids, with treble and bass EQ'd out. Yuck. However, I'm the only one who notices.

Just a relic of developing "an ear" I guess.

 

There is a story that Tony Iommi started recording the first Black Sabbath album with a Stratocaster., It malfunctioned and he finished with his iconic SG. I cannot tell with any certainty what song has what guitar.

I have two humbucker, one P90, and one single coil guitar. That is as deep as I personally want to go. It would be a waste of my time and money to endlessly cycle through guitars. I know I am very much in the minority here!

Most non guitar players won't notice the difference from Les Paul to Telecaster. It's all for us!

 

I don't care and I don't buy guitars based on how they sound. I just put in what I want, there are lots of pickups available.

But I have wasted a lot of time listening to pedal demos.

 

If you're playing for your color-obsessed friend, maybe you're wasting your time. If you're playing for your own enjoyment, maybe not.

-Ray

 

Welcome to my world.

 

I agree 100 %, not to mention the difference between analog or digital pedals......

 

That might be the most annoying thing I've read on this website. I didn't know that. Now I'm going to be listening to NIB and wondering if that sounded "quacky"!

 

It all come back to this though ey?

 

Reminiscent of the last scene in The Devil In Miss Jones.

Hell, for you, would be to be stuck in a room with a person like that for eternity.

 

I'm with you on that. It drives me nuts to hear someone playing a guitar that is out of tune.

 

Same!

I asked at some point why I needed an acoustic with a humbucking soundhole pickup and light-gauge acoustic strings for acoustic gigs, and also a 335 copy with humbuckers and heavy -gauge electric strings for electric gigs, considering that:

- I couldn't hear the difference over the bar noise
- I couldn't feel the difference while I was playing + singing + trying to remember the words + doing my own sound + watching the crowd for signs of impending attack
- The audience couldn't tell the difference and wasn't listening either way

Not sure I ever got a solid answer on that, now that I think back

 

That’s one side of the coin. The other side is that only guitarists hear the mistakes we inevitably make. Some of the best advice I ever got was to just keep playing. By the end of the song nobody will remember what you played wrong.

 

You have just stated succinctly, and perfectly, the diametric opposite of what I do. Complete mirror opposite.

But this is good. At least for FMIC. You buy the guitars I would never, and I get to pick and choose precisely the guitars I want without getting out-hustled for them. Vive la difference.

 

All of this is true. I have only ever had non-musicians comment on my gear when I use something wild. I could go on stage with an actual 59 burst or early black guard and you know what would happen? Nothing. Aside from maybe another guitar geek hyperventilating.

If I go on stage with a neon colored BC Rich Bich, I’m gonna have at least a half dozen people, most likely female, want to talk to me about my guitar. And probably as a result of that, half a dozen guys making snide remarks to each other about my sexual preference.

 

This is precisely why I get a kick out of people insisting that they lug around their 100 lb, $4000, enough wattage to play arenas boutique amp to local bar gigs.
I mean, I get it to a degree - you're probably going to play better if you're happy with the magical tone you're getting. But don't expect it to make one damn bit of difference to roughly 98% of your audience.