I’m seeing a LOT of cringy behavior recently regarding the buying and selling of instruments. People spending twice as much time buying and selling than actually playing. Getting nitpicky about stupid details and questing endlessly to find the “perfect” instrument and/or rig, when what they need to be searching for is perfect technique. Spending thousands on a flawless high-end museum-condition guitar only for it to live in its case or on the wall hanger for fear of giving it a ding until it’s sold again in 10/10 mint.
So you need to decide – are you a MUSICIAN, or just a FLIPPER?
“But Trey, can’t you just let people do what they want and buy things that make them happy?” Well, yeah, I’m not the fucking government. Do whatever you want. But I’m here to tell you that this is NOT the path to happiness and artistic fulfillment. Find the right tool for you. Take care of your instrument, change the strings/heads/whatever, get it set up by a qualified tech, don’t drop it off a building. But when you play it, give it fucking hell. Use it for the purpose it was intended, and get the full range of dynamic expression from it, and stop fucking worrying about the resale value.
Of course, most every musician is a little bit in the middle – we need to buy and sell gear sometimes, maybe even a lot. But there’s a point at which people are consumed by G.A.S. and forget to just play and create. Pick up your instrument, the one that you have, and play the shit out of it. Hit it like you mean it. Spend the time you would have spent looking at shit you don’t need and find new sounds you’ve never made before on the gear you’ve got. New toys aren’t going to make you happy, but creating art will.
