I've been thinking a lot about music gear lately. I'm blessed to have some really wonderful equipment. I was going to write a whole blog post about the gear I use, but there's already a page on my website dedicated to that (go here for all the geeky details of what I'm using at the moment)

I'm a bit of a gear geek and I enjoy reading about the latest gadget or guitar to be released, but as I mention at the top of the gear page, the most important things are really your ears and your fingers.

Ears

I really believe that when choosing musical equipment, you've got to trust your ears. It's all too easy to get swayed by big names or big price tags. These are obviously a guide to how something will sound, but there is great music to be made on cheap and mid-range instruments. Especially with guitars (where I spend most of my time looking) you can't guarantee that something costing more will sound better. In fact, I've found that sometimes really expensive guitars may look immaculate and play beautifully, but they sound... ordinary. Often it's the "imperfections" that give something its vibe. So while a PRS may be technically superior to a Tele in terms of woods and hardware, there's something about a Tele that just sits well in the mix.

I also know of guys who have bought cheaper acoustics and ended up playing them over their more expensive ones. And of course, valve amps are technically flawed in a lot of ways, but that is what gives them the character that we've grown to love.

It might be worth considering what sound you're after as well, and purchasing accordingly. In my view a sound with character is more interesting than something that is technically "perfect" (and that applies to voices as much as guitar sounds).

The other thing to bear in mind is that you want to get to a point with your playing where you sound like "you" regardless of what you're playing. Which leads me on to...

Fingers

I often fall into the trap of thinking that upgrading my equipment is the answer to getting the sound I hear in my head, both vocally and on other instruments. While you need to have equipment that will do a job for you, once you get to a certain level of quality (and that level is probably quite a bit cheaper than many of us would think) the tone is in the fingers, in the technique, in the feel of the player. Iconic guitarists (Clapton, Metheny, The Edge) sound like them, whatever they're playing. I know I'm not the first to make this observation.

So enjoy a bit of guitar geekery by all means, but let's not get side tracked into thinking that's where the interesting stuff happens. For the most part, it takes place in the ears, fingers and head of the musician.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to check out the film "It might get loud" - a really interesting film about different approaches to the guitar, and to music in general.