Today's young musicians traverse the world of gear with ease

Good evening! It's me again!!

I feel like I say something similar every day, but 💦 I've been finding the way young musicians choose their gear interesting lately.

Unlike in the past,

"If it's this genre, then use this gear"

that kind of "sectarian" feeling is quite thin.

They use a JC too.

They use a Big Muff too.

They use an OCD too.

They use a BD-2 too.

But then suddenly, they use a Quad Cortex too.

And what's more, there's no hesitation in that transition.

It's like,

"They are traversing the world of gear with ease"

that's the feeling I get.

As I wrote yesterday, what's particularly interesting is the audio interface.

Whether it's Ohzora Kimishima, Lovely Summer-chan, or Kyosuke Takano from Gesu Band, they often use RME.

In other words, they properly cover the essentials.

But on the other hand, their choice of guitar is surprisingly free.

I actually don't see many people using super expensive or vintage guitars.

Rather,

"Why did you choose that model?"

They might be using a Fender Japan or a slightly unusual Squier.

And what's more, it's properly connected to their musicality.

In the past,

"If you're using RME, shouldn't your guitar be a Custom Shop model?"

I feel like there was a certain sense of "matching the status" of gear back then.

But it's different now.

They spend money where it's actually needed.

But they don't try to fill everything with high-end gear.

That sensibility is quite modern.

In terms of the total cost of gear, it's quite common for ushome-guitar-hobbyist guysto be using much more expensive equipment (though I'm an exception here 😭).

Of course, that's not a bad thing.

I like talking about gear too, and just looking at amps and pedals is fun.

But young people today,

"gear hierarchy"

don't seem to be very caught up in that.

Instead,

"Is it necessary for this song right now?"

is how they choose.

That's why they use JC amps and BOSS pedals too.

But they will use a Quad Cortex just as naturally if they need to.

There is no contradiction in that.

And, in fact, they have quite good ears.

Also, someone I personally found interesting is Katzuya Shimizu-sensei.

He says, 'I'm not really familiar with gear,' but he sets up even gear he's seeing for the first time incredibly fast.

People who are truly unfamiliar with gear usually get stuck when they see it for the first time.

But he doesn't get stuck.

I think that's probably because,

'gear knowledge'

rather than,

'the sense for creating sound'

is ingrained in him.

That's why even if the amp changes or the multi-effects unit changes, he can reach the sound he wants right away.

I feel like today's young musicians are actually somewhat similar (though he is also a young musician himself).

It's not like they are showing off gear-nerd knowledge.

But,

'If I do this to this, it will become the sound I want'

their sense for that is quite sharp.

That is why they traverse gear with ease.

And as a result, they are producing properly cool sounds.

I think it's an interesting era, in a way.