🎸Middle-aged Guitarist Series ⑫ Sinking into the Gear Swamp

Middle-aged guitarist, does gear bring back your youth??

The longer you've been playing guitar, the more your "love for gear" becomes abnormally stronger than your "playing ability."
The gear swamp for middle-aged guitarists is especially deep.

It might not even be a swamp anymore...
It might be a trench.
Today, let me talk about that depth.

■① Buying gear you couldn't afford when you were young in a shopping spree as an adult

When I was young:
"I want this pedal... but I don't have enough from my part-time job..."

Now:
"I wanted this pedal back in the day... click"

Reason:
"Because I couldn't buy it back then"

That's not even a reason anymore.
It's romance.

■② Satisfied just by buying it and never taking it out of the box

This really happens.

You put the pedal you bought in the closet,
and six months later you say:

"What was this again?"

And it's still unopened in the box.

A guitarist's enemy isn't forgetfulness.
It's the habit of not opening things.

■③ The pedalboard keeps "growing"

The 5 pedals you started with,
before you know it, become 10,
then 16,
and in the end—

it weighs more than the amp.

When you carry it around,
you look exactly like a "mountain rescue team."

Young player: "Can you even carry that board?"
Middle-aged guy: "As long as my lower back holds out..."

■④ Actually only using 2 or 3 pedals

The mystery of the middle-aged guitarist.

Even though there are 15 pedals on the board,
you only step on 3 during a live show.

Audience: "What's that silver one?"
Middle-aged guy: "It's just for decoration."

What rock needs isn't sound, it's peace of mind.

■⑤ Buying gear even though you can't tell the "difference in sound"

A middle-aged guy comparing distortion pedal A and B.
After playing and comparing them 10 times, he says:

"......I feel like there's a subtle difference!"

He just feels like it.
But he buys it.
And later, he says:

"Which one was which again?"

It's philosophy at this point.

■⑥ Becoming a regular in the used market

New items are expensive.
But used ones are within reach.

Every day on Mercari, every day on Yahoo Auctions,
before you know it, you have 100 items in your "favorites."

And your thumb is drawn to the buy button.

The entrance to the swamp is at your fingertips.

■⑦ Your home finally turns into a "back warehouse for a music store"

When you enter the music room—
Several guitars
Massive amounts of effect pedals
Unknown number of cables
Plastic parts
Stock of strings
Receipts
Mysterious screws
Unused straps
Pain relief patches (wait, that's different)

Family: "Do you really need all of this?"
Middle-aged guy: "It's all... my youth..."

■⑧ But practice time decreases because of the gear

This really happens.

Set up gear
↓
Wire it up
↓
Adjust settings
↓
Turn on power
↓
Get sound
↓
It's already night

Practice, 10 minutes.

■⑨ Even so, your eyes light up when you see new gear

A young player says:

"This is a new effect pedal."

Middle-aged guy: "......Let me touch it."

The moment you touch it,
for some reason, your teenage heart returns.

Gear is a middle-aged man's time machine.

■ Summary

The gear swamp is deep.
And you can't get out.

But for some reason, I don't regret it,
and in fact, it's fun.

For a middle-aged guitarist, gear is not—

“tools for creating sound,” but
“items to reclaim one's youth.”

And today, once again,

I open a tab.
I search for used items.
I gaze at new ones.
I intend to close it without buying... but I buy it.
Youth never ends. The swamp never ends either.