I spend a fair amount (most) of my spare time practicing guitar. But I suffer from some mild GAS; owning 2 Squier teles and 1 Squier Starcaster (but I rarely play that one) and I’m often looking at guitars I would love to have.
Recently, have been thinking about trying to learn the bass (see post: Learning bass at the same time as guitar: Pros and cons) - which could also be interpreted as a manifestation of Bass Aquisition Syndrome (BAS) - a rarer form of GAS.
Today, I was looking at a video from the YouTube channel Bass Buzz entitled « 7 basses you should NEVER buy » and the presenter Josh Fossgreen gives some nice tips on how to control GAS.
Wait a few months to read/watch reviews of that latest must-have guitar from actual owners who are not being sponsored rather than the newest reviews from the mainstream gear reviewers.
Probably quite difficult for people with serious GAS.
Don’t click and buy impulsively but wait a month then reconsider whether you still want to buy that guitar, or has another one appeared on your GAS radar by then?
Could also be quite difficult to wait another month for those people with serious GAS.
Set some serious motivation goals: Like « I will buy a new guitar when I have got to the end of Justin’s grade 3 lessons»
I liked this one. Seems more feasible and constructive to me.
Perhaps other members of this forum have other techniques to deal with GAS. I’m sure someone is going to reply that they deal with GAS by buying more guitars
Once you’ve got a few guitars you could adopt a 1 in, 1 out rule I suppose although that probably involves just as much self discipline to stick to that
How many guitars do you need? Just one… The one you’re going to buy
I’m seriously guilty of the GAS sin (is it?), too… Guitars and effects. But now I really intend to sell some of my stuff, verified by the life itself: the items I don’t use.
A more lengthy explanation for me is.
What gear I did acquire. I thought about what I wanted for months prior to getting it.
When I did get something, my research must have been good as I like the gear I got. Guitars (3), amps (3), pedals (6-7). I did less good with pedals as I don’t use a couple of them.
Lastly, I’ve come to the conclusion that new gear will not make me a better player. The guitars I got play good so I have no excuse to get a better guitar.
What I do got is a need to learn to play better. That won’t be done with more guitars, that will come with more practice with the ones I already have.
All that said. I have one more idea.
I have a guitar that I kinda like the guitar, but I for sure don’t like the pickups. So. Instead of buying a new guitar I will refurbish the one that I don’t play. See if it becomes a player after some mods to it. This should be cheaper than getting a new guitar. I didn’t include this in the 3 guitars I do use, so it would be number 4. It’s already here taking up space, the space is just in another room, out of sight, out of mind. For now. I’m being very slow about getting onto this though. Been thinking that way now for a easy year or so (easy to do when you like what guitars your playing).
On the plus side for this guitar would be that it’d be a humbucker/humbucker guitar. I don’t have one of them. The electrics I got are p90/humbucker and p90/p90.
One thing is for sure. I know I don’t want to be repetitive with any gear that I should acquire. That will help keep the count lower too.
fwiw, I do use all 3 guitars and all 3 amps. I rotate through them though the course of the week. This helps keep me satisfied too as I’m getting different tones from day to day.
