"I don't deserve this guitar"

“I don’t deserve this guitar.” This is a sentence I hear a lot. (of course sometimes it is I don’t deserve this cymbal, drum set, ukulele, etc.) While I get the quick reasoning for someone to say this, it is something I try to shut down right away. Just about the same as when someone says “I really don’t need this ____”. As I’ve said for many years, if we only sold what people needed, we would’ve been out of business a long time ago! 

With nice music gear, or any products for that matter, we all like to try and qualify ourselves before making purchases. The only problem with this is that there isn’t a certain chart or list of qualifications that we can compare ourselves to and see if we do in fact deserve a particular item. Take a look at a nice sports car. I’m going to guess that none of us have ever seen a professional race car driver cruising down the highway in one. What about a Rolex watch? When we see someone wearing a nice submariner, do we assume they are a professional or elite scuba diver? Probably not. Now these are just 2 examples (and also at a much higher price point than most of the music gear out there) but if the people don’t have to be pros to own these items, then who says we can’t all have the guitar or drum set that we desire?!

While I am a musician, I’ve also got a few other hobbies. Years back one of my obsessions became cycling. If you have ever gone down that path, then you know it’ll make you feel way better about the money you’ve spent on music gear. To start out, I got a decent starter/mid level road bike. This bike worked great and was a blast to ride but about 6 months later, my eyes started to wander around the bike shop looking at others. That next bike that I would purchase was a lot more money than I ever saw myself spending on a bike (thank goodness for layaway). But let me tell you… When I went riding for the first time on that new carbon fiber road bike and left my buddy about 200 yards behind me on a climb… it was worth every penny. Now this bike didn’t instantly make me a better cyclist but it was a helpful tool that allowed me to take my riding to the next level. It was lighter, faster, smoother and mostly, it encouraged me to push myself more than I had in the past. Because of this, I was hooked and started to get stronger and better on the bike! With music gear, this same thing can take place. 

However, with music, we all have our eyes on our heroes on stage playing expensive and amazing gear all of the time. It seems like this has made us assume that you’ve got to be elite at an instrument or a professional in order to play what the rock stars do. But when you really look at musicians out there, I bet 95% of them are sitting in their living room playing guitar and having an absolute blast. One of the best things about playing music is that it can bring excitement and joy without someone having to be extremely proficient. Maybe someone plays 3 chords and hums their favorite songs while someone else practices their major scales for hours at a time. In my opinion, these players deserve to have the guitar of their dreams in their hands just as much as anyone. I mean if you are going to sit down to take a break from the stresses of life and play some guitar, then why shouldn't it be the guitar you want to play? Now of course we may all have that Gibson Les Paul or Rickenbacker in mind when we think of our dream guitar and if you can get one…then go for it. But not everyone can and that’s ok. I would never want someone to push themselves past their budget for a guitar that may end up causing more stress than good. So maybe instead of a $3000 Les Paul, someone may go for an Epiphone equivalent or maybe an overseas Fender Strat. Either way, any of these guitars could be considered ‘more than we deserve’ in our minds, when it couldn’t be further from the truth. 

In this day and age, music gear has gotten good…real good! While the high end instruments have gotten better than ever thanks to competition and advances in technology, this has taken place for all levels of gear. If someone’s budget allows them to get that awesome new Gibson SG they’ve been dreaming about… then that person deserves it! Or maybe they’ve been playing their entry level guitar for years and afraid to make the jump to a made in Mexico Strat…that person deserves it! The cool thing about upgrading our gear as it tends to very quickly cause an upgrade in our playing abilities! Nice, new gear tends to be easier to play and can sound better than that old junky acoustic we’ve been playing until our hands hurt for so many years. And then aside from the playability, the inspiration that can come from a new piece of gear is unlike just about any other motivation. When you find the right guitar, cymbal, (or road bike) etc., it becomes all you want to do! And the more you play, the better you get and then you can start to really enjoy that new gear more than you even thought possible. 

Now while it could sound like I’m over here just trying to get everyone to rush to the shop and buy up all the guitars in our Select Room…I promise I’m not (but feel free to if you’d like to). We work with a lot of customers, at all different playing levels, and a lot of times it feels like people have a hesitation in really jumping into their instrument and chasing their dreams of being able to play. Music can be very intimidating, especially when you see your friends or maybe the guy on stage at a concert playing at such a high level. But we can’t let others make us feel like we don’t deserve to be playing as well. And I’d imagine that our friends and the pro on stage don’t want us to feel that way either. 

My wish for our customers is that they find gear that encourages and excites them. Sometimes this may just be a different type of guitar for a new style they are looking to learn or maybe it's their absolute dream guitar that they’ve been chasing their whole life and are finally at a place where they can take it home! But the last thing that I want for our customers is to sell themselves short because they’ve judged themselves to an imaginary scale and decided that they shouldn’t purchase a particular piece of gear because they don’t deserve it. If it plays well and makes you feel good... go for it! (that is as long as your spouse won’t kill you for making the purchase)

If a professional musician needs our help to find the perfect guitar for their next big show, then we are here to help. But if anyone needs some guidance to find the right guitar to help them enjoy playing in their living room as much as possible, all while giving them something that encourages them to play more, then we are here to help. Music is for anyone and everyone and we couldn't be more excited that we get to be a part of this journey with you. 

As always, thanks for your continued support. Stay safe and rock on!

 

-Justin Sims

 

Justin Sims