Always buy the best.

Just some advice from a musician, to others coming in to the realm of musical instruments.

Deciding to buy a musical instrument is a very challenging task. Contrary to popular belief, cheaper or mid-range instruments can be so far off in quality, tone and playability from their flagship counterparts, that it can make the difference between you giving up, having a part time hobby, or becoming an accomplished musician.

The way this industry is changing puts further pressure on you, as it is difficult in making a decision to jump in, or await for the newer model. Basically, you can expect a 1 to 2 year turnaround in the flagship models of what you want to play. Once a new flagship model comes out, it is a trickle down in value for everything below it. This does not mean, however, that if a specific model really makes you happy, you should not purchase it. The "investment" becomes secondary. Read the market on your favorite instrument and try to anticipate a new model before you jump in.

My personal advise, is to buy the top of the line of anything you want to play. I know this is big $$$, and perhaps you need a bank loan to to do it, however, since it is a flagship model, you will never have to blame the instrument and the advantages it gives in becoming good on your instrument, is what it is all about anyway.

You will never be able to stop the increase in technology, thus the depreciation of your instrument. You really cannot think of them as investments, because they lose value even walking out the door.

However, buying top of the line will maintain it's value much better then the lower levels of the product line, as a percentage. Basically, once you are in this league, incremental expense can be minimized by occasionally trading up to the very latest. Ebay is certainly your friend, here.

Again, not cheap, but if you are serious about being a musician, this is the way it should be done. Don't "fiddle", Fiddle!

I don't agree with those sentiments, buy what you can afford.

Music should not be about the ££££'s or $$$$'s, it should be about expressing your feelings, your emotions, your mood.

Sure, if you can afford the best, then it will obviously enhance the experience, but don't let budget put you off learning or developing your musical talent.

a reply to: charlyv

This reminds me of Captain Samuel Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
The smart and frugal man would pay $100 for a pair of boots that will last him 5 years, while the poor man will buy a pair of $30 boots every year for 5 years. The poor man would end up spending twice as much on boots as the smart man over the same time period, and effectively wear an inferior product that would keep his feet wet when it rained, while the smart man walked in comfort and with dry feet.

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
I don't agree with those sentiments, buy what you can afford.

Music should not be about the ££££'s or $$$$'s, it should be about expressing your feelings, your emotions, your mood.

Sure, if you can afford the best, then it will obviously enhance the experience, but don't let budget put you off learning or developing your musical talent.

Didn't say that eveyone should agree, it is just personal experience. Take it or Leave it.
I have seen so much frustration with those that picked mediocre gear. In many cases it was the difference from them quitting or never taking it seriously.

You should buy what sounds and feels best to you. The most "top-of-the-line" instrument in the world won't do you a lick of good if either A) you suck; or, B) it sounds like s#.

I've played a lot of $3K Les Pauls that sound like giant farts.

a reply to: charlyv

I've been playing in bands for almost thirty years, but could only afford the top of the range for the last 10 years.

I was still able to immerse myself in music despite the fact I had mediocre gear, for almost 20 years.

what instrument do you play and what we are talking about price wise?

Nope. If people wont start out with a cheap instrument they likely will not play if they get top of the line.

a reply to: charlyv

I bought my black Epiphone Special Les Paul in 2003 for $137.00. It has twin humbucker pick-ups, and has never let me down. The 2nd string tends to fall out of tune as you ascend the fret board, but that is easily correctable with a simple bend of the string.

Its not so much the instrument quality, but the player.

originally posted by: Whereismypassword
what instrument do you play and what we are talking about price wise?

Oddly enough it is a mistake I made myself, and the reason for the thread. I have been a drummer for over 30 years. There was always this point of wanting a certain sound but settling for the kit down from it. Eventually, it would be the kit I ultimately purchased soon after. The point being that your time and effort is the most important aspect, and the failure of an instrument to do what you want winds up costing much more than buying what you want/need and hurts your progression.

Case in point was a Roland TD25-kv. A wonderful kit out of the box, but very quickly wanted to explore options that only the flagship TD-30kv can do, like expression and ghosting sensitivity, and the ability to super modify the kits. Finally, in the studio it was required for a project and once I purchased it, all the problems immediately went away. Had I purchased this first, well, time and money....

So the range is 3k mediocre, 5.5k everything you want. In this case total 8.5k until the other kit is sold off , making the whole thing cost me almost 7k when I could have done it for 5.5k. It is just an example, but a qualified one.

a reply to: charlyv

I don't know what kind of music your playing, but my cousin and I used to jam with my $137.00 Les Paul and his $600.00 basic Tama drum set, and it good enough for us. Grunge, punk, metal, what ever it was we played, the mediocrity of the gear seemed to have added that indie feel to the music. If we could play Nirvana, Metallica and White Zombie on it, it worked for us.

a reply to: charlyv

Those Roland kits are nice my drummer had the td12 and we recorded with it and even a couple of gigs,only thing that let it down was the cymbal sound to be honest but obviously that's old now and the kit you have rectifies this

He now only uses that practice at his house and in our rehearsal space his acoustic kits

I actually enjoyed band rehearsals with him using the TD as I'm sure his cymbals at my ear level over the years have deafened me

Drums are a lot different to guitar quality mate,a good guitarist can easily use a modest priced fender USA start with tube head and 4x12 and that would cost 1/3rd that you have to pay

Been playing 30 years as well,a few of my guitars are over 20 years old! How time flys

originally posted by: BELIEVERpriest
a reply to: charlyv

I don't know what kind of music your playing, but my cousin and I used to jam with my $137.00 Les Paul and his $600.00 basic Tama drum set, and it good enough for us. Grunge, punk, metal, what ever it was we played, the mediocrity of the gear seemed to have added that indie feel to the music. If we could play Nirvana, Metallica and White Zombie on it, it worked for us.

Its rather high end, studio backing tracks and weddings/corporate gigs.
Using the best is a personal choice, put professional as well. We all tried cheap stuff when we were young.... I am taking the perspective of jumping out of that mode quickly in your career.

duplicate post.

a reply to: charlyv

I understand what you mean now. The word corporate puts it all into context for me. Yeah, I guess you're stuck fulfilling the demands of 'corporate professionals'. I guess thats just part of the business. Funny how our ancestors were satisfied with beating on clay pots covered with goat skins. Its a different world now.

a reply to: charlyv

I agree with this.

I have spent some money on my music production. At least 1,000 dollars total. I always held myself back from purchasing anything out of my pocket range and I tried my best to create something awesome. Yet I failed to even establish a group of listeners.

I come from a different side in the spectrum of sound being that all my work is digital, and recorded works.

And I must say I went with something that I knew very well but honestly... Every day I am starting to believe that what I currently own for music production is not producing the sounds that everyone can enjoy. And instead only I can ever understand it. Others just can't.

I thought it was me. I thought it was the recordings. I thought it was the format, the tools, the computational power, the digital, the analogue.....

Seriously I have only spent around 3,000 dollars on both software and hardware.... And I must say.... When ever you take a short cut or try to cut costs? Don't.

Seriously don't.

Spend the money if you are serious. Even if you don't have it.

A lot of people keep saying you are crazy for not taking the cheaper route.... They are the stupid ones you shouldn't listen to. Just look at what happened to me.

Well over 3,760 spent just to see .17 cents made after all of my hard work using cheap tools.

I am a drum and bass artist (jungle) and I can honestly say my music really sounds like # to me now. So I gave up trying anymore. It doesn't make me happy anymore. After 32 albums of work and seeing only 2 songs out of 247 actually make it out there.

I have given it up. I don't even try anymore. All of my #... I just listen to by myself.

Spend the money on the best. Don't let anyone try to trick you into buying imitations or knock offs. Get the real thing.

a reply to: charlyv

I'll pass on your advice. Sure, expensive instruments are sometimes nice....but sometimes you're paying more for the "name on the headstock" than anything else. I'm a pretty decent guitar player and my main guitars are a sub $300 used Yamaha and and an imported mandolin. They're set up right and since I've put in the hours, I know how to get tone out of them that makes my ears happy.

"It's not the guitar, it's the player" - generally true.

a reply to: charlyv

disagree here.

you do not need top of the line # to become a very accomplished musician on your given instrument.

where does a person draw the line at 'top of the line'?
should we stop at the most expensive gibson les paul we can find or should we contact a luthier for a custom job?
maybe we can get someone to build exclusively for us to the tune of 11k or so per guitar....

give me a break. play what you can afford to play. play what feels good.

you think if you suck on the epi les paul that you are not going to suck on the top line gibson?
you think if you are nasty on a top line gibson that you wont be on a jb hutto airline?

please man

A fascinating story about how Brian May of Queen couldn't afford an expensive guitar when he first started playing.

Love this!

a reply to: GiulXainx

It sounds like you're frustrated. I've felt frustrated in my musical practice, too. I think that's bound to happen when you take something seriously.

I don't know the world of jungle production, but I do know that music, either taken as a hobby or a profession, is expensive. Spending $3,700 on instruments and tools is not unreasonable and you could probably have a decent little kit, but the fact is that if you're comparing self-produced works to professional-quality recordings, you will likely to be disappointed for some years. It sounds like you could boil your main interests down to a) music composition, b) audio engineering, and c) record production. These are entire universes unto themselves! There is a lot to learn indeed. Good news: learning music is best done by doing music.

My collection of recording equipment plus instruments is around 10k and believe me, by "pro" standards it's modest. A lot of my gear is used, old, and/or cheap. However, my investment of time is around 20 years, and I'm just getting to a place where my songwriting, musicianship, and self-recording skills are giving me results that I'm proud of. It takes time.

What I'm saying is, don't feel discouraged. Discovering yourself in music is a wonderful journey and sure it can be hard emotionally, but isn't the same true of literally everything worth doing? Placing big expectations on your outcomes is likely to make music a stressful experience, defeating the purpose entirely. You have to be willing to do it even if you think nobody will listen or care. In a way, it takes big balls.