5 things that only guitar players believe (that nobody else does)

If you play guitar, the sooner you get what I'm about to say out of your head, the better off you are.

Being I just featured a vintage Fender Mustang recently, I thought I'd post what I think is the best looking Squier Mustang, the one in a Vintage White finish. I'm also showing Squier brand for another reason, and you can guess what that is when you read the list below (hint: it's the first reason.)

1. "The logo on my headstock matters."

Non-musicians absolutely do not care what brand of guitar you play. In the mind of the guitar player, everyone knows the difference between a Fender and a Squier or a Gibson and an Epiphone. Wrong. Only guitar players care and nobody else.

I've said this before and will say it again. DO NOT play for other guitar players. What other guitar players think of the brand of guitar you play DOES NOT MATTER and never did.

2. "Old, beat-up guitars look cool."

If you're in a restaurant and are handed a dirty, rusted spoon to eat your soup with, do you say, "Hey, thanks! This is the coolest looking spoon ever!" Of course not. You recoil in disgust.

Only guitar players think that dingy, grimy, busted-up, nasty looking guitars actually look good. Everyone else thinks they look like total crap, and in fact, the non-musician would believe that since you own a beat-up guitar, you must be too poor to afford a proper, clean one.

Yes, I am saying that a shiny new under-$300 Squier makes you look like you have money while the $over-3,000 Fender "relic" makes you look poor. Let that sit in your mind for a moment.

3. "People like guitar solos."

People hate guitar solos. In fact, there's a fair amount of people who hate guitar solos so much, that even if you play a single note with the slightest bit of vibrato to it, they wince.

A guitar player thinks a solo sounds great. A non-musician thinks it sounds like a cat in heat. I'm not kidding.

4. "I am the most important musician in the band."

Not unless you're the lead singer.

The lead singer is the frontman. Always. If you're not the one singing the lead vocals, you are never top banana. Get over yourself.

5. "Jimi Hendrix was the greatest guitarist ever."

No, he wasn't.

Aside from that, nobody, and I mean nobody outside of guitar players even know who Hendrix was. You ask any girl under the age of 30 if they know of him, and she'll reply right back with, "Jimmy who?"

The same can be said for any famous guitar player you know. Non-musicians don't know who Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen are. They do however know a good song when they hear one if it has a catchy beat and good lyrics to it. It's the song that matters most and not the artist.

Published 2015 Oct 19