Gear minimalism as a thought process...

[Supreme Pancake]

Watching this rig rundown made me really rethink the importance of gear and minimalism.

Mark's playing one guitar and it's been the same one for ages with many refrets. No backup. Uses one pick that's totally worn down. He's got a couple amps, just because you need to with tubes. Laura's in pretty much a similar situation.

Best quote @ 3:25 - "There's your Stevie Ray Vaugh tone, which I F'ing hate. I can't stand that stuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

Khruangbin

Part of what inspired me to downside was this video. Even his tube amps are reissues, his guitar isn't vintage or American made and most of his pedals are nothing flash.

[sal paradise]

Watching this rig rundown made me really rethink the importance of gear and minimalism.

Mark's playing one guitar and it's been the same one for ages with many refrets. No backup. Uses one pick that's totally worn down. He's got a couple amps, just because you need to with tubes. Laura's in pretty much a similar situation.

Best quote @ 3:25 - "There's your Stevie Ray Vaugh tone, which I F'ing hate. I can't stand that stuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

Khruangbin

Part of what inspired me to downside was this video. Even his tube amps are reissues, his guitar isn't vintage or American made and most of his pedals are nothing flash.

I think he could safely be called an outlier in the world of guitarists.

[welshywelsh]

Watching this rig rundown made me really rethink the importance of gear and minimalism.

Mark's playing one guitar and it's been the same one for ages with many refrets. No backup. Uses one pick that's totally worn down. He's got a couple amps, just because you need to with tubes. Laura's in pretty much a similar situation.

Best quote @ 3:25 - "There's your Stevie Ray Vaugh tone, which I F'ing hate. I can't stand that stuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

Khruangbin

Part of what inspired me to downside was this video. Even his tube amps are reissues, his guitar isn't vintage or American made and most of his pedals are nothing flash.

Completely missed this post the first time around. Really good watch!

Even at the bottom rung of gigging as I am, I always have two guitars with me as I'm paranoid a string will break (and we do have a song in different tuning). Mad he only has one guitar and one set of strings the whole tour.

The SRV comment was brilliant too

[barrycreed]

Really enjoyed that video, and does make me want to reconsider downsizing. His pedalboard doesn't have much on it either, and he is still able to generate interesting sounds. I guess the Strymon El Cap with the expression pedal is the most expensive thing there!

[MechaBulletBill]

Watching this rig rundown made me really rethink the importance of gear and minimalism.

Mark's playing one guitar and it's been the same one for ages with many refrets. No backup. Uses one pick that's totally worn down. He's got a couple amps, just because you need to with tubes. Laura's in pretty much a similar situation.

Best quote @ 3:25 - "There's your Stevie Ray Vaugh tone, which I F'ing hate. I can't stand that stuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

i'm not going to bat for SRV or anything but i do not really understand his comment there. does he just not like the in-between pickup settings through a fendery amp with up-there treble? that's not especially an SRV sound imo, though it is possibly associated with some of that gauche shreddy post-80s blues sound i guess?

[Mondaysoutar]

Watching this rig rundown made me really rethink the importance of gear and minimalism.

Mark's playing one guitar and it's been the same one for ages with many refrets. No backup. Uses one pick that's totally worn down. He's got a couple amps, just because you need to with tubes. Laura's in pretty much a similar situation.

Best quote @ 3:25 - "There's your Stevie Ray Vaugh tone, which I F'ing hate. I can't stand that stuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

i'm not going to bat for SRV or anything but i do not really understand his comment there. does he just not like the in-between pickup settings through a fendery amp with up-there treble? that's not especially an SRV sound imo, though it is possibly associated with some of that gauche shreddy post-80s blues sound i guess?

I mean, I don’t know the boy or anything, but he’s probably just not into Stevie Ray Vaughan. I’m not either.

[MechaBulletBill]

i dunno, seems a bit like dialling in a shred tone and saying "i hate setzer"

[BigRiver]

Watching this rig rundown made me really rethink the importance of gear and minimalism.

Mark's playing one guitar and it's been the same one for ages with many refrets. No backup. Uses one pick that's totally worn down. He's got a couple amps, just because you need to with tubes. Laura's in pretty much a similar situation.

Best quote @ 3:25 - "There's your Stevie Ray Vaugh tone, which I F'ing hate. I can't stand that stuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

i'm not going to bat for SRV or anything but i do not really understand his comment there. does he just not like the in-between pickup settings through a fendery amp with up-there treble? that's not especially an SRV sound imo, though it is possibly associated with some of that gauche shreddy post-80s blues sound i guess?

I don't think it's meant to be that serious or anything personal against srv. I thought it was mostly a joke and it made me chuckle.

More like- "listen to this.. my guitar can make this sound and I'm never going to use it".

[BigRiver]

Watching this rig rundown made me really rethink the importance of gear and minimalism.

Mark's playing one guitar and it's been the same one for ages with many refrets. No backup. Uses one pick that's totally worn down. He's got a couple amps, just because you need to with tubes. Laura's in pretty much a similar situation.

Best quote @ 3:25 - "There's your Stevie Ray Vaugh tone, which I F'ing hate. I can't stand that stuff"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

i'm not going to bat for SRV or anything but i do not really understand his comment there. does he just not like the in-between pickup settings through a fendery amp with up-there treble? that's not especially an SRV sound imo, though it is possibly associated with some of that gauche shreddy post-80s blues sound i guess?

I don't think it's meant to be that serious or anything personal against srv. He didn't say "i hate srv", he said he hates that tone. I thought it was mostly a joke and it made me chuckle.

More like- "listen to this.. my guitar can make this sound and I'm never going to use it".

[mackerelmint]

Well, I'll happily go on record stating that I hate SRV and his playing and his sound and all those "quacky" in between sounds on a strat. There's a story about him nearly falling into hot grease at a restaurant job and it making him choose music. If only he'd fallen in, we'd have been spared an incalculable amount of musical misery.

Those in between positions can actually be nice for jazz, but once you start bending the string it's like a bug trying to fly into your ear, over and over again.

[Sauerkraut]

Those in between positions can actually be nice for jazz, but once you start bending the string it's like a bug trying to fly into your ear, over and over again.

That really is a stunningly accurate description.

[welshywelsh]

The bridge and middle pickups on together (position 4?) on a Strat is the absolute worst tone.

Once played on the same bill as a band whose guitarist stayed in that position for the whole 30 minutes and made me want to give up gigging forever.

[sal paradise]

I guess you have to be Mark Knopfler to make position 2 work on a strat. That tells me everything I need to know about middle positions.

[Nevets]

Richard Thompson makes the middle positions on his strat sound pretty good.

[Chippertheripper]

The middle positions are the sounds of so much 80’s music I love. However…you’ll not ever catch me neck strumming with one of them strat things in my hands.
I’ve tried, I can’t stand tge way they force you to play.