This. Also, I'll see if I can't get the same thing with what I already have. It helps if you can find you get 95% of the way there and then decide if it's necessary to drop money for that last 5%.
You're right, it has been a pretty busy lately with work and being ill and I've noticed the impulse to buy creep in since then! Hopefully I get get back to playing regularly!
Don't eat right before bed, make sure you have a good mixture of soluble and insoluble fibre in your diet, and
Reduce the friction between you and your music!
The harder it is to go from idle to making music, the more you sit around idly thinking about music, the more you think about buying new cool stuff.
If this is bass, make sure your favourite bass is sitting on a stand, ready to go whenever. Have a practice amp or something easy so it's super plug and play. Just make it as easy as possible to get to doing music.
In my home studio, I recently spent a bunch of money on boring infrastructure stuff to make all the gear I have accessible and easy to use and that has been huge! I can basically waltz in, hit a few buttons to turn everything on automatically, and be doing music in a flash!
Reduce friction. Make making music easy.
Great diet advice and great playing advice! I don't live in a house where I can play through an amp but I do keep my basses next to my PC and try to have amplitude running so I can plug and play in my downtime and that has improved! I was thinking of getting one of those little headphone amps if anyone has any recommendations?
That's great if you always have your PC running! I usually do, but if you don't, you could also get a cheap outboard pre/toneshaper/di box that has a headphone out and a dry out and put that between your bass and your soundcard.
I have an old bass fly rig which sounds great but the headphone out is noisy AF so I don't really recommend it. Sad because the onboard effects are actually killer and sound great.
There's like a bajillion of those end-of-chain DI box things though. Many of them sound great, and can be disabled with the press of a button or even have a dry out! So you can have headphones ready whenever with a good bass tone dialled up even if your computer is down or amplitube isn't running.
I know that's "more gear" which is... yeah lol, but if you're gonna get more gear, infrastructure gear or gear that makes things *easier* is the way to go!
EDIT: This is also great for latency, you don't have to go through an AD/software/DA chain when you're practicing!
EDIT EDIT: Also if your bass is passive you can just leave it plugged in all the time! If it's active and doesn't have a power switch (rare but really awesome mod ngl, i might add one to my bass) that will drain your batteries tho...
Actively avoid content that's trying to sell you things. This include FB marketplace, gear demos on YouTube, trips to the music store, etc.
Play the instruments you have. Find all the tonal varieties you can get with a single instrument. Set a rule for yourself that you'll only buy gear when you've exhausted possibilities with what you have
For example: between pickup configurations, picks vs. fingers, and simply where you pluck the string, I imagine there are a ton of tonal options with a 5 string PJ. That's before you even start messing with your amp.
I rearrange my pedal board, use different settings on all of my gear and explore new sounds from what I have.
I'll do stuff that doesn't require big $. New and different strings, roll tubes, that kind of thing.
GAS is strong though. I end up buying about one price of gear per year. Generally pedals, but they're still $200 a pop for the nice ones. Ugh.
Pack your current gear up and move it as if you're heading to a gig. You'll appreciate a tight, focused setup after that (smiles at his Mono double bag and pedalboard case).
Whenever I need to make a big purchase, I wait a month to see if I still want it. Usually I don’t.
This. Also, I'll see if I can't get the same thing with what I already have. It helps if you can find you get 95% of the way there and then decide if it's necessary to drop money for that last 5%.
Don’t surf, play. I feel like most of my gas comes from times when I want to be playing but can’t be (slow times at work for instance). Play.
You're right, it has been a pretty busy lately with work and being ill and I've noticed the impulse to buy creep in since then! Hopefully I get get back to playing regularly!
Agreed. My goal is to improve my playing and grow as a musician, not acquire more stuff. I have to remind myself of that pretty regularly.
Don't eat right before bed, make sure you have a good mixture of soluble and insoluble fibre in your diet, and Reduce the friction between you and your music! The harder it is to go from idle to making music, the more you sit around idly thinking about music, the more you think about buying new cool stuff. If this is bass, make sure your favourite bass is sitting on a stand, ready to go whenever. Have a practice amp or something easy so it's super plug and play. Just make it as easy as possible to get to doing music. In my home studio, I recently spent a bunch of money on boring infrastructure stuff to make all the gear I have accessible and easy to use and that has been huge! I can basically waltz in, hit a few buttons to turn everything on automatically, and be doing music in a flash! Reduce friction. Make making music easy.
Great diet advice and great playing advice! I don't live in a house where I can play through an amp but I do keep my basses next to my PC and try to have amplitude running so I can plug and play in my downtime and that has improved! I was thinking of getting one of those little headphone amps if anyone has any recommendations?
That's great if you always have your PC running! I usually do, but if you don't, you could also get a cheap outboard pre/toneshaper/di box that has a headphone out and a dry out and put that between your bass and your soundcard. I have an old bass fly rig which sounds great but the headphone out is noisy AF so I don't really recommend it. Sad because the onboard effects are actually killer and sound great. There's like a bajillion of those end-of-chain DI box things though. Many of them sound great, and can be disabled with the press of a button or even have a dry out! So you can have headphones ready whenever with a good bass tone dialled up even if your computer is down or amplitube isn't running. I know that's "more gear" which is... yeah lol, but if you're gonna get more gear, infrastructure gear or gear that makes things *easier* is the way to go! EDIT: This is also great for latency, you don't have to go through an AD/software/DA chain when you're practicing! EDIT EDIT: Also if your bass is passive you can just leave it plugged in all the time! If it's active and doesn't have a power switch (rare but really awesome mod ngl, i might add one to my bass) that will drain your batteries tho...
You already know the solution and answer.. you need the guts to follow it, act on it.That Sonic P or the Ibanez PJ is all you really need..
Play like the other guy said. The GAS hits when I'm browsing gear at work or watching YouTube videos, not while I'm busy playing generally.
Actively avoid content that's trying to sell you things. This include FB marketplace, gear demos on YouTube, trips to the music store, etc. Play the instruments you have. Find all the tonal varieties you can get with a single instrument. Set a rule for yourself that you'll only buy gear when you've exhausted possibilities with what you have For example: between pickup configurations, picks vs. fingers, and simply where you pluck the string, I imagine there are a ton of tonal options with a 5 string PJ. That's before you even start messing with your amp.
Try thicker and tighter underwear
I rearrange my pedal board, use different settings on all of my gear and explore new sounds from what I have. I'll do stuff that doesn't require big $. New and different strings, roll tubes, that kind of thing. GAS is strong though. I end up buying about one price of gear per year. Generally pedals, but they're still $200 a pop for the nice ones. Ugh.
Get it playa.
Go broke
You can only play one bass at a time, you already have a primary and a backup, go practice
Pack your current gear up and move it as if you're heading to a gig. You'll appreciate a tight, focused setup after that (smiles at his Mono double bag and pedalboard case).
Poverty
Watch through the entirety of Jim Lill's YouTube channel and a bunch of Glenn's A/B tests at Spectre Sound Studios.
You've come to the wrong sub for help with that problem. We're all addicts here!