What’s More Important: An Expensive Guitar or an Expensive Amp?

In a fantasy world where we can choose to have an expensive guitar and an inexpensive amp or an expensive amp and an inexpensive guitar, which would you choose?

I’ve often thought about what’s more important to me as a guitar player, and then the answer hit me: we’re guitar players. The way I see it, a room full of amazing guitars is more attractive than a room full of amazing amps.

While you might disagree, I think there’s something to be said for being able to simply pick up an electric guitar and strum it—unplugged—and still achieve “that feeling.”

An expensive amp is as good as the guitarist playing through it; an expensive guitar will not only speed up your progress as a guitar player, it will make that experience more enjoyable and cause you to have more pride in the instrument you play.

On the flip side, a gigging musician might argue an expensive amp is crucial to cutting through the mix and consistently delivering good performances night after night.

Whatever your thoughts are, I should mention that you don’t need expensive gear to be a great musician. But let’s face it: we all take pleasure in the constant improvement of our rigs, and cool gear is one of the unique perks of being a guitar player in the modern world.

Tyler Larson is the founder of the guitar-centric website Music is Win. His entertaining guitar-related content receives hundreds of thousands of video views on Facebook per month, and his online guitar courses tout more than 1,500 students with a cumulative 4.7 rating on Udemy. Get in touch with Tyler on Facebook, watch more of his guitar lessons and vlogs on YouTube, and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

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