I've written about JemSite before, it's a great resource for Ibanez fans. But they also publish articles about music and guitars that are of interest to any guitar player. Here's an exerpt from an article called "Never Underestimate the Power of Your Guitar."
I got my first electric guitar, an extremely cheap made-in-China model, on my fourteenth birthday. It came with an equally crappy 15 watt transistor amplifier with a reasonably high gain built-in overdrive. Was I thrilled when I played on it for the first time! I instantly felt the potential of an electric to astound people with simple power chords played through a distorted amp, and I was quite satisfied with it for a while, until I thought about how I wanted ‘real’ guitars such as Fender and Gibson models. Every day I dreamt of finally owning a Strat or a Paul in the near future...
My uncle happened to be a session musician for a number of local show bands. He celebrated by inviting a few of his musician friends over so they could play some songs for the guests. I brought my guitar with me because I was told beforehand that there would be a jam on that day. I patiently waited for the people to set up, hoping that I would be able to play with them. Being an amateur at the time, I thought I was the best guitar player in the place and so it was natural for me to display my “amazing skills”. One guy was not able to bring his guitar along so I lent him mine, but I was hoping he’d finish early so I could have my turn with the band...
The moment he started playing, I just sat on my chair with my jaw wide open. He played the guitar like a god, and to say that he is good was like saying that Jessica Alba is cute! What amazed me even more was the fact that he was using MY guitar, but it doesn’t sound the same when I use it! He was only using a very digital Zoom pedal and a solid state Hot Cabs amplifier, but the damn guitar sounded HUGE. He ripped, tapped, swept, and slid across the fretboard like hell, and I was having difficulty thinking about how he was able to make my cheap guitar produce so much tone! From that day on I practiced guitar seriously for three more years, and I still firmly believe that tone is in the fingers the way I did back then...
Remember, it's not about the gear, it's about the player. You can read the full story over at JemSite.
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