Do You Really Need Pro Gear?

Should you buy pro gear?

It’s logical to think that if you’re going to learn how to play an instrument, you need to buy the best gear.

Maybe you’re looking through a music catalog (not to date myself, but

they’re still around if you look), looking through a website, in-store, wherever it is that you’re looking at musical instruments.

There are hundreds of brands for one instrument alone. Instruments are at very different price points, and so many other things. If you don’t know where to start, what to get, or even do, the whole process can be very overwhelming. Intimidating at that.

So, the question starts becoming: “does expensive mean better?”

Let’s dive in.

There are many instruments on the market today, so here’s my train of thought when it comes to a new beginner.

Simply put, no. You don’t need the best pro gear that’s out there–especially when you’re first starting out.

“But I want to sound good! What do you mean?”

It’s important to keep in mind that while yes, in some ways, the instrument does play a part in making you sound good; ultimately you as the musician are the one who’s going to affect the sound the most.

You can take a really good musician and put them on one of the worst instruments and it’ll still sound great. Why? Because they have the knowledge and experience to be able to do that.

You can also take someone who’s never played and put them on the most expensive instrument and it simply won’t sound all that great at all. Why? Because the knowledge and experience just isn’t there. But that’s okay, because you’re here, and you’re working on that in order to get to that level.

“So, what should I get if I maybe shouldn’t buy the most expensive thing?”

Often, more times than not, the instrument that you want to learn is going to have an entry level version of it. That’s typically the first place that you want to start off with.

Usually you’ll see them as starter kits, student instruments— that kind of thing.

Now, while these instruments aren’t going to be nearly as good as a professional model; they do their purpose. They help you learn how to play, which is the most important step.

In fact, as a little side story; I didn’t even purchase my first professional set of sticks/mallets and drums until I was in college. Granted, I had the support of my public schools while I was “growing up” as a musician, but the point being, is that I didn’t start on them, and it took me many years before I decided that it was time to upgrade. I actually started off on a beginner practice (drum) pad and bell kit that I used to practice a lot of material thrown my way.

To help my case even further when it comes to not picking the most expensive instrument is, if you do decide that music isn’t your thing after all; you’ll only have spent a fraction of the amount of money you would have potentially wasted if you did pick the more expensive option. This definitely leaves money for your new adventure instead.

Here’s the other thing; if you do decide that music is your thing and you do get to that point where you feel like you’ve outgrown that instrument, and want that better quality sound; you can always upgrade your gear in the future. It’s always better to upgrade, than have to downgrade, right?

So of course, aside from other factors such as your own personal budget and preferences, you can always ask around for advice when it comes to picking one brand over another. In fact, I encourage you to do your own research and find out what people are saying about it. Even a quick Google search should hopefully help yield some opinions on one brand versus the other. Find out what other people started on and go from there.

Ask your local music store what they recommend for your level. Speaking of, see if you can test out a few of these instruments if you can in-store. Instruments can come in many different sizes in order to best accommodate many different people. Test out a few to see what the best fit is for you. This is all part of the research process.

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HOWEVER…

I do think that it is important to warn beginners that more often than not, you might come across what we call “toy instruments.”

These are basically, incredibly cheaply made instruments that are more better designed for decoration than for actual learning and playing. They may be an inaccurate representation of the true instrument, like missing a few keys; or a few strings. They could be missing detailed features on a snare drum like the snare on/off mechanism. Things like that. So just be aware.

This is where, again, asking around, and doing your research is going to come into play, so you can avoid wasting money on something that looks too good to be true.

It’s tricky, I know, but with a little time and research, you can avoid those pitfalls and get something of decent quality that’s right for your level of playing.

Hopefully this helps you find your perfect starter instrument. Bottom line though, no, you don’t need the most expensive gear to get the job done. Even if you aren’t a beginner, you still don’t need the most premium gear to create great sounding results. Again, remember, I’d say about 90-95% of sounding good is based on you, the player, not the instrument itself.

Now of course, if you’re sounding great on lower quality gear and you do end up with the budget and want to upgrade, you can always do so. In fact, I encourage it, but I’d say, make upgrades that best match your level of playing, so that:

1.) you don’t overspend on features you won’t use

and

2.) you don’t overwhelm yourself either with complex instrument features.

Take your time, get comfortable learning on your instrument, and eventually you can build your upgrades overtime.

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Question of the day: What instrument are you thinking about getting? I'd love to know, so leave your comment down below, so others can feel inspired, compare, and ask questions.