Playability Trumps All

Recently I had the opportunity to play some high end guitars. In fact the store I was in, “Smoky Mountain Guitars” was sort of a botique guitar shop. There was no guitar under $3000 in the building! Obviously that was way out of my price range but I was able to play one that caught my eye. It was a rare solid mahogany acoustic guitar that looked amazing! I picked it up and began to play expecting to be blown away with the ease of play. Nope. It felt awkward, the fretboard was rough, the sound was just…alright, and the feel of it in my arms was not so much that I couldn’t put it down. Quite frankly, I thought, what a bummer.
I was expecting to turn into the worlds greatest guitarist by picking that up right?! Hahaha, well not so much. The fact is, when I came home to “Beulah” (my Alvarez acoustic/electric) I picked it up and felt right at home. No, it is not a high end guitar, but I can play it and feel comfortable doing so. That trumps a price tag any day! 
The same goes with all aspects of Home Studio life. Why would we spend more money on something that we either can’t use, don’t know how to use, or may not ever use at all? Most of the time I see it as a musicians supposed quick fix. “Well, if I get _______________then I will sound good!” The fact is we must master what we have first in order to move on to something better, but better is NOT always a higher price tag. I would even venture to say that there are several mid priced instruments that play just as good if not better than the higher priced ones. These topics were covered in episode #1 & #4 of the HSS podcast in a different sense. This is my plea to all who would hear! “Don’t fall for the hype, and don’t let a salesman tell you what you like!”
Let me ask you a question, and I will leave you with this thought today…
What have you recently purchased that you can look back on now and say, “did I really need that”? Secondly, What do you own that you have kept simply because it’s expensive? And thirdly, what could you use that could easily replace that thing that is collecting dust? It’s all about the playability! If you don’t play with it, or it’s a struggle and a joy kill to do so, get rid of it for something useful.