gestalt (also Gestalt) noun (pl. gestalten |-ˈSHtältn, -ˈSHtôltn| or gestalts) Psychology - an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.
Part I.
The sum total of my thinking about guitars is contained in this word, gestalt.
You have an organized whole - that is, you, and the guitar and its constituent parts, and the music, and the electronics you're plugged into. And you have your perception of the whole. Perception is the big key word that takes us to the realm of psychology and in the case of an instrument, psychoacoustics.
The instrument has whatever characteristics it has, but without you it doesn't make any noise. Your brain, hands, and your perception as you play operate on the instrument to create sound. Your perception of that sound results in certain judgments about the sound you're achieving.
Your perception affects how you feel about the handling characteristics of the guitar.
Someone else playing the very same instrument will create different perceptions, both in you and in that person. Objectively, the sound will be different because of the myriad of ways our intentions operate when we play. Each of us has unique anatomy, and a unique brain that wants to hear perhaps different things.
Examples: Eric Clapton hands me his guitar, plugged into his amp. I have learned his song note for note, bend for bend, vibrato for vibrato. But I will sound different. Clapton will sound like Clapton, I will sound like me playing Clapton's music, and the two will neither objectively be the same, nor will they be perceived by the listener to be the same.
I hand you my Hammer Of The Gods. It is plugged into my HXDA, But when you play one of my tunes, you will sound like you on my guitar, through my amp, and you will perceive the difference between how we each sound. You might prefer one or the other. You might not. You might think we sound exactly alike. I doubt we will. Another listener might perceive differences.
Part II.
Someone posts here asking, "I play classic rock. Should I buy a McCarty or a 513?"
People will jump in and offer their opinions, based on their own perceptions, with their own unique experiences with the instruments, and so on. Based on their gestalt.
Is that going to be the same as your gestalt? Of course not!
That's why none of the posts in response will be the same.
And of course, we all know that you can play any kind of music on any type of electric guitar, it's all a matter of personal choice. To even say, "Well yes, but some work better than others," is to beg the question, since we can all point to any number of musicians who've successfully done all kinds of music on all kinds of instruments, and some have literally transformed the tone of their genre with something truly different - think Hendrix with his Strat. No one sounded like that on a Strat before Hendrix. The conventional wisdom was that it was a twangy guitar. Think Nugent or Steve Howe on their hollowbody so-called "jazz guitars." Et cetera.
The only way to find out if a guitar is for you is to play it. That's it. There's no way around that simple fact, because there's no other way to experience the gestalt of the thing.
You can't get the gestalt from reading, or from talking, or even simply listening to clips. Playing is the only way to experience the gestalt of an instrument.
I've bought guitars that were phenomenal on paper, and that other people absolutely loved, and they were nice, but not for me. I've recommended guitars to friends who've tried them and thought, yeah, this one's fine for someone else, but not for them.
I understand why Paul Smith feels that real guitar dealers' stores are the right place to pick a guitar. He's absolutely, 100% right. It's sad that there are fewer of them around these days, but to me, buying a guitar is like buying a pair of shoes, or a suit.
You don't know if they're a good fit before trying them on, unless you've tried on that make and model before.
That isn't to say buying online is an impossibility. I like surprises, and I'm willing to take a flyer on something interesting, even if it's expensive. You live once, right?
But it's not something I recommend to everyone else.
Part I.
The sum total of my thinking about guitars is contained in this word, gestalt.
You have an organized whole - that is, you, and the guitar and its constituent parts, and the music, and the electronics you're plugged into. And you have your perception of the whole. Perception is the big key word that takes us to the realm of psychology and in the case of an instrument, psychoacoustics.
The instrument has whatever characteristics it has, but without you it doesn't make any noise. Your brain, hands, and your perception as you play operate on the instrument to create sound. Your perception of that sound results in certain judgments about the sound you're achieving.
Your perception affects how you feel about the handling characteristics of the guitar.
Someone else playing the very same instrument will create different perceptions, both in you and in that person. Objectively, the sound will be different because of the myriad of ways our intentions operate when we play. Each of us has unique anatomy, and a unique brain that wants to hear perhaps different things.
Examples: Eric Clapton hands me his guitar, plugged into his amp. I have learned his song note for note, bend for bend, vibrato for vibrato. But I will sound different. Clapton will sound like Clapton, I will sound like me playing Clapton's music, and the two will neither objectively be the same, nor will they be perceived by the listener to be the same.
I hand you my Hammer Of The Gods. It is plugged into my HXDA, But when you play one of my tunes, you will sound like you on my guitar, through my amp, and you will perceive the difference between how we each sound. You might prefer one or the other. You might not. You might think we sound exactly alike. I doubt we will. Another listener might perceive differences.
Part II.
Someone posts here asking, "I play classic rock. Should I buy a McCarty or a 513?"
People will jump in and offer their opinions, based on their own perceptions, with their own unique experiences with the instruments, and so on. Based on their gestalt.
Is that going to be the same as your gestalt? Of course not!
That's why none of the posts in response will be the same.
And of course, we all know that you can play any kind of music on any type of electric guitar, it's all a matter of personal choice. To even say, "Well yes, but some work better than others," is to beg the question, since we can all point to any number of musicians who've successfully done all kinds of music on all kinds of instruments, and some have literally transformed the tone of their genre with something truly different - think Hendrix with his Strat. No one sounded like that on a Strat before Hendrix. The conventional wisdom was that it was a twangy guitar. Think Nugent or Steve Howe on their hollowbody so-called "jazz guitars." Et cetera.
The only way to find out if a guitar is for you is to play it. That's it. There's no way around that simple fact, because there's no other way to experience the gestalt of the thing.
You can't get the gestalt from reading, or from talking, or even simply listening to clips. Playing is the only way to experience the gestalt of an instrument.
I've bought guitars that were phenomenal on paper, and that other people absolutely loved, and they were nice, but not for me. I've recommended guitars to friends who've tried them and thought, yeah, this one's fine for someone else, but not for them.
I understand why Paul Smith feels that real guitar dealers' stores are the right place to pick a guitar. He's absolutely, 100% right. It's sad that there are fewer of them around these days, but to me, buying a guitar is like buying a pair of shoes, or a suit.
You don't know if they're a good fit before trying them on, unless you've tried on that make and model before.
That isn't to say buying online is an impossibility. I like surprises, and I'm willing to take a flyer on something interesting, even if it's expensive. You live once, right?
But it's not something I recommend to everyone else.
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