Daft assumptions you've had for years about guitars/bass/gear ?

S56035

KDS said:

Les Paul is for rhythm guitar, strat or tele is lead guitar.... no idea why 

Nope.  You're not allowed to play anything but power chords on a LP, blues lead on a Strat and strumming on a Tele.  those are the rules :-)

Grumpyrocker

KDS said:

Les Paul is for rhythm guitar, strat or tele is lead guitar.... no idea why 

I thought when beginning one had to be a rhythm guitarist. Then I guess someone would come along and tell you that you were good to be allowed to play lead. Hence I felt guilty in my first teen forays away from chords into leads. I hadn't been given permission yet. 

Rowby1

Until I was in my late 20s I thought all guitars sounded their best with their controls on 10. 

sev112

I didn’t know what the lead guitarist did in the sing if he wasn’t playing a solo

KDS

Grumpyrocker said:

KDS said:

Les Paul is for rhythm guitar, strat or tele is lead guitar.... no idea why 

I thought when beginning one had to be a rhythm guitarist. Then I guess someone would come along and tell you that you were good to be allowed to play lead. Hence I felt guilty in my first teen forays away from chords into leads. I hadn't been given permission yet. 

Any idea where that came from?

Slash'N'burn

Alexlotl said:

The most toxic bit of "wisdom" I received as a teenager was to keep all your guitar knobs on 10. I had a Telecaster. It was so painfully bright that I ended up just playing it acoustically most of the time.

"If it sounds good, it's good" seems so obvious on paper, but I think it takes the confidence of adulthood to put it into practice.

Think I was still doing that up to my late 30’s!

It didn’t help that when they interviewed guitarists in the mags back then, I’m sure most of them seemed to comment that they had the guitar volume and tone on full, and it just became a habit that you didn’t question.

fretmeister

Slash'N'burn said:

For about 20 years I assumed that a 5 string bass had an 'E' 5th string and the 'extra' first string was a B like the guitar, for doing more higher register playing - have only just discovered that the 5th String is actually a low B !

@Slash'N'burn ;

Not always - there are some who use a high string. BUT it's still not a B, it's a C!

SteveRobinson

Rowby1 said:

Until I was in my late 20s I thought all guitars sounded their best with their controls on 10. 

They do

Slash'N'burn

I bought the kids a cheapish Ukulele, on opening the box I looked at it and decided that some idiot at the factory had stringed it up incorrectly, I mean you can’t have a treble string at the top can you? Why are two strings the same gauge?

Thankfully I looked it up before I started unwinding those nylon string knots, and realised it was indeed correct ☺️

Neill

For years I assumed I would never be good enough to play in a band, until I realised musical ability has very little to do with it.

Grangousier

For a long time I assumed that because a lot of people I admired played Les Pauls, it was the guitar for me, and it was only after a Baja had called out to me from the classifieds here that I discovered it was the tele (which I'd never really "got" before, either), that was my perfect guitar. Although I had to get one made with contours, because I'm weak that way. But apart from the squareness, it's perfect.

It was only embarrassingly recently that I realised I thought that if you didn't have all the knobs full up you weren't really getting your money's worth. Which is mad. 

Winny_Pooh

Neill said:

For years I assumed I would never be good enough to play in a band, until I realised musical ability has very little to do with it.

???? Hahaha, technical ability is one thing, but not needing musical ability ?

Blueingreen

When I first started playing I assumed the "rhythm" and "lead" markers on a guitar's toggle switch were a carry over from an earlier era and the wrong way round for more contemporary music.  I mean, obviously the louder, fatter and more sustained sound would be used for lead and the thinner, cleaner sound would be used for rhythm - right?

Grumpyrocker

KDS said:

Grumpyrocker said:

KDS said:

Les Paul is for rhythm guitar, strat or tele is lead guitar.... no idea why 

I thought when beginning one had to be a rhythm guitarist. Then I guess someone would come along and tell you that you were good to be allowed to play lead. Hence I felt guilty in my first teen forays away from chords into leads. I hadn't been given permission yet. 

Any idea where that came from?

Not sure. Maybe I confused rhythm and lead guitar as two different instruments. 

I remember I totally had my mind blown watching Maiden England for the first time and realising how wrong I'd been. 

I was young. That's my excuse. 

pintspiller

I used to think feeling sad made you a better blues player.

I used to think girls would throw themselves at me because I played guitar.

Haych

I used to think that to be a good guitar it had to have a super low action and sustain for days. 

I care little about either now. 

guitars4you

Haych said:

I used to think that to be a good guitar it had to have a super low action and sustain for days. 

I care little about either now. 

you'll be saying next that you thought all guitars should play like butter

richardhomer

That complex amps, with lots of options would enable me to find ‘the perfect sound’.

LPManic

I thought that I didn't deserve a high end guitar. Then I got one and I love it and play more and play the best I've ever played and very much regret all the years I missed being too down on myself.

Kittyfrisk

I thought that the people that had the best & most expensive guitars & gear actually knew what they were talking about...