How can I figure out what I need?

Assessing a person's true needs is a difficult subject hashed out over thousands and thousands of pages in hundreds of textbooks, and I'm no psychologist, so I'm writing specifically to the guitarist here.

For years, my mindset with buying gear was, "What if?" What if they ask me to play something country-sounding? What if this song calls for a big Marshall sound? What if I miss a second delay? What if there's no keyboardist in the band? What if this pedal or that doesn't play nice with the amp they've got for me? What if I break a string? What if single coils get lost in the mix? What if the room is particularly dry? You get it.

I would buy all this gear for scenarios I dreamed up as I sat at home, instead of buying to meet a genuine need.

For years, I would bring two guitars to a gig (or more) out of fear that I'd run out of sounds or that I'd break a string. But because of the way that I play, I haven't actually broken a string in probably a decade. No joke.

I would bring two delays (or more), two reverbs, and some kind of infinite sustain or synth-like pedal in the event that there was no keyboardist in the band and I'm called upon to fill space or provide something for transitions between songs.

I would bring a couple of 'transparent' overdrives (hate that term), a couple of Tubescreamer-style drives (one with EQ and one without), and a couple of amp-like or preamp-based overdrives in case the amp at the event sucks, so I could change the color of the amp a bit with a pedal.

This line of thinking got me into so much debt as I tried to build a veritable guitar store of items I could take to a gig—go look on my Instagram at all the dumb crap that did nothing more than fill my house.

I decided to assess my true needs, and to continue to reevaluate my needs on a daily basis. Here's how I did it.

Question #1: What guitars/amps/pedals can I get by without? If you can get by without a stereo programmable chorus, then it isn't a need. If you can use the vibrato arm on your guitar instead of a vibrato pedal, the vibrato pedal isn't a need. If you can get by without a built-in midboost in your guitar—maybe by reaching back and turning up your amp—then midboost isn't a need. If you can substitute rhythmic picking for a rhythmic delay, a rhythmic delay isn't a need.

Question #2: What would I miss if it weren't with me onstage? If you've got the luxury, in your rehearsals or shows, trying scrapping everything but your guitar, amp, and a tuner on the floor. I did just that. I found that the first thing I missed was a DM-2 to deliver a slapback part in one of our songs—dry guitar just sounded weird without. I missed it for a light echo to add character to leads and solos, and I use it as my main delay often, when nothing more than a short echo is called for. So for a few Sundays at church and for the EP I recorded with Michael Oppizzi, my rig was Telecaster > Tuner > Echo > Deluxe.

Question #3: Does this song or part sound better/worse/just as good without? To me, nothing beats the power and presence of dry guitar. You can see it on the face of a guitarist as he or she plays—there's a statement that's being made. His moment in the song comes and he raises his volume to deliver the line with authority. In all forms of music, there's a soloist who jumps out from the ensemble to be something bigger by himself than the whole behind him. And that moment is infinitely more enhanced—in my opinion—by the clarity of the dry guitar's voice. 

Question #4: What guitars/amps/pedals truly add value to my life? Value can mean utility or joy, and understanding value is crucial to men and women in understanding our relationship to things. Now, when I say 'add value' I'm not talking about the kind of value that appreciates, like the value of a vintage guitar. Although you might say that value appreciates because a joy in that particular thing is appreciating. What I mean by 'added value' is that—without this particular item—some joy would be lacking.

Added value can mean added utility. When I was going through things in my music room, to assess what items I truly value, I had kind of a hard time deciding whether or not to sell my Mono Dual Guitar gig bag. On the one hand, all my guitars had cases of their own. On the other, it's so helpful to be able to throw two guitars in the same super-sturdy bag and minimize trips to and from the car at the gig. The Mono's also probably more protective than many of my wooden/pressboard/leather-wrapped cases, and lighter too. So I kept it, because of that utility.

But added value can also mean added joy. My Boss VB-2. I tried to sell it when I was simplifying my rig, I mean, like I said above, everything I do with a vibrato pedal can be done with a vibrato arm on the guitar. But when I kick on that VB-2 with a really overtly swirly oceanic sort of setting, it's such a joy to play. Feels like I'm hearing my amp at the bottom of a coral reef! I also kept it because, while I love the vibrato arm on a guitar, I don't have one if I'm playing a Telecaster and the one I have on a Strat causes the guitar to just go way out of tune. That's an example of a need properly assessed.

Now, question 4 comes with a disclaimer: We should be constantly reevaluating value, constantly asking ourselves if a better definition of value can be found or if our understanding of value can be reformed. Cal Newport argues that the idea of value is too vague, and splits value into three categories: Core Value, Minor Value, and Invented Value. The article linked is definitely worth a read.

With these questions in mind, I set out to build my pedalboard. I am finding now, that everything I have I value, and that's a great place to be in as a guy who had so much useless crap weighing me down before.