I belong to several busy guitar forums, guitar facebook groups and guitar subreddits. They’re generally great, but increasingly I’m seeing the annoying trend of people over-sharing gear photos.
If you do a Google Image Search for “my pedalboard” the results will scroll for about six weeks. And it’s impossible to really distinguish any of them.
Those photos are kind of creepy. Somehow, pedalboards in abstract like this remind me of those post-mortem photos that were somewhat common in the 19th century. Just empty looking metal shells against a black background.
Sure, photos like this have been going around the internet since the early days. And this same thing happens with other hobbies… cars, food, etc. But that doesn’t make it right. The incredible ease of photo-sharing today pushes the frequency of these posts to an all-time high.
It’s gotta stop!
Think about it… you’re going to accomplish one of a few things by posting these random gear photos.
- Bother those who don’t have as nice of stuff as you and thus feel jealous
- Enrage trolls who think you have inferior stuff
- Annoy your friends who are tired of seeing the same crap from you over and over
None of those scenarios are good. But the larger point is that you could be doing so much more! Share a story. Share a recording. Share a video of you fighting over where your delay should go in your pedal chain. Share the settings on your amp that give you tone just like Guthrie Govan.
Just don’t post some lifeless gear on your floor for the sake of bragging.