- Topics: [[Creativity]] - People: [[Tom Merllo]] - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmGPPInWZVE --- ## Notes In a Feb 26, 2021 interview on Howard Stern, [[Tom Morello]] was asked why he didn't cut his guitar strings. Tom said that it was essentially a statement that he was in in the baddest bad and that he could do as he pleased. What followed was a bit more interesting. He started talking about his gear in general. - "This is controversial in the world of guitar players. I don't believe that it (gear) matters at all. None of it. None of the gear matters what so ever." – [[Tom Morello]] He recalled the story of his guitar and amp setups. He had spent a couple hours in 1988 playing around with some knobs to achieve a sound that was "good enough". "I'm done. I don't like this sound particularly. It's not what I imagined in my head. But I'm obsessing and anxious about it. I'm going to never think about these knobs again. I'm going to never think about this guitar again. I'm now just going to worry about being creative with the sound that I have." –  [[Tom Morello]] I've noticed that his philosophy is similar to that of [[Devin Townsend]], in that he prefers to never have to touch his equipment as far as settings are concerned. However, unlike Tom, Devin is outrageously obsessed in getting his setup just right before he can do anything. These examples got me thinking about the concepts of "Effectiveness" and "Efficiency". Many of us, myself included, have fine tuned our equipment (e.g. computers, apps, etc...) to fit our workflow. The moment step into a different environment, typically when using someone else's computer, most of us experience a drop in effectiveness - sometimes dramatically so. This doesn't sound very effective at all. To me, being effective means you should be able to fully express yourself (e.g. execute on an idea) regardless of what environment you may be in. Efficiency may be the complimentary component that allows you to express yourself slightly quicker. ## See also - [[Effective creativity]] - [[Effectiveness vs. efficiency]]