Pete Townshend is a bad influence.
@EmperorKatuunuXVI: people who work in retail will kiss customer butt for that minimum wage. Guys who work in specialty retail, tech stuff like music, computers, or home audio, have a special reserve of loathing for anyone who is not as expert as they are, and that means everyone who walks into the store. You have to earn their respect to be more than dirt under their heel. I have seen music store clerks sneer a potential customer out of the shop. It's not the sale, it's the pride, the arrogance, the narcissism. Only when you get to Pete Townshend altitude are you allowed to act like Pete Townshend and be treated like Pete Townshend. Until you can play like Steve Vai, then the guitar is the valuable thing. You are just the cockroach holding it.