Top Nine: Reasons You Should Go To NAMM (If You Can, That Is) by Undocument

This article is written by Brian Pampaselle

& appears courtesy of undocument

9. All The Best Seminars, Demos and Tutorials

One of the biggest attractions for NAMM is the countless amounts of tech demos, seminars and product tutorials the bigger companies almost perpetually promote at their booths. Not only is it a great way to check out the newest version of your favorite product and the crazy new shit it can do so much better than last year's model, but a lot of times you get some actual musicians up there (instead of a salesman) giving some real insight on the gear and actually show you the way they use (and abuse) the instruments, hardware and/or software.

Also, there's usually these really comfy chairs so you can sit down and give your feet a rest and leaf through all the cool stuff you got in your bags.

8. It's Disneyland Close

If you are looking for a break from NAMM and all of its thousands and thousands of people, long lines, unavoidable exhaustion, and $15 hot dogs, all you have to do is leave the convention center, go literally across the street to the most magical place on earth and experience thousands and thousands of people, long lines, unavoidable exhaustion, and $20 hot dogs!

Of course, you might reconsider once you find out the ticket prices have gone up a bit since the last time you were there, so you might want to go back across the street and check out the cheaper option and consider buying an 1959 Les Paul instead.

You're a musician, not some sort of doctor, for chrissakes.

7. It's Kinda Peaceful There, Sometimes

Something funny happens when you cram a ton of people into one place, be it NAMM or Disneyland or whatever; The place can get real strange, real quick.

After the excitement of scanning your laminated badge and finally getting inside the convention doors wears off, you've got about an hour of thousands and thousands of people talking, loudspeaker announcements, and random blasts of noise over and over again until it all becomes a wash of white noise and the whole experience ends up like a dream.

That's when the fun starts.

My mind personally tends to wander, and some how, in some way, the convention floor is a great spot for that. I guess all those retailers want you to be able to imagine yourself playing their newest creations.

In any event, it's nice to get away from the world sometimes by dumping yourself into a huge swarming mass of it and just relax.

6. For The Weirdnesses & The Oddities

Not just some of the weirdest people come down to the convention every year to strut and preen and pick up a 2015 D'Addario catalog, but some crazy instruments make it's way down to NAMM as well.

In fact, there's a whole website dedicated to "NAMM Oddities" thanks to a kind gentleman by the name of Barry Wood, who, year after year, consciously decides to wade into the strange and unusual waters of the convention and sees what he can catch.

For example, let's take a look at what crazy shit he found last year: