well i think if you have better gear it sounds alot better when you practice,cause you like the tone as if were playing with crappy gear it will just sound terribl,no matter how good you play but you still need practice.also i read an article with zakk on a.h. and he said when he would pracice them he would only use a clean channel and play them on fat strings and when he got the feel he played them with dist. which makes it sound X10 better.