Joe Bonamassa is an incredible blues guitarist who has recently come under fire for comments he made about using effects pedals on guitars. Specifically he said that those players who used a lot of effects were lazy. I thought I would take a moment to weigh in on this bit of controversy from the guitar universe.
I understand what is he trying to say, albeit with a poor choice of words. Effects are there to enhance your guitar's sound and allow you to get new tonalities out of the guitar, just like a keyboardist uses synths to achieve new sonic possibilities. However, this can't be a substitute for learning as much as you can about your instrument. You have to know the rules before you can break them.
That being said, it doesn't make you lazy to try to expand your sounds with effects. Some players have signature sounds as a result of heavy effect usage. Consider The Edge from U2 or Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine. They both use massive amounts of effects to achieve their sounds. The main thing to ask is does your use of effects suit the music you are creating? You don't have to be a virtuoso at your instrument to make great music. And in the end, you should enjoy what you are doing. You shouldn't look at learning your instrument as a task that you have to toil over until you reach full mastery before you can finally just enjoy playing.