The Guitarist's Guide To Gigging

1. Heads Up!
There's nothing more depressing than a decent guitarist who stands still and glumly stares downwards at the instrument all night. Remember, the crowd has come to see your band as well as hear it. So get your chin-up and interact with the audience, even if the only people who showed up are the other band and your mum.

 

 

2. Pack a spare.
It’s a good idea to keep spare strings in your gig bag. But, unless there is absolutely no alternative, do not try and change strings in the middle of a set. The sight of a guitarist fumbling with a snapped E string while an unfortunate band mate tries to keep the audience entertained with an impromptu stand-up routine is not a pretty one. So bring a spare guitar. If you only own one, see if you can arrange to use one of the other band’s axes in the event of an emergency.

 

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3. Motif-ate!
Okay, so it's time for your big solo. You've been practicing John Petrucci sequences at two million beats per minute for weeks and you’re ready to unleash your speed-demon guitar chops upon the world. But be warned, most audiences don't react so well to enormously complex flurries of notes. If you’re too quick, they won't have had a chance to absorb one monster lick before you've contrived another. So hold back and show taste.

 

Audiences tend to respond to repeated patterns in the music so look for motifs in your solo and draw as much mileage as you can from them. Remember, the song comes first.

 

4. Lock’n’lead
It’s a horrible moment when your sound cuts out. The law of sod entails that this will occur right in the middle of your most emotive ballad or your most climactic chorus. This usually happens because you’ve trodden on your guitar lead and yanked it out of either guitar or amp. Take precautions: loop the lead around something solid on the amp (the handle usually works fine) and around your strap at the axe-end. Also, test your leads before you leave home – a dud can really ruin your night.

 

5. In The Pick Of Time
The plectrum is a simple thing. But it's amazing how many players choose the wrong one (the usual offenders are rockers who seek aggressive sounds with a feeble, skinny pick). Select a pick to provide the sound you’re looking for and make sure you’ve got plenty in your back pocket – you don’t want to be scouring the floor of the stage for your plastic...

 

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6. Time Is Of The Essence
If you've made it as far as the gig, we're guessing you can play in time. But there's in time and there's in time. Bass players often call the latter sweet spot 'the pocket'. Ask yourself if you're really in 'the pocket'.

 

Are you speeding up with the excitement of the live situation? Are you actually counting the beat or are you guessing? The timekeeper is your drummer, the groove is your bass player – it's your job to lock in with them.

 

7. Curb Your Distortion
To achieve the desired tone across the rock spectrum, you're gonna need some distortion. But take care - over-distorted sounds are often lost in the noise of a live venue. What sounds like a monstrous rock tone in your bedroom can sound like nothing at all in the live situation – the 'fizzing' gain is easily lost among the trebles of the drum kit and the crowd noise.  Back off the distortion a tad and you’ll cut through far more effectively.

 

8. Check, Check, Check...
A decent sound-check is essential to a decent gig. Use this time to ensure you're hearing everything you need to hear. Are the other instruments coming through the monitor? Can you hear the vocals? Most importantly, can you hear yourself? Also look out for any troublesome feedback problems and get them fixed now so that no-one gets deafened during your performance.

 

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9. Tune!
You know how big guitarists in big bands change guitar for just about every song? That’s because it only takes a couple of minutes of playing for most axes to slip ever so slightly out of tune. The heat and moisture of a venue can really affect your strings, as can your rock-star antics. So, assuming you don’t have a new instrument for every song in your set, you're going to have to be diligent and keep an eye on your tuning – your best bet is an analogue floor-tuner or a clip-on.

 

Remember to get one with a back-light or you won't be able to see it in the darkened venue.

 

10. Watch The Sauce
If you're in a friendly venue, someone will probably offer you a little glass of something around the time of sound-check, which is usually at least two or three hours before you go on stage. If you don't keep an eye on it, it's all too easy to throw back far too much drink before you're due on. The result: you drunkenly thinking you're doing a great show as you miss notes and play out of time. The audience will think differently and you won't be called back.