Gigging Practically

 

 

 

So we have a gig coming up, Saturday, March 17th at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston. It's been a long time since my original band, The Goodbye Theory has had a show, February of 2015. It was right in the middle of a series of blizzards and snowstorms that dumped about 5 feet of snow in less than a week. Climbing the snowbanks with my gear, felt like I was climbing Everest.

 So I'm boiling down everything to what I really need to bring to a show. My pedalboard usually has a couple of drive pedals and a boost, and some odd noise making device like a Sub N up, Synth 9 or some filtery pedal. Stuff that I like to have, but yet haven't found a place for in my bands tunes yet. My bandmates  gives me an "oh really" look whenever I try to find a way to get that into a song, especially the B3 organ sound. I know it's out of love though. As much as i Love gear, and all the extra tones I love to have access too, practicality wins out. I'll have 15 minutes to get my stuff on stage, get it running, and 40 minutes to play through some post-2000's rock music. I need a rhythm sound that works with a boost, and a way to engage my chorus and delay for some parts that require some ambience. That chorus and delay probably only gets used 3 times in a set, depending on the songs in it. As orgasmic it is to have a pedalboard with all that other stuff on it like my EHX Synth 9, or TC, or extra drive choices, this is going to be down and dirty.Overall, it's less stuff to go wrong. How much gear do I really need for less than 3/4 of an hour's of music?

2 Guitars are coming along for this, as I have a need for a drop D guitar for certain songs. In the 3 years Since our last gig, I've gotten some new guitars, and while I do love them, I'm planning on taking my tried and true PRS's to the gig. They both play well, and their sounds compliment each other in the set. I was planning on bringing my Fender Mustang, but the 24" short scale compared to the 25" long scale is pretty wild, especially if I'm playing them both in the same set!

Right now the most important item I'm planning on bringing is a Guitar stand, Yeah I'm looking for a Dual electric one. It's no longer a good idea to have a guitar resting against an amp, waiting to slide off and go smash on the floor.I've been to gigs where I've seen that happen to other musicians, and it's not pretty.

I always seem to forget something when I finally get to a gig. A cable or something like that, nothing that would stop me in my tracks. The singer for one of my old bands once forgot his guitar amp, but that's another story..