Live Musician Central

Pete Townsend Winds Up To Trash The Stage

   When you’re preparing to play a gig, it’s extremely important to prepare for the unexpected. Murphy’s law seems to always rear it’s ugly head at a gig. Here are a few basic essentials every live musician can do to prepare for equipment problems and breakdowns at a gig.

   Make sure you bring some basic tools. At the very minimum you should have a Leatherman Multi-Tool and a flashlight. It’s a really good idea to have a soldering iron as well. You can fill out your toolkit with the following:

• Super Glue
• Electrical Tape
• Duct Tape
• Cable Tester or Multi-Meter
• Battery Tester or Multi-Meter
• Allen Wrenches
• Wire Cutters

   You’ll also want to have some extra basic equipment accessories such as:

• Guitar Strap
• Towel
• Strings
• Earplugs
• 9V, AA and AAA batteries
• Universal Power Adapter with various tips.
• Spare Tuner
• Picks
• Extra Cables
• Gender Benders for Mic Cables
• Plug Adapters for 1/4″, XLR and RCA
• Plug Bars and Power Extension Cords
• Grounded outlet adapters
• Ballpoint Pen and a Sharpie Marker

   You’ll want to prepare for major equipment breakdowns such as a guitar amp dying or your effects rack going out. You should have the following:

• Backup effect unit like the Korg Pandora PX5D which you can use in place of your guitar amp.
• A backup laptop if you use a computer
• An extra guitar
• Extra Microphones
• Spare Mic Stand
• Drum Key

   You should also have promo material to hand out at your shows, such as:

• Demo CD’s
• Business Cards
• Blank Contracts if you want to sign for a future show at the same venue
• Live Performance DVD’s

   You may find yourself needing some of the following personal items:

• Spare change of clothes
• Painkillers such as ibuprofen or Tylenol
• Condoms
• Deodorant
• Kaopectate for those nasty stomach cramps!

  Finally, don’t forget copies of the setlist for every member of the band. I know I’ve probably forgotten a few things but this is a good basic list that will help you deal with a lot of the problems that you’ll encounter when playing a gig.

Related posts:

1. Behringer Cable Tester CT100 - Essential Live Sound Accessory
2. Preparing For A Studio Recording Session
3. Equipment Protection - The Furman PL-Plus II Power Conditioner
4. Master Sony Acid Pro 6 With Power!: The Official Guide
5. Portable 8-track, Tascam DP-02CF Portastud (Mislabeled) Portastudio 1139

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Band Related, Stagecraft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.