Practice/Mini Cover of "Cant Stand Me Now"

This is Miles, Sam and Matt from The Atrocities practicing the popular Libertines classic track, "Can Stand Me Now". This was the first time we had attempted to play it through as a band so it is not to good. and also, Miles guitar is louder than anything else by far (because the camera was next to his amp!)

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How to Survive a Horror Gig As a Guitarist

SCENARIO

Joe is a lead guitarist in a covers/remake band. He is a good guitarist and cool under pressure. He plays for a band called the Psycho Nymphos. They are a five piece band with two guitarist, keys, bass and drums. The other guitarist also doubles as the singer. Yet this is Joe's nightmare. As a guitarist, this scenario should induce uncontrollable trembling of all body parts and have you soiling your underwear. This, is the gig from hell.

Thinking that he starts at 10:00, Joe shows up at the venue with two hours to spare. Well, it would be two hours to spare, but Joe got given the wrong information. The Band is due to start at 8:30 and Joe hasn't even unpacked his gear yet, let alone set up. They had been trying to call Joe on his phone, but it was switched off. Joe, keeping cool, unpacks his car in a hurry and somehow manages to get everything set up only 10 minutes late. The crowd is getting restless and the bar manager is furious. Joe is keeping his cool.

No sooner than finishing his finally tune up, the Nymphos start. After another minute of working out what song to play, the Nymphos kick off their first song. It sounds terrible, with Joe's guitar to quiet and bass guitar too loud. The band plays the song half heartedly while they adjust levels and try to get things right. The crowd is wondering what the hell is going on, and the bar manager is wondering who the hell he hired and why. Joe is a little frustrated.

After standing around working out what to play next, the band begins the second song as suggested by the drummer. This one sounds better until the first chorus. Half way through the first chorus... TWANG.... Joe busts a string. Joe makes do for the time being until the solo, when he realizes that the guitar solo is going to be somewhat difficult with only 5 strings. Joe fumbles his way through until the end of the song. Joe is very embarrassed.

The band stands around for a minute or two while Joe replaces the broken string. Once that is done they kick off into the next song. This one goes OK, and the crowd seems to be getting into it a little bit more. The bar manager is starting to relax, and Joe is starting to enjoy himself.

In fact, everyone is enjoying themselves. And their beers. A little too much. The Nymphos are starting to get a little sloppy and starting to miss cues. Especially the singer. He is starting to miss when he is supposed to be coming in, and slurring words. While the boys in the band are finding it hilarious, the crowd are not. Joe is starting to get tipsy.

The next song Joe's guitar starts making funny noises, and the sound starts cutting out. Eventually Joe's guitar disappears. He randomly stomps on some pedals and realizes that there is no power. He was sure those 9 volt batteries were still good. Joe unplugs his guitar lead from the pedal board and plugs it straight into his amp. Joe is getting angry, just like the crowd and the bar manager.

Two songs from the end, the stage goes black. All the amps turn off and all that can be heard is the drummer pounding away. After a few seconds all of the Nymphos are standing around, looking stupid wondering what is going on. About 30 seconds later, the power returns. The band chats quickly and decides to start the song again. This time they get through it all. They play there last song the few remaining patrons, pack up, pick up their check and leave the bar, never to return.

Could it get any worse for Joe and his band, the Psycho Nymphos? I doubt it. But they could have survived all of these problems by being prepared. It may seem insurmountable, but I have played a gig where nearly all of this happened in one night, and we survived. It's all preparation. This is what you need to do to survive this nightmare.

ALWAYS STAY IN CONTACT

There is no excuse to be late to a gig. With today's modern communications technology, everyone has the potential to be contactable all of the time. Even if Joe got the time wrong, a simple phone call would have solved all the problems. However, it is always a great idea for a band to meet at a central location at some point before a show, and travel together "convoy" style if possible. This is a sure fire way to make sure everyone arrives on time, doesn't get lost, or can get assistance if something does go wrong.

The spill over effect of this is that when you arrive on time, you can take your time and set up properly, sound check, as well as check your equipment for problems and in general, relax before the show starts.

KNOW WHAT SONG COMES NEXT

Unless you are some freeform jam rock improv jazz type thing, you need to know what you are going to play. Every member of the band should know what song is coming next so they can prepare for it without having to debate first what song to play in the first place. Have a set list in sight for every member of the band. Know in advance what songs may require guitar changes or change of tuning so that you don't kick off the tune until everyone is ready. Moments like that are easily filled with some banter, usually between the singer and the audience.

ALWAYS KEEP A SPARE

It's not always possible, but you should aim to have a backup guitar ready to go at all times. This is especially true for a band with two guitarists like the Nymphos. With the second guitarist still playing, and your backup guitar primed for playing, it is more than feasible to switch guitars mid song. It takes about 10 seconds and looks very professional. Even if you are the only guitarist, depending on the song you can sometimes get away with it as well. However sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and get through it. Once the song is over you can grab you backup guitar and play the rest of the set without keeping everyone hanging around while you change a string. Change it between sets or if you only have one set then don't bother.

If you can't keep a spare guitar handy and need to change strings, have some backup material. This applies to all band members. You should have a song that can be played when any member of the band is incapacitated. Then any running repairs can be made while the rest of the band covers.

STAY SOBER / CLEAN / STRAIGHT

It doesn't matter what you think, you do not sound better when you are smashed. Sure, maybe to your ears, but not to mine or anyone else's. A few years ago, I remember playing a huge New Years Eve show where there were two bands. There was us playing inside, and the main band playing on the outside stage. The other band I had seen many times before and they were great. In fact they were one of the most popular bands to play this particular venue. In between sets, they were heading up to their rooms, getting stoned and drunk, then coming back down to play their set is a semi comatose state. We were inside, enjoying a few drinks between sets and keeping it together. Our sets overlapped slightly and by the end of the night, whenever both bands were playing, inside was packed and outside the other band was ignored. The following year, we were asked back to play New Years again as the only band. In fact after that New Years gig we were booked regularly to play both nights of the weekend every month (think about that for a second, we were booked for 25% of that venues available shows). It may be fun to get tanked and play, but it won't get you anywhere.

NEVER TRUST A BATTERY

To this day I still cannot believe people run their effects off batteries. It is just a disaster waiting to happen. Sure, I have batteries in my pedals that I swap out every few months. But they are the BACKUP for when some drunken idiot in the crowd falls onto the stage and pulls out a power lead or something similar. Or perhaps you accidentally leave a cable plugged in between sets and the battery drains on you. If you do need to run off battery, work out how long they last and change the battery in half that time. This should help avoid unwanted failures at critical times, and make sure you have extra batteries.

By the way, have you ever heard the sound a Tube Screamer makes when it's failing? It's awful.

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING ELECTRICITY

There is not a lot you can do about this but ride it out. Although it's not as bad as it sounds. When a venue looses power, you can be sure it will be up in less than minute unless something MAJOR has gone wrong, in which case the venue will normally shut if it is a building wide blackout. So for the next 60 seconds, what do you do? It's easy. Nobody stops. The entire band keeps playing. The singer goes to the front of the stage and starts yelling the lyrics at the crowd. I am yet to see this not work. The crowd will start singing back. When the power kicks back in the band hasn't missed a beat and the crowd will go crazy. It is slick and professional and will fire up the crowd for the rest of the night.

If it goes over the 60 seconds just finish the song and wait. Not much more you can do, but at least you tried.

JUST BE PREPARED

If you are prepared and use common sense, you can cope with any disaster. I personally have had all these issues, besides the drunken stupidity, happen in one night, and we survived by having an escape plan and sticking to it. It's not that hard to come up with your own emergency escape route, and I hope these examples can inspire you to be even more gig ready.

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Guitar Accessories? Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar?

There are a number of guitar accessories that you might want to buy for your guitar. Guitar accessories are relatively cheap and if you are buying a guitar, you might be able to pick up a good deal if you want to buy a number of accessories as well.

Here is a list of guitar accessories to consider (in order of the most popular):

Guitar bag or case
Guitar tuner/pitch pipe
Guitar strings
Effects pedals/Foot Switches
Amplifiers
Guitar stands
Plectrums (also known as picks)
Guitar Leads/Cables
Guitar straps
Guitar Capo
Guitar Slide
Headphones
Metronome
Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)
Footstool
Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)
Straplok set
Power adaptor for effects pedals

Guitar Bags and Cases

If you plan on gigging a lot or travelling on planes/trains etc. I recommend buying a guitar case, otherwise a padded gig bag will do just fine. The Kinsman guitar cases and guitar bags are a very good quality and are also one of the most popular. The Kinsman guitar bags come in three grades.

1) Standard - hardly any padding and one small pouch for music books and accessories

2) Deluxe - quite well padded, with two pouches

3) Premium - extremely well padded, with large and small pouches and a shoulder strap.

The Kinsman guitar cases are made for Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Paul shape, electric, acoustic or bass guitars.

Guitar tuner/pitch pipe

There are hundreds of guitar tuners to choose from on the market. The best brands in order of popularity* are:

Korg
Stagg
Yamaha
Intelli
Seiko
Qwik Tune
Boss
Ibanez

The two guitar tuners that stand out from the rest are the Stagg Automatic Guitar/Bass Tuner and the Korg GA-30. These two guitar tuners are sold more than any other guitar tuner on the market.

Guitar strings

It's always wise to have a spare set of guitar strings to hand. You never know when one will brake and leave you in a difficult situation.
You will need to buy steel strings for electric, bass or acoustic guitars and nylon strings for classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars

Here is a list of the top brands of guitar strings, in order of popularity*:

Ernie Ball
D'addario
Martin
Fender
Elixir
GHS
Augustine
Earthwood
Dan electro
Gibson
Markley
Newtone
Savarez
Rotosound
Darco
Dean
Elites
Thomastick
Tonesearch
Maxima
Warwick
Rickenbacker
PRS
Legacy
John Pearse
DR

Effects pedals

For some groovy sounds you will need to buy an effects pedal. The two most popular are the Jim Dunlop GCB-95 Original Cry Baby Wah Wah Effects Pedal and the Ibanez Tone-Lok Series SM7 Smash Box Effects Pedal.

Here is a list of the top brands in order of popularity*:

Ibanez
Jim Dunlop
Korg
DigiTech
Vox
MXR
Yamaha
Dan electro

Amplifiers

Amplifiers are used with electric guitars, bass guitars and electro-acoustic guitars.
You will need to buy a lead to connect up to your guitar.
There are many types of guitar amplifiers ranging from the smallest which is normally 10 watts up to 500 watts! or more:

Practice amps (these are normally quite small)

Standard amps (used for playing in bands or gigging)

Bass amps (used only with bass guitars)

Keyboard amps (used with electronic keyboards and stage pianos)

Mixer amps

Speakers and Monitors

Combo amps (also known as combination amplifiers)

Amp heads

Which brand of Amplifier do I choose?

There are a number of brands of guitar amplifiers, here is a list in order of the most popular*:

Marshall

Fender

Vox

Peavey

Laney

Line 6

Mesa Boogie

Kustom

Crate

Carlsbro

Ashdown

BB Blaster

Yamaha

Warwick

Dean

Crafter

Cruiser

Danelectro

All guitar amplifiers sound different. Some (like Marshall and Line 6) are good for Rock and Roll, others have a softer and less bright sound like the popular Vox amps and Mesa Boogie.

For beginners, I would recommend either the Peavey Backstage or the BB10 blaster amp.
The Peavey Backstage is by far the most popular and best value for money beginner's guitar amp on the market.

Guitar stands or Guitar Hangers

There are lots of different types of guitar stands, it really depends on which stand is more suited to you.
There is the standard guitar stand, the universal guitar stand, the auto grab guitar stand, the double and triple guitar stand and the wall mounted guitar stand. The standard guitar stand is the most popular and comes in three different types: i) electric/bass, ii) classical and iii) universal.

The most popular* brands are:

Stagg

Hercules

QuikLok

Giraffe

Warwick

Fender

String Swing

Ibanez

Plectrums (also known as picks)

Plectrums are very cheap and can be bought individually, or in packs.
Most commonly you can buy plectrums on the web in packs of 6.
Guitar plectrums come in different gauges. Usually the thinner ones are
used with Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars, the medium gauges with Electric and Acoustic guitars and the thickest ones with Basses.

There are lots of brands of plectrums. The most popular* are:

Stagg
Jim Dunlop
Fender
Gibson

Guitar Leads/Cables

Guitar Leads normally come in different lengths: The most common is the 15 feet/4.5 metre leads. This length is ample if you are playing in a band.

Popular* brands of guitar leads/cables are:

Ibanez
Peavey
Stagg

Guitar straps

If you want to buy a gift for a guitarist, there is nothing better than a nice leather guitar strap.

Levys and Gibson are the most famous brands of guitar straps, Levys have the most comprehensive selection.
Other guitar straps to look out for are Dickies and Wrangler.

Guitar Capo

A capo is a clamp that you can use on different frets of the guitar to change the pitch of the open strings. Each fret on the guitar is a half step. If you place the capo on the 1st fret, all of the open strings will sound a semi-tone higher than normal, this makes changing the key of a song easy.
Dunlop and Shubb are the most popular* guitar capos.

Guitar Slide

The guitar slide is a tube of some hard material about one to two inches long. Commonly, it's made from glass and metals. Each type of guitar slide has distinct characteristics, tonality, and overall sound. The guitar slide is pressed lightly against the strings so as not to touch the strings of the fret, producing a sustained tone which can be varied in pitch by moving the slide across the neck. A quick side-to-side motion is often used in this way to generate vibrato.
The most popular brand to go for is Dunlop.

Headphones

If you want to play at home but don't want to disturb your neighbours, then a good set of headphones is recommended.
Any headphones will do, so take your pick from any of the following leading brands:

Acer
Acoustic Research
Advance
Advent
Aiwa
AKG
Alpine
Altec Lansing
Amphony
Apple
Artwizz
Audio-Technica
Behringer
Belkin
Beyerdynamic
Bluetake
BoomGear
Bose
Bravo
British Telecom
Clarion
Compucessory
Cornbow
Creative Labs
Denon
Design Go
Direct Sound
Dolphin Music
Etymotic Research
Fostex
Franklin
Gainward
Gemini Sound Products
Genius
GN Netcom
Grado
Griffin Technology
Grundig
Hama
Harman Kardon
Hewlett Packard
Jensen
JVC
Jwin
Kenwood
Kinyo
Kondor Limited
Koss
Labtec
Logic 3
Logitech
Macally
Maxell
Ministry Of Sound
MM Gear
Nady Systems
Nesa Vision
Nike
Numark
Olympus
Panasonic
Philips
Pioneer
Plane Quiet
Plantronics
Power Acoustik
Pyle
Pyramid
Roland
Rosen
Samson
Sanyo
Sennheiser
Shure
Skull Candy
Sony
Stagg
Stanton
Starvision
Technics
Toshiba
Trust
Ultimate Ears
Ultrasone
Unwired
Vestax
Vic Firth
Vivanco
Wharfedale
XO Vision
XtremeMac
Yamaha
Zalman Tech

Metronome

If you want to play your guitar in time then you are going to need to buy a metronome.
You can choose from modern electronic metronomes or traditional mechanical metronomes.
Traditional metronomes look very nice and are made from either plastic or wood, they are also known as pendulum metronomes because the ticking sound is produced by a small pendulum that swings back and forth, much like the old Grandfather clocks. The Traditional wooden or plastic metronomes tend to be a lot more expensive than the electronic metronomes.

The leading metronome brands in order of popularity* are:

Wittner

Korg

Yamaha

Seiko

Qwik Time

Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)

To look after your guitar you will need to at least buy some guitar polish. Gibson produce a good guitar polish and also Doctor Ducks Axe Wax is very popular.
If you are serious about guitar playing then you might want to have a nut file, fret file or wrench set. You can keep your guitar in top playing condition.

Footstool

The guitar footstool is used mainly by Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitarists.
Their style of playing and the way they hold the guitar makes the use of a footstool quite important.

Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)

If you have lots of guitars, own a guitar shop, or tune guitars on a regular basis, the guitar stringwinder comes in handy as a real time saver. Instead of turning the guitar pegs by hand, you can use the stringwinder to speed up the process.

Straplok set

For replacing the bolt that holds on your guitar strap.

Power adaptor for effects pedals

If you use effects pedals then you will need a power adaptor to connect to the mains.

*Please note that the above article makes references to guitar accessories listed in popularity order. The popularity order of these guitar accessories is taken from http://www.Soundsmusical.com - the leading UK musical instrument website.

I hope this article has been useful and you are now more informed about guitar accessories.

If you are ready to buy some guitar accessories you can find a comprehensive selection here: Guitar accessories, tuners, bags, cases, guitar strings, stands and more...

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