I won’t go into practice or warmup methods… but more so… preparing for comfort.

Even though I am not a prepared person… like… I don’t plan ahead much and I’m not an OCD type either, but preparing your bag and stuffs for a gig is important…

I don’t know how many times I’ve gigged… must be over 100, however you still manage to go through new problems/situations every now and then, I’ll put down here a list of habits I picked up over the years.

  1. Take two guitars… many reasons: string breakage, electronics issues, guitar “doesn’t feel right”, etc, always just take two guitars, and.. there are some nice gigbags that carry 2 guitars at once 🙂
  2. Take two amps heads… the only time I took just one amp… i broke the power toggle switch when hitting the breaks hard in the car and gear moving around. For this reason I have loads of amp heads and I always take two… they don’t have to be the same… but find a small, cheaper if needed amp head as spare, I recommend the Orange OR15
  3. Little bag for the stage: this is kind of your medical emergency kit…
    • Nail clipper
    • Set of strings
    • Fastfret! Yes.. this product is awesome! If your strings or your hand feels sticky after a few songs… a rub of fastfret can be a life saver.
    • Extra Strap locks: I use the plastic d’addario ones
    • Fuses… they cost a penny… but if you are in a situation where you need one… you’d pay hundreds for one… check your amp fuses and take some spares
  4. A bigger bag! Not for stage: this is like a sports duffle bag where I have all sorts of cables, mind you that sometimes we do our own PA, what’s inside?
    • Speaker cables
    • Guitar cables
    • Power leads
    • XLR cables
    • USB cables
    • Phone charger
    • Power leads for pedal board if needed

I think that covers everything I take, stuff will happen, I haven’t had many gigs where stuff goes wrong, dodgy cables, sudden static sound, you name it… what’s important is to keep it cool and revise your connections, you might have to ask the band to stop or maybe you get away with it while they play.

It is of the utmost importance to understand your equipment, your connections, your rig as a whole, you must be the expert on it, it’s weaknesses and strengths, because when shit goes wrong… it’s you out there.

I hope the above helps, good luck gigging!