A Gig Check List For The Band

Don't forget your cord bag and pick up the laptop case by mistake when your playing 40 miles away. And it is advisable if you have to have many cords to make sure before the gig, that they are still good. Always have extra strings, picks, and probably an extra strap. A spare guitar comes in handy when a string breaks during a set.

Important! Do not, under any circumstances, stop the song, for any reason. If a string breaks, go to a chord form on a different string. If a strap comes loose (and you didn't already drop the guitar) prop your leg up on an amp or a monitor. Also, don't forget batteries for the stomp boxes or your own drop cord for your amp and processors. It also doesn't hurt to have extra processors or stomp boxes. Honestly, it doesn't hurt to have an extra guitar or two. Different tunings are cool to get different sounds so the songs don't sound the same.

Bass head stock photo courtesy pjhudson

Always have extra sticks. Make sure your kit doesn't do the kick-drum-scoot. A small carpet remnant under the whole kit does wonders. Make sure not to hit microphones on your kit during the gig...sigh... Make sure your heads are good and your lugs aren't stripped.

Check drum tuning frequently. If your are going to be playing an outside venue, make sure you carry some (preferrably white) towels to cover the heads, and hopefully enough to cover any skins exposed to sunlight. Your kit will be damaged by extreme temperatures and/or direct sunlight. The glue that holds the skins can start releasing causing bubbles.

Extra wingnuts, springs, duct tape (or hillbilly bandaid), and don't forget a spare drum key!

Are you miking for a recording? Mics and cables are a must. Do you have a separate mixer to send the board a stereo signal? Got your send cables? Stands? Zip ties? Gaffers tape comes in handy too...

Photo Courtesy taliesin

I can't stress enough about all of the tricks of keeping your voice for an entire 4 hour or longer gig. Especially if you do AC\DC covers or death metal.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Keep water in a cooler on stage with you! An extra microphone, and some extra cords and or batteries (for a wireless set) would be helpful. Make sure your stand's set screws aren't stripped out so it won't hold your microphone.

At an outdoor venue, make sure you have mic screens (you know, those nerf things that cover your mic) so the wind doesn't interrupt the sound. A quick fix is to tie a rag around it, and if you go decorative with it, it could possibly be a band branding.

The awesome shot provided by Flying Pete

Yeah, okay, usually someone in the band ends up taking the flak for this one. Make sure the band does some warm up songs. They need it and so do you, to set your levels. In a building; the less people, the less volume, the more people, the more volume.

Don't forget your extra cables. Jumpers, D-I boxes, extra microphones, mic cords, power extension cords, surge protectors, and every thing else you can think of. Don't forget that cord that goes from the head phone jack on your laptop to the RCA jacks on your board, either.

Worse case scenario? Make sure to bring a soldering iron or some wire nuts for emergency amp or cable repairs.

One key rule to remember for all amps too. If it is over half volume (amp gains, crossover or equalizer levels, or soundboard sliders at unity) you need a bigger amp. But the gig isn't the time to start finding this out.

Also, don't forget the rule of thumb: No speaker wires in the loop before the amps. Nobody likes that 60 Hz buzz. Shielded cables only, before the amps. After the amps, it doesn't matter too much, I use regular cable because our speakers are jumpered to 2 ohm and we need LONG cables, and shielded ones would be out of our price range.

Also, however, it is possible to sound loud with small equipment if you match everything together. So shop smart when picking the equipment. Again you should have done that research before your first gig.

Photo courtesy of rollingroscoe

Extra bulbs and gels are cool to have around. It is also good if you want a combo color like purple or orange, buy the color, don't color mix at the gels. Gels that a sandwiched will build up heat in between the gels and cause at least premature failure. And though they are as heat resistant as possible, they will melt as they are plastic.

Make sure the place's electrical can handle your system. There are some good lighting systems out there for not too bad of money but even the cheap ones can use up the kilowatts. Nothing is more embarrassing to a band than to blow a breaker in the middle of a show. So a little math might be a neccisary evil here. Make sure the plug ins you are hooking to are rated for the wattage of lights you are pulling juice to.

Also, don't forget to top up the smoke juice. While not as noticable when something goes wrong with the smoke, it does add a lot to the effects of the lights, so I would suggest making sure a preventive maintenance schedule be run before you load up the equipment, to make sure your stuff works.

Make sure your racks and trees are adjustable, because the place you play this weekend may not have as high of a ceiling as the place last weekend, and you don't want to get there and need a pair of pliers that you left at the storage/garage.

There is much more, but these are the basics.

Get plenty of rest before the gig. It's usually not a good idea to eat too soon before but make sure your not hungry during the gig. Again, and not just for vocals either, hydrate. Most places will supply water or let you bring your own. We usually go out for a big breakfast after a gig. Well, if we made any money that is...

Be sure you know the gig area before you load up to go. An outdoor gig? Need a tent? Plenty of electric, will you need more audio support, need to even bother loading the lights?

How about an acoustic gig? Got somebody to snap your pics? Grab some video footage for youtube?

A full stage? Are you going to be as loud as the DJ/MC for the night? Are you supplying the between set audio? Will they let you even use those six smoke machines you just loaded?

Don't forget the song list. Don't forget a sound check. Don't forget to bring the guitars... um yeah, that one... or the cymbal bag... (cough cough)

Anyway, have fun with this. It can make you money. It can be a pain, but don't forget, no matter what you are doing this gig for, the music is what it is about. When it stops being fun, then quit. Nobody wants to have a band that hates what they are doing.