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Posts Tagged ‘gig’

Piano Covers Online are proud to announce the arrival of the beautiful Fusion Guitar Bag range. Starting with the wonderful F4 range which is aimed at the serious amateur level, the prices and quality offer a great opportunity for customers to purchase a n attractive yet robust bag.

Fusion has created a gig bag range where great care has been taken to design a product that fulfills the needs of the musician.

You will see immediately that Fusion bags have been given the utmost attention to detail, style and function.
There are four exciting ranges available in a choice of colours. The high end ranges offer quality and eye catching detail. They feature the Fuse-on concept where a selection of accessory bags can be attached to the main instrument bag. The lower end ranges offer quality and style and are aimed at student level.
If you want a gig bag that not only protects your instrument but looks good, Fusion is for you.

Checkout our Fusion F4 Ranges Online Here

So you’ve rehearsed your hearts out, got your set down tight and landed your band’s first gig. What now? You need to get gig ready, that’s what! Sure, being able to put on a show is a big part of the battle, but it also helps to have a handful of insider’s tips at the ready — a list of all the little things that can help the gig go smoothly — so you don’t spoil a potentially great performance with some small, avoidable glitch. This article gives you a quick guide to having both your gear and your attitude in the right condition to pull off that first gig, and every one after it, like a pro.

Get Your Gear Ready

This should be obvious, but far too many guitarists still turn up for their first gigs (or many subsequent gigs) with gear that is in poor condition and ready to fail at any time, ruining their own playing enjoyment along with the listening enjoyment of the audience while they take a forced pause to remedy the situation. If you can’t deal with these yourself, have a pro take care of them for you, well before you’re headed up the stairs to the stage. Some things to check are …

On your guitar:

• Strings are reasonably fresh and will hold their tuning.
• Bridge, tailpiece, tuners and nut are in good condition, don’t rattle or slip.
• Pots and switches are functional, clean (not scratchy), and operate smoothly.
• Pickups are adjusted for optimum tone, free from shorts and excessive noise.
• Knobs are secure, not waiting to fall off mid solo.
• Jack is both clean and tight enough to hold the cord’s jack plug securely.
• Strap doesn’t slip off strap buttons when you start getting into it; install strap locks if it does.
• General intonation, setup and “action” are optimum for you to give your best performance.

On your amp:

• Tubes are in good condition, firmly secured in their sockets, and biased correctly (if applicable).
• Pots and switches are clean (not scratchy) and functional.
• Any channel or effects or boost switching works correctly, and you have the appropriate footswitch.
• Speaker(s) mounted securely inside the cab, without rattles or buzzes when you play at gig volume.
• Speaker connected to amp output with correct speaker cable, and correct impedance match between the two.
• And, if it’s an older amp, ensure a grounded three-prong AC power cord and plug have been installed by a professional (this is a major safety issue when you start playing with a PA and other plugged-in instruments).

Affects and accessories:

• All pedals have fresh batteries, or AC/DC adaptor is connected and working correctly.
• All guitar cords and effects pedals patch cords are in good condition and short free.

Gig Bag Must-Haves

In addition to having all of the working components of your rig in good playing condition, you will want to carry plenty of spares in your “gig bag” (not the gig bag your guitar rides in, but a weekend bag that holds all your accessories and extras). You can’t necessarily be prepared for every single thing that might go wrong with your equipment at a gig, but as a good rule of thumb you should try to carry spares of everything that might be considered “consumables,” along with a few other handy items. These include:

• Strings
• Picks
• Cables (cords)
• Batteries
• Amp fuses
• Amp tubes (a known-good spare for every tube position)
• Slide (bottleneck), if you use one
• Capo, if you use one
• Spare AC extension cable with power strip
• Duct tape/gaffer tape

Another biggie: it’s really worth having a spare guitar if at all possible, so you can grab it on the fly if you break a string, or if your main instrument develops some fatal flaw. Tune it before the set, right before tuning your No. 1 guitar and set it on a stand within easy reach. If you can’t afford a functional spare, and you’re in a two guitar band, see if you can at least acquire or borrow one spare to share between you (hopefully you won’t break strings at the same time), or ask a sympathetic guitarist in a band on the same bill if he doesn’t mind having one available “just in case.”