Members Muddslide Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 I don't think your standard audience is going to notice the same changes other guitar players notice. Thread could have ended right here. 98% + of your audience isn't going to know or care what guitar you are playing. They simply won't be able to tell. And, again, they don't give a {censored}. If you are playing electric with a full band, in a room where people are ordering drinks, talking, shouting, being drunk, laughing, clapping, etc., there is negligible-to-zero awareness of minor changes in your guitar playing or sound. Even if you tried to point out the difference to them, the audienc is not going to be able to tell the difference (and again, they won't care at all, not in the slightest) between you playing a $2000 Gibson Les Paul or a $200 Chinese plywood Telecaster copy. The audience is there to have a good time and hear some tunes. It's not about your {censored}ing "tone, duuuude." I can understand having a backup in case of a string break or electronics malfunction, and I can understand if you play in different tunings. Otherwise, why change over and over? It's only gearhead geeks like us that give a {censored} or will even notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members _Idioteque_ Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 Don't even get me started on ridiculous walls of amps. Here's a photo of Slayer's live setup. This is the backline for a guitarist (Kerry King) who doesn't even know how to play guitar!!! He thinks sloppy chromatic scales and divebombing the whammy in the wrong key = solo. .. Most of those are just shells. I know this for fact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zantor9 Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 Don't even get me started on ridiculous walls of amps. Here's a photo of Slayer's live setup. This is the backline for a guitarist (Kerry King) who doesn't even know how to play guitar!!! He thinks sloppy chromatic scales and divebombing the whammy in the wrong key = solo. .. haha well Yngwie said on one of my magazines that he only uses 2-4 of his full stacks and the rest are just for him to feel powerful...literally what he said...:poke: Also that comment is awesome ha kk sux ballllllz :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Josh S Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 I don't really mind when big name guys do it - why not? When a bar band does it for no reason, that's a bit annoying, but again - why is it my business? At our shows, I use four guitars and a lap steel. The strat is my main guitar, I use a Bill Lewis for side B of Dark Side, an Esquire for Run Like Hell (since it's drop D), and a Tele Custom for Dogs (because it's tuned down a whole step)... So it's not to show off, it's because I've gotta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members prolog Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 It depends on your attitude I suppose. I personally think it's more "rock n roll" to keep the same battered Strat on stage for the whole set. It gives that one guitar more significance and in some cases, gives it an iconic status. BB King's "Lucille" and SRV's brown/black strat spring to mind. I (mostly) agree with this. Saw my favourite band at New Year's Eve, and the guitarist played all of two guitars the whole time: his battered old Nighthawk for almost everything, and a quick switch to his Strat for a single tune in Eb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brewski Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 I love guys who change guitars - it's {censored}ing entertainment dude!! it's about good music and a good show and seeing a guy with tons on different guitars enjoy them is cool (except for Malmsteen who has Strats shoved so far up his ass he plays the same thing anyways!Flow of the concert - Get over it!!Strangely, I don't mind as much when Yngwie does it. Reason being, Yngwie is not the singer, so the lead singer can keep the audience entertained on the mic while Yngwie is being a prima donna and shouting at his guitar tech. Thus the flow of the concert is not broken.It gets me more when it's a lead singer / guitarist, because regardless of how smooth the roadie or singer swaps the guitars over, it still breaks up the flow of the concert. I also don't like seeing roadies on stage during a show, it's unprofessional. Fair enough if they need to sort something like a fallen mic stand, but otherwise GTFO the stage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BoneNut Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 I love guys who change guitars - it's {censored}ing entertainment dude!! it's about good music and a good show and seeing a guy with tons on different guitars enjoy them is cool (except for Malmsteen who has Strats shoved so far up his ass he plays the same thing anyways! Flow of the concert - Get over it!! +1000000000000000000000000000000000...and get the kid some cheese to go with his whine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chadd Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 Thread could have ended right here. 98% + of your audience isn't going to know or care what guitar you are playing. They simply won't be able to tell. And, again, they don't give a {censored}. Most of them can't tell when someone sings off key either, that doesn't mean you should mail it in. I'd rather see someone use multiple guitars over the course of the night to achieve a variety of tones than one guitar and 40 different presets. If you're going to use multiple guitars, group the songs with a particular guitar together as much as possible and make the changes as quickly as you can. You should be able to keep the changes to a minimum in each set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StevenJM Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 i like it when guitarists will stick with the same guitar throughout their set. so take the 12 seconds it takes to tune after every 3 songs or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BeanoBoy Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 I really can't stand people who change guitars more than twice during a set. I can understand wanting a different tone for certain songs, or perhaps some songs use a different tuning, but I've seen guys with a rack of 10+ guitars for a 45 minute set and it's just ridiculous. There are certain famous blues guitarists who are guilty of this. Who actually needs that many guitars? How much of it is necessity and how much of it is posturing / showing off? I dig guitars. I dig when Joe Walsh changes guitars often during a set and I dig when Keith Urban changes guitars frequently as well. I love seeing an artist express himself on different guitars. I'm a guitar junkie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lp_junkie Posted March 30, 2010 Members Share Posted March 30, 2010 A long time ago I used to drag out 6 guitars a show, but we were headlining and playing 2 hours shows. The reason I did it was for different tunings, one was setup for slide, that kind of thing. But nowadays I just stick to 2 guitars one in drop D the other in Standard E. It gets to be a pain carrying that much crap on the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pigman Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 A long time ago I used to drag out 6 guitars a show, but we were headlining and playing 2 hours shows.The reason I did it was for different tunings, one was setup for slide, that kind of thing.But nowadays I just stick to 2 guitars one in drop D the other in Standard E.It gets to be a pain carrying that much crap on the road. Agreed. I don't play out often, but when I do it's not a question of how many guitars I can show off. It's a question of how many guitars I can keep an eye on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mistersully Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 if the music is good i'm happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikesr1963 Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 The majority of the time it's for different tunings. I'm surprised it took this long to be posted. A long time ago I used to drag out 6 guitars a show, but we were headlining and playing 2 hours shows.The reason I did it was for different tunings, one was setup for slide, that kind of thing.But nowadays I just stick to 2 guitars one in drop D the other in Standard E.It gets to be a pain carrying that much crap on the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sfarfsky Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 Don't even get me started on ridiculous walls of amps. Here's a photo of Slayer's live setup. This is the backline for a guitarist (Kerry King) who doesn't even know how to play guitar!!! He thinks sloppy chromatic scales and divebombing the whammy in the wrong key = solo. .. They're for show. They're not real Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jimlp Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 I got a chance to meet/hang out with Rick Neilson last summer, he had 60 guitars on the road with him. He gave us the tour of his guitars and I have to say that he had some great stuff on the road with him. here's a pic of the assortment he had for that nights performance, they played for about 45 minutes and he used them all. Some iconic stuff in there, 1978 checkerboard Hamer FTW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 Guitars are awesome. This thread idea, not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carbohydrates Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 I take three to shows. Main, backup for main, and one for alt tuning. That said, I don't give a flying {censored} if somebody buys out a Guitar Center and brings 'em on stage. In fact, I like the eye candy! The more, the better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members photon9 Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 Most of those are just shells. I know this for fact!Only 2 are mic'd lol. Kinda gives it away doesn't it?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members photon9 Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 I don't really care if someone else does it. For me I don't like changing guitars during sets. Makes sense since most of my bands have tended to be somewhat artsy and think in terms of the flow of the set instead of focusing on individual songs. Changing guitars would eff up the flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IBDBB Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 I don't mind. But then again I sympathize because I have 35 or so guitars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zooLemon Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 Wilco did this when I saw them on Monday. They always did it quickly and it never messed up the flow, but Nels had a few different guitars and Jeff changed between EVERY song. On Jeff's end there were five or six different SGs, three Teles and a Jazzmaster plus a bunch of acoustics. The two SGs he used the most were identical, so all I can think of is that they either had different guts or whenever he uses a capo (often) he has his tech tune the guitar with the capo on before bringing it onstage instead of just tossing a capo on his main guitar. Hey, if you've got the budget... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stratogirl Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 I got a chance to meet/hang out with Rick Neilson last summer, he had 60 guitars on the road with him. He gave us the tour of his guitars and I have to say that he had some great stuff on the road with him. here's a pic of the assortment he had for that nights performance, they played for about 45 minutes and he used them all. Some iconic stuff in there, 1978 checkerboard Hamer FTW! Is it a photo of Paul McCartney on that first guitar from the left? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members valentsgrif Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 The majority of the time it's for different tunings. I'm surprised it took this long to be posted. The majority of the time its because the band is being paid or comp'ed to play certain guitars by the manufacturer through promo deals. I'm surprised it took 4 pages for this to be posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted March 31, 2010 Members Share Posted March 31, 2010 all I can think of is that they either had different guts or whenever he uses a capo (often) he has his tech tune the guitar with the capo on before bringing it onstage instead of just tossing a capo on his main guitar. Hey, if you've got the budget... Slapping a capo on your guitar often pulls your strings sharp so I can understand why Jeff Tweedy would get someone else to check his tunings while he continues with the show. It's one of my pet peeves when a singer/songwriter slaps a capo on their guitar and starts playing without checking whether the damn thing is in tune. If I slap on a capo, I always check the tuning with a pedal tuner and make some comment like, "We tune because we care." It usually gets a laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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