Too many choices on stage.

[RocknRollDave]

I take two guitars to all gigs. Tele for the vast majority of the set and a Strat for the 2 songs we play in Eb tuning.

The Strat also acts as my spare, should I need it.


Ideally I'd have a third guitar which would be tuned to Open G for our version of Honky Tonk Woman, but rather than mess about with three guitars I just play it in standard tuning instead and I expect the only person who has noticed so far is me.

Thinking about it though, Honky Tonk Woman is always in our first set, the two Eb numbers always in the second, so I could just retune during the break.... There's a lesson in there somewhere about writing your set to minimise the number of guitar changes.

[erictheweary]

I take two guitars to all gigs. Tele for the vast majority of the set and a Strat for the 2 songs we play in Eb tuning.

The Strat also acts as my spare, should I need it.


Ideally I'd have a third guitar which would be tuned to Open G for our version of Honky Tonk Woman, but rather than mess about with three guitars I just play it in standard tuning instead and I expect the only person who has noticed so far is me.

Thinking about it though, Honky Tonk Woman is always in our first set, the two Eb numbers always in the second, so I could just retune during the break.... There's a lesson in there somewhere about writing your set to minimise the number of guitar changes.

When I did the blues band I played my strat and had the tele in open G for Honky Tonk Women and as possible spare. I'd then retune it during the break for open E for something I now,err, can't remember but that is what I did.

In my, if fairly limited, gigging history I've only ever played one gig without a spare. And, yes, I did break a bloody string even though I've hardly ever done so on a gig.

[failed_astronaut]

I've just joined a covers band and I'd have to agree with the versatile guitar and sensible pedal choices approach. I use a Music Man Axis Super Sport and can get pretty much every tone I need from chimey tele to balls out Les Paul with that one guitar. I guess that's the advantage of split coils. In my experience, I've never had time to faff about with guitar changes between songs!

[ICBM]

In my, if fairly limited, gigging history I've only ever played one gig without a spare. And, yes, I did break a bloody string even though I've hardly ever done so on a gig.

I've broken strings quite a few times at gigs, with no spare guitar. I just play to the end of the song and replace the string. It doesn't make me want to take a spare guitar, but it does mean that you have to use a guitar that will survive a string break without going wildly out of tune. (So no fully-floating trems that can't be locked.) If you know what to do and have the spare strings and tools to hand you can change a string in 30 seconds, so it really isn't a big hold-up, and I don't play the sort of gigs where slick polished performance matters... I think that at the type of gigs almost all of us are playing, it's unnecessary anyway.

I may be going off on a bit of a tangent here, but I find the whole "rock stars in a small pub" thing quite ridiculous. I'd far rather see some musicians just playing *live*, with all the compromises and randomness that can cause - including using the "wrong" sounds, having to interact with the crowd while Slow Hand on guitar changes a string for the third time (that's how Eric got his name, by the way... ), making mistakes and just generally being entertaining, than taking themselves far too seriously and acting like they're on Jools Holland. Different if you're in a name band at a proper venue gig of course - but even then, I find the whole touring-with-a-guitar-shop thing quite annoying. You don't see musicians other than guitarists needing to take half a dozen different instruments on stage with them. (OK, keyboard players in the old days sometimes did, but they were often ridiculed for it too.)

Or maybe I'm just a grumpy old fart .

[Lustycourtier]

A les Paul and an esquire is all I need. My Mate uses 3 Music man basses and a Ric onstage, all in same tuning!

[erictheweary]

I've broken strings quite a few times at gigs, with no spare guitar. I just play to the end of the song and replace the string. It doesn't make me want to take a spare guitar, but it does mean that you have to use a guitar that will survive a string break without going wildly out of tune. (So no fully-floating trems that can't be locked.) If you know what to do and have the spare strings and tools to hand you can change a string in 30 seconds, so it really isn't a big hold-up, and I don't play the sort of gigs where slick polished performance matters... I think that at the type of gigs almost all of us are playing, it's unnecessary anyway.

I may be going off on a bit of a tangent here, but I find the whole "rock stars in a small pub" thing quite ridiculous. I'd far rather see some musicians just playing *live*, with all the compromises and randomness that can cause - including using the "wrong" sounds, having to interact with the crowd while Slow Hand on guitar changes a string for the third time (that's how Eric got his name, by the way... ), making mistakes and just generally being entertaining, than taking themselves far too seriously and acting like they're on Jools Holland. Different if you're in a name band at a proper venue gig of course - but even then, I find the whole touring-with-a-guitar-shop thing quite annoying. You don't see musicians other than guitarists needing to take half a dozen different instruments on stage with them. (OK, keyboard players in the old days sometimes did, but they were often ridiculed for it too.)

Or maybe I'm just a grumpy old fart .

I'd have to time myself but fairly sure I couldn't do it in 30 seconds, especially as I'd be aware of people waiting. I saw someone earlier this year change a string on an acoustic mid set and totally lost the audience by the time he was done. I think, TBH, it also helps me knowing it is there - I suffer from stage nerves and get panicked about stuff going wrong so to have a Plan B is psychologically helpfull. It's also there for when [insert favourite guitarist name] happens to be in the pub and wants a jam...

[Not_the_DJ]

I certainly wouldn't want to be trying to change a string on stage mid gig.

We played a 50th Birthday party at the weekend, great crowd up and dancing and we tried to be slick going from song to song without any gaps to keep them there. Even 30 seconds to change a string would be an eternity.

Pub gigs are different, the singer tends to talk a bit more more between songs and get the banter going with the crowd, but for function type gigs we're there to get them dancing, and then keep them there!

[RocknRollDave]

When I did the blues band I played my strat and had the tele in open G for Honky Tonk Women and as possible spare. I'd then retune it during the break for open E for something I now,err, can't remember but that is what I did.

In future I shall tune the Strat to Open G for Wonky Conked Woman...albeit a little odd to be playing a set on a Tele and change to a different guitar for a Stones tune
..besides which I ain't got a gig for fecking ages now so I shall have forgotten by then anyway.

[jalapeno]

..besides which I ain't got a gig for fecking ages now so I shall have forgotten by then anyway.

I hear you, me too

Always take a spare on stage, sometimes another 3rd one in a case.

[BlindLemonAde]

Blimey!

I make do with the LP Studio, 3 amp sounds and three pedals for the entire set.

My spare is a "Double Fat" Strat (which is confusing in itself, with three humbucker sounds, one single coil sound and one "stratty half-way" sound.)

I used to play with a chap who changed guitar after every song - it really interrupted the flow of the set, with a pause after every number, but it was important for him to "get the feel, man..."