Lead Guitarists, is 3 Guitars for 1 Gig Too Much

[chris m.]

Nowadays they have electronic tuners that can show you the pitch of all six strings at once, so you can quickly re-tune them all. I bet with a little practice you could re-tune a hardtail down a half- or whole-step in under a minute. Just need the front man to run a little interference with some light banter while you do it. A floating bridge, not so much.

 

[telequacktastic]

I can't imagine retuning down or up a half step or two during a show. I have enough to worry about without that. But that's me.

That's something people talk about but you don't see people do it.

 

[basher]

Good lord, make your life easier and bring a guitar for every tuning you're going to use. Do you really want everybody to stand around and stare at you while you're retuning? Do you really want your freshly retuned guitar to creep out of tune while you're playing? What if your set list has you retuning between each song? It's so much less stressful to just grab another axe and jump in.

 

[TwoBear]

So we're really saying that instead of two-guitar gig bags, someone needs to start making three-guitar gig bags.

I can't imagine retuning down or up a half step or two during a show. I have enough to worry about without that. But that's me.

3 guitar gig bags? Hands on hips-with a hero stance— that’s a job for duct tape Velcro and spray adhesive!!!

 

[DavidP]

...nothing worse than having to do a full retune between songs. FWIW, I always have a backup just in case, but there are also songs in drop-D and open-G tuning. I can do the drop-D adjustment on the fly, but the open-G songs are put at the beginning or end of a set -- that way one gets tuned prior to the respective set, retuned after, and I gamble that I don't break string on the A440 tuned guitar in that set (yeah, living on the edge, I know!) Of course, life would be less complicated with that 3rd guitar on standby.

 

[Blue Bill]

My answer is: How much are they paying? Or, how much fun do you think it will be? The more money/fun available, the more you might consider putting up with some goofiness.

 

[northernguitar]

We just play everything in Eb. No one knows any better. I bring a backup for emergencies.

 

[loopfinding]

We just play everything in Eb. No one knows any better. I bring a backup for emergencies.

lol yeah, my first thought. pick the tuning (E, Eb, D) in which every song is comfortable for the singer. no one in the audience cares.

keeping a guitar in an open or non-standard alternate is one thing, but this is just being overly fussy.

 

[SlimGrady]

I absolutely take two guitars to a gig, Standard and Open G, and am working towards taking three for other alternate tunings (Half Step down) or just a different flavor.

Or the two electrics and one acoustic, so yeah three is seeming like its going to be my standard set up.

 

[wulfenganck]

My main band is a 6 piece, two singers, keyboard (and vocals), me on guitar and occasional vocals, bass and drums.
We can do a 3 hours set with 4, 5 or 6 players, of course some variations in the arrangements.
When we're all up to the gig, I get a bit crazy....taking a lapsteel on a stand, a nylon acoustic for a couple of songs and even a baritone for a couple of tunes we only do, when the keyboarder joins.
When we're reduced to a 4-piece, I usually stick to one guitar (with a second for emergency).

I'm also in a duo with a singer, she does occasional percussions, we use a drum computer for a couple of songs and also a looper (KT Tunstall-style with loops on spot, no pre-produced loops).
We did a set where I had my hollowbody as main guitar, a nylon-acoustic for some latin/samba stuff, a resonator for some delta-blues, a bass for 2 weird songs with drum computer and a couple of tunes on the ukelele. Changing instruments became a kind of running gag for the gig, it felt slightly blown out of proportion, but the audience found it funny......

 

[telequacktastic]

We just play everything in Eb. No one knows any better. I bring a backup for emergencies.

This was my thoughts exactly... It's brash and irresponsible to just sit up on your high horse and ignore your personnel like that.

 

[Jimclarke100]

Long time back now, but I’d regularly take 3 or 4 guitars to gigs. Base choice was my Ric 330, a 12 string electric and an acoustic then I’d often take my Tele as a backup / alternate.
Now I play mostly acoustic, but I’d still be looking at three of four instruments for a full gig: a standard tuned acoustic (also used for drop D and DADGAD; an Open C acoustic; a 12 string and a Weissenborn.
I like the variety of sounds - or maybe its just I just can’t stick to one thing.

 

[Controller]

Not to brag, but I can retune faster than I can change electric guitars on stage.

Heck, I can retune behind my head with earplugs in standing on one leg.

 

[northernguitar]

lol yeah, my first thought. pick the tuning (E, Eb, D) in which every song is comfortable for the singer. no one in the audience cares.

keeping a guitar in an open or non-standard alternate is one thing, but this is just being overly fussy.

Singing those songs written in standard a half step down is a huge boon for us 50-something, average singers. I’ve heard rumours that older bands like KISS are tuning as low as C#.

 

[chris m.]

My band plays with horns so we're very comfortable playing in horn keys like Bb, Eb, F, while staying in standard tuning.

I totally understand the desire to drop tuning in order to play in key of E and A fingerings while producing lower tones, but
in some ways I also find it a bit silly, at least for electric guitar. Acoustic guitars obviously sound dramatically different when using open chords rather than bar chords. But rock and roll? Just play those E-shape and A-shape bar chords, wherever.

 

[Marc Morfei]

I would take a bunch of guitars if I had someplace to put them and someone else to carry them.

 

[nojazzhere]

I wish I could find the clip, but there's a video of Neil Young playing a solo acoustic set (in England I think)......and he has about twenty acoustics in stands on stage with him. At the beginning of one song, he's walking around this "crowd" of guitars, trying to find the one tuned for the next number. Yeah....he plays it for a laugh, but it is hilarious.

 

[ucnick]

Always 2. Used to take 3, but decided to keep quantity of gear to a minimum.

Besides standard tuning, I also play slide in open E and D on a few songs, so usually one is in standard and the other is in whichever open tuning I need for that set. We arrange the sets so I need standard and one of the alternates.

That being said, if I bring one of my G-Force Gibbys to allow me to retune on the spot, I still always bring a spare. ALWAYS. Murphy is always lurking about and will always strike when least appreciated, no matter how well prepared...

 

[drmordo]

I always bring two. So one more isn't really an issue.

That said, if it was my gig, I'd be tempted to bring my Variax and just set it up with the three different tunings.

 

[loopfinding]

My band plays with horns so we're very comfortable playing in horn keys like Bb, Eb, F, while staying in standard tuning.

I totally understand the desire to drop tuning in order to play in key of E and A fingerings while producing lower tones, but
in some ways I also find it a bit silly, at least for electric guitar. Acoustic guitars obviously sound dramatically different when using open chords rather than bar chords. But rock and roll? Just play those E-shape and A-shape bar chords, wherever.

To my ear open position stuff just sounds better with a lower tuning. But closed position stuff in D or lower doesn’t sound as clear if you keep the same fingering (thinking like if you have a jazz standard you play between the 3rd and 10th frets and then all of a sudden it’s one or one and a half steps lower...you have to reconfigure stuff).

With Eb I don’t think you really miss anything either way, it just makes open stuff a little thicker/smoother.