During gigs I occasionally need to tune a string between songs. Sometimes whilst I'm playing I can detect a string might be a tiny bit sharp or flat and I'm unsure whether to try to adjust it on thr go, or wait till the song is over.
And that got me thinking, when big bands put on a huge show with dancers, outfits, choreography etc, and their guitarist realizes they need to tune between songs what do they do? Because everything is so choreographed like a theatre show, they can't really just turn to thr singer and say hold on a second whilst I tighten my G string.
I wondered if anyone has been to these kind of big shows and saw how they manage it?
Comments
In practice, IMHO ,there's usually a couple of seconds to tune a string and you'll see backing guitarists checking their tuning whenever there's a down moment so the issue doesn't come up.
If there's a song where I have a prominent intro I almost always find a way to duck out for a few seconds toward the end of the previous song so I know I'm ready, in fact I often do that even in our four-piece.
Most well set up guitars are fine after the first few songs, where even the most stable guitars need to adjust to venue and hand temperature.
I'm pretty comfortable tuning while I'm playing if I get a string go flat as long as I can hear my amp pretty well, but even those of us with excellent pitch can struggle with pitch fatigue toward the end of a long, loud set.
Lots of ways to cope on the fly without having a guitar tech crashing through the brass section towards you waving a fresh Telecaster.
I'm wearing body armour & a helmet
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
too so I could switch them remotely if he was away from the board or hit the wrong one.
(formerly miserneil)
The string section all used gut strings which are very sensitive to humidity. They did a lot of retuning.
It did help that there was another guitarist and a keyboard player in the band so it wouldn't have been the end of the world if I hadn't done it in time. And I don't sing, so I could just get on and do it.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein