FOOT ON THE STAGE MONITOR.

PBJ

Got my first band gig this evening. My main ambition is to get my foot up on the monitor and play some power chords. Is this a "Badge of Honour"?

BillDL

Personally I would stick to one spot for your first band gig.  There are too many things that can go wrong, like the wedge monitor rocking backwards and you doing the splits in mid power chord.  I tried to do a Pete Townshend windmilling thing on one of my first gigs and successfully took a chunk of skin off my thumb joint on the edge of the pickguard.

JayGee

That’s advanced level stuff. 

You need to master basic looking moody in front of the backline, put some time into your strut, at least make a start on your swagger, and get some solid posing on the drum riser down before you even think about foot on the monitor.

Also make absolutely sure that your guitar lead is long enough…

Seriously, if you feel comfortable enough with the actual playing the tunes bit to actually start moving around on stage and putting a bit of performance into your performance then by all means give it a shot. You’re supposed to be having fun up there and if you don’t at least look like you’re enjoying it then how do you expect the punters to?

Danny1969

Stage monitors used to be made of wood with heavy drivers installed and (if active) class AB amplifiers with a heavy transformer. 
Most of them now are class D with moulded plastic enclosure and weight f#ck all ... plus most  are designed for both pole mount and monitor position so have a smaller bottom to sit on ... you put your foot on one and it will just tip over

If it's some ol skool wooden box covered with carpet though go for it. 

Legionreturns

Blend old and new by standing on a pair of IEMs 

EricTheWeary

To be a proper guitar God you need a rug. Nice bit of carpet demarcating your space on stage. At this short notice something from ikea will do or that brown shaggy rug in the shed that you couldn’t get the dog sick smell out of. 

This won’t be an obvious thing to all the audience but any guitarists there will know and your band mates will see that you are taking the gig seriously and have elevated your mastery of the instrument to the next level. 

ICBM

It's a badge of something, but I'm not sure it's honour...

Jonathangus

It very much depends on what you think of this:

Roland

The Badge of Honour is surviving your first major cock up without wanting to give up. We all make mistakes. The skill is keeping your cool and getting on with the song.

CaseOfAce

I did the foot on the monitor thing at my very first gig aged 16 - and became immediately self conscious of doing so... and sheepishly retracted my foot. 

Much like the "machine gunning" move, this has to be practiced well in advance ... and when carrying out the manoeuvre, make it clear to the audience that you being 100% ironic. Or that.. tonight Matthew..  I'm going to be Steve Harris from Iron Maiden.

As regards stage moves, I once saw Steve Lukather crouch down, place his guitar on the floor and furiously strum it at the end of a Toto number. I thought it was utterly cool then and I still think so today. I have been seeking ever since to incorporate this piece of soft rock choreography into my cover band set but have yet to find the right occasion.
Trust me - it will happen - with or without the aid of alcohol. 

maltingsaudio

Yes it can look cool, but would you mind if one of the stage crew stood on your amp to fix something?

HAL9000

Also, remember to plant your feet at least a yard apart - after all you are a rock god and you need to give the ol’ cajones room to breathe.

rsvmark

There is always the ‘jump off the drum riser’ move. However, please do check that there is adequate headroom before such a move- health and safety first. 

GrahamG

I saw Bryan Adams at Wembley Arena & Keith Scott stood on one of the Monitors & it(the Monitor) fell apart with Keith Scott doing a great job of keeping his Guitar off the floor as he fell on his arse, it was of course a dummy Box with them using IEM, it was very entertaining,but he could have broke his back, so I tend to avoid it  .

PBJ

Well, after much consideration I failed. Apparently, if I moved away from my mic too much then there was feedback from my amp. The drummer came with a rug, well an off cut of carpet. I did however when all was done, throw a pic into the then half empty dance floor when the after show playlist came on. No one noticed and thankfully no one got injured. All in all though a great experience. 

pintspiller

I do it but I'm a sucker for that stuff

Musicwolf

PBJ said:

I did however when all was done, throw a pic into the then half empty dance floor when the after show playlist came on.

It can be very disheartening when someone picks it up and hands it back to you.

John_A

Check YouTube videos for throwing guitar round your body moves that have gone wrong

if you are confident playing then throwing some rock god shapes is a good thing IMO