A word of warning: I was at a gig recently where the guitar player in the band complained of getting electric shocks from the micrphone he was singing into. If this happens to you; STOP. Your life could be in serious danger! This is often caused by an earth problem somewhere in your system. One of the most common faults is caused by lifting the earth connection in the amps plug! Most guitar players are not expert electricians and often find that when their guitar is giving out annoying buzzes, instead of getting the shop to fix it they discover that can lose this by lifting the earth wire on their amplifier. Quite often this is left for years and forgotten about when they sell the amp on. If this amp suddenly develops a serious problem and needs to send a lot of power to earth, it won't be able to and will have to find the next available route. The aforementioned power could well find that through the lead to your guitar, then your strings, then YOU, then the microphone, and through the PA to it's earth! The net result is that YOU ARE DEAD!. It probably won't happen but it does to a few people every year. So PLEASE don't be the next one.

Guitars. Looking after your axe will pay massive dividends throughout your career. - (To the top)

A badly set up guitar does nobody any favours. It won’t stay in tune and will sound pretty damn bad. It will also piss off the sound guy who’s got to live with the results and is not exactly going to win you any fans!. So, here’s a basic guide to looking after and setting up your axe.

1. Lubrication
   Every string on a guitar must be able to move whilst being tuned without sticking to the resting points at either end. If the string cannot ‘glide’ over the nut or the saddle, it will retain tension between the tuning peg and the nut or the ball-end and the saddle. Whilst playing the guitar that tension can be released causing the string to go out of tune. It is absolutely essential to eliminate this. To do this lubricate the points where the strings can stick by using graphite as a liquid or a pencil. The best is sold by Stewart-MacDonald in the States. Check out the website, as they supply everything you’ll ever need to look after your guitar, and they’ll post it over to you straight away!
2. Intonation
   Intonation is all about the length of the string. New strings may be the right length but the distance between the nut on your guitar and the saddle can be changed as often as you change your boxers. The small horizontal screws behind the saddles of your guitar change the position of the saddle. The small Allen key sockets in the saddles adjust the height of the strings away from the fretboard, also known as the action. To set the intonation it is essential to use an electronic tuner. Tune the guitar then play the 12th fret harmonic (place your finger lightly on the string directly above the 12th fret and pluck. The string should keep ringing when you remove your finger) then play the fretted 12th fret as normal. The notes should be the same. If the harmonic is lower (Flat), shorten the string by moving the saddle towards the neck. If it is higher (Sharp), lengthen the string by moving the saddle away from the neck. Remember, every time a saddle is moved back and forth, or up and down, the individual string needs to be retuned before comparing the harmonic and fretted note. Once you have all the strings playing the same note on the 12th fret harmonic as the 12th fret itself, your intonation is perfect!
3. Action
   The action is the height of the strings relative to the fretboard and can be adjusted by using the height adjustment screws in the saddle. In rare cases you may need to raise the height of the nut but this is not advisable and should be left to a luthier like the wizard in the basement of R’n’B Music. To adjust the action use the screws on the saddle. The strings should be as low as possible without causing ‘fret buzz’. Usually you’ll have to settle for a compromise.
4. Looking after the electrics
   The tone and volume controls on your guitar are highly designed pieces of gear. They must be looked after, and cleaned regularly. Next time you are re-stringing your axe, take a few minutes to do so. On most guitars the scratch plate will only be held on by a few small screws. Once you have removed them you will be able to lift the plate clear with the controls on-board. A couple of wires will stop the plate going too far, careful not to snap them! Underneath the volume and tone controls you’ll see potentiometers, known simply as ‘pots’. In each pot you’ll see a small hole into which you should spray some switch cleaning fluid. The best on the market is called “Sevisol” which can be bought in Maplins or any good electrical retailer for under a fiver. Spay a good amount into the hole then turn the pot backwards and forwards several times. This should clean the contacts and give you a much better result. Dirty pots are pretty noisy!
5. Last, but by no means least, cleaning your axe!
   Please don’t waste money on expensive guitar polish. It’s a complete rip-off. A clean rag with some ‘Pledge’ or any household furniture polish does the job just as well. Clean it as often as you can and it will repay you in years of service. A guitar that looks healthy most often is healthy. If you can find any Lemon Oil (Commonly used as furniture polish in the states or as wood treatment here) it is very good news for your fretboard. Splash it on and leave it somewhere warm for a while to let the lemon oil soak in, then clean off the excess and finish the job with Pledge.

   Now it's time to hit the road! - (To the top)

   Traveling can be dangerous, especially for guitars! I traveled the northern hemispheres for several years as guitar tech' for many acts and learnt one lesson that you really should learn before you make the deaded mistake. A good pal of mine recently came seriously close to losing his guitar on a flight. When you hand your guitar over to the check-in desk at an airport there are two simple precautions to take which will, or should, ensure you get it back in one piece. Firstly it needs to be in a better case than just a soft 'gig-bag'. When it's thrown into that cargo hold, as it undoubtly will be, and a large, and much heavier case lands on top of it, it will stand a much better chance of survival in a decent case. Secondly, and even more importantly, when your flight reaches a certain altitude there will be a severe drop in temperature in the cargo hold. This will cause the metal strings on your guitar to contract seriously. As they are attached to each end of the neck on your guitar there's a pretty high chance that it's going to be "goodbye neck". It would be a very good idea to detune, or even better, remove those strings beforehand. NB: For the record, my aforementioned friend was lucky. His flight was only a short hop down to london and serious altitidues didn't come into it!

   That stitch in time can save 9 million later on! - (To the top)

   'Tech Specs' aka technical specifications. That may sound like the sort of stuff that you only need to think about when you are signed and on tour with people paid to worry about it on your behalf. If that's what you think then listen up, you need to get a grip! The gig is booked and you are planning how you are going to travel and what songs you are going to play. At the same time, the sound engineer in the venue you plan to visit is considering what gear, and what staff, they are going to need on the night of your gig. If you waste the local promoters cash needlesly you are somewhat unlikely to get an other gig from them. So if your act is just you with an acoustic guitar, then it might be a good idea to let them know in advance. If you turn up and they have hired in a 48 channel Midas desk with a six-way monitor mix and racks full of outboard gear, you are going to be pretty unpopular. Not a likely senario I realise but it is always a good idea to let the local crew know what you plan to bring gear wise in order to reassure them that they can cope with your act on the night. If your act contains a 16-piece orchestra, several keyboards and racks full of samplers needing individual DI's, then turn up to find that the venue has a six channel vocal PA and a soap-box for a stage, you obvioulsy didn't do your homework!

   Watch that clock! - (To the top)

   Stage times will be worked out by the promoter in advance of the show. You'll need to sort out with him in advance how long you are going to play. He should then work out with the local crew how long each soundcheck will be and give each band a copy of the running times for the whole day. The time you are given as your get-in time is the time you must be at the venue. You should then make sure that someone, usually the promoter, knows that you are there. You should then find a space to set up whatever gear you can before your soundcheck is due to start. There is nothing more irritating for local crews than watching a band sitting around a venue before their soundcheck only to start setting up their gear during the time allocated for the soundcheck. You can set up most of the drum kit on the floor beforehand then lift it up onto the stage in sections to save a lot of time. Get those guitars tuned before the soundcheck as well! Set times have to be adhered to. They are not just for guidelines. If you go on-stage late, you will still have to come off at the pre-determined time. If not then don't be suprised if the PA is switched off and the lights come on. If you come off late then the next band go on late etc etc. If you decide to be "Rock'n'Roll" and stay on stage anyway, you will simply piss off the very people who are extremely valuable to the continuation of your carreer, the local promoters and crews, not to mention the bands on afterwards! You are also likely to earn a reputation as trouble and those future bookings will become less and less likley.

   The bizzz - (To the top)

   So you're in a band? You want to take over the world, become the biggest thing since "Busted" and be adored by the next generation. So where do you start? For many aspiring musician's signing that elusive major record deal with a mega record label is the begin all and end all. But is that really that case? Sorry to spoil your dreams but signing a major deal is actually a bit like being given a season ticket to Pittodrie. It may well also be you kissing goodbye to the money you associate with the fame! Imagine you are standing at the bottom of Ben Nevis. There's a big fence around the whole mountain and at the summit there's a pot of gold. That deal is actually the key to the gate in front of you. Once you have turned it in the lock you are about to start to climb the countries biggest mountain. Oh, and by the way, there's a lot of other bands who all want to beat you to the top! In real terms that record deal is the very start of your battle. You now have to learn the rules of play and work much harder than you did before if you want to succeed. I could not recommend more the advantage of doing it without the financial mess involved with a major recording contract so please read the page called Major Deals!

   To help you on your way the label will lay on several different teams or departments who's jobs are to assist and advise you. A major label will have a:

   • Marketing department who will hire the coolest artists to design the artwork for your cd's and the best (and usually most expensive) photographers to do the photo-shoots. They will also make sure your cd's are stocked in Virgin and HMV's around whatever territories your deal includes.
   • Promotions department who will get your tour poster on the market wall in Eastenders, or your music used in TV adverts or on childrens education programs. They will also get you on TV programs like The Chart Show or whatever as well as local radio, and eventually national.
   • A&R department who act as the link between the band's management and the label. They are the people you work with most of the time and of course the people who find up-&-coming acts which they recommend to the label bosses to sign up. (By the way 'A&R' actually stands for "Artiste and Repertoire" as that is what they represent to the label).
   • Press department who's job it is, funnilly enough, to get you media attention and good press! they are the people who will get your gigs reviewed in the NME or your cd's pre-viewed in Kerrang or Record Collector.
   • Legal and corporate affairs department who look after the cash! When you need money for your next tour (Tour Support) you have to go cap in hand to their door on the top floor. When you want to get a guy in another band to play on your next single they will negotiate with his label for "sideman clearance", etc. You MUST always remember that no label on the planet will pay for anything without expecting you to pay it back! That includes everything like the sandwiches at meetings with the A&R guy, or the taxi that picks you up at the airport to take you to meet the producer who will do your album! EVERYTHING!!!
   They may also have other departments depending on how large the label is but that covers most of the basics.

   The record company is only one player on your team. There are also other players that you will need to find and somehow bring onboard before you stand a chance. One of the most important is the agent. Without a good agent you will never get onto those tours with the bands you aspire to, or into those venues around the country and the world who will be prepared to take a risk on you before the world has ever heard your name. A good agent must be a big fan or he's never going to put the hours in, and he must be well respected in the industry, especially by the army of unknown promoters around the globe. You will also need a good manager and a good backline crew. The best manager for your band is not going to be the guy who handles U2 or Radiohead. He won't have time to even think about your career. The best guy for you is your mate who knows Idlewild's manager, and drives the van to all your gigs. He's probably your most devoted fan and has a bit of a clue as to what's going on in the music industry around you. Hopefully he will also have a good way with people and will be able to persuade the local venue to offer you a gig on the best night of the week. The same should not be said about a good crew. By the way, the phrase backline means the band's gear, ie; drums, guitars, amps etc. Frontline is lighting etc. It's well worth spending a bit of cash on someone who can look after your backline well. A backline tech' is also known as a roadie by the way, but I hate that word, it's only used by people who don't know what they are talking about! There are plenty of good technician's out there looking for gigs. They will look after you for between 10-30 quid per gig which may seem a lot but is a very wise investment. Later in your career that fee will rise tenfold! You'll be glad you spent the cash if your gear breaks down in the middle of that set and some guy in the audience turns out to be checking you out for the main stage at Glastonbury! Also remember that your crew are the guys who will deal with the headline act directly and the local crew wherever you go. Beware of the "wannabe" crew out there! A lot of the time your life will be in his hands as crew usually drive the tour bus when you are on the road, and all the time your show is in his hands!!

   You will also need to find a good sound engineer to work, and stay with you through as much of your career as possible. That's harder than backline crew as engineers tend to be a freelance bunch whos art is in great demand. Again, a guy who has come up with the band can be great but make sure he can do the job you are paying him, or her, to do. Another very important job is that of the lampie who looks after the lights whilst you strutt your funky stuff on-stage. Lighting can make or break a show as much as your playing or the sound can. A good lampie will have imagination and won't settle for a few colored gels in par cans at the front of the stage. A famous story about a great lampie is often told by Bruce Findlay who managed Simple Minds in the heat of their sucess. He tells of a show that they all turned up to in America to find the only lighting was a strip light above the stage. Their lampie spent a mere few dollars on a UV bulb and a box of white toilet paper which he threw unceremoniously around the stage. The lights go down, the uv goes on, and you can imagine how that looked! It's always worth finding the right guys! Unless you have signed away all the merchandising rights to your label you will in time need someone to handle that. A merchandiser will man the T-Shirt stall whilst you are on-stage and nas to be 100% trustworthy. They often double up as drum technician's or even managers at the start of your life on the road! It may seem a luxury you can live without but it's pretty important if you want to claw back some of the cash you will lose as a touring band. It's worth remembering that as your status and the size of your gigs grows, so will the costs, The biggest bands on the planet still don't make a profit on touring, except on merchandising, which always pays for the tours!

   So it's really quite a big team, and each member is critical to the sucess of your career in one way or another. The label can't help you much there. It's your manager's job to find the right team, and he is one of the most, if not the most important member. The recording deal is only one part of the story, and certainly not the most critical.

   Contracts - (To the top)

   At some point in your career as a band you will be asked to sign on the dotted line for something. Be warned. Even though what you are signing may appear to be unimportant or even irrelevant, your signature is legally binding and you ought to have it checked before you agree, even verbally, or sign anything. There is loads of free advice about contracts on the Musicians Union website here and if you join the MU you can get free legal advice for your band from one of Scotlands 2 music business lawyers. It's worth pointing out that music business law is very different from standard law and even if your parents say that their lawyer mate will check a contract out, get it checked by a music business lawyer as your family lawyer won't understand the possible flaws that you are about to agree to.

   Bah humbug!... - (To the top)

   And another thing.. demos. Are you one of those bands who reckon that demos should be sent off to Mr A&R Scout at Joe Bloggs Records in London so he can sign you at your next Malt Mill show and take you off to the Bahamas to record the album? Dream on. I am not convinced that any band has ever been signed from an A&R scout just listening to a demo. I do believe that any A&R scout who has time to sit in an office listening to demos is in the wrong job. Any A&R scout worth your attention will have his ear glued to the local vibe and be found in the departure lounge of your local airport reading a copy of the local rag from small-towns-ville. To keep his job and his career prospects intact he will want to recommend the signing of a band whom he knows can deliver more than just a couple of cool tunes in a studio. A band must therefore first prove that they are a developing act capeable of doing the damage at street level. He is looking out for a band creating a buzz locally, and then even better, outside their own area. If he sees the same bands name appear in their local rag as a happening act, then in a local rag in Edinburgh or Glasgow, that's the band he wants to check out. If he calls the guy in the local radio station and hears the same name, or someone he knows inside the industry tips that band in a conversation down his local one night. He's hooked. Then, and only then, he'll make the all important call to find out if there's a demo. Even then you shouldn't post off your demo. Unless you belive that it's the very best recording you can do, and are happy to pin your chances on it. What better way to wet an A&R scout's appetite for more than to tell him - no, you don't have a demo you want to send him, but that you are playing some live shows soon in Aberdeen, or wherever, so why doesn't he check you out doing what you do best, and on your turf?

   Whilst on the roll... - (To the top)

   And another thing.. Labels. Who needs 'em? In these 'dot com' days do we really need any labels to tell us what to buy and to project our up-&-coming artists to stardom? If the whole world is heading towards a global marketplace where we don't even leave home to buy a pint of milk at the corner shop but instead click a button to have some Napster-clone deliver the latest albums directly to our desktop, then will there soon be any need for the major label dominance of the music industry? Why don't we all start our own one-man-and-a-dog labels and unleash the power at our fingertips upon the masses? We can record our bands music with programs bottled up inside our computers using a soundcard as the interface between man and machine. We have no geographical boundaries to define our markets. Nobody can tell us what music to release and if we don't want to pay any licenses, who's going to stop us? (Here comes that legal letter from the BPI! British Phonographic Industry) So why do we still have major league businesses deciding our tastes and our consumer policies? Answers by email please. :-)

   Whilst on the subject of cash from labels there is one point that never seems to hit home hard enough. "There's no such thing as a free lunch". Every penny that you receive from any label is merely a loan. You have to pay every penny back from your royalties! Don't ever forget that!!

   Stagecraft - (To the top)

   You're bound to ignore everything on this page, but that's OK, normal I suppose! I'm speaking from several years of experience working with bands and until you've been playing live for a few years, the advice here will go in one ear and out the other. Just like it did for me when I was studying the music 'biz' at college in the late 80's. It's still worth reading though, as it may come back to you later on and start making sense!

   1: Tuning.

   A big part of the battle to win hearts and minds is all about being professional. One of the biggest and most common 'turn offs' as far as that's concerned is 'audible tuning' on stage. If you have your act together there should be very little need to actually tune at all during your set anyway. You should have at least one spare guitar on a stand close by which you can switch to when your tuning starts to sound a little off. Someone you know could be off-stage with a tuner and could be tuning those spare guitars whilst you are using the others. He or she is also there if you break a string so make sure you have plenty spares in your gig bag! Another very useful tool is the on-stage tuning pedal. There are two fantastic 'stomp-boxes' available. One is made by 'DOD' the other by 'Boss'. Both go between your guitar and your amp and will mute the sound whilst you tune so the audience don't have to listen to that terrible sound of you tuning your axe!

   2: Power.

   • Batteries are evil. They may be handy and a lifesaver in emergencies but they need constantly replaced and will always fail when you need them most! The only time they are necessary is in an active bass. If you have such an instrument PLEASE replace them at least every few gigs. You may not notice that you have to turn your amp up a little further every time you play but the engineer will have a major problem if he's getting a whisper out of your bass instead of a shout. Give him a break and change those batteries regularly. For the rest of you get rid of those batteries. Pedals should be powered by a 9-volt distribution box/power supply. The best I know is made by 'Frontline' and will supply 9-volt power to about 8 pedals, however I've not seen one advertised anywhere for some time and don't know if they still make them. I saw a nice one here recently very cheaply. A very wise investment indeed.
   • '4-Gangs'. You MUST take power distribution along with you to every gig. Neither the venue or the PA company are obliged to supply 240 volt mains sockets to within a few feet of where you want to place your amps. You need to bring along a few '4-gangs', those essential gadgets with a plug on one end of a length of mains cable and 4 sockets on the other.
   • Which ring? Anyone who knows a thing or two about electrical wiring will tell you that in a building all the sockets will not be on the same 'ring-main'. This is not usually worth worrying about but in a venue, especially with lighting and a large PA, it is well worth remembering. If your guitar amp is on the same 'ring-main' as the lighting you could get a very nasty buzz coming in as the lighting changes. If it is on the same ring as the PA, any noises within your gear or changes in the power that it is drawing could have the same effect on the PA! Check with the PA engineer before plugging in to any sockets.
   • Frying tonight? I've lost count of the number of times I've seen pints of water or bottles of beer sitting beside power supply's on stage, or even 240-volt 4-gangs! You are probably not going to go out in a blaze of glory, you're more likely to bring the show to a very sudden halt as that liquid 'shorts' the supply and the mains fuse blows, leaving the whole venue, or at least the stage, in silent darkness. Not impressive! Be warned, and use your head, don't lose your head!

   3: Cables

   Cables are essential, especially to guitar players etc, however NEVER use tape to stick them down on-stage. Every bit of tape you stick on the stage will add another few seconds to the time it takes you to get your gear off-stage after your set. It is also likely to become wrapped around the cables and leave you with an almighty mess to clear up. The best answer if you need to stretch cables across stage, from your pedals to your amp for example, is to use old bits of carpet. It's easy to find, try checking your parents loft, the garage where your dad keeps all the junk, or outside carpet shops on bin-day! You can put a couple of bits of tape on the sides of that as it's easy to pull up the carpet and spend time ripping the tape off later on. It also looks a LOT more professional!

   By Dave Foyer (© + ® Foyer Music 2005)

   
   
   

   If you want to write a peice on any aspect of the music industry we would be very willing to post it here. Just email it to us.
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