PLAYING A GIG is the time when all your hard rehearsal time and preparation pays off. For a musician, playing a gig is one of the most instantly satisfying experiences you can have. It is a chance for you to let people hear your music and it is common for people to pick up on new bands at gigs. With this in mind it is beneficial for both you and the audience for everything to run smoothly.

If you are relaxed and enjoying your performance this will be apparent to the audience and make it easier for them to enjoy it as well. Due to the nature of any gig, there is no way that you can predict all of the potential problems that might occur. What you can do is be as prepared as possible to minimise the risk of any problems occurring.

Preparation for your gig begins in your rehearsals, getting your songs ready for performance. Assuming that your songs are ready and that you have a gig in the coming few days, the following are a few ideas which, if followed, may help avoid any unnecessary stress in the run up to the gig:

Rehearsal - Make sure that you leave yourself plenty of time for rehearsal before the gig. Try and have your set ready well in advance so that you are just running through the songs in your final rehearsals. You don’t want to be still writing a song the day before the gig. (This is a common occurrence and sometimes can’t be avoided). Once a song has finished being written it takes some time and numerous practices before the song becomes second nature to everyone in the band - you need time to just run through the songs for a while.

Another good idea is to write your set (the order that you will play your songs in at the gig) and go through it a couple of times at practice just to get a feel for things and decide if this is the best way the songs could be arranged together for performance

Gear - When a number of bands are playing together it is common for them to share equipment for the gig so as to minimise the time it takes to change over between bands. If this will be the case at your gig find out from the organisers what equipment you will be required to provide and make sure that they know what equipment you will need. If possible try and get a contact for each band on the bill so that you can liase with each other and make sure that there will be enough gear there for everybody to use.

If you are providing anything then make sure that it is in working order before the day of the gig so you don’t turn up with any faulty equipment - this will affect all of the bands playing not just yours. Always have spare drumsticks, strings, batteries etc. handy so as you can replace things if they break or stop working. You don’t want you gig to be spoiled because you don’t have enough strings on your guitar!!!

Note: The band’s equipment is often referred to as back line. This term refers to equipment such as amps and drum kits and these are the items shared when bands share equipment at a gig. When sharing gear most bands’ guitarists/bassists will use their own guitars and effects pedals whilst drummers use their own snare, cymbals and bass drum pedal. These items are not commonly referred to as back-line.

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