First Gig Advice

[dalahorse]

What is noodling?

We try to have as little dead are as possible. Fortunatelly our frontman was both in theater and used to be a radio DJ so he knows how to avoid dead air.

Ah - So your frontman has frontman experience. Excellent!

It's been explained already, but about noodling... No instrument on the stage should make any sound between songs. No tuning noises. No checking snare rattles. Nothing. This all is addressed during the sound check, only.

If you and the guitarist(s) have presets you can call up rather than twisting knobs and checking the sound between each song, use them to get the sound you want. Jot down preset numbers on your set list next to each song. If you have dial in sounds manually (like me - I have a VT Bass that doesn't save presets), dial in a sound initially that will work with all songs in the set.

My general rule is that about 10 seconds of noodling are allowed before each set if absolutely necessary. Once your set begins, noodling is no longer allowed unless the sound engineer asks you to test something specific.

Lots of good advice here so far!

 

[Bullitt5135]

Based on the mistakes my band made at our first gig:

1. Make sure everyone knows what time to be at the gig, and get there on time.
2. Know your role in the set-up process. If you run out of stuff to do, ask if anyone needs help. Stay close -- don't disappear. And don't touch the sound board if it's not yours.
3. Stick to the friggin' set list. We spent a month building four sets of ten songs, only for the singer to throw it out the window from the first song when he decided we needed to "pick up the pace." Threw us off the entire night and made us look like idiots between songs.
4. Finish a song, start the next one. This is not the time to review the chord changes or to argue over who gets the lead solo.

 

[dalahorse]

Oh - One last bit of advice...

There's nothing worse than having to get up there and rock out while you have to use the restroom. If you have the slightest hint that you need to go, head over to the restroom a few minutes before you get up on the stage. The slightest hint of full bladder will multiply 100 times over during the first 3 songs. I speak from experience on this subject!