There is a reason that most Singer/Guitarists.....

baimun

Funkasaurus Rex
... play a "simple" guitar like a Tele or Acoustic.

Having a Swiss Army guitar with coil taps, piezo, and all these different levels of boost at your feet is great.... if you were only playing guitar and able to dial in the sound as you go. But when you're singing... and futzing with the controls... it makes for a frustrating experience.

(there were an awful lot of pictures where I wasn't smiling, and looked concerned or confused, :facepalm: )
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Granted, I'll take responsibility that we didn't even have a full band gig before I used this new guitar, but shit... I can't believe how different my sound has been from the shows I did with the single P90 equipped guitar, a couple shows with the goldtop PRS, a couple strat shows, and now this super strat show.

I honestly feel like my best "go to" will end up being something with a single P90 and a volume... and piezo with volume. Save all the superstrats and such for special occasions or certain songs.

I will add that "Smooth" from Santana has never sounded as good as it did last night, and the dancefloor reflected it. That song got asses out of seats and onto the dance floor like no other single song has done.
 
I do admire people that can make the pedal dance look effortless while they sing. Easy it's not, though. I have no doubt that with time, you'd get it down as a routine, but I sure understand how hard that would be the first time. BTW, I'm not surprised that "Smooth" went over well. :thu:
 
One of Smurfco's many names for The Portable Forest is "The Pedal Clickers". I don't have a huge board, but there's certainly a few options for me. I'm actually looking into a bigger board and getting something like the BOSS ES-5 to simplify changes. But that also seems like overkill.
 
One of Smurfco's many names for The Portable Forest is "The Pedal Clickers". I don't have a huge board, but there's certainly a few options for me. I'm actually looking into a bigger board and getting something like the BOSS ES-5 to simplify changes. But that also seems like overkill.
If you're serious about the bigger board, I might be looking to unload my larger pedaltrain
 
One of Smurfco's many names for The Portable Forest is "The Pedal Clickers". I don't have a huge board, but there's certainly a few options for me. I'm actually looking into a bigger board and getting something like the BOSS ES-5 to simplify changes. But that also seems like overkill.

I want a bigger pedalboard... but I should probably just buy fewer pedals. :embarrassed:
 
I want a bigger pedalboard... but I should probably just buy fewer pedals. :embarrassed:

I already have all the pedals. I want something that will make changes easier. Which would mean more effects in more songs. Probably a bad thing. I feel I should keep it sparse. There's enough going on anyway.
 
I might have a few really versatile guitars but oddly I end up going one of two routes:
  1. Humbucker in the bridge always full up with no tone and a Floyd Rose
  2. Tele bridge pickup on an ashtray bridge with three brass saddles
I OCASSIONALLY use the other pickups on my guitars, but it's rare. I'm more likely to use a different picking style or a different effect or distortion or a whole other guitar to get a different sound.

I really need an Esquire one of these days.
 
God, and I thought I had problems needing three guitars for a decent show. Totally_jammin_out

I would love to play longer shows and have more changes. But it's just not the norm here. We get 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the venue. My motto is "bring only what you need to survive".
 
I would love to play longer shows and have more changes. But it's just not the norm here. We get 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the venue. My motto is "bring only what you need to survive".

For most Kicking Up Cinders shows I bring one guitar. If we're playing a 3 hour one I'll also bring my mandolin.
 
Most of my gigs have been ones where I am singing and playing and -- yeah, I'm usually armed with a tele and no more than one or two pedals. Now that I have the Tech 21 RK5, I believe that is going to be the sum total of pedals I use live.
 
I would love to play longer shows and have more changes. But it's just not the norm here. We get 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the venue. My motto is "bring only what you need to survive".
As a solo artist, I am often expected to fill 2-3 hours. (I can do that doing all originals now.) If I am doing that long a show, I'll bring the 12-string and two six strings - one standard tuning and one Open D. If I am doing one hour, I'll bring the two six-strings. If I have a couple of songs, like tonight and next Thursday, I'll pick standard-tuning sos and use one guitar.

I complicated my life with the 12-string and open tuning. :i:
 
As a solo artist, I am often expected to fill 2-3 hours. (I can do that doing all originals now.) If I am doing that long a show, I'll bring the 12-string and two six strings - one standard tuning and one Open D. If I am doing one hour, I'll bring the two six-strings. If I have a couple of songs, like tonight and next Thursday, I'll pick standard-tuning sos and use one guitar.

I complicated my life with the 12-string and open tuning. :i:

Here, they would just have 5 solo acts, each with a 45 minute set.

I went to the telecaster as my backup guitar is because I wrote a song in Open C and needed something that was stable, could be re-tuned into standard easily, and roughly matched the pickup output of my PRS. We're working on another song in Open C, which is cool, so I'll get to play the tele more.
 
Here, they would just have 5 solo acts, each with a 45 minute set.

I went to the telecaster as my backup guitar is because I wrote a song in Open C and needed something that was stable, could be re-tuned into standard easily, and roughly matched the pickup output of my PRS. We're working on another song in Open C, which is cool, so I'll get to play the tele more.
Yeah, I have 4-5 open tuning songs, just enough to justify carrying it.

I have a 30 minute community TV program to tape next month, I will bring both guitars for that, because I want at least one of the open D songs in the show. I'll probably do two to make it worthwhile.
 
I always have to have two because half our stuff is tuned down half a step. Ideally I'd take four with me so I have a backup for each tuning.
 
This is why I play the White Strat of Chimey Goodness pretty much exclusively during shows. That infernal HD 500 handles the tonal landscape variations well enough for one guitar to well cover it.

Still find myself flummoxed with simple things like the volume pedal or pick up switch while singing. Singing takes all of my brain power. The guitar should be as "autopilot" as possible. If I were "just" a guitar player, I'd be that guy who shows up to a bar gig with 7 guitars, a pedal board from Hell, a talk-box, EBow, violin bow, beer bottle slide...
 
If we were only playing an hour I'd only use one guitar. I don't like switching guitars during the set, I'd rather change during the set breaks.

Most songs are pretty straightforward, but we have a couple with looper and then I switch to gain for the solo with delay. I wouldn't want anything way more complicated.
 
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Depending on the gig is how determine how many guitars I bring. The standard for me is to bring 2 guitars for gigs 45 minutes to 3-4 sets. The exceptions were tribute bands such as my Tom Petty band. I used to bring 3-4 pending certain songs to be played. The oddball fourth guitar was my Electric Sitar.

For my acoustic, it can get up to 3 - Standard tuning, 12-String and open D/G pending songs being played. I thought about getting another Ovation so I always have an open D and an open G but until I find something that I really want (not searching), then I may get one.
 
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