Rituals before you play live?

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
Whether is is amount and type of alcohol to doo rags and do-dads you have to have on hand or in place?
 
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Do some chromatic and picking exercises. Not much. Mainly I just play a little with the volume off running through some chord changes.
 
Typical stuff. Rituals after meeting venue/event management and setting up: verify my footswitch has control of mixing board mutes and vocal fx channel sliders and backing tracks and sending midi to axe-fx; verify all software is seeing the audio interface; meet audience and connect with them as I pass out request lists; and then do my best to make that first song count because it and the next few are like Avatar when the dude has to tame the wild flying creature….”Tsaheylu! - Make the bond!!”
 
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After setting everything up, tuning, and ensuring the rig is 100% functional, I always then:

-wash my hands (I can't stand gritty/greasy hands on the guitar) and run them under warm-hot water if it's cold out (it gets to be -40C where I live)
-then off to the bar to get my water bottle filled with ice-water and a shot of Crown Royal to get the blood flowing
-warm up with chromatic exercises, etc. for 10 -> 15 minutes

And then it's time to rawk...
 
I wash my hands. It helps keep the strings, fretboard and the back of the neck clean.
So not rock and roll!

I know a bass player who drenches his strings/neck by spraying WD-40 right from the can all over it just before he plays, and have seen him eat a ton of greasy chicken wings, give the hands a slight wipe, and go right on stage to play....shudder....:tonguewink:

Needless to say, I won't let him touch my guitars, ever, and playing his bass is about the grossest thing I can imagine lol....WD-40 and chicken wing grease is a nasty combination....truly horrible stuff man.
 
Like Henry, I just play a little. Tune, run through some things including new tunes in my head, make sure the set list is up and visible/lighted on my rack. Just general prep. I avoid drinking anything cold in the 20-30 minutes before show time… does bad things to the vocals. Just plenty of room temp water, which I keep several bottles of onstage throughout.
 
Wash hands, baby powder if it’s real humid. Retune everything as the guitars get acclimated. Start the gopros.
 
I know a bass player who drenches his strings/neck by spraying WD-40 right from the can all over it just before he plays, and have seen him eat a ton of greasy chicken wings, give the hands a slight wipe, and go right on stage to play....shudder....:tonguewink:

Needless to say, I won't let him touch my guitars, ever, and playing his bass is about the grossest thing I can imagine lol....WD-40 and chicken wing grease is a nasty combination....truly horrible stuff man.
Well, the WD-40 will ruin the fingerboard wood at least so he'll eventually have to replace that part, or maybe the whole neck.

A guy I used to play with had a Les Paul Custom, one of the "fretless wonders" and he NEVER cleaned the fingerboard. The grunge was visible from ten feet away, and, of course, was built-up around the frets. It was disgusting. I was doing guitar repairs at the time and finally got it in my hands and oiled and scraped that sh*t off there, took sandpaper then steel wool, and got it cleaned up so nicely. Within a year it was back to looking nasty. I don't understand why people don't take care of an instrument.
 
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