Things You Learn Being in a Band Part 2

If you think you have enough extra  _________ you should bring one more (or refill or whatever).

This applies to just about everything: drumsticks, rolls of duct tape, guitar picks, beer for a party, gas for a road trip, underwear for a vacation, sunblock for a beach day... you get the idea.

Guitar strings are notoriously manipulative like that. You will have sets for months, but being the good little guitar owner you are, you change your strings. You get down to the last two spare packs and even with new strings on your axe you break two B strings in one show! What the heck?!?!? Now you have new strings and 2 new incomplete sets! Should have brought an extra set.

Fig. 1 The picks I use mostly. See duct tape post for proof.

Guitar picks are the same, too! It must be a familial thing. You are great about not losing your picks. You get rid of them only after you have worn them down. You still have five and that should be enough, EXCEPT this show is particularly sweaty and the playing is a little more aggressive and the picks start flying. Like crazy. Should have brought a few more, buddy. And don't even get me started on the plight of drum sticks, snares, 1/4" cables, extension chords, 9V batteries... The list goes on.

Real life examples abound as well! Let's say Jedediah gets invited to a swanky party and all he has to bring is ice. He brings two bags and half of one gets dumped on the deck accidentally and there are way more people than were expected. Way to go, Jedediah. You should have bought one more bag. Seriously, they're like, what, $2?

I suppose the moral of this similar to the girl and boy scout motto: be prepared (or always ready or some derivative thereof). Even when you think you are prepared, just remember, you might just want to reconsider that one last roll of film that you unpacked (yes, some of us still enjoy film) and just stick it in your camera bag.

Be prepared.

WooHoo Steeker Time

Yes! Stickers are in and you are gonna buy them. If you want. Because it makes you feel good. They're only $2 and it's about the same as buying us a beer. So stock up! They're 6 inches long and SUPER shiny. They also happen to be your new favorite band's first ever sticker. So you should get one, or two, or 20. I set up easy pay thingy just for you. You could just call or text or Facebook me, too. Just saying.

Things You Learn Being in a Band



Fig 1. Basic Silver Glory



You can NEVER have too much duct tape. Seriously.



From taping down cables to holding your guitar strap in place to ghetto rigging a cymbal stand to keeping your picks in an easy to reach area... uses abound. This is just scraping the surface. There are so many uses for this stuff. I feel compelled to carry a roll with me at all times now.



Fig. 2 My pick holder.... duct tape on a microphone stand.



I have always had a bit of a crush on the stuff and I know duct tape fixes EVERYTHING, but the random things we use it for when on stage (although we really have only ever been on an actual stage, what, twice?) is pretty amazing and only serves to verify duct tape's awesomeness. Did I mention it comes in a bunch of colors now?? Yup. Awesome.

Need to fix a broken city duct? No worries. Gotta secure a poster? Piece of cake! Leaky car roof? Easy. Wardrobe malfuction? Got ya covered. Need something to wear? Yeah, it can help there, as well. There is even a festival dedicated to the awesome staple in Avon, Ohio.

Is there anything this stuff CAN'T help with?