XTC's Dave Gregory's back, and the man is on fire!!!!

Last night I fulfilled a liftime dream. My band and I performed with Mr Dave Gregory at the Vic in Swindon. For any of you that don't know Dave, shame on you;) Dave is best known as the guitarist with XTC, the band whos music changed my life...literally. Since I was 20 years old the man has been my hero, he was the guitarist I wanted to be. Once you heard his parts and solo's that he contributed to Andy Partridge's songs you could no longer imagine any other possible worthwhile 6 string contributions. The man is a genius. I was playing an XTC song at the Manly Boatshed 7 years ago when a beautiful young woman says to me, I'm from Swindon, where XTC are from. That woman is now my wife and through circumstance we end up living where else but Swindon. Fate intervenes and a few years ago I meet my hero, and as he may well be the only person I've ever met who's passion for the instrument is greater than mine we become mates. On top of his passion is a level of talent that is bewildering. So I invite Dave down to the amp shoot-out we did at the website a few months ago and he sits in with the band. It all just kind of fell into place. I put it to Dave that we do a project...and he says yes!

So after a few weeks of rehearsal, last night we played

Dream Brother - Jeff Buckley
Reelin in the Years - Steeley Dan
Frankenstein - Edgar Winter
Red - King Crimson
Scissor Man - XTC
Towers of London - XTC

It's the start of a new project called 'The Tin Spirits'

For those of you that were there last night, well I don't need to tell you how great the man was, indeed a humbling experience.
I'll be getting some YouTube footage up on the website soon. Thanks to everyone that came down, stay tuned for more!

I saw the jolly fat man in Holland - Popa Chubby!

Tuesday night I popped over to Holland with a mate to go and see the jolly fat man himself Popa Chubby.
As always he sounded fantastic. NYC blues rock with all the subtlety of a jack hammer. The guy really knows how to get a great guitar sound.
I also popped in to see Erik van de Haar from Haar guitars. Wow, what a great shop and an amazing guy. He builds custom guitars from scratch that play beautifaully and sound wonderful. He also has the most amazing amp room I've ever seen. Two-Rock, Matchless, BadCat, Suhr, Top Hat, Bruno, 65Amps, the list goes on and on.

Much joy!

So this is Christmas!!

In the true spirit of Christmas, help someone else this year. When you are presented with the lame in tone, tell them about TheGigRig.com, when the poor in sonic wealth are begging before you, lament not for we at The Gig Rig shall give of our abundance in toneful remedies. Because no matter where you are, there always someone omnipresent listening closely to every note, every nuance. You know who you are...

Happy Holidays everyone. Love, Joy and peace to you all my friends. Thanks for the best year ever.

All the very best to all of you from all of us here at www.TheGigRig.com

It's time for change - Vote for better tone!

We've never had it soooo good. Guitarists searching for the ultimate tone are absolutely spoilt for choice like never before. From cutting edge technology to vintage tonality the modern guitarist has an endless choice of toys and noise makers. Thanks to the Internet we also know more than ever before. I was at a guitar show recently when I was asked by a 13 year old guitarist if my tele used alnico magnets and nitro-cellulose lacquer.
So where has all this choice and knowledge got us? Are we enlightened as musicians? Or are we just more confused? I believe the answer lies in there somewhere. I've heard young players who trawl for hours on YouTube listening to mind blowing amounts of great music who are amazing players. Truly the future is theirs, but I also know of players who seem overloaded. So much choice that they forget why the started playing guitar in the first place... which is as we all know - to woo the ladies!
So how do we cut through the myriad of distraction and actually choose the instruments that are to become our voice? The gear that is to express us.

There are 3 very important steps when it comes to choosing gear.

I believe that if you make these central to every purchase it's difficult to go wrong. The first is A/B'ing.
If you're going to a shop to try a pedal, take a pedal with you that you know so you have something to compare it to. Same with a guitar, even amps. If you're going to spend that much on an amp, haul an amp in with you that you know and sit there and listen. Your ears are absolutely amazing at comparing tones, but they have no memory. Without comparison you left groping in the dark. Find a spot and sit there and play and listen, unplug, re-plug, play and listen, and again, and again.

This brings me to the next step, train yourself to listen.

As musicians we are passionate, we get emotional, we sometimes feel the need to apply make-up and cross dress. (scratch the last one, maybe). This is why it so bloody easy to sell us stuff. With every faculty we have we get so caught up in the process.
When it comes to your tone though, you need to find a place that is free from this stuff. Free from hype and emotion. Free from preconception and expectation.
Dispassionately you need to ask yourself, do I really like this? Sometimes the answer will surprise you. Be completely honest with yourself. I have a really large collection of vintage pedals and amps and you know who cares? No one but me. But the stuff I have I love. I get some sounds that really inspire me to play. I don't care who makes them, what year they're made or what they cost which brings me neatly to my last point
You need to be honest with yourself. Can I afford it?
I got in debt pretty much the day I turned 18 and didn't get out of debt again till I was 24 all because of gear I had to have. I am a recovering gear'a'holic and I know first hand how much damage the 'must have it now' attitude can do. The answer is a simple numbers numbers game, you either can afford it or you can't at the moment. If you can't then save for it. I swear you play better when you're not in debt. Now I love the gear I have but I don't love having gear if you get what I mean. It's an important difference.

Here endeth the lesson

Tribute to Bob Sweet

Tribute to Bob Sweet
Bob Sweet, the man behind Sweet Sound Electronics who gave us the Mojo Vibe and Ultra Vibe pedals which are my favourite vibe pedals ever, passed away last Friday 24th October after a battle with bone cancer. He was a great guy who made some of the best gear out there. Like many of us he was incredibly passionate about great guitar sound and dedicated a large part of his life to getting the most out of it he could.
Farewell Bob, you will be missed...

Stay ahead of the credit crunch - sound better than the other guy!

I have a dirty little 3 piece band that gets out and plays gigs most weekends. It's loads of fun, and as a professional musician it's something that I can't see myself ever not doing, I mean if it's in you, that's what you do, you get out there and play.

Now there are loads of gigs out there, but there are also loads of bands, loads of guitarists wanting their shot at the title. So how do you go about making sure that you give yourself the best chance of getting that gig? Over the years during feast and famine I have found 3 key things to making sure you're ahead of the game.



1. Sound better than the other guy



This isn't rocket science but make sure you're sounding as good as you can. It's not about buying stuff, it's about getting the most out of what you've got. How are your valves? Are your strings dead? Is your pedal chain sucking tone from your signal path? This is basic stuff but don't neglect it.



2. Learn to sing



Fact is if two guitarists audition for a band and one guy can sing, guess who they're gonna pic? I'm not the greatest guitarist in the world by my sound is Ben Hur and I can sing so I'm always a good option for someone that wants a fat sounding guitar and extra vocals in the line-up.



3. Don't be a twat!



No matter how good you are you need to get along with people. I've met some of the greatest guitarists in the world and almost without exception, they're all beautiful people. If you're going to be in a band with people you need to be someone that the other guys and gals look forward to hooking up with rehearsals and long old drives to the back and beyond. Fact is in a band you spend less than 10% of your time playing, and the rest is just hanging out. So getting along with people is extremely important.



Unless of course you're this guy!

The shootout results are in!

Hi everyone
Thanks so much for checking out the amp shootout. We've had such fun getting it together for you. Every amp really has its own thing going on. I twisted Phil at Matchless's arm and I now own the very first C30 head with Reverb ever made. I use this with the Two-Rock Jet for one of the best guitar sounds ever. (well, I think so, but it's hard to go wrong with either of these amps) The Pro-Reverb ticked alot of boxes for alot of people as well, and the Vox, and the Chieftain, and the 65Amps London, oh man......