11 Ways to Soundcheck Your Guitar on Stage
Jared Dines—a multi-instrumentalist with more than a million YouTube subscribers—has obviously witnessed a lot of weird soundchecks in his day.
The proof is in his latest video, "How to Soundcheck Your Guitar (on Stage)," which hit the YouTubes yesterday.
Despite its title, the humorous clip, which you can stream below, isn't quite a "how to." Instead, it spotlights the many attitudes guitarists take toward the (arguably) all-important act of soundchecking. For instance, there's "the idiot" who doesn't know the location of his cable, his pick or his composure—or if he's even soundcheckling his own guitar.
There's also "the shred guy," "the guy has to finish the riff," "the rock star" and—best of all—"the blame guy." This is the guitarist who, at pretty much every soundcheck, which inevitably say, "Me? Hell no, it ain't me, dude. I always sound good. I don't know what you're doing, but it's terrible."
Check it out below. And while you're at it, drop in on Dine's YouTube channel right here.
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
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