(Guitar solo)
- [Nate Savage] Ah, crap!
I don't know if that's ever happened to you before,
but breaking a string when you're playing live can
be a very frustrating experience.
So I just wanted to make a video with some tips
for when that happens.
The very first thing you should do if you break a string
is fire your guitar tech, he's not doing his job.
You don't have a guitar tech?
What kind of guitar player are you?
I'm just kidding, I don't have a guitar tech, either.
My wife has a guitar tech, though,
and that is this guy.
Anyway, I'm going to break this video into two parts.
The first one is preventative maintenance
so you don't break a string in the first place.
The second part of this is going to be
what to do when you actually break a string live.
The first thing you could do to keep your strings,
the integrity of your strings in place,
is to wash your hands and clean your strings
before and after you play.
It may not seem like it,
but the corrosion and oxidization that occurs
from touching your strings
weakens them, especially like here at the tuning pegs
where they bend,
and down here at the saddle where they bend.
And even if you put your finger
under your strings right here,
you can tell the little dips that the frets create.
Your strings may look and sound decent,
but they could be compromised in some areas,
so keep your hands clean before you play,
and wipe your strings off after, too.
This next point flows directly from that.
If you have an important gig coming up,
just go ahead and change your strings.
Again, it might not look like they need changing,
but it's better safe than sorry,
especially if you're playing something where you're going to
be playing a longer show,
or if it's a really important gig where you don't want
to mess up or have things go awry.
Just change your strings before a gig.
All right, next point is to always have
a set of extra strings ready.
When you go to the music store, just buy two.
One for putting on the guitar, and one to keep for
if you break a string.
This has become kind of a ritual of mine.
Every time I play live, I have a set of strings
either in my pedal board, or in my gig bag or case with me
that I take out and I set right down beside my pedal board,
just in case I break a string.
So if I need it, it's right there,
I can grab it and change it.
The last thing that I want to mention as far as
preventative measures you can take is that
if you're breaking a string often,
and it's the same string over and over again,
what's probably happening is you have a burr on your saddle
of your guitar,
or maybe even up here on the tuning keys,
like where the hole goes and maybe sharps.
So you might have to take your guitar in
and get that filed down
so you're not breaking strings as much.
If you're breaking the same string over and over again,
you probably have some kind of structural thing going on
with your guitar.
All right, on to what to do if you break a string
when you're playing live.
The first tip that I have for you is bring a spare guitar.
I have my Les Paul back here because it's very similar
to this guitar.
If I broke a string, I could just go grab this guitar.
In fact, I'm going to go do that right now.
So, I grab my Les Paul if I broke a string on my PRS.
I should tune up before the gig starts
just to make sure it's in tune,
which I didn't do with this one.
Mistake number one, right?
But, all you have to do is grab your guitar.
And you might be thinking, "Well, what if I don't have
"a second electric guitar for backup?"
Well, the answer is kind of obvious for the next one.
This is kind of the core, just change the string.
Let's say I break my string,
the high E string on my Les Paul.
The first thing that I would do is get it out,
worry about where it falls later,
and Josh, I want you to time me on this,
see how long it takes me.
Okay, 1, 2, 3, go.
Ah! Red.
Okay.
High E string.
Know your strings
because some of them are color-coded.
You can grab the string you need right away.
(Fast drum set solo)
(Bass and drum chords join in)
Okay.
Make sure the string is in the saddle.
Okay.
Are we going to time-lapse it?
(Plucks guitar string)
And, check this out.
If you pitch it like that, you can clip it off
or bend it off later.
That's a trick I learned from a pro session guitar player.
He's just like, "Aah, screw that."
(Plucks to tune guitar string)
So, it's changed.
(Strums guitar chord)
Pretty fast.
And you may be thinking, "How did you do that so fast?"
Well, one of the keys to a quick string change
is locking tuners.
You pull the string through the peg-head,
or the tuner,
as tight as you can, and then you lock it down.
Then it only takes you 7 or 10 cranks to get up to pitch
and you're off to the races.
But once you do that, you're going to want to stretch it out
and seat it a little bit
because it is going to go out of tune.
Just get it as close as you can.
If you're in the middle of show and the solo's coming up,
what do I do?
(Solo guitar licks)
That's good to go.
Of course, when you get a second in the show,
you're going to want to come back, get your tuner,
and tune all six strings
because a guitar can get really wonky
once it breaks a string.
Tune all six strings.
One thing that really helps you check,
quick play if all six strings are in tune,
is just the TC Electronic Polytune.
If you hit all six of your strings, you can get,
kind of at a glance, are these strings in tune?
You will notice that everything's quite sharp.
I didn't tune this guitar before I started this video.
So, I would need to tune the whole thing over.
Another option, if you don't have extra strings,
or if you don't have time to change your strings,
in the middle of a song,
and you may not have an important part coming,
is to just play with five strings.
When that happens, you are going to want to re-tune
as fast as you can,
because when you lose a string,
the tension on the neck changes and all the other strings
can go out a little bit.
So you want to tune.
If you're not going to change strings,
just try to get through the song
with five strings, if possible.
As far as the mechanical things,
maintenance and changing strings goes, strings go,
that pretty much covers it.
But another tip I have for you is
to know your fretboard really well, in case you,
say you break a string and you're supposed to be playing
this part right here, like a G to a D.
(Plays G and D lick)
Right?
Let's say you broke your low E string, though,
or something like that.
You could play it up an octave higher.
(Plays lick an octave higher) Or, even if you play it here.
(Plays lick on different strings)
Or even up higher.
(Plays lick up another octave higher)
It may not be exactly how it is in your mind,
or how you practiced it,
but you will be able to get through string breaks
and other calamities that happen in a live situation
if you know your fretboard really well.
The last little tip I have for you is
to practice the worst-case scenario.
And communicate to your band-mates about it, too.
If you're always constantly communicating
while you're playing,
then they'll see that, "Hey, he broke a string.
"We need to cover for him.
"Don't go to the solo yet,
"Give him a few bars to get things in order."
Planning for the worst-case scenario like that
and communicating to your band-mates about what's going on
is always a good idea.
Do you have any more tips that you want to include on
what to do when you break a string in a live situation?
Let me know in the comments below.
Don't forget to like and subscribe.
I'll see you later.
(Medium funky groove music)