ANNOYING THINGS GUITARISTS DO → INCLUDING US! 

My biggest pet peeve is when some players think that the music sucks if it's easy to play. Not everything has to be Dream Theater to be good!

One of the reasons Holdsworth changed gear so much was because, unfortunately, he didn't sell records. He had a wife and kids, and had to provide for them. Often strapped for cash, he had to sell stuff now and then. An awful reality for such an amazing talent.

The bit about the gold-plated drumkit reminded me of being in Sydney, going into a music shop where they had a SPECIAL EDITION Yamaha DX7 (Five millionth or whatever). The white keys were silver, the black keys were gold....I was contemplating this instrument in bemusement when one of the shop guys came up - we both looked at the instrument in silence for a while and then he said, quietly, with wonderful Aussie succintness ......."Yeah.....fuckin' atrocious ain't it ?"

I am generally annoyed at everything but I have never been even remotely annoyed by a Rick Beato video. Always a pleasure.

I loved this video. I worked as an engineer for most of my life and my favorite times were sitting in a control room with great musicians like you guys and listening to conversations just like this.

I always always encourage people to try to tune by ear first, then use the tuner because it will develop the ear.

As a bassist, hearing him talk about $27 strings like that's crazy expensive is really funny.

I eagerly await any and all "What Makes This Song Great?" videos. But these Three Amigo videos are rising the charts rapidly. I love the chatter between these cats (Dave and Rhett) and RB. I've never played a single chord on the guitar - not one. But I love the hell out of these conversations. Great insights. The truth is that I absorb all of Rick's videos. It's easy to be enthused by somebody is so enthusiastic about their craft/ their art.

I'm so guilty of the first one; I've had that silly tuner on the head stock and , the capo , and flowers , doobies and the occasional female garment. But I can change... This is currently my favorite channel . Thank you for all the amazing content !

You guitarists are so hilarious! We drummers never do stupid stuff, ever.

My biggest pet peeve is when local mom and pop music stores close up.

I had a good laugh at this. Just a couple hours before watching this I had a delivery from Amazon; 4 clip on tuners and a wireless system. Lol. The wireless system is a cheap one that I wanted for home as I like to walk around the house while I play, I will continue to use cables for gigs. And yes I agree learn how to solder, you can fix all your own stuff.

You guys are hilarious together!!! My favorite episode so far!!!!

Rick, how could anyone hate you guys your too damn funny. Plus, pretty much everything you said was spot on.

I've been using the same little snark tuner for like 5 years now on acoustic, electric, bass, viola and cello without any breakage or problems. Granted I don't gig or anything but I'm exceptionally hard on everything I own so it's impressed me thus far

I love when all of you guys are together. So fun and funny. Love it.

Hiram Bullock(R.I.P.) is the only guy I ever saw that had a right to be wireless...he would dance down the aisles, leave the venue, climb rafters, dance with audience members.....never saw anything like it....one of a kind and sorely missed.

Lately I have been using Ernie Ball Paradigm strings as when I tried a set I found they last a good long time without much tonal degradation. I typically get about 6 months or more out of a set as far as just practicing and playing. However, I would change my strings before a recording session just to be sure they're as fresh as can be with that new string twang. What do you think of EB's Paradigms? Have you tried them? A good mate of mine uses and swears by Elixirs.

Had to laugh about the wireless rig pet peeve… I’ll NEVER forget my garage band experience when we play a party at this barn. I had my pedal board out front and when we started with a Aerosmith cover of Train Keep a Rolling the teenyboppers rushed up front and unplugged my cable-to-amp…

This popped up on my FB memories penned by Bill Bruford today. Maybe it explains why Allan went through so mane changes of equipment. "Allan wasn't easy, but if it was easy it wouldn't have been Allan. Like all creative musicians he was restless and relentless in pursuit of 'the perfect sound', the one that he couldn't get out of his head, the one that would never leave him alone,."

Saw Derek Trucks about 3 years ago at the Ryman in Nashville with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. The crowd was literally on their feet cheering every time he soloed. It was probably the best, most moving, gut level/heart level playing I've ever heard, and I've heard a bunch.

Loved your comments about "it's not the instrument it's the player". I had a friend who was an incredible Strat player. He was driving to a gig and someone rear ended his car and totaled not only his car but also his guitar. It was CRUSHED. So, he got someone to take him home and he borrowed his son's Squire that he bought from a Good Will Store for $9.50. He was not making enough money to have 3 or 4 guitars for back ups but he had nine fifty for his son. He has done a bit of work on it but not much. Tuners, strings, leveled the neck and gave it a severe cleaning. He came back to the tavern where he was playing, plugged his son's turquoise blue Squire into his amp and I promise you, I could not tell the difference. He was no Jeff Beck but for the level that he played at, he was incredible. Your "pet peeve" really made me laugh when I thought of my friend playing his sons Squire!!! Great video. Thanks for the chuckles!!!

Just catching up with this one. I have to admit I use a wireless system, not for gigs but in my living room. It's the best way to play while there's a 4 year old running around. No tripping up etc.

I''ve been using Lava Tightrope custom "solderless" cables for years, when I first made them I did have issues but I shortly learned that I was simply not making them right. You have to cut the inside wires to the perfect lengths and push the hard wire in until it snaps and then twist. Soon as I learned how to make them properly they've been going strong for over 3 years on my board and I have TONS of them because I run a Boss ES8 so every pedal has to have 2 cables with 4 jacks total. You are TOTALLY right about your fingers being destroyed! LOL, especially with the lava ones because they give you this chinsy little cutter that you have to use to strip them and then twisting on the gnarled ends will DESTROY your finger tips.

Have you considered that a lot of working guitar players will sometimes find themselves in the position of needing to check the sound around the venue while playing? It certainly happens from time to time on the function/bar circuit. This is why I have a wireless system.

The biggest difference between strings is setting the action and intonation to match the diameter and tension of the strings. So it's important to be consistent with whichever type you use unless you want to setup your guitar with a new brand.

I've been waiting for commentary on the brilliance of Derek Trucks. A mind blowing guitarist with seemingly no ego. Have seen him multiple times in both Allman Brothers Band, DTB and now TTB and his playing just moves you in a way that other guitarists just don't.

This had me howling with laughter! 1st gig we played, we were playing Take It On The Run by REO. When the solo hits, I stepped forward, onto my cord, unplugged it! I started laughing, plugged back in and caught up. I play in church. That plexiglass is VERY important. In most churches, the drums will overpower all other instruments. Love the channel Rick.

This was fun man. Felt like I was just sitting around hanging out with you guys!

This is Great Rick, real musicians talking music, it's like you're in my living room !

Love the story about Josh Freese 😂 he's one of my favorite drummers ever and I can totally see him being that kind of dude.

Had to chuckle over the wireless worship gig thing: I performed Miraculum at the Christmas concerts for a local parish. The last performance, I wandered between the altar and the audience for show. I got fired for "overshadowing the eucharist." Epic fail.

I was in a ridiculously low-budget band in the early 80s doing one night stands in dive bars. It was a ton of fun. Fortunately I was the drummer so my stuff pretty much always worked. However, the "electric" guys actually made most of the PA gear including the microphones. More than once the electric guys spent one or more breaks repairing something with a soldering iron - on stage.

My old band opened for a bar gig with a band who hired a sound engineer. They brought in these massive amp stacks, serious gear, then soundchecked for 45 minutes straight, basically played their whole set. The sound engineer was doing his job just fine, he'd go over to their amps and turn them down because it was far too loud for the bar, you could see people visibly upset. 2 minutes later when the sound engineer wasn't looking, the guitarists would sneak up and turn it back up. I remember our band bringing nothing but guitars and just plugging into their gear, letting the sound engineer do everything he needed to. Once our set was finished, I had complete strangers walk up to me saying how we sounded awesome and that they hated the main band.

I had an interesting debate with our drummer about the song 'Time' by PF. I was attempting to explain the fact that drums can be tuned to actual pitches. He had a set of Rototoms, but insisted that I was wrong when I asserted that Dave Maon's drums in the intro are tuned to actual notes.

I saw Derek Trucks with the Allman Brothers 4 times, each time trading solos with Warren Haynes. It was incredible. He was playing insane modal Indian styled scales in the middle of a major blues solo. They were either the opening act, or Tom Petty was the opening act or Dave Matthew’s Band now that I think about it. But this was at the Meadows in Hartford, CT and there is a giant lawn above the seats where most of the concert goers were and most of them were there to drink and smoke and party, but as soon as Derek Trucks would start a solo, they would put the camera on him and he would be on the giant screen for people far away or not sitting right up close....and that entire crowd, most probably not even knowing his name ( this was back in the early and mid 2000’s ) they all stopped what they were doing and started starring at Derek soloing with their jaws on the floor. Me being a guitar player, my friends would say, “ Who the hell is that? I never heard anything like that before “ I would explain he is Derek Trucks, a slide guitar or just guitar prodigy whose Uncle Butch Trucks, was an original member and one of two amazing drummers in the Allman Brothers. My Dad, also a guitarist, saw them live with Duane and said the two drummers really made for an amazing sound even though he said as good as Greg’s amazing singing Southern Rock voice was, Duane Allman’s slide guitar was just out of this world and stole the show. He also said Dickey Bettes and Duane playing together was so good it was hard to believe that were that good live and so synchronized with their harmonies and they soloed differently but both amazing in their own way. They could play the same exact thing and harmonize or play their own solos and sound completely unique. Duane died wayyyy too young. Such a shame. I’m sure he is Derek’s hero as I’ve seen Derek rock many a Duane Allman Skydog shirt many times/

I've tried to compare amps at times but when I'm done twiddling the knobs on two different amps they both sound really close because I'm always looking for a certain tone that works for me.

Always nice to hear Jack Pearson get a mention. What a monster and such a humble guy. Thanks for the content, gents.

Are wireless cables good to avoid getting shocked from simply touching your equipment? That's what I want it for, fear of shock. Also, Zakk Wylde could have used a wireless during last year's Hendrix Tribute tour, when Zakk would take his guitar deep into every audience, while the roadies acted like telephone poles, holding his 300 foot cable aloft! Wylde man! He even went deep into the balconies like that!

Love this video! I agree with everything you mentioned. I hate capos and tuners on headstock (I use Korg PB02 for years), Wireless guitar systems are nonsense (unless you are Brian May, or Steve Lukather, or Dave Grohl, or somebody like that). I thought I'm to old-fashioned, but I can see now I'm not the only one. Thank you! P.S. I play my bass in church. The only wireless we use is IEM when needed.

We used to bet on when the lead will pop out watching new bands on stage and give a huge cheer when it happened. You guys make Noah sound hip.

This is one of the funniest, most candid conversations on BRvid... Lovin it!

Playing with different bands over the years I run across some that can't keep a tempo, especially when they get louder. They get faster the louder they get or get slower when get softer. I'm a drummer who is playing guitar and it drives me crazy. I can't even tap tempo and keep my delay straight with all the different tempos going on. The other thing is watching someone rapping there cable over their shoulder and elbow. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! And they wonder why their cables don't last. There I feel better. Thanks guys.

Trying to have a conversation with the band without the guitarist cycling through the top 100 guitar riffs of all time like a shuffled Spotify playlist

Gotta say,, as a middle school guitar teacher, I start my day by tuning 20 acoustic guitars, 3 acoustic 12-strings, two electrics, and a bass. I also have to make adjustments during class. I keep that Snark on my head stock so I can get to it quickly during class.

A wireless on a small stage can be helpful so you can move freely with other players on small stage without worrying about your cables tangling together. The idea players can't tell the difference between the strings they like? A lot of us monster cables because you can take them back to the point of purchase to exchange if they go out and that's a nice perk. Also I've been using them for like 15 years and I've never had them get stuck in anything. Different strokes I guess but some of this stuff doesn't make sense to me. Love the channel regardless ❤

Love this vid, we NEED more like this

I had a wireless rig for my acoustic… it was because I was always running around to the back room, to get something for someone or going to the board to do sound check on rehearsals:)

Wireless are great for a small gig so you're not wrapped up with cables. I leave my pedal setup to my left and I feel so free to move around my band.

You guys are hilarious! As a sax player, I find it reassuring to see the tuner mounted on the guitar.

My biggest pet peeve is when someone doesn't have a headstock tuner. Pedal tuners take up space and power. I have the exact same Snark tuner. Best tuner I've ever had. Oh yea, I have been playing guitar for 30 years and never broke one.

I'm all about the wireless, no regrets. I've jammed acoustic for so many years, I just don't like being tethered. Also, I get sick of being rushed off the stage and losing expensive cables. Admittedly, I've lost a lot. So yeah, cost effective!

I use a wireless system myself, because I've had enough instances where the bass player and I have tangled on stage. I do move around quite a bit though. I did get to see Derek Trucks live once, and he was unbelievable.

All of this is so true, especially the equip. part. I own six guitars, three of which I gig with (LP Studio, PRS Custom 24, and a Taylor acoustic). The Taylor was the most expensive at $1,800 used, the LP Studio was $900 used, and the PRS Custom 24 was $600 new. All three play amazing and I would take my LP Studio over a standard or custom LP for most applications. That Studio has the best tone and with coil splitting and can get just about any tone I want. Of course a 59' LP Standard would be awesome but I would never take it on the road. Then the part about players wanting the same set up / rig as their favorite player. Never understood why a person would want to sound like another player. I love Hendrix, Page, Beck, Carlton, etc. but I am me and I want to sound like me, not someone else. So bottom line, get halfway decent gear but don't go crazy, get what you need and practice, practice, practice. Develop your own tone and style and go for it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to sound like your icon. It's what the icon did at some point in the beginning of their playing. No matter who you try to emulate it will end up sounding like you.

I have never taken a music theory course or play any instrument yet I enjoy watching pretty much every Rick Beato video.

It is fun listening to these guys. I have seen Derek Trucks and I saw the Duane Allman 4 times including the final weekend at the Fillmore and 9/19 at Stonybrook. I was directly under Duane for the second set. I have said for awhile that Tedeschi/Trucks band is the best live act out there now. I passed them up at Chastain. What a mistake.

loved this episode! guess it goes to show you you need a sense of humor to be in this business. There's a saying from Saturday nite live, "It just goes to show you, there's always something"

Speaking of wireless guitar rigs. When I was a kid in the 80s playing in my high school cover band, everyone in the band got a wireless, including the singer w/wireless mic. We played at a house party outside where there was so much space for them to run around, everyone got far enough away from me, the drummer, that the sound delay between us became an issue. No one had thought of that beforehand. I couldn't quite come up with an effective way to motion to them while playing drums to get them to come back to me! It was pretty hilarious.

This is an awesome hang if you’re a guitar player...love the wireless talk..my brother would use one in tiny clubs and I’d kid him mercilessly...I also used to use a deluxe reverb and a strat at gigs and he would wheel in 2 Hartke cabs and a head (with a wireless setup)...you’d see a stack on one side and a small fender on tilt back legs on the other...and we never played loud!

That Josh Freese story killed me, I don't know why I laughed so much. I guess is because of the true behind it, people put to much focus on the gear instead of just practicing.

In my defense, I will tell you that I am always wireless! i spent 90% of my playing time being connected by a cord. I am 61 years old now, tired of fighting the wire around my ankles, and most importantly, can't afford to fall! LOL So...that's that, and now I feel better! Love the videos! Thanks!!! ;-)

Rick you will be happy to know that I have only ever used a foot tuner, the only exception is if I was tuning to another instrument or just didn't have my pedals with me.

You guys were talking so nicely truly in a real feelings I enjoyed …

I put together some cover bands not too many years ago. I checked out the cover bands playing at Disney Land. One guitar player was doing a solo and actually turned his back on the audience and stood in front of the drummer for literally one minute. I know because after about 10 seconds I started counting. Finally, the lead singer tapped him on the shoulder and got him to turn around and face the audience. This was back in 2013. I was like, Thank You! That was pretty annoying.

Thank God I'm not an offender of any of these annoying things ... I considered every one of these things when I first heard of them, but never I acted upon the initial impulse! Whew! I agree whole-heartedly on all of them! I've been using Ernie Ball Regular / Super Slinky since 1968 (when I first heard of them) ... why change?

I gave up on solderless cables in the 80's after using Belden solderless cables and ends. I couldn't stand them and eventually tried soldering them to keep them from separating all the time. For strings, I always find Fender Bullets last longer because the ends are not wrapped, but encased in a little bullet which prevents them from stretching or unwrapping. They also seemed to stay in tune longer than regular strings. And a hint about not destroying your strings. Before playing wash your hands with soap and water, dry them and then spray them with rubbing alcohol and wipe them off completely. That will take all the oils off your hands and keep you from rusting your strings prematurely.

I had a lot of fun with this video. I felt like I was in the room laughing with you guys. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I'm with Dave on the gold knobs. Performers who constantly tune without muting. And not wiping your guitar down. Those are the main ones for me.

The wireless thing makes more sense if you have been shocked a few times! I thought it was always about mobility, but it makes sense if you have played somewhere that has a half-ass electrical system! Nothing quite like being shocked on the lips by a microphone!

I have a Mary Kaye Strat! Thanks, Rhett, for the shout out cuz it is beautiful! I, too usually think gold is tacky but I shelled out another hundo just cuz that model was so much better looking than the silver.

i totally enjoy all your videos man and i appreciate the lessons and theory. When i come into some $ i will be sure to show my appreciation! thank you for the great vids Rick! -Isaac-

When I was getting started playing in the late 80s as a 17 yr old my older brother (10 yrs my senior, he played mostly cowboy chords and a few Zeppelin riffs like heartbreaker.. Zeppelin is probably my favorite band so I worshiped him as a 7 yr old for playing just basic stuff) had some super talented friends, one of which became a mentor to me. Gave me my first guitar and had me promise to "not let it collect dust' I didn't and my brother whom I was living with wouldn't help me learn, he'd make up some excuse. He was afraid I'd learn and surpass him. In spite of that I did that anyway. In a nutshell he can't get along with anyone for long and I moved to Miami where my mom had just gotten a good job managing apartments through a woman who had a son a year younger than me Mark. He was learning to play and subscribed to magazines and had tabs , I bought "the guitar handbook" and my estranged brothers friend would visit as we'd become friends. I'd known him my whole life so he was more of a brother to me than to me than my actual brother was. He'd show me stuff, answer questions, generally look out for me as I jumped the hurdles we do along the way. Mark and I became friends but I realized that he was passionate about music, but tone deaf. On top of that he was rhythmically challenged, couldn't play in time. He didn't notice, but through him I met a few other kids and we all noticed but although he knew he couldn't sing, he couldn't be convinced about his timing. So he would say things like "I'm saving up for a floyd rose and then a Marshall stack with a boss pedal board with ...and I'm going to get an Ibanez this or a bc Rich guitar and change pick-ups." All the while he wasn't improving as a guitar player. He thought the better the equipment the better the musician. I didn't know half of what he did about gear but I practiced constantly. He learned songs I couldn't play yet, but he would play the right notes , from tab, but his timing was everywhere. I had a Headway (strat style, chinese I think) guitar and I ran it through my stereo clean cause I had no amp. I got a guitar before the amp and traded my first guitar for a Digitech processor with a peddle board and a cool looping effect. The distortion sounded like a buzzsaw but I at least had it. So I never cared about gear and tone , I cared about learning. So my peeve is putting gear including the guitar ahead of learning to actually play well. Of course you don't want to start with a guitar that sucks and lose interest, or one with no truss rod that is more of a toy. But within reason I think learning to play on like Rhett said a Squier Affinity is fine with a practice amp, rather than be an encyclopedia of gear knowledge and still suck. I'm finished, I'm going to practice ✌️🎸☮️💖🙏🎸

On the Allan Holdsworth comment: It's basically become the same situation you've seen for years in Gypsy Jazz guitar -- Django's style is essentially the basis of the entire sound, but thousands of players now exist within that genre who emulate him while still developing their own unique voice. I think the same can be said about players who have taken substantial influence from Holdsworth in their soloing style, such as Tim Miller, early Alex Machacek, Paul Masvidal, Fredrik Thordendal, Derryl Gabel, etc. When a player like Holdsworth is so innovative that their style births an entire subgenre, a lot of amazing players within that movement get dismissed as clones because people are too lazy to truly listen and discover what makes them unique.

I like certain strings because they have the tone I want when new, like not too bright. However, after about a week to a couple of days most string end up sounding the same.

To me, and no hate towards you guys because you touched on this, my biggest pet peeve is guitar guys who bash other guitar guys for trying to emulate someone else’s rig. I think it’s pretty cool for someone who can afford it to put together EVH’s rig from VH1. Even though you’ll never sound just like him, it’s so cool to be able to afford to do it and to have the knowledge to do so. And also, you’ll never capture his tone, but you might stumble across your own along the way.

High and in good spirits!! Yall are putting a smile on my face ☺

Monster cables also has problems like that for retro game consoles. The part that goes into the system is generally okay, but the component cable ends that plug into your TV or upscaler have a deathgrip and get stuck in the plug and eventually break. The only Monster cable I own is a 3.5mm cord for connecting my tablet to an amp or monitors. Fits perfectly.

side note: i once went to see a buddy's band. as a joke, he played the solo to american woman for every-single-song, the entire nite. i thought it was hillarious, but no one else did

I just removed the SNARKS from my guitars in reverence to Rick! I played with a guy years ago who had to change his strings after every gig because there would be actual RUST dripping off the strings by the end of the gig! I've never seen anything like it!

I took a lesson with Jeff Hamilton years ago and we talked about his live recording on Ray Brown Trio Bam Bam Bam. I said how much I loved his sound on the recording as we were talking about calf skin heads and different woods etc... he then told me that he played that gig on plastic Remo heads and a Remo synthetic drum kit. Then he said "just goes to show you, you take your sound with you".

Rick, try using ronsonol lighter fluid to wipe down strings before abs after your friends play your guitars. Nothing kills strings more than when two different peoples sweat and oils combine.

2yrs later, my pet peeve still is, the way some guitarists shake the neck of the guitar back and forth to get vibrato instead of developing the skills to use their fingers

Haha - I once thought I have to go wireless, because you'd feel "free". It worked well until "the" one gig, where a radio station came on my Mesa Boogie. Everytime, jwhrn I wanted to change guitar I had to put the wireless on standby and than the Radio from the bar next to us transmitted on the same signal as my wireless - it only had one channel ;-). Thank god - I'm back to cable.

Thanks Rick - I could sit and listen to the three of you talk music/guitar/gear/etc for hours!

Hey Rick, since you guys were talking about it indirectly, how often should you change your strings?

This video made me laugh! I learned an important lesson about gear versus practice. Years ago I decided to shoot competitive sporting clays. I fantasized about owning a Krieghoff shotgun ($$$). I thought I was a pretty good shooter. After being embarrassed at my first several competitions I discovered I had been shooting with some of the top shooters in the country. I realized I needed to practice and be a better shooter before justifying such an expensive gun. Same with guitars. I am blessed to afford nice gear, nothing crazy, but I have been studying and practicing instead of lusting after some crazy classic equipment. Great discussion…

My pet peeve is that I didn’t hear you guys say “It’s in the hands” before I spent ridiculous amounts of money on guitars and equipment before realizing that I suck at playing guitar!!!

This was a fun episode. You guys need to do it again! My pet peeves: relict guitars! Seriously! I don't get it. It's like guys who would smash beautiful guitars on stage! I hated It. I get it! Old guitars are uber expenses. Still hate it! #2 Brown guitars! What is it with men and brown guitars? Black I get but Brown!? It's like the man cave of guitars. Schecter has brown guitar that I really like they call cats eye. No, it's brown. Would be way cooler if it was cat's eye that is more brown with nice golden amber in it. #3 why is it guitarists can't distinguish a tone ? from sound ? I mean, I ask how does Gilmour get that massive sound that fills a stadium and it's like I'm speaking chinese. Guess, I should ask, what effects does he use. Too me, tone and sound are 2 different things, aren't they! #4 Why is it necessary for some guitarists to cram in as many notes in 2 minute solo as humanly possible? Dang show off!! #5 why will no one answer my question about headstocks? I have asked few guys about reverse headstocks not being way guitars should be made. I mean, pianos are set up with bass to treble being shorter as you move up scale so why not headstocks? Hey Rhett, you kind of touched on it on recent video @ Righteous Guitars, very cool store btw. When you were talking about scale lengths. Longer scale lengths have more tension so wouldn't reverse headstocks make tuning and playing easier? Just askin''. I mean, Jimi did it first, didn't he. Maybe that's why? I don't know. Like I said, just askin'! Anyway, all I got! Cheerz! ✌out & Stay Chique! Guitar Chique! 😎. Oh, as you can guess, I'm lady guitar player!!!

Not just guitarists, but any musician that thinks they have to play constantly during a song. Sometimes there are parts when you need to drop out. There are no dynamics if everyone is playing all the time.

In my opinion, some guitars are for looking at, and some guitars are meant for a gig in a bar with smoke and beer flowing. I really like a bar king. They wind up sounding the best to me. Sound doesn't care if it comes from a $6000 guitar or a $300 guitar. My favorite is a LP Special flat top with paint so you can't see the wood and has great P90's. Probably the same with a basic Tele. No quilted or burle or flame tops.

I saw a band in a night club. The singer was also the guitarist using wireless gear. He went to the toilet in the middle of a song & kept singing & playing. The rest of the band slowly got quieter and we all heard this guy singing & playing to the sound of him taking a piss. Bathroom acoustics just made it so much better. The rest of the band started playing again when he came out. Very funny. I don't know if it was planned or just a happy accident.

Actually our drums are behind plexiglas in my church. And even then hes pretty loud. But I think that's because they're not mixed right up in the sound booth. The most annoying thing is you can barely hear the lead worship singer. And you can't hear the harmony singers at all.