What To Bring In Your Guitar Gig Bag

For those of you who are new to accessible mics or who accept alone had a few gigs, it's best to be able and accept aggregate you charge appropriate there if you charge it. The affliction book is if you yield a cruise out to a gig and accessible up your case alone to apprehend that you forgot the a lot of accepted items. So I aggregate a account of what to accompany in your guitar gig bag (if it will fit). This account varies from aerialist to aerialist as your needs ability be altered than the other. The purpose of this announcement is to bang down the abstraction of Never Assume! Be Able as Best You Can!
Guitar Picks
If you use guitar picks, again this is a accept to accept to accept in your gig bag. Just bandy in 5-10 guitar picks. I aswell consistently backpack one in my wallet just in case. There's this affair about guitar picks....they like to disappear. Don't abatement into the allurement of just accepting one guitar aces accessible to be used.
Guitar Strings, Mini-Diagonal Cutter and Winder
You never apperceive if a guitar cord is traveling to breach on you. If you do breach a string, you wish to accomplish abiding that you don't absorb a lot of time acclimation it so that's why I aswell say accompany mini-diagonal cutters and a cord winder. You can buy mini-diagonal cutters from about anywhere and a cord winder is alone $1-2. Cord winders are absolutely handy. I abhorrence accepting to about-face my affability pegs by hand. Abiding you can do it, but it's abundant fast with a guitar winder! And if you're at a gig time is actual important!
Guitar Tuner
There are several kinds of tuners you can get, but the basal abstraction is...get one. Whether it's a bargain $10 tuner, the Cleartune app for the iPhone or the one that clips to the arch banal just get one. Even if you can tune by ear you should accept one. Sometimes in a blatant allowance you can't apprehend yourself affability the guitar. Just bung your guitar cable in a tuner and voila...a acquainted guitar.
Nail Clippers
This is one that abounding new comers forget. I had to apprentice this the harder way so I achievement this alleviates you some headache. If your nails are too continued you can feel those nails blame down on the abutting and those chords just don't complete as clean. Sometimes I get bent up with activity and don't apprehend how continued my nails accept gotten. That's if accepting attach clippers comes in handy.
Capo
If you use a capo, accomplish abiding it stays with your bag at all times. The capo is one of those things that just gets absent all the time. Accumulate it close. A affable tip - buy a capo that you will use every achievement and aswell buy a absolutely bargain capo and accumulate it in your bag. You'll almost anytime use it, but if you anytime do lose your aboriginal capo you apperceive that you accept the additional in your bag.
1/4″ Cable
If you own an acoustic electric, don't accept that a area will already accept a 1/4″ cable for you. I've had affluence of accessible mics area I showed up cerebration the area had all the accessory I needed. Imagine my agitation if there's not a guitar cable in sight. Try and backpack a appropriate admeasurement breadth cable too. You don't wish a cable that is too short.
Flyers, Business Cards and Added Marketing materials
Every gig is an befalling to allocution about your accessible shows. If anyone hears you in the army and wants to apperceive if your next appearance is, you should accept that advice ready. Don't accept an accessible show? Again duke them a accepted flyer with your name, account and acquaintance information. If you accept a website, that advice should be on it too, as able-bodied as any added accounts you ability accept to advance your music (Soundcloud, Facebook, YouTube, etc). A lot of networking happens at a gig. You accept added artists searching to do shows, online radio stations out and about aggravating to advance new artists and humans are consistently searching for new music to accept to. Accept that flyer or business agenda accessible so they'll accept all the advice they charge to acquaintance you.
CDs and Merch
If your advantageous abundant to accept CDs and merch, it's a acceptable abstraction to consistently accept a few pieces on you. I like to accumulate a few CDs, stickers and buttons on me at every gig in case anyone in the admirers wants to buy my music or support/promote me. I went to an accessible mic one time and wasn't assured it to be arranged at all so I didn't accompany any of my merch. But there was an "open mic virgin" arena there that night and they brought their accomplished family! I concluded up arena appropriate afore them. If I got off stage, 3 humans capital a CD but I had none in sight. I was able to accord them some chargeless stickers, but that doesn't feel as acceptable as affairs 3 CDs.
Scrap Cardboard and a Pen
You never apperceive if adroitness will hit and you'll accept a abundant lyric in mind. Accepting atom cardboard and a pen accessible agency you'll consistently be able to address that lyric down and use for later. Nowadays I use my iPhone, but if I don't accept it on duke or the array is asleep again I can consistently use a acceptable ole' pen and paper. A pen never run out of batteries (just ink)!
Spare 9 volt Battery
I accept one 9 volt array in my guitar case and it's been there for about a year. I haven't acclimated it yet, but if the array in my guitar goes, it's acceptable to apperceive that I accept that advancement available.
Cash
You don't necessarily accept to accept this in your case, but it's acceptable to accept $5, $10 or maybe even $20 and just accumulate it in there for whatever. It consistently comes in handy, abnormally if you acquisition yourself abbreviate on banknote and you wish to buy a coffee or beer to abutment the venue. I bethink one time I had no money to yield the alternation aback home and remembered my $20 I had buried in my case. You just never know.
So there you accept it. This is my account of what to accompany in your guitar gig bag. Like I declared earlier, every artist will accept their own account of "must haves" for their gig bag. But overall, Never Accept and Be Able as Best You Can!