A bass player’s gig bag is his trusty side kick. It’s their war chest heading into battle. When you’re at a gig there is almost no telling what kind of curveball could be thrown your way. And your only tools are going to be what you’ve got in the gig bag, so you have to keep it well stocked.
At the end of the day your bass is a set of strings. Maybe that seems like a drastic over-simplification right now, but when your out on a gig and you’ve broken one you’ll understand. The great tone you’ve cultivated is a result of a large series of things, your bridge, pickups, preamps, pedals, ect. But it starts at the strings. And when you are down a string your bass is crippled.
Players have all sorts of practices when it comes to their strings. Some will use them forever, others change them regularly. But everyone breaks strings. Maybe some more frequently then others, but trust us, at some point one of those strings are going to go. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s going to be when you’re out at a gig. That’s just how these things happen.
That’s why an extra set of strings are such an essential gig bag item. There’s no way around it, you are going to need them, so make sure you’ve got them on hand for when you do.
Check out the rest of the Gig Bag Essentials Series:
What items do you stock your gig bag with? Have we forgotten anything? Let us know in the comments!
OK. I have a few suggestions. Some of them may seem obouvis, but I’ll run through them anyway:Is the amp on?Is the amp plugged in?Is the guitar plugged in to the amp?Is the volume turned up on the guitar AND on the amp?Are there any effects pedals in between the guitar and the amp? If so, one of them may have a dead battery.Is you’re cable good? You may want to try another cable.Worst case, something is broken in either your amp or your guitar, and you could take it to a music store that does repairs and have them take a look.Good luck!
Extra tuner!! My TC floor tuner has always been faithful, but just like anything else, it will fail eventually.
Plus, you’ll be the hero when someone else forgot theirs :).
Another gig-bag essential for me is a small LED flashlight. Setting up on a dark stage can be challenging.