A day in the life of... a GN'R guitar tech

[jarmo]

Last week in Lima, Peru, I spent the day of the show observing Chris Whitemyer and what he does before, during and after a GN'R show.

Chris works as Dj Ashba's guitar technician on this tour and takes care of Dj's gear.

Dj doesn't just show up at the venue with a guitar in hand and plug in. A lot more goes on before we get to see him play....


Chris is one of the guys who makes the shows possible. Without the crew, there would be no show.

Here's how a day in his life on tour could look like. But not all days are alike....




March 25, 2010: Lima, Peru


12:15: Lobby call at hotel.

12:30: Leave for venue in a van.

13:00: Arrive at venue. Go to catering for lunch.

13:40: Walk on stage. Gear starts arriving on stage in road cases. Chris has seven cases of gear on this tour.

Wait until cables are moved out of the way to be able to put cases in correct positions for the show.


Gear arrives

14:00: Building work area continues by placing road cases in correct positions. Chris unpacks the amps and places some on stage.


Cases in place

14:10: Opening more road cases. Some equipment is started up for the first time. Dj has 11 electric and one acoustic guitar with him that Chris looks after. Other gear used on this tour: Two Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 100W heads, TC Electronic guitar processor, Shure wireless with six receivers.


Power


Mesa Boogie




Wireless



The signal travels as the following diagram shows:

Wireless
-> Cry Baby
-> Loop switcher
   (Q Zone - Better)
   (Whammy - Shackler's Revenge)
   (Pog 2 - If The World)
   
-> Splitter Box
-> Amp




Effects


A microphone picks up the sound from the amp and sends it to be mixed before you hear the guitar over the PA system.


14:25: Chris starts hooking all the gear up with cables.

14:35: Power up.

14:40: Time to hook up the pedals on the stage with cables.


Cables

14:55: The first notes of the day are played on one of Dj's guitars.

15:40: Stringing guitars. The strings used are Ernie Ball 10-48. Chris also uses a D'Andrea string winder.


Stringing a guitar


Lots of strings

16:25: Chris helps Johnny, one of Baz's guitar players, with his guitar.

16:35: The stringing of guitars continues.

17:00: Chris checks the wireless packs Dj uses during the show.

17:15: Amps off. Dinner break.

18:45: Chris starts the changing of a nut on one of the guitars. The job requires him to saw and file a nut into the right dimensions.


Original nut removed


New nut in place


New nut cut to right dimension


New nut being filed


Adjustment


20:05: Job done. Chris fine tunes the new nut and cleans up.


New nut in place, tuning guitar

20:30: Chris places a bunch of guitar picks on Dj's microphone stand.

20:35: Check the contents of the cooler. Every show, the cooler is filled with the items on Chris' list.

23:15: After Baz's set is over and the stage has been cleared, Chris places the pedals and microphone stand on stage. Guitar picks are also placed in strategic places all over the stage. You don't want to be out on stage and not be able to get a new guitar pick.

After a while it's time for line check. The monitor mix is checked. Chris has a special mix in his in ear monitors. It's mostly a mix with Dj's guitar, Axl, no other guitars, hi-hat and snare. Plus the talkback, which means the talking that goes on on-stage between band members.

0:30: Show time. During the show, Chris tunes guitars and hand them out to Dj. He also puts out more water bottles on stage and operates the whammy pedal for Shackler's Revenge.


Handing over guitar to Dj


Chris' point of view during show

2:55: Show over. Chris starts packing gear.

5:00: Back at hotel.



Thanks to Chris for putting up with me for a whole day! 





/jarmo

[Gunsguy]

Wow Jarmo, very well done!  It is interesting to everyone how this stuff works and we appreciate the walk through you just did!  I hope this is the start of more!  Thanks alot

[cotis]

Thanks to guys like Chris, these shows go off without a hitch.

Great story and thanks a lot Chris for your hard work and dedication!

[Evita]

Wow, super interesting.  Thanks for sharing!

[big_machine]

has he been his guitar tech ?

or just for this tour

[GypsySoul]

Wow.  That's amazing!!! 

It's mind-boggling how much work goes into putting together these shows.

[inlikeflynn420]

Cool behind the scenes insight! Thanks Jarmo! Very interesting. Great accompanying photos also

[MarioGunner]

Unbelievable the ampunt of dedication that takes....  thanx to all the crew members!!!!   

[richwoman]

I`d really like the job of helping Axl get changed

[w.axl.rose]

your a rich woman. im sure you can make it happen.

[Leddy]

Thanks Jarmo, great article, very interesting! 

[babydolls]

found that fascinating. the crew do a stellar job, and you never know what could happen each night (hurricanes, torrential rain!) that can affect things.  Thanks for this, am always interested in the technical stuff, 

[Christos AG]

A huge thanks to all the technicians for making this tour happen, especially with all this shit happening to them, and a special thanks to Jarmo for taking the time to document all this...

[BumbleBuzz]

I must echo the comments of those above and give thanks to the technicians who work to make sure shows like this, and everywhere, go ahead...for them the day is long and the work is hard, but ultimately their sacrifice is what the rest of us enjoy the benefit of...in some ways it seems unfair, grossly unfair, in other ways we remember their position is one of trust and experience and they have worked hard to do something they love for a living

[jacdaniel]

wow!  thats like a 16 hour day! 

[Burton]

Respect, these guys are the unsung heroes nobody talks about.

[fieldsy]

Excellent insight into the life of a technician.  Thanks to Jarmo and Chris!

[AdZ]

Wow, that was awesome! Cool to see how it all goes together

[CheapJon]

cool, the crew are heroes, more stuff like this jarmz

[wadey]

Cool stuff........thankyou for sharing and a big thankyou to all the crew and unsung heroes that make it all happen