So You Wanna Be A Guitar Tech - ASK ZAC 41

well hello friends and welcome to
1:30
another Ask Zac
1:32
I hope you're doing well today today
1:33
we're going to talk about
1:35
so you want to be a guitar tech because
1:38
I've gotten questions about that and
1:40
about people
1:41
being curious about how to get into that
1:44
and
1:45
also you know what it's what it's really
1:47
like so
1:48
that's what we're going to talk about
1:49
today uh while you're thinking about it
1:52
go down in the corner and subscribe
1:55
and if you've been watching the show for
1:58
a while
1:59
i would appreciate it if you went to ask
2:01
zach.com
2:02
got a store there you can pick up a mug
2:05
or a t-shirt
2:06
and also i have you know tip jar
2:08
information in the description
2:10
so if that's the way you want to do it
2:12
so thank you
2:14
all right first some some old business
2:17
um
2:18
on the jv telecaster episode which was
2:21
last week's
2:22
I ended up writing a a much bigger
2:25
article than I had originally envisioned
2:28
and that was because John Jorgensen
2:31
ended up providing
2:32
fantastic photos of his jv telecaster
2:35
and then I had clips that I got from the
2:39
desert rose band fan club
2:43
the guy that runs that site and
2:46
yeah so i ended up with clips of him
2:48
playing and his guitar
2:50
and then also I took my jv guitar apart
2:53
and posted photos to help you guys in
2:57
vetting or looking at jv guitars and
3:00
knowing
3:00
what things should look like like the
3:03
fact that jv's come with split shaft
3:06
pots you know even the telecasters and
3:08
you know that's good information to have
3:10
and the kind of markings
3:12
to see on the on the neck and the body
3:15
and uh you know what what what the parts
3:17
should look like
3:18
so anyway uh also uh
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on this paisley guitar that i was
3:25
playing
3:26
uh i have uh removed the labrea pickups
3:30
from it
3:30
and put back the originals and there was
3:32
nothing wrong with the labreas
3:34
it was just i missed the original
3:36
pickups and
3:38
because that's what was put in the
3:40
guitar originally and when you know bill
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crook
3:42
put it together that's what he
3:43
envisioned for it and  I
3:46
missed them and uh especially that uh
3:49
that neck pickup uh the adder is really
3:51
cool and the and the the Peter Florence
3:53
bridge pickup and you know both of them
3:54
i know are no longer made
3:56
and such but they're uh they're fun so
3:59
anyway
4:00
also on the string front uh i have
4:03
removed the pure nickel
4:05
strings from my old 67 and uh
4:08
and not because i don't like them but
4:10
with that it's that i have a bunch of
4:12
strings
4:13
that i have already and so i really
4:15
don't want to invest more money in
4:17
strings right now
4:18
so what I'm continuing to use is either
4:21
the d'addario
4:22
9 5 through 44 or I'm using a custom set
4:26
that I
4:26
made up uh you know a couple years ago
4:28
that I still have some sets
4:30
of ernie ball strings that's what i have
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on this guitar and it's 10
4:34
13 15 24 32 42.
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so there you have it all right so uh
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one other thing i guess uh on on the
4:44
opening
4:45
you know kind of loop that i was playing
4:47
over uh
4:48
just the the chords i was playing in b
4:51
flat
4:52
was using both pickups and uh was using
4:55
this kind of chord shape
4:59
[Music]
5:05
so you have this kind of
5:08
a flat major 7 kind of thing
5:13
and then a b flat
5:16
you know dominant 7. going back and
5:19
forth
5:19
then you have a a c minor
5:24
c minor seven and then you have the kind
5:28
of hendrixy chord that I'm hammering off
5:29
on
5:31
[Music]
5:34
so it's
5:39
[Music]
5:48
so that's uh that's that all right
5:52
so on to so you want to be a guitar tech
5:56
so I you know I've kind of hit upon some
5:59
of this in my
6:00
uh a day as brad paisley's guitar tech
6:03
you know past episode
6:06
but just to kind of get a little more in
6:08
depth um
6:09
so one you know you know i had a degree
6:12
in business
6:13
and uh you know brad graduated a year
6:16
ahead of me at Belmont university we
6:18
both graduated with bba's bachelor of
6:20
business
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administration degrees with an emphasis
6:23
in music business
6:25
and I had no training as a tech and
6:29
so basically I had a lot of on the job
6:32
training with that and uh
6:36
you know with with the questions that
6:38
I've gotten about this I kind of wanted
6:40
to address
6:40
some things in general about being a
6:43
guitar tech
6:45
and i think one of them is you really
6:47
need to ask yourself some serious
6:49
questions
6:50
before you in you know endeavor to be a
6:52
guitar tech
6:54
and one is you know is traveling a good
6:57
idea for you
6:58
you know do you do well traveling you
7:00
know because that I know right now we're
7:02
in
7:02
covid and such but you know there will
7:05
be you know one day when this is over
7:08
so you know one is do do i travel well
7:11
uh you know am i able to handle that am
7:13
i able to handle being away from my
7:15
family and friends
7:16
for extended periods of time so you know
7:20
you might be with an artist that only
7:21
tours in the united states or you might
7:23
be with
7:24
an act that tours internationally
7:27
so you need to ask yourself that
7:28
question you also need to ask yourself
7:30
uh you know
7:34
do i want to be a player or do i want to
7:36
be a guitar tech
7:38
because i caution people in that
7:42
once you go to work as a guitar tech
7:45
then you will be seen as a guitar tech
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probably for most of your career very
7:52
few people are able to make the
7:53
transition from a guitar tech into a
7:55
guitar player
7:57
and that's because people are quick to
8:00
pigeonhole people and
8:04
it's like once you once you get known
8:06
for that then that's what you are and
8:08
when even when people hear you play
8:10
they might make a comment like he's a
8:12
good guitar player
8:14
for a guitar tech and you will hear
8:17
those things
8:18
now for some that works out fine
8:21
because then they tech for artists and
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styles of music that they don't care
8:27
anything about
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like maybe you know i know some guys
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that tech
8:32
that they play around town doing
8:34
straight traditional country music
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playing a telecaster into a twin reverb
8:39
playing clean and then they go you know
8:41
tech for modern acts
8:43
you know they're all playing you know
8:45
gibsons and prs guitars with overdrive
8:49
and you know and it's it's a gig and
8:51
they they do it well
8:52
but you know they're able to tech for
8:54
these guys because
8:56
it's so different than what they want to
8:57
play I think the rub
8:59
comes in when you are teching for an
9:02
artist that you wish you were playing
9:05
for
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and that's one of the rubs that I
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experienced so
9:11
you know when I was working for brad
9:12
paisley
9:14
now brad was very kind to me and he
9:16
treated me fantastically so I
9:18
you know I hope this is not taken as in
9:21
any way a slight on him you know this
9:24
was my
9:25
own issue uh you know I loved brad's
9:29
music
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and uh and so it was hard
9:34
to to be there you know working on on
9:36
guitars and doing all these things doing
9:38
all the hard work associated with
9:40
gigging
9:41
but then not getting to play now he did
9:43
let me play a lot
9:45
you know whenever we weren't doing
9:46
regular shows when we were doing the
9:48
opera and we were doing television
9:49
things
9:50
I would get to play with the band and
9:52
i'd play six string bass or man blend or
9:54
all sorts of other things just play
9:56
an additional part not just playing
9:58
along
10:00
so that's a huge you know consideration
10:03
you know before you even think about uh
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being a guitar tech
10:08
is you know is this something that i can
10:10
enjoy doing
10:11
or is this something where I'm always
10:13
going to be thinking I wish I was
10:15
up there on stage playing
10:18
uh I will say that it was uh
10:22
after you know I kind of got off the
10:25
road
10:25
you know after brad and then i ended up
10:27
having to go back out on the road for a
10:29
while because i knew frankly i needed
10:30
the money
10:31
and I worked with Carrie underwood for
10:33
about eight months
10:35
and that was my last teching gig and that
10:37
was when Shawn tubbs was in the band
10:40
and and that
10:43
gig was really fun and easy
10:46
and and part of it was because I
10:49
I there's I have no problem with Carrie
10:51
underwood's music but I didn't want to
10:52
play that music
10:53
and so I had no desire to play in the
10:55
band
10:57
and but yet I really enjoyed listening
10:59
to them
11:00
and you know they were wonderful players
11:02
and
11:03
who doesn't want to hear Sean tubbs play
11:05
guitar I heard his in-ear mix
11:07
every night and every night he was
11:10
adding things that weren't on the record
11:12
and uh and they were amazing and it uh
11:15
it
11:16
in fact I I was I was so I was became
11:20
kind of such a
11:21
Sean tubbs fanboy while being his his
11:23
tech
11:24
that uh I would I would you know get
11:27
other
11:28
players that were around and give them
11:29
my in-ear monitors and
11:31
you know my little earbuds and say
11:33
listen to this listen to how good he
11:35
is I think I did that once with Jeff
11:37
king and Jeff king's a
11:38
session guy here in town who's a
11:40
phenomenal player and
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I'm sure he was saying why are you
11:43
pushing this other you know player on me
11:45
but
11:46
anyway Jeff's a great guy so
11:50
all uh important considerations
11:53
so then you also have to think about
11:55
okay so you've you've asked yourself
11:58
those questions and
11:58
he's like yes i want to be a tech well
12:01
okay
12:02
so then you have to ask yourself you
12:04
know what kind of
12:05
tech gig do you want do you wanna you
12:08
know are you trying to be the
12:10
tech for a star or for side men because
12:13
it's a completely different kind of gig
12:16
uh you know a side man gig is pretty
12:19
low stress an artist tech gig
12:23
is pretty stressful because of how much
12:26
pressure is on the artist so if you're a
12:29
tech
12:29
for you know clapton or john mayer
12:33
or brad paisley or keith urban or
12:36
you know anyone that's a known artist
12:38
guitar player
12:40
you know being a tech for them is a very
12:42
uh
12:43
it's a very high pressure high stress
12:46
thing because uh you know when the
12:49
guitar messes up
12:51
which inevitably it's going to mess up
12:53
at some point
12:54
it throws off the show for the player
12:57
you know for the artist
12:58
and it throws off their rhythm and
13:00
that's and that's tough for them to
13:01
recover from that and keep going
13:03
so there's just a lot of there's a lot
13:04
of pressure there
13:06
so that's a you know a big uh you know
13:10
you know a big consideration another
13:13
thing that you need to think about that
13:16
i've kind of hit on before but you
13:18
really need to realize that this
13:20
is a it's very much a
13:23
service position and i i don't want to
13:26
use the word
13:27
servant but i think a lot of guitar
13:30
players that i've even
13:32
interviewed like session guys will say
13:34
you know being a session player you know
13:35
you're in a service industry
13:38
that's true but there's a whole other
13:40
level
13:41
to service and kind of being a servant
13:45
when your whole work is to make
13:48
someone else look good and that's
13:51
the point of being a guitar tech your
13:54
job
13:55
is to not get glory and to make sure
13:58
that someone else gets
14:00
all the glory so there's a level of
14:03
humility that's involved and that's
14:06
tough so
14:09
you know you have to take pride in the
14:12
fact that
14:13
you helped make a great show
14:17
and so when when we had a great show you
14:20
know with brad paisley
14:21
yeah absolutely i felt you know i felt
14:24
great
14:24
you know afterwards that i had done a
14:26
good job and i had helped
14:28
a really great show come off the guitar
14:30
sounded great brad
14:31
played great he was inspired by a good
14:34
feeling
14:35
instrument and great tone and that's
14:38
what you have to take
14:39
take your pride in
14:44
hit upon like if you want to be a guitar
14:47
tech how do you
14:49
how do you get how do you get there well
14:52
you need to get to know crew guys
14:56
you need to get to know uh the
14:58
production manager for a band
15:01
and you need to get to know you know
15:03
guitar techs
15:05
and you need to put it out there that
15:06
you're wanting to do that
15:08
and you need to have someone that you
15:11
you need to
15:12
be able to prove yourself to somebody
15:14
and you need to have you know there's
15:16
certain skills that you need to have
15:17
you need to be able to string guitars
15:20
well to
15:21
stretch the strings well to intonate
15:24
instruments
15:24
to do you know basic setup work to do
15:28
you know emergency network and things
15:30
like that like you might
15:32
have a guitar that there's only one of
15:34
and
15:36
you know the nut has a has a problem the
15:39
the slot's too deep and maybe you have
15:41
to
15:42
you know sand off some of the nut
15:44
material
15:45
and mix it with super glue put it in the
15:47
slot
15:48
and then make a new uh make a new slot
15:51
in there that's just
15:52
something to get by until you can take
15:54
it take the guitar
15:55
until the instrument can be taken back
15:57
to you know
15:59
a real repairman and they can you know
16:01
put another nut on there or something
16:02
like that but there's
16:04
all sorts of things i you know i had to
16:06
refinish the back of a neck because brad
16:07
paisley took all the finish off
16:10
and i used you know super glue and
16:11
smeared it on there
16:13
and then and then you know used you know
16:16
some really light
16:17
you know some really fine grit sandpaper
16:19
to sand it down and ended up you know
16:20
working great and i've done that
16:22
you know done that multiple times but uh
16:26
yeah there's a lot of ingenuity and
16:29
being having the connections meaning
16:32
just being willing to make phone calls
16:34
and figure out how to do things and
16:36
that's a that's a big part of it too is
16:37
just saying
16:39
you know i don't know how to do that but
16:41
i'll i'll figure it out
16:42
and you know calling whoever you need to
16:44
call and of course you need to have
16:46
soldering
16:47
skills and uh you know
16:50
and those are you know those are what
16:52
will uh keep you going and having a good
16:54
attitude and understanding
16:57
that part of your job is kind of
17:00
uh being a bit of a cheerleader too
17:03
and making the people that you are
17:06
working for
17:07
feel good and have a good time you know
17:10
because then they're going to want to
17:11
keep working with you
17:12
because there's so much of working
17:14
together that's about
17:16
attitude and about being
17:19
uh you know lifting people up instead of
17:22
bringing people down when you're around
17:23
them because then people
17:24
want to work with you so
17:28
those are uh those are some
17:31
some uh you know some of the the points
17:34
on on being a guitar tech
17:36
um you know there are a lot of a lot of
17:38
fun things about being a guitar tech and
17:40
having an excuse to contact all sorts of
17:43
people
17:44
and companies and such is is just a lot
17:46
of fun and uh
17:48
you know and and being uh you know
17:50
having those people as guests
17:52
you know backstage you know for me you
17:54
know of course it was fun having uh
17:56
sterling ball you know the uh the former
17:59
uh
18:00
ceo of ernie ball i think his son brian
18:02
is now the
18:03
ceo but uh like having sterling ball
18:05
backstage and him telling stories about
18:08
uh albert lee and uh touring with eric
18:11
clapton and things like that i mean
18:12
those are you know
18:13
those are fun you know getting to hear
18:15
those stories
18:16
and uh getting a b around those guys so
18:19
there's a there's a lot of
18:20
fun things about it there's a lot of
18:21
hard things there's very long days
18:24
and uh and again you know very little
18:27
glory
18:27
you know it's uh you know you have you
18:30
know the day starts
18:31
you know early and sometimes it goes
18:33
till late in the day
18:35
and that's uh that's the way it is and
18:37
especially if you're teching for an
18:39
artist you're probably gonna be uh
18:42
you know involved in the recording of
18:43
albums and
18:45
uh you know and you know i worked on uh
18:48
brad paisley's mud on the tires and you
18:51
know i was there every single day
18:53
and yet i didn't appear anywhere on the
18:55
credits now they
18:56
they fixed that with the next album but
18:59
it was because it's not really
19:00
something that's thought of you know
19:03
with uh
19:03
you know a lot of you know album credits
19:05
and things like that they don't think
19:07
about
19:07
you know the the guitar tech that's
19:09
almost like a another assistant engineer
19:12
on on sessions so yeah so there's
19:16
there's hard parts so but uh
19:19
again it's uh you know it can be a lot
19:22
of fun if you have the right attitude
19:25
and uh and you just have the right
19:28
expectations
19:31
all right guys well i hope you've
19:32
enjoyed today's episode
19:34
and i hope you will uh think think about
19:36
you know if you're
19:38
wanting to be a guitar tech you know if
19:40
you won't have additional questions you
19:41
can certainly uh
19:42
reach out to me also i've had a lot of
19:46
uh
19:46
questions recently that have been
19:48
emailed to me about
19:50
people either selling their instruments
19:52
or buying instruments and they've wanted
19:54
me to help in
19:55
authenticating things or my advice on a
19:58
purchase
19:58
you know whether something is is real or
20:01
not
20:02
and i am happy to do that um you know
20:05
just uh
20:05
you know be uh be courteous to me and
20:08
also
20:09
you know i appreciate either hitting the
20:10
tip jar or buying stuff from the store
20:13
you know if i'm gonna
20:14
spend time you know helping you out
20:15
doing that and that's what people have
20:17
done so far and i appreciate that so i
20:18
just want to throw that out there
20:20
alright guys well i hope you have a
20:22
great week and i'll see you next time