I follow the phrase: "You are only as good as your next gig!"

You can review to death what went wrong on the last gig but it won't correct it. It is really best to focus on the next show and say what are we going to improve on. As for tone and sound, that is a never ending battle so I have come to the conclusion of - Just have fun! If I putz around with my sound trying to really dial it in at a gig, I may get close, nail it or be 10 feet short of hitting it over the wall. In that case, screw it because if I have fun and the audience has fun, that is all that mattered.

Sound/tone changes with each venue I find. Some smaller clubs use cheap PA systems and nothing can help them sound good.

At the end of the day I try and sound/play as good as I can and make sure I engage with the crowd and have some fun. I have days I dont want to be playing and did not really want to have fun or play, but then the crowd if their ok changes my mood.

I dont reflect on bad gigs anymore, unless there is something very obvious as to what went wrong, like busted tubes or broken/shorted out cable that stuffs the sound up.

Your live sound is never the same as your studio sound and most fans know it. As long as you can play some rocking songs they will get in to the mood to rock along with you.

For you and the crowd its all about having fun.

Warren, do you have any tips on engaging with the crowd?

I talk a little bit during the set, but I don't play out all that much.

During my pub days I would find a girl near the front who looked not too drunk (and good looking) and hold out the guitar for her or bring her on to the stage and hold the guitar in front of her while standing behind her and get her to strum after indicating what I wanted her to do. This has to be done by the lead guitarist as the melody will die otherwise if you dont have keys in the group.

During some songs, Stopped playing and clapped in time with my hand above my head or nodding my head in time which the crowd then started doing.

I would walk into the crowd and back up against a person or invite them on stage and we would sing the chorus on popular songs. Also the singer would go "whoo who who" and I would play that on the guitar and the singer would shove the mike in someones face and then they would do it and I would repeat on the guitar their Whoo who who.

Talking to them crowd is really important. Taking requests and asking them how they want it played, like slow, rockier than the original etc.

Making eye contact and smiling etc. Generally at some time we would be brought beers by the crowd if they were in a good mood.

Oh yeah dancing like a nut case always went over well. There was probably a lot more when I was drunk/drugged as I was back then, that I cant remember.

There's no real plan of attack here, so, I'll just toss in my 2c, for what it's worth! haha

Sometimes it's fun to just act a little wacky & silly! Crowds seem to like that! hehe...Especially if you're a guitarist... We're kinda known for being a bit strange, anyway, so, use that to your advantage! LOL

However, all joking aside, I truly think that "working a crowd" comes with some experience of playing live. And you also have to be a bit confident, too...Once you're really used to playing "live", you will start to loosen up a bit, and the crowd responds to that, believe it or not. A crowd can read into that. You would be surprised....

I've seen some great local bands in my area that played really well, but, were absolutely boring to watch. Like watching 4 sticks in front of microphones....So boring to watch, it hurt! They just stood there, didn't move...etc...Being a good, "tight" band is important, but, you have to work a crowd, too, and have a little fun doing it..

Probably why I admire guys like Angus Young, so much. I mean, here's a guy that's ALL OVER the stage, and gives 300% all night long! He can WORK a crowd! Now, I'm not saying you have to dress up like a school boy, and skip all over the stage all night, with no shirt on (LOL), but, you get the idea...You gotta' have your own "schtick"...make people want to come see you guys! Be a fun band! Be different!

That's really the key...Have FUN! If you guys are having fun up on stage, chances are the crowd will have just as much fun. Don't take yourselves too seriously. I never did.

In a solo gig situation, tell a meaningful story about a song you are about to play. The audience will remember you for that song and how you introduced it. If I have friends there, I will say hi and say some off the wall thing. You friend will laugh and sometimes others will too.Q

In an ideal world you'd have a place to warm up prior to the gig, but often it does not happen.

Last time I played out I got to do a good soundcheck before the doors opened so got a little bit of warming up and tuning up out of the way. There was a great PA and good mics provided - its always inspiring when the sound is good.

I'd say learn all you can ... I make it a point to try to keep doing tunes that go over well.

yeah. I did have a tech issue on Friday . bloody A string slipped out of a saddle 30 seconds into the 2nd song. but I thought the string broke so had to try and play it on the fly with no A string which in this song was a bastard and its a 7 minute song . that guitar is retired from live duty till I fix the saddles thats for sure

sound checks or warm ups are great when they happen , but that is pretty rare in the live scene I play in

I know what you mean about sound check being rare. I was once told by a club owner "mate the band used the pa last week and it was ok". It turned out they were an acoustic group and we were electric. No changes were allowed and so we sounded crap.

For some gigs my warm up was getting the guitar out of the case.

Was this on an acoustic guitar with pins in the bridge? That would be a pain in the butt!

nah it was a les paul style bridge/saddle.

cuase the string went so floppy in an instant I thought it must've broken at the saddle but still stayed in one piece rather than breaking all the way through . . I glanced down when it happened but in the dark and flashing lights couldnt see anything so got through the song and dumped the guitar for the rest of the set .wasnt till packign up that I Looked and saw the string wasnt broken