A Guitar Technician is a crew person with a specialized skill set (like many crew people must have these days); but unlike many crew members, a Guitar technician (or Guitar tech for short), interacts directly with the artist/musician they are working for, which many crew members do not. A Guitar tech is the personal roadie/tech for the artist/musician he/she works for. As such, rather than just seeing or communicating with the artist/musician on a daily basis, sometimes it's on an hourly or almost constant basis, depending upon the needs of that particular artist/musician. Needless to say, it can be a very highly demanding gig, while at other times, again depending on the artist/musician, it can be an easier gig. (but that doesn't mean it's ever easy.) A crew comprises a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ...

People skills are even more important than technical skills for a Guitar Tech in a sense because one of the unwritten rules of the road is "Never talk to the artist unless absolutely necessary". Your technical skills will get you the gig, but your people skills will allow you to keep it.

While many crew members on a tour work directly for a company that has been contracted to do the sound, lighting, transportation, etc on an artist's tour, a Guitar Tech (usually a freelancer) works directly for the artist/musician themselves. Oftentimes a guitar tech will work for one or more artist/musician, thus having many clients and working for whichever one requires them on a tour. Of course when working with an artist/musician, many things come into play regarding specifics such as the location of certain gear and it's placement on the stage, how things are configured, and even such mundane things as having a certain totem or thing like a stuffed toy on their amp. Trival to some, but important to the artist. Being a Guitar Tech is a job that requires attention to detail, the right skill set in both the technical areas and in the people skills area as well, as mentioned before. the importance of people skills can not be overstated enough.

As for the actual job itself and what that exactly entails for a Guitar tech, that too all depends on the artist/musician you are working for. Even the tour you are currently on can affect it. Maybe for the last tour he had different equipment out and it required some maintenance and procedures this' tour's equipment (commonly called "gear") does not. A good general outline of duties includes such things as ordering supplies such as picks, strings, tools, etc that are used by the artist/musician and his/her tech on the tour; maintenance and repair of effects pedals, guitars, amplifiers, cables, every piece of equipment/gear in the artist/musician's rig. Common tasks include restringing of the guitars, cleaning, polishing, tuning, handling of the instruments by taking them out of the cases, putting them away in cases, putting the guitar picks on the amp or mic stand (wherever they need to be placed at), configuring effects pedals, guitar amplifers, rack systems, replacing defective gear or their parts such as power amplifier tubes in the guitar amplifiers, etc.

Certainly this only covers the most basic of description of what a Guitar tech does on a daily basis, but it does give a good overall generalized job description.

Bass technician

A bass technician (or Bass tech) is basically the same as a Guitar technician, but for the bassist of the band. Often times a Guitar Tech will work for the guitarist on the same side of the stage as the bassist. Other times, the bassist will have his/her own tech. Martin Mendez aka Bass Player, bassist for swedish metal band Opeth A bassist is a musician who plays a double bass or electric bass (also referred to as bass guitar). ...

External links

• guitar tech profiles