



Backline in music professional#
You might even get a part time job and get paid to learn! You do not need to be a professional musical instrument repair person, but you need to have a good understanding how the instruments are set up and repaired. As long as you are courteous and show interest in their profession you might be surprised how eager these people will be to help you. Maybe offer to sweep the floors, or clean up the shop in exchange for lessons on instrument repairs. Ask if you could come in for a couple of hours and watch them work. Explain to them that you are interested in becoming a backline technician and would like to learn some basic skills of guitar setups, guitar repairs, amp repairs, and drum repairs etc. Find out who the guitar and amp repair technicians are and try to meet them. For this I would suggest contacting local musical instrument repair shops and asking if you could volunteer. The next thing you are going to need to do is become educated on the maintenance of these instruments and gear. This hasn’t stopped them, so why should it stop you? I have worked with many successful technicians on large scale tours who have very little playing ability. 4-8 weeks of half hour lessons can be done in your spare time. You don’t have to become a pro, just learn the basics.
Backline in music how to#
Learn how to play some scales on a piano. Learn how to play a drum beat and tune a drum. Learn how to tune a guitar and play the basic chords. If you are serious about becoming a backline technician I would recommend taking some guitar, drum and piano lessons in your spare time. If you have never picked up a guitar, played a piano, or sat behind a drum kit, you have some work to do before even considering this line of work. That being said, you must have a fundamental understanding of these instruments. Being a good musician is definitely a huge asset, but it is not as crucial as you might think. This is where you are going to begin, and this is what you are going to need to know!Ī big misconception is that a backline technician must be a really good drummer or guitar player etc. Let’s first discuss what skills you need to become backline technician. Just like anything else in life, getting into this industry means starting at the bottom and working your way up. So in order to figure out how one becomes a backline technician, lets break it right down and start at the beginning. And their first crew members were probably a couple of inexperienced backline technicians! Keep in mind they probably started out in one van pulling a small trailer with only their instruments and band gear. Large touring acts will have huge crews traveling with them on multiple tour buses, and semi trailer trucks filled with sound and lights. When you see a large concert in an arena or stadium you must realize that in most cases the band you are seeing started out touring in small clubs and theaters. At the end of the show, the backline technicians pack up the band gear and load the trailer or truck. They are responsible for keeping everything in tune and working properly. Here we will discuss what a backline technician does, and how to become successful.Ī backline technician is someone who travels with a band and sets up their guitars, drums, keyboards, and any other instruments or band gear being used. Touring crews are broken down into categories and can include production, audio, lighting, rigging, video, pyrotechnics and backline. This incredible feat is made possible by the hard work of several small crews that travel with the tour, with the help of larger local crews. After the show, the entire production is loaded back into trucks and is headed off to another city by 2 am for another load-in the next morning. Typically, a live concert production arrives at the venue between 7 am and 12 noon and is ready for showtime at 7 pm. Have you ever gone to a concert and wondered, “how do they get this whole stage set up, and torn down in one day?” Depending on the size of a live concert tour, many people are employed behind the scenes to produce a successful show.
