As a guitar botherer myself, hats off to your flawless technique, precise and impressive to watch. I’m way too sloppy and really need to tighten up. Thanks.
Cheers ! That ones actually one of my cheapest. I don’t normally use it haha. Most of the time I use Musicman guitars. It’s a recent made MIJ 60’s Classic Reissue. Upgraded pickups, tuners & tremolo.
I just got done playing the last night of our musical performance, and ngl, you helped me a lot with the chord voicings in dancing queen so thanks man!!! Great playing :)
Great video, I love watching pit cam videos and seeing a professional at work. I'm getting ready to play a keyboard book in this show. Is that the Guitar 1 or Guitar 2 book? (It looks like 1?)
So do I although usually percussion but always fascinated and enthralled by the others. I was wondering where this was (high school or professional tour?) and where are the other members of the pit? Obviously we see you and the bassist behind you. Also can you see a monitor of the stage and/or a conductor whilst you're playing Dave?
Nick Jay Hi Nick. This is non-professional, although it’s pretty close. Pretty serious non-pro company. If you look at my channel there’s a “pit tour” video for WICKED which is at the same venue and same company so that will give you some basic idea of the setup. The rest of the band are spread out in front and to the side of me. We’re all under the stage. The drummer is in a fully enclosed booth with Perspex windows to aid in sound isolation. We can see the musical director in front of us but we cannot see the stage - we do not have monitors or vision of the stage (which is above and behind us). So we never actually ever get to see the show. For this show (and the WICKED video) there is an opening in the pit/stage so the musical director can see the stage. In other productions sometimes they want the front edge of the stage fully available so there is no opening.. so we are fully enclosed.. and the musical director relies on TV screen to see the stage. Sometimes the band is buried out the back somewhere or even in a different building! We can obviously hear everything that’s going on - we all have personal foldback headphones which includes the cast radio mics and also an ambient mic sitting on the front edge of the stage which we use to be able to hear the audience and to aid in case of a radio mic fault so we can at least hear “something”.
Hi Dave! How did you get into playing pit guitar as non-pro? I'm a full time software engineer and I'd love to get into playing musical theater pit guitar during weekends and weekday evenings but I'm kinda lost on how to get started. I do live in a large city (San Francisco) so I'm sure there are plenty of amateur and school productions wanting volunteer guitarist for their musicals, but I just don't know how I can find them or get connected with them! ☹️ Also nice rig, I upgraded from hd500 to helix and got myself a Cutlass after selling my MIM Strat to a friend 😆
How accurately do you play all of the complex extended chords that are written (generally in musical theatre not just in this show)? I usually play what I can but some chords are quite complex and it seems like it's not worth my time to learn them. I doubt I could pull of some of the fingerings as well if it's a quick chord progression. I suppose the full chord names could be there not for you to play specifically but just as a note of what the whole orchestra is playing?
Depends on the show, the instrumentation and arrangement. Nasty jazz slash chords are one area I usually simplify.. given there’s multiple instruments hitting the notes of the chord and keyboards and bass hitting the slash bass note.
I am hitting buttons you just can’t see my feet. But for this show I’m using snapshots on helix as there’s only about 8 different sounds required in the whole show, so it’s an easy one. Some shows now I’ve started programming a patch for every song and having a collection of snapshots for that song.
I played guitar 2 a few years ago, what i can tell you is be ready to switch from acoustic to electric with 5 seconds to spare lol. Also you’re gonna be fine, just take time to look at the book if you haven’t already and really take time to shed those parts, I made the mistake of procrastinating on that and although I still played alright, it would’ve been better if I had practiced more. TLDR: practice!
I always wondered if guitarists use 'tabs' or normal sheet musics. Most guitarists can't read notes, but it must be necessary for this. Or do you practics all songs with tabs?
@blankblank It must be difficult reading sheets for guitar. I even think most guitar teachers and online courses use tabs. I never understood why, wish I learned reading normal sheets.
@@noelhoekstra6852 Don't we all! It's a nightmare to start reading them when you're not used to them. I'm 15 and trying to start as early as possible as I'm sure it will help me out in the long run. The sheet music is easy to read, but finding a good position and playing in higher positions where the notes are on ledger lines is really tricky. Not the best instrument for sight reading unfortunately
I love these videos. You and the bassist both seems to be having fun rocking out! I'm curious about the click track. It seems to fade out at one point and then come back on. Is that what you were hearing in your ear or is that just the video?
Just....awesome! And the smiles and joy on the face of guitar #2 makes it better still. Thanks Dave!
Thanks! Yeah we had some fun!
@@DaveBanen hey man nice groove an playing man you sight reading here or did you get the pad ahead of time? ;)
Very nicely done with the whole pit.
OMG the lead guitar tone in the Mamma Mia Chorus...🤤
Was just about to say the same. Amazing tone!
You both did a wonderful performance
As a guitar botherer myself, hats off to your flawless technique, precise and impressive to watch. I’m way too sloppy and really need to tighten up. Thanks.
Fantastic tone all around Dave! Beauty of a guitar too :)
Cheers ! That ones actually one of my cheapest. I don’t normally use it haha. Most of the time I use Musicman guitars. It’s a recent made MIJ 60’s Classic Reissue. Upgraded pickups, tuners & tremolo.
I just got done playing the last night of our musical performance, and ngl, you helped me a lot with the chord voicings in dancing queen so thanks man!!! Great playing :)
It looks like that both you and the gal (?) on guitar 2 are having fun! I would probably too!
That little smile of appreciation from #2 🙂
Always love those moments
Amazing, you had fun at the reprise there too, even you're no'2 threw you a grin! Well done sir... ;)
Haha always have fun. Grins from other muso’s are usually because you’ve stuffed up hahah
incredible
Brilliant love it. true pros!
Wow I love this music
This is amazing!
Great video, I love watching pit cam videos and seeing a professional at work. I'm getting ready to play a keyboard book in this show. Is that the Guitar 1 or Guitar 2 book? (It looks like 1?)
Brady Aldrich I’m not professional 😉
Guitar 1..
That’s very modest of you Dave, just learning a few Abba songs myself and very impressed !
@@DaveBanen I am, I've played this show, and you're fine :)
So do I although usually percussion but always fascinated and enthralled by the others. I was wondering where this was (high school or professional tour?) and where are the other members of the pit? Obviously we see you and the bassist behind you. Also can you see a monitor of the stage and/or a conductor whilst you're playing Dave?
Nick Jay Hi Nick. This is non-professional, although it’s pretty close. Pretty serious non-pro company. If you look at my channel there’s a “pit tour” video for WICKED which is at the same venue and same company so that will give you some basic idea of the setup. The rest of the band are spread out in front and to the side of me. We’re all under the stage. The drummer is in a fully enclosed booth with Perspex windows to aid in sound isolation. We can see the musical director in front of us but we cannot see the stage - we do not have monitors or vision of the stage (which is above and behind us). So we never actually ever get to see the show. For this show (and the WICKED video) there is an opening in the pit/stage so the musical director can see the stage. In other productions sometimes they want the front edge of the stage fully available so there is no opening.. so we are fully enclosed.. and the musical director relies on TV screen to see the stage. Sometimes the band is buried out the back somewhere or even in a different building! We can obviously hear everything that’s going on - we all have personal foldback headphones which includes the cast radio mics and also an ambient mic sitting on the front edge of the stage which we use to be able to hear the audience and to aid in case of a radio mic fault so we can at least hear “something”.
Great❤
So Wonderful! I'm curious if this is the production on Broadway, that Broadway company touring, or some other production?
Random non professional production in australia
when you do your work with love it is no longer work
Hi Dave! How did you get into playing pit guitar as non-pro? I'm a full time software engineer and I'd love to get into playing musical theater pit guitar during weekends and weekday evenings but I'm kinda lost on how to get started. I do live in a large city (San Francisco) so I'm sure there are plenty of amateur and school productions wanting volunteer guitarist for their musicals, but I just don't know how I can find them or get connected with them! ☹️
Also nice rig, I upgraded from hd500 to helix and got myself a Cutlass after selling my MIM Strat to a friend 😆
Buzz your local theatres and they’ll let you know who the local companies are
Prooofesssionnnalll 👍🏻
How accurately do you play all of the complex extended chords that are written (generally in musical theatre not just in this show)? I usually play what I can but some chords are quite complex and it seems like it's not worth my time to learn them. I doubt I could pull of some of the fingerings as well if it's a quick chord progression. I suppose the full chord names could be there not for you to play specifically but just as a note of what the whole orchestra is playing?
Depends on the show, the instrumentation and arrangement. Nasty jazz slash chords are one area I usually simplify.. given there’s multiple instruments hitting the notes of the chord and keyboards and bass hitting the slash bass note.
@@DaveBanen Yeah. that's pretty much what I do too. Thanks!
I'm interested. I don't see you tap dancing... Are the Helix patch changes fired by a midi track?
If his Wicked run down video is anything to go by I'd say no!
At 2:59 I'm pretty sure he's actually turning on overdrive with his right foot (left from our point of view)
I am hitting buttons you just can’t see my feet. But for this show I’m using snapshots on helix as there’s only about 8 different sounds required in the whole show, so it’s an easy one. Some shows now I’ve started programming a patch for every song and having a collection of snapshots for that song.
cool I was going to do this show in Ohio before the pandemic shut down all live theatre
Nice bro! 😊
i just signed up to do guitar in pit for mamma mia…. id be guitar 2 but im not amazing…. am i screwed chat
I played guitar 2 a few years ago, what i can tell you is be ready to switch from acoustic to electric with 5 seconds to spare lol. Also you’re gonna be fine, just take time to look at the book if you haven’t already and really take time to shed those parts, I made the mistake of procrastinating on that and although I still played alright, it would’ve been better if I had practiced more. TLDR: practice!
I always wondered if guitarists use 'tabs' or normal sheet musics. Most guitarists can't read notes, but it must be necessary for this. Or do you practics all songs with tabs?
@blankblank It must be difficult reading sheets for guitar. I even think most guitar teachers and online courses use tabs. I never understood why, wish I learned reading normal sheets.
@@noelhoekstra6852 Don't we all! It's a nightmare to start reading them when you're not used to them. I'm 15 and trying to start as early as possible as I'm sure it will help me out in the long run. The sheet music is easy to read, but finding a good position and playing in higher positions where the notes are on ledger lines is really tricky. Not the best instrument for sight reading unfortunately
@@Jamie_kemp Go for it! I think reading sheets is necessary if you wanna go professional level. Orchestra etc.
Always sheet music... there is no tabs for these shows
My brother learned guitar, his teacher used sheets as much as possible. He also did some tabs but sheets were always priority.
06:12 - the nod of approval :D
😂😂
I love these videos. You and the bassist both seems to be having fun rocking out! I'm curious about the click track. It seems to fade out at one point and then come back on. Is that what you were hearing in your ear or is that just the video?
Sorry for the delay... no, it does fade in and out. The musical director is starting and stopping it as required