I'm betting this has been discussed, but I can't find anything in a search, and besides "guitar tech" I really don't know what to search, as song titles would bring up a ton of results. But anyway, any information would be of interest to me. As you'll see, I'm not very versed in the behind the scenes stuff, or who was traveling with the band, etc, just the music.

I've been noticing a pattern in some old concerts, not some DaVinci Code pattern or anything silly, and I suspect there's a practical reason for this, but it seems strange.

I've noticed when looking through the various releases, in the 70's (Brussels Affair, L.A. Friday, Back Strap Jacket, Some Girls Live In Texas, etc) Happy and Tumbling Dice would always be played back to back, and always in the same key regardless of if they change it, like Texas '78. They no longer do this, for one reason Keith has his separate set, but even coming out of his set they don't go into TD as a rule.

It makes sense to some extent because both songs are in the same tuning and key for the studio version. But this is The Stones. These days everybody has their own guitar tech (I'm assuming Mick does, I know Keith and Ronnie do), and they don't really have to arrange setlists by convenience because their tech will supply them with a freshly tuned and capo'd guitar for whatever they want to play. Did they not have that prior to the 80's (when the practice seemed to end)? Or did they just have 1 person or something so they could kept it to a minimum?

On the '69 tour it seems like they went out of their way even more to simplify changes. As it seems several songs were altered to be played in Open G with the capo on B.

It just seemed strange. I've always imagined The Stones as a band that would have whatever they needed whenever they wanted. Setlists and song arrangements being determined by necessity/convenience doesn't seem like something The Stones would have to do at the time, or ever. It certainly isn't now. Maybe I'm overthinking it, and Keith just liked the sound of that key, and those two songs just happened to get put together as a miniature Exile set. Though in all those 70's shows, other Exile tracks were played throughout various parts of the set.

The only other thing I can think of is that it was because of the limited technology of the time, namely tuners. But I would still think they could have somebody grab a guitar, run backstage and tune it with a harmonica, tuning fork, piano or whatever, and bring it back out before the song being played even finished.

Having said all that, I realize it's only rock and roll, and that the sets back then were more loose, they'd experiment with various tunings/arrangements, and didn't feel tied down to trying to recreate the record. I love the way it sounds, I just can't help but think there's a reason to all that.

Can anybody expand on this. It's something that I've been thinking about and has me interested. Or if you can find another thread that explains it, just post a link to that.

On bootlegs from 69 and 72 you can hear a good bit of tuning between tracks. Right before Midnight Rambler on YaYas... They had to make the most of their setlist and simplify things for themselves. Now, they have anything they want at their disposal. The setlist can jump around between tunings and Keith & Ronnie can simply pickup a new guitar as needed, tuned for them backstage.

The other obvious difference is that they were simply a harder working band back in the late 60s and early 70s... Playing a morning and evening show. Hustling for everything they could get. Now its one show at $800/head.

I have uploaded most of my music to Google Music. Lets me stream anything (out of 20,000 songs) to my Galaxy S3 anytime I want. I frequently just hit 'play all' and have a random assortment of music coming through the speaker. One moment its Bach, the next Tame Impala, the next... JJFlash from Nasty Music (1972). I was reminded how GREAT the band truly was. A powerhouse madman (Keith) and beautiful technically brilliant fills (Taylor). I get the same feeling every time Handsome Girls gets in my playlist. By far the best rocknroll band ever captured.

Ah. I've never really paid that much attention to the between track stuff. Usually I'll listen through a show/album once, catch the banter or whatever, but after that once the song is over I'll skip to the next one. So I never noticed the tuning and whatever. Still seems like a band as huge as them would have techs, but I guess times were different, and maybe they thought it was an unnecessary expense when they could just rearrange songs or tune themselves.

They laid their guitars against the amps and tuned, as they went.

had to be hell before electric tuners and the condition the band hit the stage. Keith had a few different capos but Taylor was in standard tuning. It seems to me Taylor was more often out of tune. By 1973 they must of had strobe tuners.

You've seen the pictures up to 72 of Keith (and Brian or Taylor) tuning up backstage; either with a guitar to his ear, or with a harmonica or a tuner in his mouth.
Or heard the in between song tunings going on. wasn't it Taylor who said he got impatient with Keith and just wanted to reach over and turn the pegs himself?
And we have also learned that they simply did not own hundreds of guitars back then. The few chosen guitars are usually leaned against drum-riser or amps on stage.
Or the Nellcote photos: there really were just a few guitars around: a Tele, Armstrong, a 335 and Flying V maybe the SG too? If I'm missing some, the point is that it is a number we can count on our fingers and identify.

As far as I know the 1972 tour was the first tour where guitars where handled by a a dedicated person. Ted Newman Jones for 72/73, I believe Chuch Magee and Johnny Starbuck since 75, but it could also be still Newman Jones. Jim Barber was added for the 81 tour I believe.

In the early tours, up to 76, they would still tune up on stage, from 78 on they would not tune up on stage anymore.

Mathijs

As evidence of the lack of dedicated techs check alot of tour photos of the Stones on the 69/71 tour - you'll often see guitars leaning up against amps/drum risers on stage, where Mick T and Keith have put them because they need them to hand for later in the set.

Thanks for the replies, very interesting. I guess I've never really paid attention to photos where the guitars were resting against a riser. I'm not sure I would have thought much about that though. I've seen bands that have guitars out like that, they still have techs who switch out guitars with them and stuff, they just pre-tune a bunch of guitars and have them out there but still hand them off or get new ones. Plus I think a few bands set them out so guitar enthusiasts can look at them.

Seems so strange that at a time where they were the biggest thing in the world they'd be running such a do-it-yourself stage show, tuning their own guitars, etc. It's cool too, but having grown up in the "Vegas" era and seeing behind the scenes stuff from the likes of The Biggest Bang (showing how pampered they are backstage) it blows my mind they once performed that way. I could see it in the early days of course, but by the Exile tour? That's odd, and pretty funny...different times I guess.