Guitar Technician - Training and Career Path

Training and Career Path

Guitar technicians must have a broad knowledge of the musical equipment used in the types of bands with which they work. At a minimum, this must consist of familiarity with setting up and tuning guitars and making simple adjustments and repairs. As well, guitar techs are often expected to be able to set up, repair, and adjust electronic effects, tuners, pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, and pedalboards. To do these tasks, guitar techs must know about a range of audio engineering and electronics concepts such as impedance, signal phase (for speakers and microphone wiring), and input voltage for pre-amps and effects. To do simple repairs on electronic gear, a guitar tech may have to know how to use a soldering iron and a multitester and do basic electronics troubleshooting.

As well, since guitar techs need to soundcheck the instruments and amplifiers, they must have a knowledge of the way guitars and amplifiers are supposed to sound in the style of music of the band. This means that the guitar tech must have an ear for music, and for musical tones and sounds. The guitar tech for a heavy metal band must be able to tell, by listening, whether the distortion from a heavily overdriven tube amp is the tube clipping which is desired by the guitarist they work for, or whether the distortion is coming from a blown speaker or damaged power amp. The distinctions that a guitar tech has to make can be quite subtle; for example, a guitar tech who is replacing a blown tube with a new one may have to ensure that the tube amplifier still has the same "color" or "warmth" when chords are played through it.

To check the tuning of guitars, the guitar tech needs to be able to play major, minor, and other chords in a variety of keys. Even if the guitar has been tuned with an electronic tuner, the tuning still needs to be checked "by ear", because tuning a guitar is an art of compromise. The tuning of guitars can be affected by the placement and wearing of the frets, the angle of the bridge, the age of the strings, and a range of other factors. Thus even if an electronic tuner indicates that a guitar is 100% "in tune", it may still need a few minor adjustments by ear.

The training of guitar technicians varies widely. Some guitar technicians have studied music, guitar repair, amplifier maintenance, and/or electronics repair in college or university. On the other hand, some techs learned these skills informally, "on the job", or by working their way up through the ranks in a range of musical jobs, from a roadie and sound engineer to a sideman in a bar band. Guitar techs who are going the "on the job" training route may learn their skills by playing in amateur or semi-professional bands as a guitarist or bassist; working for music stores as a guitar repairperson; for clubs or bars as a sound engineer; or for PA system rental companies as a speaker and amplifier maintenance person.

A typical career path for a guitar technician who is going the "on the job" training route is to begin by volunteering in a bar band and then working for low wages in a regional touring act or a minor touring act. Then, as they gain experience and add skills to their resume, they may be able to seek out better-paying jobs with higher-status touring bands. Once a guitar technician has joined the road crew of a major touring act, they may be able to seek out promotions within this organization, to jobs with greater responsibilities and higher pay. For example, a guitar tech who is working as an assistant technician could try to get promoted to a guitar technician for the lead guitarist. A guitar tech who has completed a guitar repair program at a college or lutherie school may be able to enter midway up the guitar tech career ladder.

In the early part of a guitar tech's career, there might be a great deal of mobility between different types of bands and technician roles. While working for minor or regional acts, a guitar tech may be able to work for a country rock bar band and then immediately switch to being the bass tech for a hard rock "tribute band", because the tasks are fairly uniform. The career mobility of guitar technicians tends to become more constrained, though, when guitar techs begin to get jobs with high-status professional touring acts from specific genres. When a regional bar band is looking for a guitar tech for a summer nightclub tour, there may be thousands of guitar techs who could meet the skill requirements of the position. However, if an internationally-known 1960s-style acid rock touring act with a celebrity lead guitarist goes on a major tour, there may be only a handful of guitar techs who have the unique combination of skills that are required to fill this position.