Cold Weather Outdoor Gigs

[Jim Gallaher]

I'll be playing a band gig outdoors this Saturday evening and it looks like the temperature will be mid-40's at best.

Got any tips for keeping warm (fingers especially)under these conditions?

[glauber]

Jack Daniel's #7.

[Nathan Sanders]

Yep...don't do the gig. HA!

[otterly2k]

biking or kayaking gloves (with the fingertips free) will feel funny, but might work

[John Flynn]

Play fast!

Seriously, I would look at some sort of an outdoor heater and have all the musicians huddle around it.

[arbarnhart]

Infra-red heater. They heat people, not air, so as long as it is relatively nearby and pointed at you it will help.

[mandroid]

Make a nice, hot, fire in a 55 gallon steel drum.

Demonstrated to work for winters on Picket Lines.

[Bill Van Liere]

Keep your playing simple. Your finger won't do what they normally do.

[Keith Erickson]

Jack Daniel's #7.
Glauber,

I totally agree with you, but I would like to add that homemade tequila can make you forget about the cold...
... or anything else for that matter http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Tom C]

What kind of mando? I would not mine anywhere near 40's temp

[drelb]

Beans, beans they are good for the heart...

[Darren Kern]

I'm with Tom, I'd be more worried about the instruments in cold temps.

[earthsave]

Keep moving, drink something warm, maybe a hot toddy, keep moving, place hands in pockets when not playing, and keep moving.

[mandobsessed]

I once had a gig where it was so cold our breath was forming clouds around our faces. The fingers could barely work and one of the tuner buttons on my manko broke off.

The biggest problem is with the instruments. They can go out of tune quite quickly with a change in temperature. The heaters suggesteda above are good ideas. FIngerless gloves will work as well and the loss of finger dexterity will be less than if your fingers are cold.

The only other things I could suggest would be to leave your mando out so it gets used to the weather (brrr) and keep your hands very warm until you need to play. Wear a toque or other hat as well since you will lose most body heat from your head and if your core is warm your fingers are less likely to get cold.

Haveing said all that mid 40's shouldn't be bad and shouldn't damage your instrument.

[Bobbie Dier]

Make sure you wear a warm hat. That is where you loose most of your body heat from. You can try cutting the fingers out of a pair of isotoner gloves or like someone said a while back, get biking gloves. They are thin with the fingers free.

I hate cold gigs http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif .

[aimee]

40 degrees is COLD? Where are you guys from?

Truly, my fingers don't work well enough to play at all much below 60 farenheit, but you might try those hand warm-up sawdust things that hunters use- keep 'em in your pockets and try to warm hands with them in between songs.

The ones that work best and longest say "Grabber My-coal". Find 'em in the camoflage department.

[Bob DeVellis]

I'd worry about the instrument if the ambient temp is 40 degrees and you're using some kind of heater, especially a radiant heat source. You may not realize how much heat the instrument is taking from one of those because the ambient air won't be warmed. Having half of the instrument in the cold air and half being heated (and thus dried) by a radiant source sounds like a recipe for potential trouble. Maybe if several of you are playing you can rotate so that each of you does a short stint and doesn't get chilled that much.

[Tom C]

If you do not mind finish cracks, buttons breaking and everytrhing else that can shock your mando until it's acclimated, by all means just stay warm. Ever throw a frisbee in 40 degress? It cracks into pieces when it hits something hard.

[kudzugypsy]

yeah, been there...Winterfest at Blowing Rock, NC...snow falling
the yo-yo's who booked us had us on a stage right after an ice carving guy....there was ice shavings all over the gazabo. i told the guy, hell no, it wasnt worth a broken leg...so we played on the sidewalk under an awning.

just be glad you dont play banjo or dobro...remember that wet skin sticks to dry steel surfaces...it was funny (for us) when the dobro player got stuck to his resenator.

..btw, we blew 3/4 of the money we were making at this clothing store (they sold that high dollar columbia and hiking gear) buying scarfs and gloves and ear muffs. but it was worth every penny!

my advice is to pick simple tunes and keep it simple...old time open chords baby!

[skippy]

Seriously, where are you folks from.

40's is sweater weather in Wisconsin. (Just barely... 40- 55 = long sleeve shirts depending on the amount of sunlight, 55+ t- shirts)

[Bill Van Liere]

I played a job in Lowell, Michigan the first weekend of December once, crazy Bluegrass thing.
Tuning will be a problem. Have a good bettery in your tuner.

[JGWoods]

I played once when it was so cold all the notes froze in the air and fell to the ground- 3 months later a warm day came and they all sounded at once!

ok, well if you don't belive that I'd still like to say I'd be worried about a heater blowing on my instrumnent and its being half cold, half warm, very worried.

Cold instrument, cheap brown cotton gloves, cut the finger ends off, and a nip of Jack to loosen things up a bit. 40 ain't cold anyway, it's the trip form 70 degrees to 40 in a hurry that might stress the mando.

[Bill Van Liere]

After your mandolin has cooled off, be very careful not to bump it. Even after it is in your case,while still cold, be very careful not to bump your case thus causing shock to a brittle instrument.

[GTison]

I'd get some cheap knit gloves and snip the finger ends off to keep your hands warm. And before you go to the gig leave the case outside and let the instrument get cold. GRADUALLY.

I picked around a fire barrel once in a barn about 18 years ago. It was about 25 or 30 degrees outside but nice and toasty around the fire barrel. I heard something pop like I broke a string I looked down at my mandolin but I didn't see anything wrong. so I kept going. The next morning before church I took out the mando and saw on the back the seam had opened up about 3 inches toward the end. I was really sad about that. Randy Wood glued it back together for about 20 bucks. It never opened up again but I don't pick too close to the fire anymore. (If it's that cold) I guess the stress of the difference in temp of the back(cold) and the front(hot) gave it too much stress. a heater would be nice though.

[Tom C]

One cold night we picked in my friends living room. Fireplace cranking. After about an hour I realized I was having trouble seeing people thru the smoke. My mando smelled like a fireplace for 2 months.

[KenR]

Can't believe no one has suggested this yet. Chemical heat producing packets, available in hardware and sporting goods stores. One in each pocket and alternate putting your hands in them between songs. Also, try to acclimate the instruments to the cold before final tuning. I'm from New England and we play outside in some pretty cold weather. I know one band that had to play outdoors on New Years Eve. - Ken

[BlueMountain]

This is an easy one. Bring in a twelve volt car battery and jumper cables. Attach the cables to as many strings as possible at the top and to the tailpiece at the other end. This keeps the strings hot. I spent a winter studying at Oxford. Nasty English winter, and my landlord kept my room at about 50 degrees in the daytime (colder most of the night). I was trying to spend hours a day writing, but holding the pen was difficult, so I wrapped a bunch of rubber bands around it, making a ball about the size of a walnut. Worked pretty well. I also had a ceramic mug generally filled with hot strong tea, and wrapping my fingers around that felt really good. Maybe you could have a mug of tea on stage. Or perhaps, get some of those pocket handwarmers, fire up a couple and put them in your coat pockets just before the concert, and tuck your hands in your pockets between each song. That would probably do the trick.

[jim simpson]

My office seems to be the coldest room in the winter. I have a pair of wool gloves without finger (they expose about half of the finger). I use them sometimes at the keyboard. I had a fall outside gig where I thought I might need them. It turns out that I did and they worked pretty well. I was at an outside jam last night where 2 propane powered heaters were being used. As soon as you stepped away you would not feel the heat.

[jim_n_virginia]

I don't play outside if it is really cold (cold to me is 0-45 degrees) because I don't want the finish cracks on my instrument.

But if I were to play a lot outside in the cold I'd probably get a beater mandolin or laminate and then I wouldn't care if there were any crazing.

It gets pretty cold here in VA and anything above 45 degees I can play in a flannel shirt and I am ok. My hands only get numb when there is ice or snow.

I'd also get some of those hunter's pocket warmers.

[BlueMountain]

Okay, here's one worth knowing. I was discussing this today with an old farmer who came over for lunch. He told me about a TV program he saw on the Discovery Channel or PBS--he couldn't remember.

The gist of the research is that scientists found that your body will try to keep your CHEST warm above all things. If your chest isn't warm enough to suit your brain, it will limit circulation to your EXTREMITIES (including fingers, of course.) Thus, if you can keep your chest VERY WARM, your fingers will stay warmer.

As I recall, in the study people wearing two down vests were able to write without much difficulty in a room that was at freezing. When they removed the vests, within a couple minutes their fingers could no longer easily grasp the pen.

This seems like a pretty easy solution. If the extra bulk is a problem, wear a form fitting neoprene wet suit under your shirt and suit. (Laughing, but that would work, too, especially if you are playing fast and leaping around.)

[earthsave]

Well there you go... I always wondered why they invented those sleeveless down vests... Now I know the rest of the story.

Yep, a hat and a down vest with some layers underneath and you'll be cozy. It was started in the low 50's and ended up in the high 30's last night but we chose to play inside... mainly cause there was no one outside. It was a bit warm inside.

[PhilGE]

I played a gig like this last night - a barn dance with temps in the low 40's if not high 30's. I'm a light weight person as it is, so I wore long underwear under my jeans, wore thick socks in my boots, a long sleeve cotton shirt, a medium weight fleece pullover sweater, and a hat. I didn't need gloves at all while I was playing. At break, I drank hot cider and danced around a bit with my son. With all of that, plus playing rhythm a lot, I never felt cold while playing. My instrument needed to be retuned a few times in the first half hour or so. No problems after that. I'd also say the barn did warm up a bit with, oh, 30 or so dancers giving off lots of body heat. Coldest times were at break and after the dance ended.

I'd really stay away from exposing your instrument to heat and cold extremes such as a heat source and cold ambient temperatures. That sounds like a recipe for major damage from quick expansion/contraction changes.

[Ray(T)]

Can't think why nobody's suggested it - set fire to the banjo player .........or the drummer ........ or the accordionist - whichever will burn the longest/hottest.

[Jim Gallaher]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Here's what I went with:

- Long underwear (but you'll sweat big-time if you go inside the house);
- Chemical-packet handwarmers from the "Huntin'" section of the local Wal-Mart;
- Lots of layers of fleece;
- Trusty "Del McCoury Band" ballcap.

The guitar player had fingerless gloves (had to cut the thumbs off 'em). The banjo player had two hats (LRB ball cap over cowboy hat) and chemical-packets. The rest of 'em just toughed it out.

Gotta say the chem-packs were the way to go. Cheap, easy to use, transportable. My fingers only froze-up when the wind cut through the stage area a few times. You can leave the packs in your jacket pocket and warm-up between songs. Great for warming your ears and nose, as well. They were still at operating temperature the next morning.

Tuning was a whole 'nother problem. After every song and sometimes in the middle of songs. It's good advice to let the instruments acclimate to the temperature as gradually as possible and not take them inside during breaks. One of my bandmates works for a major instrument builder and confirmed the effects of rapid temperature changes.

The audience really appreciated how tough it was to make music under the conditions. We played an extra hour (paid).

[picksnbits]

Made a discovery at a Halloween party Saturday night that I thought I should share with my fellow pickers...

A big foam Elvis-hair wig does wonders to keep the head warm, and you can't beat it for mojo http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif .