musician

musical equipment

musical instruments

You can have the most raw talent of anyone and come off terribly by not being prepared well. Preparation can save the day. Knowing the material well, being well rehearsed, putting energy into discovering flaws in you're execution and resolving them, and focused practice, all are a part of being prepared.

Being prepared for a situation means that you have run through it in your mind and thought of all the things that need to happen, how to make them happen, and how to resolve what might go wrong. Realizing that you just broke a G string and no one has one, or that the power source for the amps is far way and no one has the right extension chord can really ruin a performance. (Don't laugh, it happened to us once).

Simply think about what you're trying to accomplish and what it will take to pull it off. Develop a play list of songs. Many guitarist literally don't know any complete songs and wonder why they're not any good. Please!

Make a list that you revise over time of things you need to overcome is an easy way to minimize the effects when bad things happen to good musicians. A little preparation will provide a lot of progress.