Kelly Vaughn

🎸 Musicians, have you ever been offered “great exposure” instead of actual money?

Because apparently my mortgage company, electric company, and grocery store are all willing to accept exposure now too. 😆

I love playing music. I love building an audience. And yes, sometimes the right opportunity is worth doing for reasons other than money.

But if a venue is charging customers, selling food, selling drinks, and making money... the musicians should probably get paid too.

What's the funniest "exposure gig" offer you've ever received?

🎸 If you can't fit one more guitar, you aren't trying.

Every guitarist knows the struggle.

You don't NEED another guitar...
..but then you see one.

And somehow, against all logic, room magically appears. 😂

How many guitars are currently living at your house?

Joe Satriani is one of the reasons so many of us picked up a guitar in the first place.

I could absolutely gig with this rig. The Vox, CE-2, DD-3, and Marshall? No problem.

That DS-1 though? That's where I'm making a substitution. 😄

Nothing against it—it's a classic. It's just not the flavor I'm reaching for these days. Give me a good transparent overdrive, a Bluesbreaker-style pedal, or a Klon-type circuit and I'm a happy camper.

What about you?

Which pedal are you keeping, and which one are you replacing?

🎸 Being a musician is easy...

Until you're the songwriter, performer, booking agent, social media manager, sound engineer, accountant, marketer, roadie, merchandise department, customer service rep, and therapist for the rest of the band. 😆

But somehow we'd still rather do this than almost anything else.

Who else can relate?

Get in his belly!

Boss: "I'll double your pay."

Friends: "Come hang out."

Me: "Sorry... my baby's waiting at home." 🎸

Guitar players understand.

I've tried a bunch of things with a GE-7 over the years, but I keep coming back to the simplest use: a mid boost into a Marshall.

A little bump in the mids, a touch of level, and suddenly the guitar sits right where it should in the mix. The solo gets louder, cuts through better, and doesn't need a bunch of extra gain.

That's the beauty of an EQ pedal—it can do a hundred tricks, but sometimes one simple setting is all you need.

How do you use your GE-7?

🎸 Solo boost?
🎸 Mid boost?
🎸 Tone shaping?
🎸 Fake single-coil tones?
🎸 Something else?

Could you gig with Chuck Berry's 1958 rig?

Honestly...yes.

No overdrive.
No delay.
No chorus.
No presets.
No MIDI.
No backup rig.

Just a hollow-body guitar, a cable, a tweed amp, and your right hand doing all the heavy lifting.

Would it cover every modern gig? Probably not.

Would it force you to become a better player? Absolutely.

How long could you survive with this setup before you started reaching for pedals?

🎸 CONFESSION TIME...

I always wondered where all my guitar picks disappeared to.

Turns out the guitars have been eating them the whole time. 😆

Case closed.

How many picks do you think you've lost over the years?

Delay before reverb for me every time.

The repeats get washed into the same space, which feels more natural and amp-like. Reverb into delay can be cool for ambient textures, but for most blues, rock, worship, and everyday gigging, I still prefer delay → reverb.

What about you? Are you Team Delay → Reverb or Team Reverb → Delay?