Didn't want to hijack Olivier's post, but I noticed this Youtube video alongside his latest post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdTtwvWL ... re=related

Can't recall ever playing a stringed instrument in the cold, anyone ever do something like this? Advice?

Interesting picking technique, gives me some ideas - I've never been fond of using a pick on a guitar.

i have been to a few shows and watched... dire straights guitarist ( mark knophler ) finger pick in the cold.. also saw lindey buckingham do the same thing....

But this show with MIke OLdfield is amazing..and very wickedly cold.. atleast looks like it...

I've played several outside gigs in the cold as a bass player - finger style. (Not winter cold but still "uncomfortable" cold) It's NOT easy!!!

Just at the tail end of my third winter as a busker, and I'll take unbearable heat over moderately chilly anytime.

I'm heading north next winter!

Cheers,
Andy

I play outdoors for a living like you, Andy. I agree with you about the cold, but I must say that extreme heat (which is what Texas is all about), can be more harmful to the instrument as well as physically taxing. On two different occaisions, my neck shifted so abruptly that a couple of strings suddenly slackened to the point of blubber. It wasn't due to improper winding, either. That's what 105 degree heat with 85% humidity can do! Needless to say, the sudden detuning of the entire instrument resulted in hideous trainwrecks

I agree Matt, hot weather isn't great for instruments. The humidity is very low in Adelaide, so I haven't had any disasters like the one you described. Obviously I try to stay out of direct sunlight at all times.

Cheers,
Andy

This thread has brought two extreme nightmare gigs come back....

1. Middle of July. playing for a student activities function at a local University in early 1990s. Didn't know the right questions to ask before agreeing to to the gig like:

-the performance is at noon, will I be under a tent or overhang? (answer, no you'll be n the direct sun, and it will probably be 90 degrees and sunny...on you black instrument, which will get pretty hot).

2. New Year's Eve (1998), Mobile, Alabama, where it's usually very pleasant, but this year in particular it's cold, about 45 degrees, and I will be playing in an open space on the first floor of an old hotel, and the french doors will all be open so that people and the cold air can come and go,

question: is there any kind of a heat source near where I will be standing for the next 3 hours? (no)

question: can I pull my car up to the building to load out at the end of the night (no, you'll have to shlepp all of your stuff back to your hotel on foot - 3 blocks)

question: I have the flu, is there a drugstore nearby? (no, and the hotel gift shop seem to be out of everything, would you like some coffee?) ans, yes, it will help me warm my fingers between songs.

Ah, memories....

I used to have creams like this when I was playing classical guitar. They work wonders in cold halls and-or if you get performance anxiety.

http://www.amazon.com/ThermoMaxTM-Warm- ... B00021Z3W2