Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull thinks that musicians who use guitar techs to tune their guitars for them are “wimps.” .
In an appearance on the Paltrocast, Anderson revealed that he doesn’t shake hands with people because he’s been susceptible to different kinds of infections throughout his life. And that means he also handles setting up all his own instruments while on the road.
He explained, “Playing the flute or the guitar, the last thing you want is greasy hands, either from shaking hands or opening doors or doing whatever. You really wanna have dry, clean hands when you’re playing instruments. So nobody is allowed to touch my instruments and nobody is allowed to shake hands with me or otherwise contaminate me in those precious moments between leaving my dressing room and getting back to it…
“The idea of having a guitar roadie who unpacks your instrument, changes the strings and tunes it up for you — for God’s sake, you want your bottom wiped as well? Somebody that hands you the soap in the shower? What’s that all about? What wimps.”
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