Bluegrass Five Piece Stage Plot Template for Live Gigs

What this template covers

Five acoustic instruments, no drum kit, laid out the way a working bluegrass band actually stands on stage: upright bass upstage centre anchoring the low end, guitar and mandolin on one side, banjo and fiddle on the other. This bluegrass five piece stage plot skips the drum riser entirely, because a real bluegrass band doesn't carry one.

Who uses it

Bluegrass, old-time and acoustic string bands where three of the five members trade lead and harmony vocals, gospel-trio style. If your band rotates a single shared mic instead of individual stands, use this as a starting point and delete the vocal mics you don't need.

Channel walkthrough

• Acoustic Guitar 1 (DI), Mandolin, Banjo, Fiddle - one channel each from the instrument, no separate DI box icons cluttering the plot
• Upright Bass - a condenser mic on the bass
• Guitar Vox, Mandolin Vox, Bass Vox - three shared vocal positions for the singers in the band

Eight channels total. The fiddle and bass default to condenser mics since they're bowed and acoustic; the fretted instruments default to a close dynamic mic, which is how most bluegrass pickers actually run when they're not going direct.

Monitor notes

Every picker gets a wedge, five in total, positioned just downstage of where they stand. Bluegrass bands move around more than a lot of acoustic acts, especially when someone steps up for a solo, so keep the wedge coverage wide enough that nobody loses their mix drifting toward the mic.

Customize it

If your lineup swaps the fiddle for a resonator guitar or dobro, pick a different icon from the Guitars palette and rename the channel; the derivation doesn't care which instrument icon you use, only that it isn't a bare DI box. Once the picture matches your real band, export the PDF and send this bluegrass five piece stage plot to the venue ahead of the gig.