Picture this: You’re playing for a sold-out crowd of shrieking fans, and as your band pounds its way toward oblivion, you near the climax of your guitar solo. You go into a crouch, ready to launch yourself into a well-rehearsed backscratcher punctuated by a window-shattering power chord. Unfortunately, you’re stepping on your guitar cable. You leap, the plug rips out of your guitar jack, and when you land to strum that final chord, you might as well be playing air guitar.

Even if the only person in the audience is your husband’s pet schnauzer, self-inflicted unplugging is humiliating. Here’s a simple way to prevent it:

Before plugging in, thread your guitar cable between your guitar strap and the body of the guitar, right above the rear strap peg, from back to front. Now, instead of ripping out your cable, you’ll rip a back muscle. Problem solved.

Oh, and update your stage antics. Backscratchers are so 80′s.