First "Oh Crap!" Bassist Moment

Lower-Than-Low · #1 01-17-2007, 10:11 PM

Well, I just got home from a school band performance for my schools open house.

Everything was pretty average, kinda like a really strict practice with people watching (first set anyways).

On the second set, with a group of friends and a bunch of other people watching. I am setting up, and I notice a piece of paper under my chair. I think nothing of it, because I thought it might have been someone else's music or just a random piece of trash.

This was NOT the case, however!

As we get to our last song, I start to look for the sheet music. No where to be found. Conductor anounces he is counting us in, I scramble through my music as fast as possible, still cant find it... only one thing runs through my mind...

"OH CRAP!"

Then the band starts playing, with nothing left to do, I wing it. I attempt to play the piece from memory, and, thank goodness, I actually did pretty good.

Yeah, thats about it. I just felt like sharing my first ever funny gig occurence with everyone here at TalkBass.

Depth_Charge · #2 01-17-2007, 10:19 PM

Hey at least you got through winging it, congratulations !

After more than one practical joke item being left under my chair or near my rehearsal "spot" to get me, I've learned to be pretty nosey about changes to my immediate environment in my absence

seanm · #3 01-18-2007, 12:20 AM

Definitely not the first, but an early one. I was playing a summer party. The way they work is the singer picks a song from a set of books (he has about 1,500 songs), usually tells us the key and if we are lucky, or someone can ask before he starts, he tells us the title of the song.

Well this time he starts playing the song without telling us the key or the title. I have never heard this song before and I am struggling to find the key. I find something that sorta works. It is not quite right and I know it, but I soldier on.

We are almost done when it dawns on me, "oh crap", I am off by a fifth! Drop down and everything goes smoothly for the last chorus or so

The lead guitar player looks at me after the song, I mention that I was off and he just gives the "I noticed" look.

BloodTypeBlue · #4 01-18-2007, 01:21 AM

Somewhere in the middle of a set, a song just ended. I'd outro'd the song with my DE7 on self-oscillate. I take the chance to hit my pedal tuner, tune up, turn on the envelope filter which I'm using on the next song, make eye contact with the drummer and nod out the rhythm ready to come in with the groove, all while the delay is going "wheeooeeooeeooee." I hit the delay to turn it off, precisely on the first beat of the next song, exactly as I pluck the first note--

Nothing. I'd forgotten to turn off my tuner and it was still muting my signal.

Oh crap.

DeathDancer · #5 01-18-2007, 01:29 AM

I've had many and I'm sure I'll have more. The worst one where I was a bassist was just a second after I started my solo (where only keys and drums are soft in the background) in this one song I forgot what I wrote for the whole middle of the solo. I would up winging it and no one noticed but luckily since the CD isn't out no one knew what the solo was supposed to be! That is when I decided not to rewrite my solos a week before a show anymore! Haha

need4mospd · #6 01-18-2007, 08:45 AM

Stepping on your chord once without it wrapped around your strap is a guaranteed way to make sure you remember to do it next time!

Armueller2001 · #7 01-18-2007, 11:54 AM

My wireless ran out of batteries in the middle of a song that was pretty sweet.

Jeff Martinez · #8 01-18-2007, 12:02 PM

In high school, I once took the shortcut of tuning to the 5th fret instead of using a tuner right before going on stage. In the darkenss, I managed to tune my E to F. I didn't realize it until about 15 seconds into the first piece. I was able to make it through, but it took all of my concetntration to go shift everything on that string and still hit the right frets on the others.

punkindrublic · #9 01-18-2007, 01:11 PM

Def. one of my earlier gigs in front of a decent size crowd.. We were rockin out pretty hard when i lost my signal completely and saw my 9 volt roll accross the stage... Before i could even think, one of our roadies had my backup transmitter hooked up... Since then i never play unless my transmitters are taped...

DaveDeVille · #10 01-18-2007, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lower-Than-Low

"OH CRAP!"
I attempt to play the piece from memory, and, thank goodness,
I actually did pretty good.

good on you , for playing it without sheet music !!
i've seen players totally freak out because they had been asked to "wing it" ...

RohanD · #11 01-18-2007, 04:13 PM

My first was in the middle of a massive end of year school assembly. I was in the band, sitting behind the teachers, with my (active) bass plugged in. Wasn't sure how much batteries were left, so I decided to unplug my bass to be safe. Turns out the amp was still on.... Big POP, and everyone in the band turns and stares at me

Whoops

Higgie · #12 01-18-2007, 04:32 PM

In the school production of Fame, I was playing bass.

So we're doing a preview to one of the lower years, to promote it and get more ticket sales....

The slap part comes up so I kick on the compressor and *BUZZZZZZZZZ*...The nut around the output jack had come loose and so as I kicked the pedal on it buzzed like crazy. I quickly shut the amp off and disconnected the pedal, then plugged in again and turned on. Missed about 8 bars, but it turned out ok.

The Director (who was playing piano) looked straight past me and assumed it was the guitarist with his Zoom Multi-FX!

Go me!

JPMiers · #13 01-18-2007, 05:06 PM

One jazz gig with the school ended very nicely and we had to book it to make it home in time for school to end.. we were all packed up and leaving the parking lot about to make it for the highway when I realized I left the bass inside the small convention center leaning against the wall. "Oh Crap!"
Luckily nobody walked away with a free bass.

Theres been a few times where a faulty cable has made outcries during gigs.. I find that pulling the jack out of the amp just enough so that it sits without making a connection quells that problem. (most of the time) "Oh crap, time to solder an other cable"

TheJimster · #14 01-18-2007, 07:21 PM

Generally Speaking, this was my first.

It was a school gig and my 'trio' for this gig was playing a cover of 'The Beautiful People' by Marilyn Manson.

And we had organized a jump at a cetain part of the song and well I jumped and missed 5 notes and (of course) unplugged my chord. IM sure this is a mistake all of us have made at least once. It really sucked.

basspraiser · #15 01-18-2007, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by need4mospd

Stepping on your chord once without it wrapped around your strap is a guaranteed way to make sure you remember to do it next time!

Been there - done that....I play at Church. During the sermon, we all go into the pews to sit with your family. After the sermon, I came back to play the "meditation song" (fancy name for the song after the sermon)....well, somewhere along the way, one of us musicians (me????) or the singers stepped on and pulled out my chord.....I started to play with nothing happening...I was trying to signal the sound guys (who are up in the balcony) and everyone in the church could see me.....it took a good 30-45 seconds of signalling back and forth (with everyone watching and the rest of the praise band wondering what was going on) before I looked down and realized that I was unplugged.....well that was fun!!! it took me another 10-15 seconds to figure out where I was - waste of a good song!

another time I struck the communion rail with the the head of my Ric (accidentaly) - it made a nice "BOING!" in the middle of a reading......I got some comments after that service! Fortunately, I was not knocked out of tune! at least everyone notice me....

bassfacekevin · #16 01-19-2007, 02:46 AM

I had fairly bad set (at least to me) where my band was playing a new song, and everyone was kinda new on the parts except for the guitarist. So we go into the song, I'm struggling a little with the changes, but it's going fairly smoothly, when all of a sudden, the "end" wasn't really the end.

We had agreed to stop the song short, and not go into the last 3 sections because myself and the drummer hadn't written parts, but in the heat of the moment, the guitarist kept going. So we struggled as best we could, and thankfully, the drummer is amazing, and he and I improvised the remainder of the song. I felt pretty lame, as that was the last song we tried, but the audience thought the song was great, and was actually voted out "best song of the night" by my friends, which I find funny, because If you watch the videos in my sig. I make some faces that mean "I don't know what's going on."

~K

JDHayes · #17 01-19-2007, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by need4mospd

Stepping on your chord once without it wrapped around your strap is a guaranteed way to make sure you remember to do it next time!

lol, I have done this many times (you think I would learn). But its even better when you notice halfway through your first song that you have no sound when you cable IS plugged in. Oh crap, I forgot to plug in my speaker cable!

chaosMK · #18 01-19-2007, 09:45 AM

"Oh crap! My amp just blew a fuse" ("Thank god I carry a few")

"Oh crap! Where in my signal chain did my stuff just cut out?"

I used to get that pretty often.

One show that we filmed, at the "premier" venue in town, my stuff cut out and I spent about 1:30 scrambling around trying to figure it out. 1:30 doesnt seem like much, but on stage that's like 5-30 minutes of normal time. It was one of the cables, just the very last one that I thought it would be.

hamster · #19 01-19-2007, 09:34 PM

That'll be when my strap came off and I dropped the bass on the stage. The PA reproduced the "KaDoiiiiinnng" as it hit the floor quite faithfully. Then of course is the funny bit when you try and continue to play standing up with no strap, then you realise that's quite tricky and decide to sit down, but there's no chair, so you sit on the floor. Then you realise how little practice you've had in the sitting on the floor position.

Those were the days...........

Hamster

dmq89 · #20 01-20-2007, 04:39 PM

I was doing live TV (at 7:30 AM, no less!), and we had just finshed our song... This is the time that the studio host goes to the live remote.

Having an active bass, I always unplug it when I'm not using it, purely out of habit - you know, the battery thing. Unfortunately, the backline gear we were using was connected throughout the whole studio and into the live board.

Can you guess what happened on live television when I unplugged my bass? Let me put it this way - you ever accidentally pull out your cord during a gig? 50 000 000 times worse. Didn't help that the camera caught me doing it, either.

I don't think I've ever heard a noise quite like that , before or since...