Have you ever messed up bad in a gig?

Tupac · #1 06-05-2011, 09:10 PM

I don't mean the other shenanigans in this board like forgetting to plug your bass in, I mean like getting off by a fret or two or forgetting a piece. I can't exactly contribute since I've never gigged, but I fear something happening to me in the future.

snyderz · #2 06-05-2011, 09:11 PM

If anyone says they haven't, they're lying.

Renaissance · #3 06-05-2011, 09:18 PM

EVERYONE makes mistakes. As long as you don't go all "deer in the headlights" it'll probably go unnoticed by the masses.

kander · #4 06-05-2011, 09:22 PM

1. Don't worry about it. It happens to everyone. If someone says otherwise they're lying.

2. One trick to try is if you play a "wrong" note slide into the "correct" one.

3. Most importantly, most people pay no attention to the bass player. No one will notice if you screw up except yourself!

ScenicRoute · #5 06-05-2011, 09:28 PM

Haha oh yeah, just last week.

I literally screwed up the second note I played, and it was suppose to be a whole note going down a semi tone and I went down a whole tone. Just smile and act like nothing happened and chances are very few people will notice.

**TXLawDawg** · #6 06-05-2011, 09:28 PM

About the worst I can think of was playing "Superstition" in the correct key of E flat.

The rest of the band decided to play it in D - despite the fact that it was practiced in E flat. I knew something sounded off and it never struck me that they would be in a different key. Thought it might have been just the guy on keys. Nope. Major mistake for a guy that can hear that stuff.

Mojo-Man · #7 06-05-2011, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kander

1. Don't worry about it. It happens to everyone. If someone says otherwise they're lying.

2. One trick to try is if you play a "wrong" note slide into the "correct" one.

3. Most importantly, most people pay no attention to the bass player. No one will notice if you screw up except yourself!

So true.
It took me years to figure this out.

UncleDomino · #8 06-05-2011, 10:02 PM

I messed up pretty badly a couple weeks ago. We hadn't had practice in a while because our guitarist had to work on a bunch of school projects. We play our usual set, and I completely forget what I'm supposed to play on part of one of our songs. I was caught so off guard, I completely stopped playing; it was a total "deer in the headlights" moment. I guess if anything, it was a wake up call to practice on my own more often.

BagelBruin · #9 06-05-2011, 10:07 PM

One did an entire gig which I forgot ALL my lyrics, and I did have a change to tune my bass until half way into the show. It was bad bad bad bad.

OmnitzGarima · #10 06-05-2011, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kander

1. Don't worry about it. It happens to everyone. If someone says otherwise they're lying.

2. One trick to try is if you play a "wrong" note slide into the "correct" one.

3. Most importantly, most people pay no attention to the bass player. No one will notice if you screw up except yourself!

Absolutely true, every bit. The key is to not worry, you'll get better at dealing with the stage, with practise.

jefwho · #11 06-05-2011, 10:14 PM

Not since my last gig. Started the second song in the wrong key..oops.

Slaine01 · #12 06-05-2011, 10:16 PM

Yeah, got drunk - slept with singer (between sets at gig) ...forgot singer was drummers girlfriend.......... you know, just the usual.......I was young *sniff

StipeC · #13 06-05-2011, 10:22 PM

About a year ago I got really drunk and passed out standing up leaning against the wall on stage. I managed to keep playing, but it just sounded terrible.

macdeezy · #14 06-05-2011, 10:28 PM

I think the worst anyone can mess up is NOT SHOWING UP...right?

OmnitzGarima · #15 06-05-2011, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macdeezy

I think the worst anyone can mess up is NOT SHOWING UP...right?

No, I think showing up rip-roaring drunk and playing anyway is worse. Trust me.

svtb15 · #16 06-05-2011, 10:33 PM

If you aint messing up every once and a while, you are not pushing the envelope... Everyone messes up every once and a while.. Some more often than others.. its how you recover from the mess up..

As I joke.. when in doubt .. slide ........................

djero44 · #17 06-05-2011, 10:34 PM

Last night I played a debut show with an exciting new band. For some strange reason there were glitches galore, my guitarist messed up multiple times, including playing a unison lick with me a half step off. He didn't even realize it and I stayed with the original and it sounded bad. Then I spaced out the end of our song and kept playing when the others stopped. Whoops! They came back in and covered well for me, which was awesome. Then he was having major issues with his pedalboard, including his Whammy pedal, which is a temperamental beast. On one song I forgot my bass line for a minute and was totally faking it. I'm pretty sure noone even noticed that one, even my band, because you get pretty good at this stuff after awhile! I learned from Talkbass that the main thing is not to make a face that gives it away to the audience.

So later in the set (and this is only a 45 minute set) I pick up my fretless which I had tuned just before taking a twenty minute break before playing. Somehow the E string got knocked down to a D (I have no idea how this happened, it wasn't in a place to get run into) and i'm trying to transpose my playing and generally freaking out during that song. I even had a bass solo in it, but I stayed on the three tuned strings, and even though I was barely floating on that song I did pretty well on the solo. Lesson learned: I don't care if I just tuned it, I am always checking all my instruments just before playing.

Last but not least right at the end of our second to last song my cabinet stops working. I can hear myself in the mains from the di but no air from my cabinet. I have no idea what is going on at this point, so I grabbed the speaker cable quick and switched it from my 6x10 to the other bands bass cabs (which I had permission to do) and played our last song. It was totally freaky and random, and when I was done I plugged my 610 back in and it worked again.

Holy crap, this was the most issues i've ever dealt with at a single gig, let alone a short one. The good news is we pulled it all of with such style that we had the crowd screaming for more at the end, and it was all brand new original material. We didn't perform at all to our capacity as far as not making mistakes, but by being good showmen and not letting the audience know things were messed up we made it all work out really well, at least judging by the crowds response and the very positive feedback we have received. We actually traded our pay to a friend to produce a quality dvd of our show which I am going to pick up in the morning. I'm a little scared to watch it!

recreate.me · #18 06-05-2011, 10:36 PM

I haven't messed up worse then missing a few notes. It was my first show and i was having trouble hearing myself and i got off time, so i paused, figured out where the band was and picked back up..

I did play a show where, in the middle of the song, our guitarist stepped on his tuner rather then his OD pedal. In a three piece thats very noticeable, and he had no idea what he did and in the confusion just gave up and fell flat on his back... Me and our drummer thought he was dead.

Even after that he got up we all laughed at him, and started the song again haha no one really cared, it was just a local show with like 50 people in the crowd, we all thought it was ridiculous, so i no longer worry about messing up. No one really cares at our shows they are just for fun haha

djero44 · #19 06-05-2011, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slaine01

Yeah, got drunk - slept with singer (between sets at gig) ...forgot singer was drummers girlfriend.......... you know, just the usual.......I was young *sniff

Hah, talk about sliding into the wrong note....

sethlow3 · #20 06-05-2011, 10:39 PM

If you make mistakes sound correct, there are no mistakes. Even the greats have made them ( Victor Wooten on the Drummer/Bass Day Video), but the audience either doesn't notice or the musician is already on the next measure and the audience quickly forgives/forgets.

The only time mistakes are really bad is if they happen constantly throughout an entire night, then we can have a nightmare situation, especially on bass.