Open mic fail...

[Jmassie]

Went to the Whippersnappers open mic tonight, Saw some absolutely amazing musicians played, Sadly my set bombed due to 1. Forgetting the lyrics to badfish ( sublime ) 2. breaking a string 3. Forgetting the chords to my own songs


I believe this is Karma for trying to play guitar as a bassist

Any one have any similar stories to make me feel better?

Lots of peace and love and bassy groovey goodness
J-Massie.

[Rigel42]

eh, failing is important. We've all been there, helps you grow and appreciate other musicians.

Have a beer and laugh about it

[Jmassie]

Very true! And apologies for my poor grammar.

[shadow_FIX]

Everybody's failed at some point. A few years back I was invited by my high school bass teacher (also recent college grad/good friend) to a jazz open mic one night. I practiced what I felt like I needed to, and I called How High The Moon as my first tune. Got nervous and completely tanked...forgot everything I knew about II-V-I progressions and biffed the solo after fighting through the changes. Then we played A Night In Tunisia and the drummer missed a good number of the feel changes (for those not familiar, it switches from a latin groove to a swing groove fairly regularly). I found out he was on Valium later on

But the next week I came back and played Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar with their house vocalist and ROCKED IT!!

[Atnum]

Originally Posted by Jmassie

I believe this is Karma for trying to play guitar as a bassist
.

Do you mean "trying to play bass as a guitard"?

Anyway, better luck next time.

[RustyAxe]

Keep it in perspective. No one died. The sun came up again today. We've all been there, it's part of the process. Move on.

[Jmassie]

Atnum, No. Ive played Bass guitar for about 12 years, Just recently started to pick up the acoustic guitar to help with song writing. Ever here that little saying about assumptions?

[Muaguana]

One of the bands I'm in has played a total of 4 gigs. Three of them (at three different venues) we didn't get to finish our set because, evidently, we were clearing the bar. I'm having second thoughts about joining that one...

[Floridabwoy]

there is NO way i could sing and play the bass part to badfish.

[Already In Use]

I did an open mic a few times. Just one guitar palyer showed this one time. Played his own music...which naturally I didnt know..So I asked hime for chords...notes anything! He didnt know...Yikes! Big ugly mess of which I eventually bowed out of. Ended up siting down and just messing around like a practice session all by myself. Didnt impress anybody...nobody clapped or even looked over. Humbling at best!

[jnuts1]

my first jam was fine, did after midnight & such. now on the second jam i went to was a jazz jam & i was terrified to the point that only my thumb would work since the rest of my hand was locked in some strange position i never had it in before. i made it through the jazz tune & then we moved to funk & i was A OK then! everything i ever worked on seemed to go out the window & i realized everything i had been practicing up to that point was useless! i remember that day fondly

[MyWifeBoris]

One time we were doing Pinball Wizard. I was doing lead vocals, because our singer was in need of a breather as we did a very taxing song for him, and it sucked, because 1. I have an awful voice and 2. because I forgot the lyric "The digit counters fall," and said, "The bliblub mnngters fall".

It was a fail night.

[chrisbass0013]

show me a musician who's never had a bad gig and i'll show you a liar

[N.F.A.]

Train wreck gigs are fun to laugh at down the road. Time heals all wounds. We've all been there too...

[AJ Brown]

I've had paper airplanes thrown at me before.

[groooooove]

you learned more from that 10 minute open mic set than you could learn in any hour long lesson with a seasoned pro.

you learned how much you really need to know and rehearse what your doing, before your ready to be comftorble performing it live. does that put victor wootens tricks in an entire new perspective for you?

[Brad Johnson]

My least favorite open mic performance: I got called up towards the end of the night and the "group" consisted of a Berklee grad keyboardist, an unknown quantity on drums and a percussionist. Asked me if I knew Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon man", I say sure and we count it off.



Apparently there was some confusion on how to play with the count we started with. Then each verse ended with a little break and instead of playing those in time, I'd come in and the the keys would come in a couple of beats after me and give me a dumb look. At this point I'm wondering what song he thinks we're playing.. After doing this maybe three or four times, three or four different ways, I completely lay out on the next break... and so does he. And he gives me the look again.

Zero groove, zero feel and the timing's all messed up. Yay. Couldn't wait for that crap to be over. It turned out that this open mic was more of an ego fest than an actual open mic. If anyone came up and sounded decent, the house band would then take the stage and play a song they'd played together before. That'll show 'em.


After it was over I asked the leader about his new fretless he had with him, told him I'd like to check it out. He pulled it out of it's bag... and proceeded to play for several minutes.


Of course i'm thinking that I asked if "I" could check it out so this was pretty funny. I guess he wanted to show me what it was capable of.


Then he hands me the bass and I'm not sure if I was supposed to be discouraged at that point but anyhoo...

the house drummer, who I'd played with before and I just started doing some weird stream of consciousness jammimg, just playing off what the other was doing. And people sat and watched until we got finished. At least that was fun.

And nobody died. Just like most open mics. Shake it off and move on. I typically avoid them these days because I really don't like to play with people who don't have at least a minimum skill set... like being able to play in fairly consistent time. Of course I'll do it as a house musician if the pay's there. I can put up with a lot more for money. Strange.

[plankspanker13]

Fails eventually lead to wins.

Last night, I went to an open mic to support a guitard that had subbed in for my cover band last season on occasion, and was subbing as the host. 2 other bassists showed up. One (the house bassist and Sunday night host) played 2 songs to start, and was done, then my turn came. The other guy left as I was playing my 2nd number, and #1 guy left soon after, and I was asked to support each succession of players coming up. We went through 4 drummers, and about 6 guitarrists, and a beat poetess who asked for some hip hop bass for her to rhyme over. I supplied "Ghetto Thang" by De La Soul, which is old enough for the younger folk to perhaps not have it on their radar, and used the trusty envelope filter to give it extra stank. I ended up closing the night.

2 women gave me their phone numbers (ostensibly to play with them, but the b/f of one rising drummerbabe had some amazing purple...uh, maybe I should leave that part out, since none of us had a scrip for the medicinal stuff). I should have brought my camera, as my dominion over the Chicks at Shows thread needs some refreshment, and they were worthy (it's rather hot here, and the humidity has been up; wardrobes are minimalist in monsoon season). House bassist also hooked me up with a paying gig for 8/8 as well.

All of this was after a month of not even looking at my basses, and enjoying the off season (the college kids and snowbirds are away, and the stand that normally has a bass for grab-&-noodle moments in my music room has had my acoustic guitar on it since late June). Of course, I was unpaid, and actually spent money on food and drink, as opposed to having them comped and coming home with a fresh C-note, but it was good to scratch the itch, and help a friend who gigs very heavily. He's likely to call me at some point during the coming season, and I do enjoy not having to move a lot of gear when the heat index is over 110F. Not a bad investment of time, talent and treasure (wings were great, and Stella speaks for itself).

[OmnitzGarima]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

Keep it in perspective. No one died. The sun came up again today. We've all been there, it's part of the process. Move on.

Oh, yeah.