Worst thing to happen during a gig

balton4 · #1 02-27-2012, 01:51 PM

So i've only played one gig at band camp. Nothing went wrong at it, but i have friends who have had strings break or guitars/basses just stop working. What was your worst experience during a gig? I also have a gig (sort of) at our schools battle of the bands. Im playing with 4 bands and was wondering what could go wrong and how to prepare for it.

amimbari · #2 02-27-2012, 02:04 PM

bring an extra bass, 1 more amp, and 2 more speaker cabs to start.. then make sure you have 4 of everything else --- cords, pedals, stringsets.
you'll be prepared enough to lend your mates some gear when THEIRS blows up

Peace Cee · #3 02-27-2012, 02:09 PM

New P bass. Warm up, sound check, great. First note, first song of the set, nothing.

Wires came loose at the input jack. God knows how. Fixed it for the last set. Bring a spare (even though I rarely do honestly)

Batteries, chords, fuses.

ghostdog93 · #4 02-27-2012, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by balton4

So i've only played one gig at band camp. Nothing went wrong at it, but i have friends who have had strings break or guitars/basses just stop working. What was your worst experience during a gig? I also have a gig (sort of) at our schools battle of the bands. Im playing with 4 bands and was wondering what could go wrong and how to prepare for it.

You've heard of Murphy's Law? Well, that.

As stated above, bring extras of everything when feasible. And don't forget the duct tape.

kraigo · #5 02-27-2012, 02:10 PM

Just get into the mindset that nothing can go wrong on stage. Thinking about things going wrong seems to always make things go wrong. Keep your equipment in good working order. Don't change the strings immediately before a gig. Make sure your strap and cable are in good shape. Don't get yourself or your band mates so hyped up that they play too fast or too loud. I find that a certain amount of disinterest and "stepping outside myself" seems to help. Breathe deeply and fully. Earplugs can be a bassists best friend for blocking out the high end that makes it hard for us to hear ourselves. I've spent the last few years trying to refine the simple stuff so it's polished, muting myself when I'm not playing so if I accidentally bang my headstock on something I don't send an ungodly row through my amp, for example.

But nothing can go wrong. Just step out there and be the king!

KO

iriegnome · #6 02-27-2012, 02:11 PM

My guitar player broke the neck off his guitar during a show! Played the rest of it with him just singing and our other guitarist had to play alone all night!!

ksandvik · #7 02-27-2012, 02:12 PM

MIDI sequencers and drum machines going out of sync after the second song. Hard to fix that on-stage and after that event (1986) I was very hesitant to ever build similar complex rigs for stage use.

balton4 · #8 02-27-2012, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amimbari

bring an extra bass, 1 more amp, and 2 more speaker cabs to start.. then make sure you have 4 of everything else --- cords, pedals, stringsets.
you'll be prepared enough to lend your mates some gear when THEIRS blows up

I would, but the school is renting a galien krugar 4x10 bass amp and 4 marshall half stacks. so that means i cant use my bass amp. as for cables, i have 2 extras should the schools go default. i only own one bass. i dont need pedals for what im doing (or what my friends are doing). As for string sets, i am broke so snapping strings is my biggest fear.

balton4 · #9 02-27-2012, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghostdog93

You've heard of Murphy's Law? Well, that.

As stated above, bring extras of everything when feasible. And don't forget the duct tape.

Now that you mention that, im going to wear rolls of duct tape on my wrists

davidgoldman · #10 02-27-2012, 02:19 PM

The shot story is, triped over a wire and fell off the stage and broke the neck of a new Gibson EBO back in 1968. It was the first time I ever saw a fish net blouse over a white bra under black lights. What can I say, I was sixteen.

mrsal · #11 02-27-2012, 02:20 PM

the battery attachment in my warwick gave out. it would kick in and out and only give me distorted output when it worked. used my j bass for the rest of the show, went great.

bombpop14 · #12 02-27-2012, 02:22 PM

Talk to the other bass players in the other bands before the show. Make a deal that if something goes wrong with their basses, they can use yours as a backup and vice versa. Probably nothing will happen, but it will give you and the other bass players peace of mind.

balton4 · #13 02-27-2012, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriegnome

My guitar player broke the neck off his guitar during a show! Played the rest of it with him just singing and our other guitarist had to play alone all night!!

thats really unfortunate! i hope that it wasnt that expencive of a guitar!

balton4 · #14 02-27-2012, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidgoldman

The shot story is, triped over a wire and fell off the stage and broke the neck of a new Gibson EBO back in 1968. It was the first time I ever saw a fish net blouse over a white bra under black lights. What can I say, I was sixteen.

lol, im 14. although this is not gonna feature blacklights, ill keep that in mind when i start playing non-school related venues. (note to self: know where the chord is al ALL TIMES.)

Biggbass · #15 02-27-2012, 02:35 PM

We were chased out of town one night, in the panhandle of Texas, by a couple of pickup trucks full of sh*t kickers who had been requesting San Antonio Rose all night. The fact that we were a psychedelic rock band of long haired hippie types with an oil & water overhead projector light show who had never heard of Bob Wills didn't help.

FrednBass · #16 02-27-2012, 02:38 PM

Broke string of my bass. The G one. I played the rest of the show with the remaining 3, having to go up the neck for the notes i'd normaly play in the G string.

balton4 · #17 02-27-2012, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biggbass

We were chased out of town one night, in the panhandle of Texas, by a couple of pickup trucks full of sh*t kickers who had been requesting San Antonio Rose all night. The fact that we were a psychedelic rock band of long haired hippie types with an oil & water overhead projector light show who had never heard of Bob Wills didn't help.

thats terrible! lol

**bassman314** · #18 02-27-2012, 02:42 PM

Worst thing? Didn't get paid. Headliner said that there wasn't enough to pay everyone, so no one got paid.

Found out later from another band that this was the Headliner's MO on gigs.

LAME!!

balton4 · #19 02-27-2012, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrednBass

Broke string of my bass. The G one. I played the rest of the show with the remaining 3, having to go up the neck for the notes i'd normaly play in the G string.

i have a friend who broke an E string and had to leave to go home (he lived 15 minutes away) and grab another bass. The sad irony is that that was the one night he didnt have a backup. He usually gigs with a backup.

balton4 · #20 02-27-2012, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassman314

Worst thing? Didn't get paid. Headliner said that there wasn't enough to pay everyone, so no one got paid.

Found out later from another band that this was the Headliner's MO on gigs.

LAME!!

Did you ever go back there? Or did you just drop this headliner and go somewhere else from then on out to gig?