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Bass Fails: It’s pretty funny!
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
I am happy to confirm nothing like that ever happened to me (that I remember, anyway!). Other band mates over the years, definitely, like the drummer in my first Disco/Top 40 band in the late '70s who forgot to bring his kick drum pedal at a wedding gig, and another that was fortunately just an audition that we knew wasn't going to produce any gigs but we did it anyway; the drummer forgot his sticks so he went out and found a couple of small tree branches. He sounded fine with them, so, what's the big deal about these fancy drum sticks that drummers buy? 
Never busts open my pants from my bass.
I remember playing at the original 9:30 Club in Wash. DC and they were remodeling the basement/dressing rooms and the band got lost trying to find the real door to go upstairs to the stage . I remember our drummer opening one door and a woman was on the toilet and him telling her how sorry he was and how it took too long to close that damn door .
The first time I wore a Tie at a gig on one song when it started I had no sound looked over at Amp played with Volume knob then Finally noticed;
The Tie had slipped under the Strings on fretboard; never wore a Tie again
The Tie had slipped under the Strings on fretboard; never wore a Tie again
Except for an occasionally pullout on the instrument cord, nothing like that. Thank god. But I am reminded of a classic drummer “fail” in one of my earliest garage bands and a gig we played.
My group was at a big house party and everything’s going good and strong. We’re at the end of Led Zep’s “Rock and Roll”. The drummer’s throne was a generic padded metal kitchen chair that he had absconded with from the house we were in because he had forgotten his.
It’s at end of the tune and he’s in the middle of Bonham’s colosseum finale florish. We’re all facing forward and not looking at him, when of a sudden he stops. We all turn and look to see his feet in the air as his chair collapses backwards.
Without batting an eye or delay he gets up and finishes right where he left off while standing up. He got an standing ovation.
My group was at a big house party and everything’s going good and strong. We’re at the end of Led Zep’s “Rock and Roll”. The drummer’s throne was a generic padded metal kitchen chair that he had absconded with from the house we were in because he had forgotten his.
It’s at end of the tune and he’s in the middle of Bonham’s colosseum finale florish. We’re all facing forward and not looking at him, when of a sudden he stops. We all turn and look to see his feet in the air as his chair collapses backwards.
Without batting an eye or delay he gets up and finishes right where he left off while standing up. He got an standing ovation.
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I liked it! This video made my day. I feel now I am not the only one doing stupid stuff during concerts 
.
Whoever put this video together with this interviews, big thanks!
.Whoever put this video together with this interviews, big thanks!
My biggest epic bass fail was driving 6 hour to a gig leaving my bass at home….
My most memorable fail was when I drove home from an outdoor stage gig and realized I left my bass on the stage (the LPB Precision in my avatar). This was in a city park and was accessible to anyone/everyone. I drove back quite hurriedly, lol. It was still there. Someone had actually scooted it back against the black wall. Glad they did!
That sounds about as Spinal Tap as it gets.
that settles it. this week at church is a bathrobe, trench coat, and timberlands.
We all have oops moments right? I'm not the only one I'm sure, well at least I'm sure now since I looked at that video, T.Y. Dr. Cheese
My one major Doh! moment was setting up a small biamped rig(Yamaha PB-1/power amp into a single 15” and single 10”)backwards, so that all the low end frequencies went to the 10, and midrange/highs to the 15. Doing a gig in a storefront art gallery with a high ceiling, of course something just didn’t sound right, but I didn’t discover the mistake until tear down. Nothing blew up, though.
Few years back I completely blanked on a new song we added to our set. It was an original too. Song started and I just froze and panicked. This wasn't some empty bar gig either. We played to a very attentive audience that was sitting down. So I went over to my amp and pretended like I was having technical problems. The band didn't stop the song either. At some point I finally remembered and jumped back in maybe halfway through. My band even had the nerve to put the performance on YouTube! It's still out there but I would never share it. Lol.
Love it! My Spinal Tap moment was when I was playing a fairly high profile gig and the drummer, who's nickname was Buzzsaw because of the woodchips left around his kit from hitting the edges of his cymbals, hit his ride cymbal particularly hard and the first 3-4 inches of his stick snapped off, went up into the air and came down behind my strings and got caught in between the neck pickup and the bass body near where the neck joined the body of the bass. I used to have a picture of it...I'll have to see if I can find it. It took me a second (or 5) to figure out what happened.
That being said, it wasn't the first time tips have broken off from him playing...several have gone whizzing by my head or hit me on my back. After a fashion, I ended up playing beside him, not in front. He really was a great drummer and he was as accurate as a metronome.
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My first big festival gig was the Montreal Jazz Festival. There were thousands of people in the audience and I guess my nerves got the better of me. We started our set and I could barely hear my bass. Not understanding what could possibly have changed since sound check I frantically signal to the monitor tech to jack my bass up. The sound was tinny and not at all pleasing but I got through the set. After the set I go over to put the amp on standby and realize that I never took it off standby.
Another one that comes to mind was during a huge corporate event in Toronto. Again, thousands of people in attendance. We’re playing a cocktail set and I’m using my Rob Allen fretless semi-hollow with tapewounds (doing my best DB impression). There would usually be enough time between the cocktail set and the dance set but in this instance the band leader decided to go directly from jazz standard to disco. I don’t know how but in the process of trying to get my Rob Allen off in order to switch basses I got a cable tangled in my headstock. Next thing I knew “Car Wash” was being counted in and I realized I wouldn’t have time to make the bass switch. I got stuck playing at least fifteen minutes of disco (including slap lines) on the Rob Allen. While I love that bass it sounded completely wrong in that context.
I feel like I’ve had tons of things go wrong on stage but it has always ended up somehow working out.
The good new was there was a music store a couple of minutes away from the gig that rented me one. Whe made it to the store 5 minutes before they closed for the weekend.
Playing a stadium festival down South and prior to going on we find out that the promoter stole the money and was headed for parts unknown. We decided to play anyway and for the first time in my life , my wrist and fingers just locked up from the cold or something and I'm banging my hand against the strings and just then ..........the bass gods smiled down on me by having the drummers foot pedal break through his bass drum and we all looked at each other and got the Hell outta there !
