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Biggest screw up you have ever made?

patlozrox

patlozrox

Guest
Apr 10, 2012
165
5
Munster, Indiana
Disclosures
Losiniecki LED Customs (My own company)
#1
I have seen countless screw ups as an amature bass player in a small town band. I have seen words forgotten, songs stopped, people pull out cords. But, by far, MY worst screw up was I once was performing with a brand new, still had the tag on it, bass that I bought an hour before the show. I sound checked it and went out to play, when half way through the show I realized that there was no 24th fret on the G. So, I just stared at my hands for a second trying to figure out what to do. I watch the footage now and see that I was a total moron up there. I want to know, what was YOUR worst screw up?

Rock on!!!!!
4 STRINGS 4 LIFE!!!!:bassist:
 
#2
patlozrox said:
6 STRINGS 4 LIFE!!!!:bassist:
Click to expand...

Fixed. ;)

My biggest screw up wasn't equipment related. At a music festival last year I was walking around drinking beer, not thinking about the fact that I'd had no water all day. When 10pm rolled around and we started playing, I realized I was so dehydrated that my dexterity was pretty much gone. My fingers simply wouldn't do what I wanted them to do. For the first time ever, I ended up dumbing down my basslines, and I missed almost every fill... :scowl:

The funny thing is, after berating myself and having a miserable couple of days, I decided to watch the video of the show. Our lead guitarist covered up all of my mistakes with his own. :hyper:
 
#3
Hahaha nice man. I remember when I first joined my band, I was only playing for 6 months. So, as you can imagine, I sucked... But anyways, they wanted me to learn 7 new songs, that: 1. I had barely heard, 2: didn't have the first clue how to play, and 3: were WAYYYY out of my skill level. So I had to do pretty much the same thing, and my guitarist did all the bass fills and stuff and had a must switch hooked up to me cus he knew I didn't know the songs.

Rock on!!!!!
4 STRINGS 4 LIFE!!!!
 
#4
Not sure what my biggest screwup was, but there was the time where my car was in the shop and I had to rent a car, buy new gear, and get to the gig. When I got there I remembered that my suit and tie were in MY car, an hour and a half away. I had to go out and buy new nice clothes to play in.

The only place opened at that time of night within a short drive of this gig was Kmart. This was 1999. I didn't think it was possible to eff up black pants, tie, and white shirt. But it was bad. I looked like an extra from a Dilbert comic. The whole outfit cost me less than $15 tho!!! :D :D :D I kept my leather jacket on the whole gig.
 
#5
One of my friends and I have an acoustic band that's just the two of us, which is basically dead now. He plays guitar and I play bass and mandolin. Anyways, our very first gig we didn't have an amp for my bass, and we wanted to travel light, so it was just guitar and mandolin. We got through all of our songs and all seemed to be going well, but then we made the mistake of throwing in some covers. We decided to cover "House of the Rising Sun," which we hadn't really practiced at all. It was horrible. A bit like watching a car crash in slow motion. The crowd was very generous though, and a few people helped us out where we messed up on the lyrics. Never again will I cover that song.
 
#9
I stayed out until 3 the night before a gig. Drinking heavily. Played with a cover band that night as a sit-in for one song.

The morning after, I had had about 4 hours' sleep. I went for a run to try and shake off the wobblies. Drank one of those 5-hour powerups.

The show was in October or November-ish. It was really cold out. I stood by the door of the club greeting our fans as they came in. Then I went on stage under the HOT lights.

Hung over. Taking a stimulant I'd never used before. I started singing the first really loud note of the first song, and my head practically EXPLODED with pain. I very nearly decided then and there to end the gig.

There is a video. You can see how much pain I'm in throughout the show, but I did not stop. Every time I sang a note, as I let the note off my head would throb with pain. The gig wasn't a disaster, but I personally felt horrible and consider that the worst screw-up I've ever made. The show could have been 100x better if I hadn't been an imbecile the night before.
 
#11
I joined a band once where I new before joining that the guitarist and female singer were physically involved despite being married to other people.... just plain ugly.

Also had a close call at a charity gig in college. The bar offered us a $250 free bar tab since the proceeds were all going to the Red Cross... $250 worth of beer pitchers is A LOT, and even with us sharing with friends we were all pretty loose. I decided at the end of the set to play part of "Play That Funky Music" from atop the our 2nd kick drum (we had two kits on stage for a "dueling drummer" thing). As I prepared to step off the kit, my foot slipped. I luckily stuck the landing but it wasn't exactly graceful. See pic below
 

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#12
Chef FourString said:
Ouch.
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Yup the gig I was supposed to cancel's owner was calling to see where the F we were! We scrambled to put the band together minus our drummer because the place was packed! We did the show with no drummer but not unplugged. We rocked them like we had a drummer a lot of toe tapping!But the owner wasn't happy and never had us back!
 
#13
well this one time at band camp, I took an Oboe and.... uh, nevermind that one

My biggest screw-up has to be lifting my girlfriend up after a band concert and dislocating my kneecap while spinning with her. 4.5 more weeks in a log mobilizer and crutches....
 
#15
Concert night, Columbia Philharmonic Orchestra, I'm on upright in my tux sitting in the middle of the section (I'm not the best, but not the worst either). We were playing Rigoletto, by Rossini. The signature motif line in the piece has a "grand pause" the first time through (or is it the second time, I forget) on the last measure. Heh, except for me. I scratched out a nice note right in the middle of the silence before I could stop my bowing hand. Jeez, I wanted to crawl under the back curtain and on out of the concert hall. Absolutely unbearable embarrassment. To make it worse, no one even looked my way. I tried to make light of it during the intermission by asking the conductor if he liked my little solo. He just stared at me, and then turned and walked away. I shuddered in shame.
 
#16
Russell L said:
Concert night, Columbia Philharmonic Orchestra, I'm on upright in my tux sitting in the middle of the section (I'm not the best, but not the worst either). We were playing Rigoletto, by Rossini. The signature motif line in the piece has a "grand pause" the first time through (or is it the second time, I forget) on the last measure. Heh, except for me. I scratched out a nice note right in the middle of the silence before I could stop my bowing hand. Jeez, I wanted to crawl under the back curtain and on out of the concert hall. Absolutely unbearable embarrassment. To make it worse, no one even looked my way. I tried to make light of it during the intermission by asking the conductor if he liked my little solo. He just stared at me, and then turned and walked away. I shuddered in shame.
Click to expand...

YOU WIN!
 
#19
patlozrox said:
I have seen countless screw ups as an amature bass player in a small town band. I have seen words forgotten, songs stopped, people pull out cords. But, by far, MY worst screw up was I once was performing with a brand new, still had the tag on it, bass that I bought an hour before the show. I sound checked it and went out to play, when half way through the show I realized that there was no 24th fret on the G. So, I just stared at my hands for a second trying to figure out what to do. I watch the footage now and see that I was a total moron up there. I want to know, what was YOUR worst screw up?

Rock on!!!!!
4 STRINGS 4 LIFE!!!!:bassist:
Click to expand...


What were you going to do with the 24th fret on the G string? Or is that code for something?
 
#20
Mine's pretty tame compared to some of these. First off, you have to realise I am REALLY short sighted. I've worn glasses since I was 8. 8-) I was playing with a rock orchestra and was playing "Saturday night's alright". 10 minutes before, I had been playing a song with the jazz band I'm in with a bass tuned to DADG. I had a spare bass tuned to standard EADG. So I took off the bass and put it down to get my music. Then I went to pick up the standard tuned bass. Yep, you guessed it. I picked up the wrong bass. Thankfully there was a 4 bar rest in this particular arrangement so I quickly rolled off the volume and twisted the tuning peg. Apparently I was slightly flat, but my expression when I realised it was drop D was noticed by everyone (including the conductor...) I still can't believe it. I mistook an antique red squier jazz bass for a black Yamaha ERB070... And I was wearing my glasses. My parents wonder why I'm hesitant to drive... :D
 

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