I was literally five seconds away from not being able to play my bass at a school concert yesterday.
My music class was playing in the school's Christmas concert. I was given the role of bassist, my cousin and his friend (also a bassist) were playing the guitars. Another of my cousin's friends played the drums, with another student doing additional percussion. Anyone who didn't play an instrument sang.
During the rehearsal, I noticed that the nut holding in the input jack was coming loose. I didn't think anything about it. We played our songs (a medley of Carol of the Bells, Silent Night, Rudolph, Jingle Bell Rock, and going back into CotB). The entire rehearsal was played in front of other classes. The bell rang in the middle of our set, and some of the classes left. Half the audience was gone at the end of our set, and we still got the loudest ovation.
I left my bass at school until the actual concert, along with my cousin's guitar and his friend's bass (he played it during another song, using the school's guitar during our set). I came back that night and watched the first half of the concert. During the intermission, I went backstage to tune my bass. By then, the nut and washer had fallen out and the input jack fell into the bass. I found the nut and washer on the ground, but it didn't help me-I had no screwdriver, so I couldn't fix it. Not that I knew how to fix it, anyway.
Frantically, I looked around for a screwdriver. No luck. My music teacher didn't know where to find one. My cousin's friend offered to let me use his bass, but it was my first public performance-you kind of want to use your own bass for something like that.
One of my other friends came up to me to wish me luck. Fortunetly, he took a video class, and his teacher had a screwdriver. I got the cover off the input jack and tried to get it out. I eventually got it out with the screwdriver, at which point my cousin's friend took my bass to fix it while I helped set up the amps. He got it fixed right before our group was supposed to go on. After some minor electrical problems with the amplifiers, we got up and played. We got the loudest ovation again. I heard from my friends that were at the show that the only good group besides us was the percussion group.
Nothing like a first gig that almost goes wrong.
My music class was playing in the school's Christmas concert. I was given the role of bassist, my cousin and his friend (also a bassist) were playing the guitars. Another of my cousin's friends played the drums, with another student doing additional percussion. Anyone who didn't play an instrument sang.
During the rehearsal, I noticed that the nut holding in the input jack was coming loose. I didn't think anything about it. We played our songs (a medley of Carol of the Bells, Silent Night, Rudolph, Jingle Bell Rock, and going back into CotB). The entire rehearsal was played in front of other classes. The bell rang in the middle of our set, and some of the classes left. Half the audience was gone at the end of our set, and we still got the loudest ovation.
I left my bass at school until the actual concert, along with my cousin's guitar and his friend's bass (he played it during another song, using the school's guitar during our set). I came back that night and watched the first half of the concert. During the intermission, I went backstage to tune my bass. By then, the nut and washer had fallen out and the input jack fell into the bass. I found the nut and washer on the ground, but it didn't help me-I had no screwdriver, so I couldn't fix it. Not that I knew how to fix it, anyway.
Frantically, I looked around for a screwdriver. No luck. My music teacher didn't know where to find one. My cousin's friend offered to let me use his bass, but it was my first public performance-you kind of want to use your own bass for something like that.
One of my other friends came up to me to wish me luck. Fortunetly, he took a video class, and his teacher had a screwdriver. I got the cover off the input jack and tried to get it out. I eventually got it out with the screwdriver, at which point my cousin's friend took my bass to fix it while I helped set up the amps. He got it fixed right before our group was supposed to go on. After some minor electrical problems with the amplifiers, we got up and played. We got the loudest ovation again. I heard from my friends that were at the show that the only good group besides us was the percussion group.
Nothing like a first gig that almost goes wrong.
