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Couldn't see.......played the wrong notes

g4string

g4string

Gold Supporting Member
Sep 19, 2002
4,069
2,585
49
Melissa, TX
#1
I played a gig on Sat.....I got tucked in the back part of the stage, poor lighting and some shadows. I had a hard time seeing where I was at on the fretboard on several occasions which caused me to hit the wrong note. Has this ever happened to anyone else?? I have been playing for about 20 years and gigging for about 15 years out of the 20. This was the first time this has ever happened to me.......
 
#3
Been there. Best thing to do is stay down by the nut and use as many open strings as possible - you KNOW those open notes are right!

I played a place that was very dark, but had a lot of black lights. I painted my dots with fluorescent paint. Also put a dot out on the far end of the peghead, so I wouldn't crash it into the wall! Problem solved!
 
#5
sorry i was trying to be helpful and not sarcastic

maybe some kind kind of LED system night help? SIMS are expensive but i know there are some alternatives to that...

also maybe a cool little light you could set near where you stand so that the light would help you see but still in style with the rest of the lighting setup might help too
 
#10
Hi.

Happens to me every once and a while.

Having a stone deaf right ear doesn't help one damn bit. If I'm oriented in a certain way, a half step, sometimes a full step can be hard to tell apart in a noisy stage.
I'm taking the 'ol lady' (DB ;)) for a spin for a recent project, let's see how that works out :).

No one exept the band notices though, if even them, so no problems.

LEDs are cool and are easy to install.

Regards
Sam
 
#12
Link Removed

I couldn't see much on this gig! I played for two hours without being able to see a thing!!!! (was hot too)

It was a good test to find out how well I really needed to look at the fretboard.
 
#17
When venues are awesome enough to let us use our fog machine, things like this happen...

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On top of all of that fog, I have to take my glasses off when we play due to all the headbanging that occurs. :bassist: I can't even see my feet or the floor when we play, and I know that I would step on my glasses if they fell off my head. So blurry vision + absurdly dense fog = some messups here and there. But I'm starting to get used to playing without having to look at my fretboard that much.
 
#18
Many moons ago I saw a band with a blind bass player, and he was AWESOME. Needless to say, he didn't need no stinking fret markers.

I vowed from that day not to rely on the markers as a crutch. Now I smile when I have a great set and my guitarist whines like a little girl when the stage lighting is too dark in parts.
 
#19
oooooo I hear your pain. I found out real quick that dark fretboards sucketh in dark corners, dots or no dots. I went on ebay and bought those glow in the dark stickers you stick over your dots, they lasted about 10 weeks on the side (are actually all intact on the front which comes in handy to not trip over it at night). Dark isn't as bad as too much light coming from the stage lights and blinding you and turning everything into either light or black......at least in dark you can kinda see the white dots.

I asked a tech about those LED things, he said he's put in a few sets, if you do it like the instructions say it'll do exactly what it says. Said they look pretty cool, but if you aren't careful you can damage em. I'm wary of how they'd feel under my fingers personally.

I swear, if I ever build a bass I'm putting BIG square inlays on the side of the neck where the dots are. I mean, why even bother to put dots on the front-you can't really see the front!

But it did teach me to look less at the fretboard...... and how having your own clip light handy is a good idea. Buy a blue colored floodlight, a clamp lamp, and viola! Darkness gone!
 

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