Do "Pro-Bassists" Ever Mess Up?

[JimmyM]

One of the most reassuring things I ever saw about mistakes happened on Late Night With David Letterman years ago. For years, Will Lee was killing it on there and I never heard him make a clam. Then one night, they were backing up David Johansen (Buster Poindexter, New York Dolls) on a medley of songs from Eric Burdon And The Animals. First song in the medley is "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," it's all just bass in the beginning, they've got a closeup of his hands, and Will clammed the intro of that song like he was a beginner playing it for the first time in his life! I tried to find a vid of it on Youtube unsuccessfully. To this day, he considers it one of his most embarrassing moments ever. But he managed to recover and get over it.

So will you.

 

[fclefgeoff]

The secret to not making mistakes is knowing the material. If you are in a situation where you are forced to play something that you don't know, you need to trust your ears and experience on the instrument. If you do make a mistake, keep playing and don't let it derail you.

Think about how many notes are in a song, if you drop a few it's not the end of the world.

 

[rocu]

I've heard it said that amatuers practice 'til they get it right; pros practice 'til they can't get it wrong.

That and the Miles Davis one quoted above and you have a paradigm for being a musician.

 

[brianrost]

I've seen a fair number of name pros make mistakes but none of them even flinched. Some of them cracked a smile. A few took the mistake and altered their line to make it work.

Keep in mind that when playing busy lines at fast tempi, the shape of the line is more important than the actual notes as long as most of the notes are solid choices. It's when playing slow tunes with sparse bass parts that you better not screw up, and in fact I've never seen a name pro do so.

 

[JimmyM]

I've heard it said that amatuers practice 'til they get it right; pros practice 'til they can't get it wrong.

Sure have seen a lot of pros clam it up, though

 

[electracoyote]

Those session guys on the late night television shows are pretty darn consistent. That reputation for getting it right first time, every time, is their bread and butter.

I'm really impressed with The Roots. I had no idea how consistently tasteful, versatile, and good they are.

But some of the pop bassists in the multi-platinum bands, it's amazing what they can get away with sometimes, even in the studio. Just check out the isolated tracks from some of the "legends" to see what I mean.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Classical musicians have a name for wrong notes - clams. If it's common enough to be named, then it's common.

(Edit: I see clams is already cited.)

 

[sawzalot]

Years ago I was at a concert and Mr. Big was the opening act. Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan were trading licks and it was Billy's turn to shred. He went for it full-bore, complete with 80's hair flying, only to find out his volume knob was turned down. It was a very funny moment.

I once went to a clinic given by Victor Wooten. He said something I've never forgotten: "If I'm walking down the sidewalk and I trip over one of the cracks, I don't turn around and walk over it again correctly. I just keep going."

tom

 

[RichardW]

there was an earlier thread here about mistakes in recordings, of which there are many. The worst mistake, in my book, is to acknowledge a clam--don't make a face or roll your eyes or, god forbid, stop playing. The only way to recover is to keep going. 99.9 percent of your audience will never even be aware of your clam.

There must be a life lesson in there somewhere.

 

[fclefgeoff]

Here is something else to consider. If you work full time (i.e., professional) it's typically considered 40 hours a week. If you practiced, rehearsed, or gigged for 40 hours a week every week, I guarantee you'll make less mistakes. Do it for years at a time and eventually you'll make no mistakes.

 

[Bassman Spiff]

Mistakes and variations are the special nature that make live music unique and great.

Good or bad, no two shows are the same!

 

[inanimate_carb]

Rarely. I watched Letterman religiously for decades and Will Lee only blew it like 3-5 times over 30 years on the show. I've seen Anthony Jackson dozens of times and never heard him make a mistake. There's stories blowing around that Anthony can make a pass at a tune in a studio, and experienced and knowledgable ears in the room will think it's perfectly fine and a keeper. He'll insist to do it again because he hears something wrong with it!

 

[Phildevoid]

I was just thinking as I was wastching some live performances (on SNL, Late Night... etc) and listening to the bass lines closely and it all sounds pretty darn perfect to me.... it makes me wonder, is there some sort of magic potion out there that allows a player to play a song perfectly?

If so, I sure need some! Cause it's never happened to me before!!!

There is a magic potion. It is called "practice" and it is not cheap and must be taken daily, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day.
I don't mean to be flippant about it. I am just saying that there is no shortcut to playing an instrument and song proficiently.

 

[StatesideRambler]

In Vic Wooten's book The Music Lesson the first element he names is groove. If you play a wrong note but keep the groove on there's nearly nobody in the audience that will notice the clam. The pros do this without wincing or trying to turn back time to play the "right" note. If you don't own that book, get it, read it and reread it often, absorbing and assimilating what Vic says in there.

 

[rtslinger]

Pro's magic is when the mess up they know how to cover it up. as for SNL, I think that Ashlee Simpson let it out of the bag about backing track play alongs, so I wouldn't use that for a basis for your findings . I remember seeing unplugged on TV back when an thought wow they nail this stuff right out of the gates, but later I saw a making of and it took the band in question like 15 times to get through their on song. Each time they would stop and tell the crowd remember this is the first time you are hearing this. And this was a well know band that had been playing their own material for years.

 

[JimmyM]

Rarely. I watched Letterman religiously for decades and Will Lee only blew it like 3-5 times over 30 years on the show. I've seen Anthony Jackson dozens of times and never heard him make a mistake. There's stories blowing around that Anthony can make a pass at a tune in a studio, and experienced and knowledgable ears in the room will think it's perfectly fine and a keeper. He'll insist to do it again because he hears something wrong with it!

That's just wasting the client's money. If the person in charge of the project says it's fine, it's fine. I don't get why Anthony does things like that. All that does is make people not want to hire you. But then again, that seems to not be such a high priority for him. If he's willing to walk away from money over insisting he uses his 6-string and only his 6-string, I guess he's willing to walk away from it for just about any reason.

 

[MNAirHead]

All the time... the only one I've never heard a clam from is Lee Sklar...

 

[buldog5151bass]

We don't realize the talent level of professionals in anything.

I can hit a baseball in my local league pretty well, but put me up against 95MPH pitching and sliders, and I never would get a hit. Same thing.

 

[Jay Corwin]

I always tell the band that if they hear me make a mistake, I'm playing jazz and they just don't get it.

 

[jamersonburton]

as long as it's not like this:

EDIT: still, doesn't act like it bothers him too much considering how bad that was. Now, I'm not saying it's fine to always play that poorly but mistakes do happen and as others have said. How you handle it is what matters.