Ive been playing for 27 years and I make mistakes all the time. Like the others have said, I usually recover really quickly and the audience Im sure doesnt even know. The guys in my band with just flash a smile.
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Do you ever mess up?
- Thread starter milkman-27
- Start date
You know this is an excellent idea. We always start our rehearsals with what we call our warmup songs but it seems when we come back from break we usually do go into the harder stuff and stuff that we hadn't rehearsed in a while. The drummer calls out all of the songs though, so not sure if it will change. The stuff we play may not even be considered difficult by alot of you guys standards. We play classic rock mostly. The song that I flubbed on was "Badge" by Cream.
Yes, I make small mistakes at every gig. I find it very hard to play 60 songs in a row without a single error. The trick is, keep the goofs small and recover quickly. Don't make a sour face. Most people will not even notice.
If you're getting completely lost and having absolute train wrecks on stage, you need to woodshed that song more before taking it out to the general public.
If you're getting completely lost and having absolute train wrecks on stage, you need to woodshed that song more before taking it out to the general public.
If you can recover quickly at a gig then these guys should not be having a problem with you. If they flip out during a rehearsal then they almost don't seem like they're worth playing with.
Maybe the thing to do is record the rehearsals and analyze it afterwards. Maybe you'll all find that not everybody in the band is perfect all the time.
Maybe the thing to do is record the rehearsals and analyze it afterwards. Maybe you'll all find that not everybody in the band is perfect all the time.
I had a similar experience as JohnM just this past sat. nite. We played a wedding reception that had pretty diverse set-list material. Halfway thru our 3-hr show the MD called "can't hurry love" by the Supremes, a tune I've played hundreds of times without even thinking about it. Well the tune starts with a bass/drums intro in Bb for 2 bars before the vocals begin. Halfway thru the intro I notice the MD looking at me like ***?!?! After returning his look with 1 that said "what?!?!", I looked down to discover I was in "Eb"!!!! I played the last count of bar 2 in the correct key and the vocalist came in on cue....we crushed the tune and the rest of the show. But I got laughed at the rest of the night by the horn & rhythm section. All I could do was smile, shrug my shoulders and keep it moving. Felt bad about it for awhile but decided if I stayed there emotionally I was gonna make another mistake. Just had to let it go.
It's nice to hear that I'm not alone in making mistakes, though. Thank GOD for Talkbass.com!!!!!
It's nice to hear that I'm not alone in making mistakes, though. Thank GOD for Talkbass.com!!!!!
Exactly! I you have practiced and played it awhile then let your muscle memory take over. I screw-up once in awhile but the key is quick recovery. Also, think of it as a quarterback throwing an interception. You gotta have a short memory for that stuff and move on or it will affect you later on.
Wow, this was a great thread. I have only been playing with a band now for about 5 months and I was petrified of messing up. I probably miss a note or two every freaking song and make the "dammit" face when I do. What I am quickly learning is that most often I am the only one in the band to notice and other than one horrible train wreck, nobody in the audience ever seems to notice. I suppose it's more important in other genre's but Rock n Roll is supposed to be a little messy \m/!
Even if you mess up, don't let on to the audience, and continue enjoying whatever you're playing. Hell—Enjoy THAT you're playing. In the eyes of most, you're a very fortunate soul.
Mistakes happen. They just do. Sometimes you're on autopilot, sometimes you just make a mistake. In our band we always say it isn't a gig unless something goes wrong. Sometimes it happens if you haven't practiced a song enough, sometimes you just drop the ball, or someone else does, sometimes you overthink. I remember this one gig I did where I butchered a song horribly. Like so bad you'd think I just started playing bass that day. In my defense, it was dropped on me the day before the gig and I'd never played it before so I tried to keep it basic, but I still made a mess. But nobody seemed to notice because the mess was most apparent to me. I suppose mistakes might be more scrutinized depending on what type of music you play, your fellow musicians, the crowd, etc..., but for the average bar-level cover band (like mine) it's more about how quickly you recover and how you bury the mistake. And above all else, make sure you at least look like you're having fun!
All the time. Especially when I'm trying something that I have not quite worked out! LOL! Occasionally start songs in the wrong key! I also get distracted while listening to other band members mess up!
We have all made mistakes before. There have been a few times when I am not sure what the next chord in the song is so I just thump and mute the song's key root note on the one beat in time with the drummer. Rarely does anyone notice. Of course the next time around I will get it right as I watched what chord the others played during my thump.
I can sometimes go a full Sunday (4 services) without messing up. This past Sunday I did play 1 errant note that I don't even know if it was noticeable. Other times I have made obvious ones.
The main thing is to keep going as smoothly as possible, chalk it up, and move on.
Never beat yourself up over it.
The main thing is to keep going as smoothly as possible, chalk it up, and move on.
Never beat yourself up over it.
I'm pretty sure he was joking...
My thing is making sure I'm not screwing up the SAME parts each time. Like folks have said, everybody makes mistakes, heck, I've seen original bands screw up their OWN songs!
This. /\
I've been playing since 1979 and have never had a mistake free night, and gave up worrying about it long ago.
It might be possible if I didn't move around and play things safe all night, but where's the fun in that?
Besides, the other guys screw up occasionally also, and no one makes a deal out of it (big or small).
Our singer occasionally blanks on a verse, but never hits a bad note.
If you recover smoothly no one else cares, and most folks never even know about it, unless it's a big mistake.
Just start taking the time at home to really nail the basics of bass playing. You'll start to notice the mistakes getting fewer and better recovery from the flubs you do make.
Too funny - but not a bad idea.
I think the bandmates who shoot nasty looks or think they have to make your blunder the topic of conversation for the rest of night(or beyond) are tools. If you screw up a lot they should can you, if it is rarely they need to STFU. Invariably the bandmate who wants to give you a beatdown over your mistake is the one who can't take it when THEIR mistake is aired publicly. I had a drummer that would try to tell me "you came in early, you came in late" - I'd ask the others "did it sound that way to you?" "No". So I decided I would announce every possible mis-hit(to my ears) he made at full voice, "wow did you blow that intro", "gee, you left me hanging on that bridge". Only took a few weeks of this training to get him to STFU. I seriously thought he was going to quit.
