Dumbest/most embarrassing bass moments

[lespaulmarshall]

This is an epic thread!!

My contribution:

It's my first club/pub gig at a posh like place here in my town. At that point I didn't have a good amp - only a broken one of a mates that I fixed up. Everything was great but then the power tripped the whole club - not once, not twice, but three times!! The guitarist I was with was furious at me because it never happened when he was by himself.

In the end the next week we found out that the clubs power was absolutely rooted and they have had heaps of problems with it since day dot.

Never the less we are the house band there now haha!

 

[overdrivethree]

ahhh...the short version of this went in the "lame band" thread.

a band i was in about two years ago had a local show we took, with another local band and a touring band. only about 15, 20 people there tops. the touring band played first. i didn't like them at all, but the other guys in the band were just openly ripping on them. it takes a lot for me to vocalize my distaste for a band in such a rude way, but they didn't care and just kept laughing at them.

we go on next. the guitarist's pedals (tuner and distortion) won't work. he walks up to the guys in the touring band going, "heeeey guys, great set. i was just, uh, wondering if i could use one of your pedals?"

now, i don't know if he used their pedals or not. all i know is that without the safety net of his effects, he gave up on playing a good show before we played one note.

in the meantime, i was using a borrowed amp that i was told was okay to use. until the guy that actually owned it showed up, and made a big deal of it. he said i could use it, but i should know that he wasn't really cool with it. *sigh*

so we get onstage to all 15 people (if that). the guitarist is just slopping his way through the songs, not giving a crap. the owner of the bass amp is watching me like a hawk. i feel compelled to keep knocking the volume down bit-by-bit, just to show him i respected his gear.

we reach a point where the guitarist is way out of tune. without a tuner, he's drunkenly tuning by ear. i took the mic (something i rarely did) to let people know who we were, that we were recording an EP, etc. someone yelled "SHUT THE F*** UP! WHY ARE YOU TALKING?"

so i moved to the back corner by the amp, stood there, and played the rest of the set. the guys in the band were looking at me, joking with the audience, "ooohhhh, he's mad now!"

end of the set, the bass goes in the air, lands on the drummer's hardware. takes a couple nice chunks out of the neck. after we're done, the girl in the other local band tries to pay us. i refuse the money and say, "geez, i wouldn't pay us for that f***ing terrible set." she tried to be nice and reassure me, but i wasn't having it. it was the first time i really felt ashamed to be in a band, and really re-evaluated what kind of people i want to play with and spend time hanging around.

 

[M.Wrenn]

I was going pretty crazy during the one really heavy song my band plays and i ended up smacking both my own head and my fender jazz head on the hardwood floor, i finished the song, then i almost passed out

 

[Larz48]

Playing for a small bar crowd with a singer who lines his "empties" on the front of the stage and every once in a while will punt them into the crowd. so I decide to get in on the action cuz the crowd seemed to be into it, so I haul off and give a field goal kick on a full beer (didn't know it at the time) and drill it into the side of this chicks face! she dropped like she got tazzed and her friends had to escort her out. I had all her friends trying to talk to me while I was still playing. All I could make out was your an A-hole! I felt like total sh*t. I apologized after that set... she was cool with it, but herfriends wern't.

OMG! Gus, I feel bad for the girl who caught your punt but that's some damn funny stuff. Made my night!

 

[Lazylion]

I've had many embarrassing moments onstage, but the one that comes to mind this time is...
I guess most of you haven't heard of Byron Berline, the bluegrass fiddle player. You'll just have to trust me when I say he's huge in the bluegrass community, toured the world, won world champion multiple times, played with Bill Monroe, Elton John, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, countless others, done thousands of recordings including Stephen Stills' "Manassas" album and the Stones' "Let It Bleed" album. (Check him out on Wiki)
I just saw a rerun of an episode of Star Trek Next Generation, Byron had a cameo appearance.
Anyway, in the 80s he was based in L.A., and my band hired him for a number of gigs. I knew his resume and was thrilled beyond words to be playing with him. A truly big-time musician, right next to little ol' me!

His first gig with us was at a big club in Anaheim. So what did I manage to do while standing next to this famous guy? Gave him a good hard whack on the elbow with my peghead, that's all! Good career move, dufus!

Talk about a "wanna-get-away?" moment! A bit harder, and I could have broken his elbow and put him out of business.

I apologised profusely, of course. He was very nice about it, played a bunch of times with us after that and never once mentioned it, but I never forgot it. I hope he did!