Ever regretted letting someone sit in?

[BAG]

I've been lucky (or just unusually careful) and haven't had any real bad experiences. I have had a few surprising ones though.

My current band was put together as just a weekly jam in my studio to play music with no intention of gigging. As it turned out we do now gig occasionally, but are very picky about what gigs I do..... but I digress.

Anyway, the guitarist, singer and me (on bass and a cajon with kick and snare pedals) had been jamming weekly for a few months and they asked if they could invite another guitarist. I said "sure, the more the merrier" as it didn't really matter if it turned to custard.... it'd be one night and then we didn't have to invite them again.

On the day in question this young bloke turns up with a medium sized Marshall combo, a mega-sized pedal board and then pulls out of his guitar case an atypical pointy metal-head guitar. Now, we could be considered folk-rock in our song choices and how we play them so I was a little concerned as to how this was going to go. Well, I was completely surprised by him. He stayed in the background musically in most songs just adding some nice arpeggios etc and whenever he got called for a solo he mixed some really nice melodic soloing with some pretty decent shredding. I even had to ask him to turn up at one point. It was actually a bit disappointing that he got offered a position in a metal band and decided that was what he wanted to do more.

 

[Pings Bass]

Had a groupie who wanted to join the band on tambourine. We had to stop taking the tambourine to shows.

People don't realize 2 important things about the tambourine:

1. It's frickin loud
2. It's hard to play

 

[great bleudini]

The BL told somebody he could join us one night. He spent over ten minutes trying to get his pedal board hooked up. The three songs he played on were a mess. Afterward he went to the bar told the bartender he was with the band and drank $60 worth of booze. He disappeared before the end of the night and the BL was stuck with the tab.

 

[2saddleslab]

Rarely has someone who asks to sit in ever been memorable and usually lame. However, those we've invited have provided some great musical memories. Some of them being quite famous.

So let me briefly drop a name. Back in the 90's Los Lobos was touring thru Cincy and the band stopped by the music store my geetar player co-owned. He mentioned we would be playing down the street later that night. Well danged if David Hildago didn't show up. We asked him to join us and while doing an old T Bone Walker song, in mid solo DH disconnected his guitar from the Deluxe Reverb, and plugged directly into a channel on our PA board. What came out was the coolest tone we've ever heard. What a blast.

 

[red_rhino]

With a few exceptions, I've regretted it almost every time. Very often it's some poser who can't really play and they end up wasting my time supporting their little rock and roll fantasy.

However.... I was playing in a band with a group of people who all worked together in the same office, when they invited a new employee to stop by rehearsal and sit in on guitar. Seems like a nice enough guy, so we start a standard 1-4-5 blues pattern and he just shreds it all to pieces! Killer player! Turns out he hadn't played in nine years. Every one of his office mates just looked at him and said "You play?", dumbfounded.

But the best part was that the guy's wife turned to him and said "You play?!?" She had no idea!

That was 20+ years ago and I've played with him ever since.

 

[Steadfast]

Someone always sux toad butt but sometimes you find a real gem by letting them sit in.

 

[LBS-bass]

I guess the problem I have is that I've never had anyone sit in who wasn't specifically invited because we knew what they could do. I have seen the "guest of honor" sit in on vocals or whatever at a wedding or some other type of show, but I've never had that situation happen while I was on the stage. Seems like that's one you just roll with because it's a feel good moment for that person. But as far as drunk people just inviting themselves up? Nah, never happened. Only people we invited ourselves.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Oh, I thought everyone here knew TB at least

My wife tests positive for TB. She doesn't have it though. Weird. I test positive for other things

 

[LBS-bass]

My wife tests positive for TB. She doesn't have it though. Weird. I test positive for other things

That happened to me once. I had to get some other, weirder kind of test to prove to my employer that I wasn't down with the sickness.

 

[REV]

More times than I care to think about. I was in a band for awhile where the lead singer had a bunch of no talent friends who he would call up on stage (without even asking the rest of the band). At times it was agonizing.

 

[HolmeBass]

Well this thread confirms one thing I've learned the hard way by letting people sit it: tambourine is a dangerous instrument in the wrong hands. And a glorious one in the right hands. Those super loud plastic tambourines just suck.

So many sit-ins, almost always usually painful.

We had a sax player sit in for a couple of tunes once, and he was astonishingly bad. At the beginning of the second song I leaned forward and told him this one was in A minor, because the last song had sounded pretty out of key. He said he knew. And proceeded to play just as out of key as he did on the first song.

The funny part was during the first song, as he's soloing, I am realizing how off the rails he was, sort of wondering if he's suffering or something. I shoot a look at the drummer and he starts cracking up, which starts me cracking up. The drummer tells me not to look at him, so I stop and we control ourselves.

Then during the second song I am staring at the floor.

On the way home we listened to the recording of the show and man, we couldn't hold it any longer. We just started cracking up about his playing.

To be fair he said he was a beginning improviser. He never copped any airs. I think he paid the BL a chunk of change to sit in. Not that we saw any of that money!

 

[JW56789]

Everything from heroes to zeros. Usually went bad. Personally I was only for letting known 'other musicians on a night off' come up, but usually it was some friend of the ________, brother/sister-in-law, etc., civilians who really had no business being up there, but again it was rarely my call. And of course, the usual obnoxious can't-chase-'em-off-with-a-stick bigmouths you got up just to get rid of them.

I do, however, fondly remember one night with this county-ish trio I was in, I get there first and see a well-known guitar and amp wedged in. It was the big-gun, hot-shoe local guitar rock and blues god (and a really good guy), and I'm thinking 'WHAT is HE doing here?'. Him and the other two get there and my guitar player says 'he just wants to sit in and play country, he never gets the chance'. Really . . . . . so he played all five sets strictly as a second guitar, never sang once, and played the most gorgeous country stuff completely out of character from his usual, Clapton-esque style, and he and us had a BALL. He loved it, it was like a vacation for him, and the whole house went crazy and ate it up, just like we did.

THAT's when I learned that the great players have great big ears, and listen to everything, quite often nothing you'd ever expect. And he also told me something I never forgot: "You'd be surprised how something from THIS music can really go great in THAT music." I love it when an education is really, really fun.

 

[JRA]

I was the house bass player for an open mic blues jam for the better part of a decade. I literally got paid to regret letting people sit in.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

That happened to me once. I had to get some other, weirder kind of test to prove to my employer that I wasn't down with the sickness.

Yup. Her too. It also happens with her and Hep tests. They have to do further, more elaborate tests to come up negative. It's like, she carries the antibodies or whatever the lesser test actually tests for.

 

[LBS-bass]

Yup. Her too. It also happens with her and Hep tests. They have to do further, more elaborate tests to come up negative. It's like, she carries the antibodies or whatever the lesser test actually tests for.

Yep. It's been a few years but IIRC (that's "if I recall correctly" for Bob) I was told that at some point in my life I'd probably been exposed to it and had a mild enough case that I'd never actually gotten sick, but I had the antibodies anyway.

 

[40Hz]

I've mostly been in originals bands. Had our share of hopefuls trot out their CV and ask if they could join the band. But never had anyone ask to sit in.

 

[Dluxe]

Afterward he went to the bar told the bartender he was with the band and drank $60 worth of booze. He disappeared before the end of the night and the BL was stuck with the tab.

 

[Hahaha]

After nearly fifty years of gigging I've suffered through more sit-ins than I can remember. My two favorites are:

The wife of a respected local musician wanted to sit in on drums at a Sunday jam session. Fine. No problem. She sat down behind the drums and we started the agreed upon song. Ten seconds into it she stopped and, like a high school cheer leader extended her arms into the air while slowly twirling the sticks. Then she started back up with the beat. We resumed the song. She stopped again after about fifteen seconds and repeated the twirling act. This continued through the rest of the song. We stopped and started over and over again. Truth is: I loved it. Dumbest thing I've ever seen . . . almost.

Another time a woman wanted to sit in and sing Crazy. Her friends kept bragging her up so since the club was pretty casual we agreed to let her come up and sing. We started the song with the usual intro, and then in a hoarse voice she sings C-r-a-z-y, turns to us and says "I have laryngitis, I can't sing!" Then she proceeded to treat us to a variety of bird calls she had perfected. We played the whole song while she sang like a bird. Again, I loved it.

 

[retslock]

Haven't seen a similar post on TB.
I'm sure you've all had at least one instance of "OMG, this was a bad idea".

Mine was back in the late 80s. The BL had a friend who asked him to ask me. That should have clued me in to his character. Normally, I get asked directly by the player. This guy had a 'tude already. But I like the BL, so against my better judgment, I agreed.

He lasted one song. In less than 5 minutes, he was sloppy all over the song and knocked over cymbal stand in which one on legs kicked up and pierced the bottom speaker of my 2x12. Thankfully the BL pulled him off stage before I did. Also no damage to my bass. We find out later he on a Qualudde or something like that along with drinking.

The BL pulls him aside and presses him to make good on the damage. At that point, he and I had to hit the restroom right then. We came out to find the dude gone, but he had shoved a $20 bill in hole of the speaker before he bailed. The BL is now pissed too.

The next day he picks me up and we both go over to the jerk's house. Mommy answers the door. She has this sad look on her face that made me feel bad. This wasn't the first time she's had "visitors" call on her son. Thankfully, the BL knows the mom and explains why we need to see him. She then insists on covering for the son. It was only 60 more bucks more to pay for a reconing, but still. It was awkward for me.

To this day, I occasionally see the guy at gigs and concerts and he looks away quickly. What a schmuck!

Only ever players we know or are recommended by players we trust get asked up. Anyone who doesn't realise that it's about the song and tries to solo all over the vocals doesn't get asked.

 

[retslock]

The BL told somebody he could join us one night. He spent over ten minutes trying to get his pedal board hooked up. The three songs he played on were a mess. Afterward he went to the bar told the bartender he was with the band and drank $60 worth of booze. He disappeared before the end of the night and the BL was stuck with the tab.

Maybe that was the whole plan. Stuff the music, you were his drink ticket.