Dude Dave Matthews and his band had a train wreck one night in North Carolina, proving even the best make mistakes.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
International touring bands play what, around 2-2.5 hours a show on average? Springsteen goes around 3 or so, which is considered a "marathon,", and it's all material they actually wrote and recorded for the most part.
And they do it every night, so these bands can do it in their sleep.
My cover bands play between 3 and 4 hours of music almost every show, including styles and skills spanning the breadth and width of pop/rock/disco/funk/country music, and I didn't write any of it, I'm trying to copy something already written with my ear and memory (and maybe a cheater note here and there on my set lists). And I only get to do it on weekends, or every other weekend, maybe 4-6 shows a month, with big gaps in between.
Weekend warrior entertainment is challenging, arguably harder than an international touring band that does it every night. Keep grinding away and do your best, it usually becomes more than good enough eventually.
After decades, I can still count "perfect" mistake-free shows on one hand.
And they do it every night, so these bands can do it in their sleep.
My cover bands play between 3 and 4 hours of music almost every show, including styles and skills spanning the breadth and width of pop/rock/disco/funk/country music, and I didn't write any of it, I'm trying to copy something already written with my ear and memory (and maybe a cheater note here and there on my set lists). And I only get to do it on weekends, or every other weekend, maybe 4-6 shows a month, with big gaps in between.
Weekend warrior entertainment is challenging, arguably harder than an international touring band that does it every night. Keep grinding away and do your best, it usually becomes more than good enough eventually.
After decades, I can still count "perfect" mistake-free shows on one hand.
Hey man I've played like 1500 gigs maybe more, and I still have nights where I poop clams on stage. Luckily, it's never as bad as you think it was and most of the time nobody notices or if they do they forget by the next song.
The first gig I played it felt like I was in a vat of molasses. It felt like a colossal effort to move my fingers, and like everything was in slow motion, and blurry.
Every gig you do it will get easier and you will feel more confident and comfortable. If your bandmates were happy, don't sweat it! Most of the time the audience won't be able to tell if you screw something up unless you alert them to it by making a face or something. If you have to drop out for a bar or two to find your place again, just turn your back to the audience and pretend you are jamming with the drummer as you pull yourself together.
Every gig you do it will get easier and you will feel more confident and comfortable. If your bandmates were happy, don't sweat it! Most of the time the audience won't be able to tell if you screw something up unless you alert them to it by making a face or something. If you have to drop out for a bar or two to find your place again, just turn your back to the audience and pretend you are jamming with the drummer as you pull yourself together.
We could have a whole thread on horror stories coming from playing a gig with the flu.
I’ve played 100s of gigs and remember one where I had a “bit of a cold” so I dosed up on all sorts of drugs (over the counter drugs) so I could make the gig, but ended up so spaced out I played the wrong song a whole verse (I was playing Sweet Home Alabama, they were playing Bad Moon Rising so kind of similar ), it wasn’t until the chorus that I worked out what was wrong. Turns out I actually had acute pneumonia and was in bed for the next week.
Practice the stuff you got wrong, mainly for peace of mind at the next gig. You can’t beat yourself up when a gig isn’t perfect. 90% of them won’t be perfect by the musicians standards, but we hold ourselves to a much higher standard than most crowds expect.
I’ve played 100s of gigs and remember one where I had a “bit of a cold” so I dosed up on all sorts of drugs (over the counter drugs) so I could make the gig, but ended up so spaced out I played the wrong song a whole verse (I was playing Sweet Home Alabama, they were playing Bad Moon Rising so kind of similar ), it wasn’t until the chorus that I worked out what was wrong. Turns out I actually had acute pneumonia and was in bed for the next week.
Practice the stuff you got wrong, mainly for peace of mind at the next gig. You can’t beat yourself up when a gig isn’t perfect. 90% of them won’t be perfect by the musicians standards, but we hold ourselves to a much higher standard than most crowds expect.
My rule when I have the flu, I will play on as long as I have Immodium before hand. I do not want to #2 at most of the bars we play at. 
Also, it's rarely as bad as I think, and rarely as good as I think.
Also, it's rarely as bad as I think, and rarely as good as I think.
Dude...
My first gig was when I was about 12 years old. I was playing some arrangement of the melody from Greensleeves with my teacher accompanying me on acoustic guitar. In a small church in the middle of nowhere rural Virginia. And I straight up forgot the notes halfway through, just totally blanked. I stopped playing, turned and faced my teacher, and said "I got lost." He said "that's fine, let's start over" and we took it from the top. I was completely devastated and humiliated.
Flash forward 7 years and I've played gigs all up and down the east coast with numerous bands, and had some colossal failures. But the one thing that stays the same, whether it's playing Greensleeves in a church at age 12 or playing progressive metal at a venue at age 19, is that I laugh about them in hindsight.
It's not a big deal. Here's to another hundred gigs - and another thousand mistakes.
My first gig was when I was about 12 years old. I was playing some arrangement of the melody from Greensleeves with my teacher accompanying me on acoustic guitar. In a small church in the middle of nowhere rural Virginia. And I straight up forgot the notes halfway through, just totally blanked. I stopped playing, turned and faced my teacher, and said "I got lost." He said "that's fine, let's start over" and we took it from the top. I was completely devastated and humiliated.
Flash forward 7 years and I've played gigs all up and down the east coast with numerous bands, and had some colossal failures. But the one thing that stays the same, whether it's playing Greensleeves in a church at age 12 or playing progressive metal at a venue at age 19, is that I laugh about them in hindsight.
It's not a big deal. Here's to another hundred gigs - and another thousand mistakes.
Heh. I did it in the past month, at 54. Not a lot of experience, never done a 3 set gig, auditioned Sunday and was onstage Friday for 3 sets without ever having played half the songs with the band - they could not get ANYONE together for a rehearsal thru the week. Man, it was a mess on Friday.
Saturday was wayyyyy better.
2 weeks later, with a couple rehearsals under my belt, it wasn't perfect but man sooo much better.
It gets better. If you do you're homework, keep building muscle memory on the tunes, work on the tough parts and odd changes/starts/stops, you'll be fine. I do enough of that stuff that from pretty early on, I've been teaching or suggesting lots of stuff to our 2 guitar players, both of whom have immeasurably more experience than I do.
Saturday was wayyyyy better.
2 weeks later, with a couple rehearsals under my belt, it wasn't perfect but man sooo much better.
It gets better. If you do you're homework, keep building muscle memory on the tunes, work on the tough parts and odd changes/starts/stops, you'll be fine. I do enough of that stuff that from pretty early on, I've been teaching or suggesting lots of stuff to our 2 guitar players, both of whom have immeasurably more experience than I do.
Dude... first gig ever? Played with the flu? Learned 30 songs in just over a month? 90% went well? Sounds like you did just fine to me... get over that flu and try for 95% next time. Stop beating yourself up and look ahead, not behind.
Actually sounds like a successful first gig!!!
Sounds like me every Sunday... Except for the flu
Don't let it get you down.....
Like others have said... You won't give one MAJOR hindrance... The flu.
Just relax and have fun.... Next one will get better.... Repeat!
Sounds like me every Sunday... Except for the flu
Don't let it get you down.....
Like others have said... You won't give one MAJOR hindrance... The flu.
Just relax and have fun.... Next one will get better.... Repeat!
What??? You made a MISTAKE??? That NEVER happens!
Just kidding. I remember my first gig and I was nervous about everything. Just keep on doing it. Pretty soon you won't feel any nervousness at all in certain sized crowds. Go over the spots you messed up untll they're automatic. Next time, get to the venue way early and get all your equipment working flawlessly. Minimize the opportunities for screw ups by checking out everything, having strap locks on your strap, a good solid way of standing up your bass when you are on a break so no one breaks it. Extra strings and a fast way of changing a string, etcetera, and of course a way of tuning yourself up flawlessly. Stuff like that. Getting comfy in the venue and having anticipated all the uncontrollable variables can really reduce nervousness.
You will be just fine, trust me. Don't feel bad, just play better the next time.
One comment -a lot of people will get mad at me for this- do not focus so much about practicing, assuming practicing is playing by yourself, but actually playing with your band.
I personally can't practice more than an hour unless I have urgency about learning a new song, I get bored easily.
However, I can play for hours non-stop. Chill, don't have a cow and trust me, you will make more mistakes no matter what. Is human nature, we all do. And remember Charles Mingus, I believe he said "don't worry about playing the wrong note, the most important is the next one".
One comment -a lot of people will get mad at me for this- do not focus so much about practicing, assuming practicing is playing by yourself, but actually playing with your band.
I personally can't practice more than an hour unless I have urgency about learning a new song, I get bored easily.
However, I can play for hours non-stop. Chill, don't have a cow and trust me, you will make more mistakes no matter what. Is human nature, we all do. And remember Charles Mingus, I believe he said "don't worry about playing the wrong note, the most important is the next one".
Your first gig went alot better than mine. It only gets better as you become more comfortable.
You learned 30 songs in 5 weeks. You showed up sick, as the show must go on. Sounds like the kind of guy I’d want to work with. You”ll do. Chin up and march on!
Fear not friend! It gets better. I’d bet a paycheck that a vast majority of people didn’t even take notice.
I’ll share my first-gig horror story in hopes that it helps you feel better:
Years ago I started my musical adventures as a drummer. I knew all of our songs inside and out, forward and backwards and was confident going in. Well, on the day of the event I was suddenly a nervous wreck!
Anyway, we were playing our second song when about halfway through a stick flew out of my hand and— WHOOPS! I had bought a new stick bag and somehow completely forgot to transfer my sticks over to it (I knew going into the gig that I didn’t have spare sticks because of this and was aware my stick bag was empty, but thought I would be okay since I didn’t drop sticks very often -wrong), so I was stuck playing one-handed. The stick that took flight was hopelessly out of reach. Okay, I had actually practiced quite a bit playing one-handed, so I could at least manage. Just as we were going into a big drum fill and a heavy-hitting section of the song the other stupid stick fell out of my hand and rolled somewhere near the front of my bass drum. This was a big birthday type of gig and we were the only band playing, otherwise before all of this I would have just bummed sticks off another drummer, but that wasn’t an option.
At this point it was time to panic because I hadn’t practiced playing with zero sticks, so I’m stuck with just a kick drum. The band looks at my all confused because I’m supposed to be, you know, playing. In a panic I start crawling around under my drum kit, playing the kick with my hand, and playing way off time at that. After a few long moments I finally fetch the second stick I dropped and as I resurface I see every single pair of eyes in the crowd staring directly at me, this definitely wasn’t a free pass.
I managed to finish the rest of the song with one stick, after which between songs I found my other. I played the rest of the night holding my sticks in a death-grip, but I was so embarrassed and shaken from that whole event that I played like crap the rest of the night.
I’ll share my first-gig horror story in hopes that it helps you feel better:
Years ago I started my musical adventures as a drummer. I knew all of our songs inside and out, forward and backwards and was confident going in. Well, on the day of the event I was suddenly a nervous wreck!
Anyway, we were playing our second song when about halfway through a stick flew out of my hand and— WHOOPS! I had bought a new stick bag and somehow completely forgot to transfer my sticks over to it (I knew going into the gig that I didn’t have spare sticks because of this and was aware my stick bag was empty, but thought I would be okay since I didn’t drop sticks very often -wrong), so I was stuck playing one-handed. The stick that took flight was hopelessly out of reach. Okay, I had actually practiced quite a bit playing one-handed, so I could at least manage. Just as we were going into a big drum fill and a heavy-hitting section of the song the other stupid stick fell out of my hand and rolled somewhere near the front of my bass drum. This was a big birthday type of gig and we were the only band playing, otherwise before all of this I would have just bummed sticks off another drummer, but that wasn’t an option.
At this point it was time to panic because I hadn’t practiced playing with zero sticks, so I’m stuck with just a kick drum. The band looks at my all confused because I’m supposed to be, you know, playing. In a panic I start crawling around under my drum kit, playing the kick with my hand, and playing way off time at that. After a few long moments I finally fetch the second stick I dropped and as I resurface I see every single pair of eyes in the crowd staring directly at me, this definitely wasn’t a free pass.
I managed to finish the rest of the song with one stick, after which between songs I found my other. I played the rest of the night holding my sticks in a death-grip, but I was so embarrassed and shaken from that whole event that I played like crap the rest of the night.
