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Have you ever messed up at a gig?

#21
Closest I've come to a perfect show, the drummer made two extremely small and recovered mistakes. That's the closest I've ever gotten to a perfect band performance.


Has anyone played a perfect show (as a band?)

I think it's tough to play a perfect show especially if you are trying to work the crowd at the same time. It's like 2 different types of perfect. Technical and showmanship.
 
#23
Dave Muscato said:
If you hit a sour note, on the next pass, do it again. If you're lucky, people might think you did it on purpose the first time :)
Click to expand...

"...play it 3 more times and call it jazz..."
:hyper:

I play a lot of jazz:smug:

Seriously, the difference between a pro and an amateur is how well you cover up mistakes. A pro guitarist hits a wrong note, holds it for two beats THEN bends it up to the right note. An amateur pulls his finger off the note and the stumbles into the next right note. A pro bass player hits a wrong note and immediately recognizes it and plays a little walk up to the right one. If you're off by a half step, walk around it then hit the one on the next strong beat. Do it really well and your bandmates will smile because they think you just played the coolest part on earth. THEY won't even know you screwed up.
 
#29
BigKahuna13 said:
Face facts. We're bassplayers. No one notices when we make mistakes.
Click to expand...

I know you're joking, but really, that's not true. A lot of times, we carry the chord changes. It depends on the type of music... If you're walking, yeah, you can cover it easily and no one will know it wasn't a passing tone etc, but if you're playing acoustic singer/songwriter stuff, or church music, or most rock, if you're off by a minor 2nd, you're gonna stick out like a sore thumb even to non-musical audiences.
 
#30
Dave Muscato said:
I know you're joking, but really, that's not true. A lot of times, we carry the chord changes. It depends on the type of music... If you're walking, yeah, you can cover it easily and no one will know it wasn't a passing tone etc, but if you're playing acoustic singer/songwriter stuff, or church music, or most rock, if you're off by a minor 2nd, you're gonna stick out like a sore thumb even to non-musical audiences.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Abstract jazz might be the most forgiving form of music.
 
#32
ericmknight1906 said:
And instead of your fellow musicians telling you that you played horribly, you just get the silent treatment? My Playing is usually decent but every now and then I may have an off night. Does that make me a bad musician?:crying:
I guess I'm still in that trial N Error Stage.:hmm:

I would also like to know if I play horribly tonight and play great the next night do people forget about your horrible night?Am I as good as my last performance? ....Feedback please.
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Just about every night...but I think I cover it up pretty well cause no one ever seems to notice. Except the drummer, he catches it sometimes but just shrugs it off cause no one else knows.
 
#33
ericmknight1906 said:
I would also like to know if I play horribly tonight and play great the next night do people forget about your horrible night? Am I as good as my last performance? ....Feedback please.
Click to expand...

Depends on how horribly you play - and how often. And how great you play - and how often.

And which "people" do you mean? Bandmates? Obviously they're going to listen to your performance much more critically (positively as well as negatively) than your average Joe Sixpack member of the audience...

An occasional bum night is not a deal-breaker - as long as you don't have a complete melt-down, and it doesn't happen too frequently. Even frequent flashes of greatness won't save you otherwise.

The goal here is to play consistently well - then in time, to play consistently great. And in time, to play consistently brilliantly.

The key concept is consistency. That's what separates the pro players from the hacks... :hmm:

MM
 
#35
bradjonesbass said:
"...play it 3 more times and call it jazz..."
:hyper:

I play a lot of jazz:smug:

Seriously, the difference between a pro and an amateur is how well you cover up mistakes. A pro guitarist hits a wrong note, holds it for two beats THEN bends it up to the right note. An amateur pulls his finger off the note and the stumbles into the next right note. A pro bass player hits a wrong note and immediately recognizes it and plays a little walk up to the right one. If you're off by a half step, walk around it then hit the one on the next strong beat. Do it really well and your bandmates will smile because they think you just played the coolest part on earth. THEY won't even know you screwed up.
Click to expand...

I'm going to remember that. aWeSoMe advice.:)
 
#37
When you make a mistake throw a EVIL look a the guitar player make em think is his fault.
If its a real bonehead mistake do your homework and never do it again.
Be prepared, know those tunes 120%. Nerves and anxiety make you forget what you learned last night.
Mistakes are part of the game make them work for you.
If you watch the real pros, they just don't mess up, even on tunes they just learned.

Minimum Mistake Correction Times for Bassists:

Beginners: It's all mistakes so forget it.
Intermediate: 4 beats
Advanced: 2 beats
Pro level 1: 1 beat or less
Pro level 2: Not an issue
Virtuoso: It's all music so forget it.
 
#38
the amateur practices until he gets it right. the pro practices until he can't get it wrong.

In my playing world - experimental jam bands - there are no mistakes and there's not a lot to practice, you just have to have big ears and good theory knowledge.

Hired gun gigs are another story though. See first quote above. You will still probably play a "wrong" note at some point though, and as long as you know your stuff, you can make it seem like it wasn't a mistake.
 
#39
The only horrible thing that happend to me, was in front of about 20,000 people.
And start to rain with a lot of wind, my bass got wet, and it gave me an electric shock that I had to stop in the midle of the song to get a towell and dry it, before I could touch it.
 
#40
Yeah, we've all been there. I remember one show when I was 18-19 or so, at a community center in rural Nova Scotia. I got sooooo wasted I could barely play a note by the end. On the plus side, when I dove into a solo and started doing a bunch of tapping, there was this stunned silence, and then this one voice I heard, saying "Holy $#|^! It's the bass!!"

Made my night.
 

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