How not to mess up when gigging?

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Know the songs so well that it becomes automatic and you can do it from muscle memory. As you mention, the gig will always present itself with many distractions, so you want your fingers to keep going when your attention wanders.

Aim for perfection, but don't beat yourself up if you don't achieve it. Bum notes are going to happen. It's the train wrecks you need to avoid.

I often run band songs while watching TV - usually sports. That way I am only half paying attention. The bars I play often have TV's playing sports all over the bar - one of the main distractions - so it's a good simulation.

Don't do this while learning the songs though. That needs your undivided attention.

 

[mambo4]

practice as much like you gig as possible, for sure
for keeping track of section I try to keep the vocals going in my mind, or some other instrument with a similar melodic , place keeping role.

correcting myself with style and panache so Joe Public might wrinkle their noses for a moment but not halt the song altogether!

Honestly at a certain point the goal becomes to get better at this, and not perfection.

My ultimate view is a bit woo: I think the music exists outside of my mind and body, and all the practice is to get my own physical limitations and ego out of the way so it can come through. The better I understand the music physically, mentally, and emotionally, the less In the way I get. The music becomes a gravity that pulls me toward its proper execution, so mistakes and derailments just naturally tend to correct themselves. Anthony Wellington used the phrase "I just need the bass not to get in the way "

Reaching this level however takes much more practice than what most people may think. Gross correct physical execution , the right notes at the right time, mostly, is like 20% of the journey. And TBH it has been a long time since I feel I knew my current material at that level.

 

[mastodon88]

Here I am again looking for some more advice….

Who can give me a steer on how not to mess up when playing live?

I can play a song spot-on at home but when in a gig, there’s a good chance I’ll play a seriously bum set of notes (correcting myself with style and panache so Joe Public might wrinkle their noses for a moment but not halt the song altogether!) or leap into the wrong section of a song (again with a swift correction)

I’m 100% sure it’s because I’m being distracted by goings-on in the crowd so I lose my focus momentarily.

Any tips on how to improve my live reliability?

I had these ideas:
1) leap around a little while practising at home
2) try and talk or watch TV while playing a song
3) play blindfolded or in dim light (sometimes I can hardly see the fretboard in the dark)
4) simplify some baselines a bit- give myself a chance (but won’t stop me leaping into the wrong section)
5) announce out loud what section is coming up next (eg calling “two more bars then the quiet verse!”)

Any other ideas? I don’t want to stand like a statue locked in a bassworld all of my own . Ps - I’m not nervous or tense on stage - perhaps even enjoying myself too much!

I’m ok with my technique/tone. I have built a good practice routine for all that as well as many many playthroughs of the songs. I’d like to come up with a practice item to improve my live resilience


For context, I’ve had about 25 years off and only really took it up again last summer, joined a band in October and playing 2 hour gigs now (but only had 3 so far with a gig/month until for the rest of the year)

First of all we all make mistakes, so start by forgiving yourself and giving yourself some grace.

I play my bass up high (meaning I have the strap cinched up enough so my bass is the same height whether I sit or stand.)

I've also found that the more I know a song from listening to it, the less I'm glued to a chart and that always leads to less mistakes.

As a follower of Jesus Christ I also believe that when I'm playing bass in a worship environment the more I focus on HIM the less I'm focused on myself or things that would distract me.

Lastly to sum it up be so prepared that you dont need to think about song form etc.

Hope it helps.

 

[JohnnyChatter]

So this took me a looonnng time to get over and it still gets me sometimes. I’ve been playing live shows since I was 12 and I’m almost 40 now. Enjoy playing and don’t stress it. Obviously practice but practice should also be enjoyable. I had a big flop last Friday(not completely convinced It was me) and when I brought it up no one knew what I was talking about. When I was younger my anxiety ate at me and ruined my time. It still gets me from time to time but now I mostly just say F it. I’m playing for me not them. Even when I hear someone else mess up now I laugh it off. Life’s too short to worry about that kind of thing. It’s going to happen and when it happens just play through it. Don’t panic. It will all work out in the end.

 

[monkeyland]

Here I am again looking for some more advice….

Who can give me a steer on how not to mess up when playing live?

I can play a song spot-on at home but when in a gig, there’s a good chance I’ll play a seriously bum set of notes (correcting myself with style and panache so Joe Public might wrinkle their noses for a moment but not halt the song altogether!) or leap into the wrong section of a song (again with a swift correction)

I’m 100% sure it’s because I’m being distracted by goings-on in the crowd so I lose my focus momentarily.

Any tips on how to improve my live reliability?

I had these ideas:
1) leap around a little while practising at home
2) try and talk or watch TV while playing a song
3) play blindfolded or in dim light (sometimes I can hardly see the fretboard in the dark)
4) simplify some baselines a bit- give myself a chance (but won’t stop me leaping into the wrong section)
5) announce out loud what section is coming up next (eg calling “two more bars then the quiet verse!”)

Any other ideas? I don’t want to stand like a statue locked in a bassworld all of my own . Ps - I’m not nervous or tense on stage - perhaps even enjoying myself too much!

I’m ok with my technique/tone. I have built a good practice routine for all that as well as many many playthroughs of the songs. I’d like to come up with a practice item to improve my live resilience


For context, I’ve had about 25 years off and only really took it up again last summer, joined a band in October and playing 2 hour gigs now (but only had 3 so far with a gig/month until for the rest of the year)

I would not worry so much about not "messing up" but more about how to recover quickly. No one is perfect. A lot of those things in your list could assist with that for sure.

 

[2saddleslab]

How to not mess up when gigging.

 

[JamesGrant]

Repetitive repetition. Get off charts/music as quickly as possible and add ‘pressure’ at home (like pressing record on your voice memo app). Then try playing it whilst standing on one leg. The point is to make your playing work flawlessly when there’s other things completing for your mental focus. In my opinion it takes me 4hours to properly learn and memorise a song that I can’t just play ‘by ear’ - the first hour is learning, 3 hours to ‘bake it into memory forever’! After the 2nd hour it’s ‘learned’ but if I were to gig it a few days later, it’d not be in muscle memory.
Also, enjoy!!

 

[Geepers]

The amateur practices until he gets it right. The professional practices until he can't get it wrong.

This. As Jim Stinnett used to say “you work at a piece until you can play it and THEN you start practicing it.”

 

[biobass]

Lots of good advice has already been given. I will only add (or reinforce) that EVERYONE makes mistakes. It is just that those with more experience recover from mistakes more quickly, and in the end make fewer of them. I once heard YoYo Ma make a mistake in concert playing one of the Bach pieces for Unaccompanied Cello, of which I was quite familiar. It was one note, it passed, nothing diminished the musical experience. I am nowhere close to being in the rarified league of a musician such as Mr. Ma. I make more mistakes, and don’t recover from them as well, but I sure make fewer and recover better, faster and more musically than I did more than 60 years ago when I first stated.

As others have said, it really comes down to practice. Importantly, and this is a hard lesson to learn, is to practice slowly at first. Make sure that you can play it correctly at a slow tempo, then increase the tempo in small increments making sure that you can nail the notes, rhythms, attack, dynamics, and all other nuances. Keep at it until you can comfortably play it at a faster tempo than performance. It takes time, patience and perseverance, but you will get there. Good luck.

 

[Pings Bass]

My lifetime experience with making mistakes on gigs (I've made a lot of 'em!) is if in rehearsal you can play it perfectly 10 times in a row you'll make at least one mistake live. So you have to practice well beyond when you think you've already got it down cold. Nobody likes to hear it, but practice, practice, and more practice is always the answer. Your list of ideas are all reasonable things to add to your practice routine.

If your mistakes are because of performance anxiety, there are breathing and meditation exercises that help, and medication available (not booze or weed, talk to your doc to see if beta blockers are right for you). My experience with booze and weed is that one makes me sloppy and the other makes me forget parts. In my youth I'd always get altered for gigs, but I've got much higher standards of performance these days.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

You want to play  well...not perfect.
If you obsess over perfection, you'll kill the fun. And playing music is supposed to be fun.
All the pros make mistakes. You think Neil Young worries about a bum note here or there? Dosent sound to me like he does.

 

[RicoTheBassMan]

Working on not having to look at the fingerboard is very helpful. Easy to do…just start with running scales and arpeggios at slow tempos until you can play them with your eyes closed. Then speed it up. Then start doing the same with bass lines you know well.

Singing the bass line in your head (feel free to hum it, or just move your lips) helps even more. I do this on songs that have tricky, fast passages. Many teachers wil ltell you that if you can’t sing the line (doesn’t have to be perfectly in tune) you don’t really know it. Most of us have experienced band mates singing out parts to us at rehearsals and jams.

Go watch some videos of jazz musicians to see them mouthing the line as they play…obviously brass and woodwind players can’t do this. Pianist Keith Jarrett was notorious for humming along, you can hear it on his many recordings.

Skip to 1:45


Jazz bassists Slam Stewart and Major Holley sang along when soloing…with a bow!!!



Rockers, too...

Skip to 0:55

This! I've worked hard at not looking at my fingers while playing. Taking your eyes off your fingers is like looking down the road when you are driving, and it opens your ears to what the rest of the band is doing. Your hands and brain will bring you into the groove.

I got the best tip on how to play through my gaffs from a guitarist who played out a lot. He said "just keep playing". You are the one who will notice it the most. There may be a random player in the audience who will hear the mistake. They will see themselves in the clunker unless they are a bedroom bassist who only plays Beatles songs and approaches you after the gig at which you played a Beatles cover and criticizes you for not playing the part exactly like Paul.

 

[matthewbrown]

The best resource I know for how to practice, focus and perform is Bulletproof Musician.

 

[logdrum]

I play also in an originals band. Even the songwriters and composers messed and they have written these songs 20 years ago

 

[KohanMike]

I've learned that I'm better at moving through my mistakes than preventing them.

 

[Krakmann]

Salud!

I don't know if this has been said, but get used to NOT stopping when making errors during rehearsals/practice. Learning to get back on track is important.

It's impossible not to make errors. If something is recurrent, like missing a bridge/change/whatever, mark that song with RED in the printed setlist so you are aware of it when starting.

And of course, practice, practice, practice until it's impossible to make an error (it's always possible, though).

 

[H Nighttrain]

Minimize physical/material things that can throw you off. Show up early, dressed nicely and appropriately, smelling nice, with well-functiong gear. Don't be hungry, drink plenty of water.

Master the material. Know how to play it well, know how to play it wrong, anticipate mistakes before they happen.

Most songs have similar arrangements, know where some songs diifer.

Have real, not false, confidence, the confidence that comes from the knowledge that you have prepared yourself to the best of your abilities.

At some point, akin to athletic pursuits, the "game" slows down to the point where you can truly perform in the moment at the peak of your ability, no matter what might be happening to deter you (like having yet another sub on drums ).

 

[pbass2]

Just practice the material more. Also, listen to it without bass in hand when in the car or whatever. Just need to absorb the material so it's second nature.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

The game slowing down is real! I love those gigs. It’s like you have all the time in the world to drop your notes in…

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Here I am again looking for some more advice….

Who can give me a steer on how not to mess up when playing live?

I can play a song spot-on at home but when in a gig, there’s a good chance I’ll play a seriously bum set of notes (correcting myself with style and panache so Joe Public might wrinkle their noses for a moment but not halt the song altogether!) or leap into the wrong section of a song (again with a swift correction)

I’m 100% sure it’s because I’m being distracted by goings-on in the crowd so I lose my focus momentarily.

Any tips on how to improve my live reliability?

I had these ideas:
1) leap around a little while practising at home
2) try and talk or watch TV while playing a song
3) play blindfolded or in dim light (sometimes I can hardly see the fretboard in the dark)
4) simplify some baselines a bit- give myself a chance (but won’t stop me leaping into the wrong section)
5) announce out loud what section is coming up next (eg calling “two more bars then the quiet verse!”)

Any other ideas? I don’t want to stand like a statue locked in a bassworld all of my own . Ps - I’m not nervous or tense on stage - perhaps even enjoying myself too much!

I’m ok with my technique/tone. I have built a good practice routine for all that as well as many many playthroughs of the songs. I’d like to come up with a practice item to improve my live resilience


For context, I’ve had about 25 years off and only really took it up again last summer, joined a band in October and playing 2 hour gigs now (but only had 3 so far with a gig/month until for the rest of the year)

Honesty, know the songs SO well that you can hear them in your head at ANY MOMENT WITH NO EFFORT, EXACTLY as if you hit play on some sort of audio device. If you are not there, get there. You don't need a bass to do that, and that is your foundation for playing the material right EVERY time no matter where or when or under what circumstance. Once you can do that, THEN get with the bass and build upon you song memory with muscle memory.

Also, when you practice, don't just "jam along". Actually play the parts as like the record as you can. If you mess up something, STOP and spend the time, and fix it. The fix, meaning your hearing of the detail you might have missed, or your ability to play the stuff you mess up or forget to play. Take notes. Notate stuff you seem to forget as to where it was in the song, exactly and go back to those trouble spots often to brush up and make them less troublesome.