How not to mess up when gigging?

[Jazzdogg]

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)

As Victor Wooten reminds us, to lose the groove is unacceptable, but as long as the groove remains intact, a "wrong note" can be forgiven.

Focus on time, phrasing, and above all, outlining the form.

Don't forget that the bassist anchors the entire band. Anything that detracts from this prime objective makes the band suck and makes the bassist look like an amateur.

I've played with non-pros who could get lost playing twelve bar blues, which is as conspicuous as a turd in a punch bowl. Don't be that guy!

Become known as a great listener, not as a chops monster. Playing simply while listening to your bandmates is far more important than being a flashy bass player. Avoid the temptation to overplay!

 

[J Wilson]

There's no secrets and no tricks. You practice it until it's effortless, repeatable, and mistake free. Then you can play it anywhere, any time with no reservation. There's no shortcuts to this. Personally, I wouldn't be happy with my tone/technique and satisfied with my practice routine and then ask this question if this keeps happening.

As far as being distracted by the crowd, the music and the band comes first. Otherwise, down the line there may be no crowd to distract you.

 

[fdeck]

Among the bands that I'm in, one plays mostly original jazz tunes. Our material can change from rehearsal to rehearsal, as we try different things. Also, we use charts for this stuff, but it's not strictly necessary. I scribble markings and notes on the charts as we work stuff out. By the time a gig rolls around, I've got the "bones" of the tunes memorized, but I bring the charts along anyway, mainly to check my rehearsal notes before we play each one.

Any technology will work for this. I use a tablet, since I use it with other bands that have fully notated charts. If you're discreet about it, then it doesn't have to detract from the performance. Sometimes a sixth sense tells me we're about to hit a point where something might fall apart, and not even because of me, so I pay close attention and make sure I'm as solid as possible.

Sometimes making the bass parts simpler and more solid can help with this issue. As I get older, I find myself needing fewer notes to get my point across.

 

[allanhearn]

Yes to standing while practicing. The sound on stage will always be very different than you bedroom or practice space. Does your band rehease the set straight thru? If not they should. This includes sequways to connect two or more songs together and in between stage banter. Do you mess up the same parts, or just have brain parts here and there. Most of the audience won't know the difference. I've had terrible shows that people came up afterwards and complemented on how good it sounded.

 

[rocu]

All of the above plus cut yourself some slack. That doesn’t mean slack off but if you make a mistake, learn from it but don’t beat yourself up about it.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Embrace the clams. Own them. Eat them with hot sauce.

They will eventually become scarce.

*(until then, either scowl at the drummer like it was their bad, or make a face at the lead singer like you need a pee-break)

 

[devnulljp]

Practice

 

[31HZ]

I find that the more I play the fewer mistakes I make.

 

[pbass2go]

Play as much as you can... and play in your group setting even more...

Playing at home alone is how you learn the songs, not where you learn to perform them.

Playing them with people is where you get it down.
Play through your mistakes and smile when you make one.. Don't let anyone else know you flubbed.

 

[SteveCS]

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

There has been a lot of mention of "practice, practice and more practice", but little on how to go about it, and how to ensure that what is practiced supports improved performance. Between them, these two volumes will help you to 1) identify what is going wrong and how to fix it, and 2) help you make practice time more effective in what you learn and how effectively you remember it and 3) give you tools and techniques to manage those psychological aspects of performance that seem to lurk in the background and conspire to ambush us matter how well we prepare:

 

[JoeyFab]

Practice, practice, PRACTICE! I try to keep my head few notes ahead of where the song is. That way, I've practiced it enough that I don't need to place all of my focus on the moment, I can imagine what's coming up (the next change, the next riff, etc.) and be ready for it. I won't deny...I've caught myself watching a hockey game on the TV, or watching the crowd, the bar, other "distractions," but I try to refocus on what's immediately ahead of me musically.

Played a gig once where a very popular, very recorded drummer (Steve Miller Band, Van Morrison, etc.) was in town visiting his niece, who was fronting our band. She called him up to play one of the songs he routinely plays, and I squonked in the song, receiving a VERY evil eye from him. I was daydreaming, enjoying the moment playing with a musician of his accomplishment, and got lost. It happens.

 

[SteveCS]

Here's an idea that can work if you find yourself struggling to get through a tune, and I've mentioned it before - start learning it from the ending backwards. Imagine you learn a song in order of the arrangement. Learn the intro and play it 20 times correctly. Tag on the first verse and play them together 20 times correctly. Now tag on the first chorus. By now you have played the intro 60 times, the verse 40 times and the chorus 20 times. By the time you get to the outro, and the transition into it, and play it 20 times, you've possibly played the intro a couple of hundred. Start at the outro and those numbers are reversed. But, and this is the point, by learning from the end and working back to the start you have been continuously practicing, and learning, what comes next! And if you know what's next you can't get lost!

 

[mikey2000]

Thank you all for such a wide variety of suggestions and helpful hints. Some I've heard before and some brand new (I especially like the idea of practice while balancing on one leg!).

2 key things stand out:
1) practice the right things often
2) Don't beat yourself up!

I'm looking forward to it! 2 weeks until the next gig....

 

[Fuzzbass]

All the pros make mistakes. You think Neil Young worries about a bum note here or there? Dosent sound to me like he does.

The late, great producer Steve Albini was once asked what it was like working with Jimmy Page (who of course was an excellent producer himself). One of Steve's anecdotes (paraphrased): they were listening to a solo Page had just recorded. Steve stopped the recording at a point where Page flubbed a note, and asked if he wanted to fix it. Page just smiled and said "nah, they'll know what I'm trying to say".

Of course not all mistakes are created equal. Still, a good lesson to keep in mind!

 

[JimmyM]

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)

Practice a lot. You will still mess up, but you’ll get better at hiding it.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

I know it was mentioned up-thread but Victor Wooten spelled out the idea "if you make a mistake make it twice so it becomes correct". That was from his book "The Music Lesson".

This works best at the top or end of a phrase. Say you start a 1/2 step flat but immediately slide into the correct note at the head of a part. MISTAKE! But you survived, quick covering etc. Next time around do the same slide up with a 'lil swagger. NOW you are just being playful, Blue, Jazzy etc.

I mixed a ton of bands doing one nighters at a club I worked during my live sound career. After the set I may have said "Nice set!" to a player and they would say "Ugh, I made a pile of errors" And I would have heard a bit of struggle here and there perhaps. "Man I just thought you were being Avant garde in that second song!".

More than anything communicating feeling with music is more important that being perfect (except classical maybe).

 

[mikey2000]

I’ve been trying a few of the suggestions and I feel things are improving

At the last rehearsal I tried to keep lively and keep my head up (like at a gig - nobody wants to look at a bass statue staring at his fretboard!)

I’ve been practising songs at home with entire instruments removed (eg vocal or guitar taken away) so I have to really *know* what is coming. I’ve also made sure to be looking out of the window to see what I can see (distractions!)

Playing at faster tempos and slower tempos is also quite interesting

Best of all is trying to balance on one leg while singing and playing. My left knee is definitely more than just a a bit wobbly. Trying to balance on that leg while playing is massively distracting!

Next gig is on Friday - we are doing some songs I haven’t played so much as well as some old favourites. Let’s see how it goes!

 

[mikey2000]

It went better than last time - I was far less distractable. Especially in songs I have played before many times.

There is one particular U2 song we cover that I can always get right at home (I use Moises to play the song with bass removed). Yet when playing with the band I mess up going into one of the two breaks. Live, I’m almost certain to plunge into the wrong one! Then my mind goes blank and tbh, it’s better if I just stop playing for those two bars!

Thinking about this, there must be a different cue for me when live compared to the band. After all, we are bass/drums/one guitar and sax doing a quite different sounding version, even if the structure is a direct copy of U2’s studio recording.

And some of it will be mental - I’ve come to think of it as my “unluckly song”. Hardly helpful.!

But progress is progress - when i
Look at last night’s set list and tick off the ones that went well or even had elegant musically repeated mistakes ;-) then I’m actually quite pleased.

It’s only my 4th full gig with the band and the setlist isn’t exactly the same each time. There are some “old favourites” and a few others that appear less often. It’s these ones that trip me up the most.

So the solution is proved to be Practice More! And especially Practice with the Actual band, not just the recording we are covering

One is easy to do, they other slightly harder to organise…..

Happy customer though - thanks for all the tips !

 

[LowWay]

DId not read all the responses. If no one mentioned it, get the Molly Gebrian book or take her on line course about how to practice based on neuro science. Worth the effort.

 

[SteveCS]

DId not read all the responses. If no one mentioned it, get the Molly Gebrian book or take her on line course about how to practice based on neuro science. Worth the effort.

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