That would certainly motivate me to leave your band! lol
The most unprofessional thing I ever did was to start a song in the wrong key. It was a bass lead-in so it wasn't easy to cover up. Not too bad, I guess.
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Most Unprofessional Thing You've Done at a Show
- Thread starter Haysoochreesto
- Start date
That would certainly motivate me to leave your band! lol
The most unprofessional thing I ever did was to start a song in the wrong key. It was a bass lead-in so it wasn't easy to cover up. Not too bad, I guess.
Awesome! I wasn't at a show, but walked out on the back deck of my bachelor pad where many of my friends were hanging out and yelled "Hey! Listen up, because I got something important to say!" Once I had their attention, I pushed a little to hard on a fart I didn't trust to begin with... and I got more then I bargained for. Waddling like a duck back inside to the bathroom for damage control was pretty embarassing. This was years ago and I work with one of those guys still. He still brings it up in front of people. I'm over it now and we all get a good laugh about it, but at the time it was pretty embarassing.
Luckily, I've always gone to shows with my game face on. The most embarassing thing I have done is play in the wrong key. On a few occasions early on in my playing, I would get confused which song we were playing and start the wrong song and have to play catch-up to get back with the rest of the band. We've all done these teachable moments though, so I guess they weren't all that bad. Highly embarassing though.
Our drummer got sloppy drunk and just walked off stage in the middle of a set with the dance floor full of people. He said he had to take a leak and just staggered through the people on the dance floor and headed to the bathroom. We were all mad as hell and arguing with him, and the crowd was looking at us as if to say "What the ..."? He had a sports bottle he was drinking from that he said was water, and we later found it was straight vodka. It was the most embarrassing moment ever. He is now our ex-drummer.
Hopkins
Commercial User
My singer/guitar player/way to nice of a guy, decied that he would let his best friends step son play a gig with us. This guy is about 20 years old, fat, (very fat) and smelly and very cocky. He is in such bad shape that he had to take a chair cause he couldn't stand through the whole show.
He didn't have his own guitar so my singer let him play his very nice Taylor acoustic pluged into the PA. Well he was playing way to loud, and kept missing cords. This went on for about half an hour until I finaly had enough of it. The PA was set up pretty close to my rig so I walked over and turned the channel he was playing through off.
He got upset and layed the very nice Taylor on the ground and waddled off the stage. My singer got mad at him for mistreating his guitar and a between song argument ensued. I felt bad afterwards because I started the whole thing. Luckily we were playing a BBQ cookoff and my singer knew everyone there so it wasn't a really big deal.
He didn't have his own guitar so my singer let him play his very nice Taylor acoustic pluged into the PA. Well he was playing way to loud, and kept missing cords. This went on for about half an hour until I finaly had enough of it. The PA was set up pretty close to my rig so I walked over and turned the channel he was playing through off.
He got upset and layed the very nice Taylor on the ground and waddled off the stage. My singer got mad at him for mistreating his guitar and a between song argument ensued. I felt bad afterwards because I started the whole thing. Luckily we were playing a BBQ cookoff and my singer knew everyone there so it wasn't a really big deal.
My band was playing a local beer festival, and we stopped the same song in the middle, not once but TWICE, because we kept getting lost. The drummer simply refused to wing it :/
The song was Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold, and it was just as well there weren't too many people in the tent, we were playing pretty loud
The song was Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold, and it was just as well there weren't too many people in the tent, we were playing pretty loud
At my second show ever, I jumped around all over the stage, so frantically, in fact, that I somehow managed to yank off the cable going from my guitar player's guitar to his effects rig. Poor chap missed a solo.
This doesn't really rate but I'll share it anyway. I used to have a jazz gig at an upmarket bar where part of our remuneration was to get drunk after the gig on very flash booze.
Being a beer drinker I was well out of my depth and in appreciation of a very nice single malt I set the glass down heavily on the bar. I was foolishly attempting to show my appreciation of it but the barman/owner interpreted that I had necked it and was demanding another, which wasn't at all the case.
Being a beer drinker I was well out of my depth and in appreciation of a very nice single malt I set the glass down heavily on the bar. I was foolishly attempting to show my appreciation of it but the barman/owner interpreted that I had necked it and was demanding another, which wasn't at all the case.
This happened many years ago, but the band was taking a break between sets. I met a girl while we were playing and we ended up having sex in her car. I was 20 minutes for the start of the next set. The drummer was pretty pissed at me.
In a band where I was taking care of the basslines and Backing vocals and vocal harmonies, the singer was pretty arrogant and very insecure as well.
We are on stage, and just before we start playing, he informs me tha in the ONLY song that I would be doing the lead vocal line (first song in the second part), he will not be on stage (he would not do the backing vocals on the tune too), but he will get on stage for the next tune. I threatened him that I would leave my bass on stage and walk out that very moment. He agreed to be on stage and do backing vocals on that song. We start playing and in the middle of the first set, we play "Dreaming" (Malmsteen). For the first 52 or 62 bars there is no bass. So I strap off my bass, I put it on the stand and and walk off stage; the guitar player is oblivious of the fact, the singer is petrified that I walk out, the drummer asks the keyboard player to fill in my missing parts (there were no missing parts!!!) and I am at the bar, ordering my drink and looking at the band as a member of the audience!!!!
All (but the guitar player) were very worried that the song was progressing without me. Then, 4 bars before the bass part starts, I walk on stage, I strap my bass on and I play my part the right moment!!! That gave the guy a lesson!!!
We are on stage, and just before we start playing, he informs me tha in the ONLY song that I would be doing the lead vocal line (first song in the second part), he will not be on stage (he would not do the backing vocals on the tune too), but he will get on stage for the next tune. I threatened him that I would leave my bass on stage and walk out that very moment. He agreed to be on stage and do backing vocals on that song. We start playing and in the middle of the first set, we play "Dreaming" (Malmsteen). For the first 52 or 62 bars there is no bass. So I strap off my bass, I put it on the stand and and walk off stage; the guitar player is oblivious of the fact, the singer is petrified that I walk out, the drummer asks the keyboard player to fill in my missing parts (there were no missing parts!!!) and I am at the bar, ordering my drink and looking at the band as a member of the audience!!!!
All (but the guitar player) were very worried that the song was progressing without me. Then, 4 bars before the bass part starts, I walk on stage, I strap my bass on and I play my part the right moment!!! That gave the guy a lesson!!!
As a teenager, I did a year of jazz performance at Humber College. By the end of second semester, I was pretty cocky about my new-found skills.
Shortly afterward, I'm playing a pickup gig with a polka band, and I get bored. It occurs to me that I could probably double-time the bass line, so I do. I do it repeatedly, and pretty soon I'm looking down at the fingerboard, all absorbed in playing running 16th notes. That's when I realize that the music has stopped.
I look up, and the dancers are all standing frozen in place, staring at me like something they just scraped off their shoes. The rest of the band is staring at me, too. Heck, even the bartender is staring at me.
I turn red, and go back to playing a proper bass line. Soon, all is forgotten...
...Or so I think. I head for the porch on the break, and a drummer buddy is out there. All he can talk about, is the band in room 8, which has the most amazing bass player. I'm about to take the credit, when he explains that this dummy is playing lead lines on a fender bass. At a wedding. With a polka band. Funniest thing he ever heard!
When he asked me which room I was playing in, I lied, and named a room at the far end of the hall. Which meant I had to stay out on the porch for ages, until he went back to his band. I spent the rest of the might in a funk of embarrassment, desperately hoping that he wouldn't finish early, and find out that I was the dummy...
Shortly afterward, I'm playing a pickup gig with a polka band, and I get bored. It occurs to me that I could probably double-time the bass line, so I do. I do it repeatedly, and pretty soon I'm looking down at the fingerboard, all absorbed in playing running 16th notes. That's when I realize that the music has stopped.
I look up, and the dancers are all standing frozen in place, staring at me like something they just scraped off their shoes. The rest of the band is staring at me, too. Heck, even the bartender is staring at me.
I turn red, and go back to playing a proper bass line. Soon, all is forgotten...
...Or so I think. I head for the porch on the break, and a drummer buddy is out there. All he can talk about, is the band in room 8, which has the most amazing bass player. I'm about to take the credit, when he explains that this dummy is playing lead lines on a fender bass. At a wedding. With a polka band. Funniest thing he ever heard!
When he asked me which room I was playing in, I lied, and named a room at the far end of the hall. Which meant I had to stay out on the porch for ages, until he went back to his band. I spent the rest of the might in a funk of embarrassment, desperately hoping that he wouldn't finish early, and find out that I was the dummy...
I was playing guitar in a band about 10 years ago. We had been playing 5 nights a week in this club plus we all had day jobs. This band had been together for about 4 years and we were tight. But we were really getting tired of each other. The other guitar player played thru a Marshall 4x12 at "11" and I played thru a Marshall 2x12 combo on about 4.
The bass player/band leader turned to me and asked me to turn it down so I complied. A few minutes later he asked me to turn down again. Reluctently, I complied again but could not hear my amp real well anymore. A few minutes later he says to me "Turn it down and leave it the F--- down!". So I reach over and hit the power button and just shut it off. Then I said, on the mic, "Is that F---in quiet enough for you?". The problem was, I started out most all of the songs we did. I left it off for the rest of the set. Everytime I was supposed to start a song, I would play as normal, you just couldn't hear me. At the start of the next set, the bass player said I could turn it up a little bit, So I cranked it to about 8.
We, as a band, quit playing together after that week was over.
I get along fine with him now, but I'd never play with him again.
BnB
The bass player/band leader turned to me and asked me to turn it down so I complied. A few minutes later he asked me to turn down again. Reluctently, I complied again but could not hear my amp real well anymore. A few minutes later he says to me "Turn it down and leave it the F--- down!". So I reach over and hit the power button and just shut it off. Then I said, on the mic, "Is that F---in quiet enough for you?". The problem was, I started out most all of the songs we did. I left it off for the rest of the set. Everytime I was supposed to start a song, I would play as normal, you just couldn't hear me. At the start of the next set, the bass player said I could turn it up a little bit, So I cranked it to about 8.
We, as a band, quit playing together after that week was over.
I get along fine with him now, but I'd never play with him again.
BnB
Forgot to turn the bass amp back on for the encore at my bands last gig on the 12th, fortunately the PA feed was DI before the amp so the FOH sound was okay. Also, tuning my 2nd bass at the beginning of a gig i snapped 2 strings somehow, about 30 seconds before we started the set. First ever gig i ended up turning the volume on my bass down, that was abit stupid of me.
Liam.
Liam.
My old band's second to last show. I leaned over to plug my Acoustic B200 in. I didn't realize that I was wearing shredded boxers. I mooned close to 350 people :/. Most unprofessional AND Embarassing moment of my life hahah. 
On a gig once, I was getting annoyed with the keyboard player who had a very heavy left hand that night. He was stepping all over my lines all night, so I decided I would just stop playing mid-song and watch one of the TV's above the bar. Nobody else in the band even noticed. I wasn't in that band much longer after that.
Had this new music minister come in. On the second Sunday he was auditioning for, we had a bit of friction. We had already had words even though this was the 4th time we had played together in the past two weeks.
He is incredibly arrogant and simply clueless about what is going on around him. He also tries to dictate every note that anyone even considers playing. During one of the songs, he turns to me and orders me to play a certain way. I was already playing exactly like that. I calmly informed him that I was already doing what he wanted. He snapped, mid service mind you, "Quit mucking up my song, get off the stage or do it right!". I then open handedly started slapping all of my strings at once. Letting them ring loudly. It sounded terrible. I asked him if this sounded better. He answered with "You're doing that on purpose!". I said "Shut up, turn around, and play your little piano."
I no longer play for that child.
He is incredibly arrogant and simply clueless about what is going on around him. He also tries to dictate every note that anyone even considers playing. During one of the songs, he turns to me and orders me to play a certain way. I was already playing exactly like that. I calmly informed him that I was already doing what he wanted. He snapped, mid service mind you, "Quit mucking up my song, get off the stage or do it right!". I then open handedly started slapping all of my strings at once. Letting them ring loudly. It sounded terrible. I asked him if this sounded better. He answered with "You're doing that on purpose!". I said "Shut up, turn around, and play your little piano."
I no longer play for that child.
