OMG I'm not ready.

[Pings Bass]

Start together and end together, and any intervening flubs will go unnoticed or be forgiven by all but the most discerning audience, IME. We're all our own worst critics, or should be, at least. It's how we get better. But you're entitled to phone it in once in a while!

 

[mikewalker]

ready?

 

[MVE]

I do know how to go for the cheap applause

Its not "cheap applause." As long as the audience is having a good time, then the band is doing their job.
From a bar band performance perspective, its much better to engage and entertain than to play your instrument flawlessly.
…Often its actually easier to do the latter. It's certainly more "controllable."

 

[LBS-bass]

Hey all, thanks for the great responses. Of course, some folks took this way more seriously than it was meant. This band is nothing but seasoned pros who go up there and mostly nail it every time. We have two sets to play and a whole long list of substitute material that we can use if there's something somebody decides they don't want to do.

It's just a funny thing that when I add a new vocal I typically spend a lot of time going over it and this time I haven't had the opportunity to do that, because I've been more focused on material I'm going to play next week. So we might drop that song this time around, or we might keep it if I feel like I have it under my belt well enough after I practice today.

But I'm not anticipating any sort of disaster, just another fun show with this band. It does point up the fact that sometimes the best decision is to shift gears a little, but I'm not sure if I'll be doing that or not.

I appreciate you all so much! Thanks for the votes of confidence and the suggestions. It all helps.

 

[LBS-bass]

We did a gig recently where one of the singers noticed that the folks, whether dancing or sitting/watching were mouthing the lyrics to almost every song.

He said "Damn, I can't mess up!"

Hahaha, my (other) band decided to do Kodachrome by Paul Simon and at the end there's the part where he's repeating "mama don't take my Kodachrome" and then says another line*. At the first play through, which was spontanteous and unrehearsed, all three of the singers got to that line and went "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah," Then we all looked at each other and cracked up so hard we couldn't keep playing.

When we played it the first time for the audience, they were all singing along and did the exact same thing.

*The actual lyrics there are "leave your boy so far from home."

 

[FirewalZ]

After many months of working my butt off for bands who are not ready to play a show when it's show time, I am finding myself in the unenviable position of not being ready myself.

Why?

Well, it mostly comes down to realizing that nobody else will be ready so what's gained by me doing the extra work?

That said, I'll probably go over my trouble spots a couple of times tomorrow and be fine.

And the sad truth is that as long as I hold that long note at the end of every song I sing, for as long as I possibly can, just to get the cheap applause, nobody will care about anything else I did, and they'll applaud like crazy and it will be a good night.

In similar situations I've adopted a "Bubble of Sanity" approach. Even if everyone else is playing poorly, I try to at least focus on playing with the drummer (or a rhythm player) as much as is possible anyway. This way at least there is a somewhat steady rhythm section, which goes along way with the audience. As long as you're happy with everything in your bubble, don't stress over what's outside and not in your control.

 

[pbass2]

Lyrics are always the last thing to come to me. And even once I know them backwards and forwards, the thing I'm most likely to mess up. And the thing the audience is most likely to notice. Break a leg and knock 'em dead!

Me too. Used to sing lead and BUs, but really very happy these days being a usually non-singing guy in the rhythm section.
Admittedly, I play waaaaay better bass if I'm not singing. I work with one artist who has a hard rule--no singing from the bass and drums!

 

[Jefenator]

One of the things I've learned over the years is to gauge each group for how hard I need to prepare.
I never want to be the only guy who didn't do his homework. But, I also don't enjoy being the only guy who DID do his homework.

 

[MrLenny1]

Sounds like a regular night. lol
I rehearsed 10 months with a friends band to be ready for a gig. 3 of them were not doing their home work.
Another gig the guitar player had to listen to several songs on his IPhone on stage to try and remember them.
Yuck, I hate that poop.

 

[TeaTime]

Obviously you've got enough experience that you will make this work.

I feel this. I always want to nail everything - setup, bass lines, backing vocals, sweet dance moves, strong posing, everything. But it is really hard to be the only one reaching for it. I've settled into aiming to be slightly more prepared than the next most prepared. Helps me hold my expectations in check.

Perform 100% on? Crowd goes on about how great we are.

Perform 80% on, but hit all starts and stops? Crowd goes on about how great we are.

Helps me hold perspective.

Drummer falls off the back of the stage, and as he's going down he grabs a handful of cables and pulls the $4000 keyboard along with him? No one even remembers that anyone else was on the stage.

 

[chadds]

I was playing with a trio in a very small place. As we started the first tune I realized I had to pee. I said "whoa" to the band. They stopped. I put my bass down and headed through the audience to the back of the place. They all started laughing knowing exactly where I was going. They chuckled some more when I returned. We slayed them.

 

[Low End Scum]

Start together and end together, and any intervening flubs will go unnoticed or be forgiven by all but the most discerning audience, IME. We're all our own worst critics, or should be, at least. It's how we get better. But you're entitled to phone it in once in a while!

Yup, and if you beans a note, do it again the next pass through so it's not a mistake, it's a "jazz note"!

As far as your bandmates though, I'd rry to regiment rehearsal more if you haven't. My rock band "jammed" mostly and didn't run sets but maybe once or twice before gigs. Drove me crazy. Never felt ready. In my other band I became a bit of a taskmaster and have been told I drill people too hard. They can say that all they want, but the bands that acquiesced to letting me do that were always ready. Run the set 3 times, take a break, smoke a bowl, and listen to a new vinyl. Then after that break run the set 2 more times. It was a boatload of time, sure, but doing that twice a week and we never felt unready.

 

[Low End Scum]

I was playing with a trio in a very small place. As we started the first tune I realized I had to pee. I said "whoa" to the band. They stopped. I put my bass down and headed through the audience to the back of the place. They all started laughing knowing exactly where I was going. They chuckled some more when I returned. We slayed them.[/unread.

Something similar happened to me at the last show one of my bands did when the drummer moved to NYC. We did every original they'd had in a 3 hour gig after I had just finished a different gig 45 minutes before. I was about to piss my pants. I turned to the drummer and said "You've gotta play Moby dick. I HAVE to pee". He said he did too and to stick it out. So I said "were gonna start the song, if you want to not do the drum solo that's your choice" then told the guys. Vaulted off stage to run to the bathroom and made it back in time

 

[Rib 13]

Hey all, thanks for the great responses. Of course, some folks took this way more seriously than it was meant. This band is nothing but seasoned pros who go up there and mostly nail it every time. We have two sets to play and a whole long list of substitute material that we can use if there's something somebody decides they don't want to do.

It's just a funny thing that when I add a new vocal I typically spend a lot of time going over it and this time I haven't had the opportunity to do that, because I've been more focused on material I'm going to play next week. So we might drop that song this time around, or we might keep it if I feel like I have it under my belt well enough after I practice today.

But I'm not anticipating any sort of disaster, just another fun show with this band. It does point up the fact that sometimes the best decision is to shift gears a little, but I'm not sure if I'll be doing that or not.

I appreciate you all so much! Thanks for the votes of confidence and the suggestions. It all helps.

I get that completely......if you're like me, I enjoy singing harmonies way more than singing lead....plus, I'm good at grabbing the often ignored lower harmony ( usually a 5th below)....95% of the time, I can hear it ( or one that works even if not there) in my head from the get go but there's that most annoying 5% of the time that I just can't hear it at all, no matter how many times I listen to it....it will take me many gigs of just locking it in my head before I'll try it.....lol I really hate when that happens

 

[mrjim123]

After many months of working my butt off for bands who are not ready to play a show when it's show time, I am finding myself in the unenviable position of not being ready myself.

Why?

Well, it mostly comes down to realizing that nobody else will be ready so what's gained by me doing the extra work?

That said, I'll probably go over my trouble spots a couple of times tomorrow and be fine.

And the sad truth is that as long as I hold that long note at the end of every song I sing, for as long as I possibly can, just to get the cheap applause, nobody will care about anything else I did, and they'll applaud like crazy and it will be a good night.

The word in your post that caught my eye was bands. Maybe you've got too many irons in the fire? I'm 72 and retired, but, even with all that spare time, a single band is about all I want to dedicate myself to. I've turned down several sub offers from good bands so as not to over-extend myself.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

After many months of working my butt off for bands who are not ready to play a show when it's show time, I am finding myself in the unenviable position of not being ready myself.

Why?

Well, it mostly comes down to realizing that nobody else will be ready so what's gained by me doing the extra work?

That said, I'll probably go over my trouble spots a couple of times tomorrow and be fine.

And the sad truth is that as long as I hold that long note at the end of every song I sing, for as long as I possibly can, just to get the cheap applause, nobody will care about anything else I did, and they'll applaud like crazy and it will be a good night.

I subbed for a band once that used both a guitar player and keys player from my "normal" group. Different singers of course, but had some shared songs and about half of the set list was new to me. I diligently when after it and when it came to one of the songs, it was a different song than I had worked up. Really sucked! Was not too complex a song and I watched the guitarist's chart to follow the chords. About half way through I was fine with the changes, but MAN! did that shake me up. Don't recall the name of the song because it's been a few years and was something I didn't particularly want to remember. It turned out OK and no one complained about it but was pretty embarrassing for me. No one else seemed to notice. Then the female vocalist turned to me and said, "See, that wasn't so bad now was it?" I hate being unprepared!

 

[Slater]

Just mumble a bunch of gibberish and no one will notice.

 

[LBS-bass]

The word in your post that caught my eye was bands. Maybe you've got too many irons in the fire? I'm 72 and retired, but, even with all that spare time, a single band is about all I want to dedicate myself to. I've turned down several sub offers from good bands so as not to over-extend myself.

I'm down to only two bands that each gig once every couple of months at this point, so it's not that. I have only played one show between the end of January and now. Have really been paring things down to the bare minimum because I'm just not enjoying this the way I used to.

 

[TNCreature]

After many months of working my butt off for bands who are not ready to play a show when it's show time, I am finding myself in the unenviable position of not being ready myself.

Why?

Well, it mostly comes down to realizing that nobody else will be ready so what's gained by me doing the extra work?

That said, I'll probably go over my trouble spots a couple of times tomorrow and be fine.

And the sad truth is that as long as I hold that long note at the end of every song I sing, for as long as I possibly can, just to get the cheap applause, nobody will care about anything else I did, and they'll applaud like crazy and it will be a good night.

This makes me sad. I've always looked at you as the consummate professional!
Do of for me, LBS. *cough cough*. Hit one over the fence for me!

 

[Chickenwheels]

One of the songs I sing is Burning Down The House. It has some really weird lyrics, and sometimes I find myself blanking on a line. So I end up repeating a line or two from a different verse.

Some people may notice. Nobody cares.

Classic move