Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
You learn to make your mistakes sound like they aren't mistakes
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Playing live and making mistakes
- Thread starter Mata Leao
- Start date
You learn to make your mistakes sound like they aren't mistakes
When I hit a real quacker, I try ho hit it or the octave again later in the riff and pretend like it was on purpose. Same if I slide up to a note, I slide up to it again. This does not fool my bandmates all the time.
One thing I read somewhere sometime here on TB: "Amateurs practice until they get it right. Pros practice until they can't get it wrong." I guess that makes me an amateur, but I think about that quote all the time, striving to be "pro".
This is why I'm not a big fan of the guitarists that pretend to know every song ever written. There's about 5000 songs in rotation on each station and there's no quality control if you trying to have that many songs rehearsed at a time. You need to be playing songs that you've rehearsed in the last 6 months. I know top pros need to be like Elwood Blues but you don't need to take requests. You should always be working something new into your set and you wont have any complaints.
But, moving on after a mistake is part of being a musician.
But, moving on after a mistake is part of being a musician.
Well, I'm by no means pro level but I gig a lot. It can go perfectly at home, it can go perfectly at rehearsal but those are controlled environments. You can can do everything possible to pull a perfect gig but unfortunately, nothing can really prepare you for the many and varied distractions in a live situation - some of which will only catch the corner of your eye and distract you subconsciously. I long ago gave up listing the different things that could throw me sideways. Laugh it off, move on, even better, if you can turn it into a proper gag, like this example from one of my recent shows...
I'm trying to get more fluid and adventurous with my walking basslines, so I've just been letting it go, not being too worried about mistakes and trusting that good old fashioned trail/error/repeat works out. This particular night we're into the rock 'n' roll medley (12 bar in A, can't go wrong), the lead guitarist takes off and let my fingers wander. It starts well, I'm staying in key and then, suddenly, it's like my fingers have taken over; I'm playing the notes before my brain tells me to and I'm thinking, "Woah, hang on a minute, I'm actually doing it! It's natural, it's smooth, it amazing". I'm right there, in that zone.
Until the lead singer/rhythm guitarist leans into the mic and says, "Any chance you could play some root notes in there, mate, I can't keep up"?
I yell back, "I'm stuck in a jazz groove! Hit me on the back of the head"!
He swings his headstock at my bonce and gives me a smart whack. I keep going.
He says, "It didn't work"!
I reply, "Yeah, but now you're out of tune, so no one's staring at me anymore".
I'm trying to get more fluid and adventurous with my walking basslines, so I've just been letting it go, not being too worried about mistakes and trusting that good old fashioned trail/error/repeat works out. This particular night we're into the rock 'n' roll medley (12 bar in A, can't go wrong), the lead guitarist takes off and let my fingers wander. It starts well, I'm staying in key and then, suddenly, it's like my fingers have taken over; I'm playing the notes before my brain tells me to and I'm thinking, "Woah, hang on a minute, I'm actually doing it! It's natural, it's smooth, it amazing". I'm right there, in that zone.
Until the lead singer/rhythm guitarist leans into the mic and says, "Any chance you could play some root notes in there, mate, I can't keep up"?
I yell back, "I'm stuck in a jazz groove! Hit me on the back of the head"!
He swings his headstock at my bonce and gives me a smart whack. I keep going.
He says, "It didn't work"!
I reply, "Yeah, but now you're out of tune, so no one's staring at me anymore".
I make what I would consider mistakes really frequently, at least one per song. Probably on any given night I only make one or two that an audience member would notice. I've gotten good at recovering quickly over the years, and even better at not caring at all!
My level of caring about mess ups (which is a fair amount per set. Maybe 1-4 measures in 4 songs out of 16.) really is on how much the bandleader and band mates care.
One bandleader gets bent a bit about mess ups. It's a good band, but annoying when he gets annoyed if I play a single measure wrong.
Other bands just roll. Probably cause they mess up just as much.
But good thing about playing the bass, if you mess up, it's hard for the audience to tell, cause they're not listening to the bass anyhow. So just blame the drummer.
One bandleader gets bent a bit about mess ups. It's a good band, but annoying when he gets annoyed if I play a single measure wrong.
Other bands just roll. Probably cause they mess up just as much.
But good thing about playing the bass, if you mess up, it's hard for the audience to tell, cause they're not listening to the bass anyhow. So just blame the drummer.
Usually one small mistake (note) per set. It's part of playing different songs every single week. We never play the same set twice and often have 1 hour of practice and then go live. So it is inevitable. Every band member usually has at least one. But we have all been playing close to 20 years and know how to recover well. It has improved my transposition skills immensely because sometime we change keys on the fly
I think I probably make mistakes in almost every song I play. I just keep going and try to play it right the next time it comes around. Sometimes I just hold the wrong note until it fits because the song keeps going, and then proceed from there.
Some times none sometimes a ton oh well im out there having fun and sometimes jumpjn rd like a nut case does that or if im mega tired end of third set
When I make a mistake (a few times per gig or maybe several), I immediately create a pattern or lick getting to the right place then I do it a couple more times in a row right away, then it sounds like I meant to do it. I'm a jazz guy though, so most of my gigs allow for the variation.
Some gigs I make a few, some gigs I make many. As has been stated, the key is to play through it and not look like you made a mistake. Sometimes I'll get a smile from one of the other member, and I'll do the same to them.
It' VERY are that I forget how a song goes, miss a transition or anything like that. Hitting some wrong notes over the course of the night? That happens often as may of the songs we play (blues band) I don't have a "set" way of playing them, so I might try a thing or two here and there that won't quite work. That said, I once heard someone say "it's bass, you hit a wrong note, just keep moving" - I use that quite a bit to cover myself. 
Once in a while I might start a song in the wrong key. That only happens with two songs and it's because I start them alone, and with my regular band we play them in a weird key because we are tuned down to Eb, and I play them in another key with everybody else on the planet. So I'll start off and it all sounds fine, drummer comes in, we are good, then the guitar come in and I hear it. Don't ask me why the guitarist doesn't hear it up front and adjust, he doesn't understand squat about keys and whatnot. So it's a bit weird when he comes in and I adjust by a half step right away.
Once in a while I might start a song in the wrong key. That only happens with two songs and it's because I start them alone, and with my regular band we play them in a weird key because we are tuned down to Eb, and I play them in another key with everybody else on the planet. So I'll start off and it all sounds fine, drummer comes in, we are good, then the guitar come in and I hear it. Don't ask me why the guitarist doesn't hear it up front and adjust, he doesn't understand squat about keys and whatnot. So it's a bit weird when he comes in and I adjust by a half step right away.
I was on the right fret and my timing was absolutely perfect. Too bad I was on the wrong string. About 2 measures in I saw the guitar player laughing at me. About 3 measures in , I figured it out. About a year ago , the band leader called a song and then started on something else. We still haven't let him live that one down. Guess I'll be chewing on this one for a while.
Sometimes I make a ton of mistakes, sometimes I make almost none.
One thing I've noticed though, is that the BEST performances are not the performances with the least mistakes.
One thing I've noticed though, is that the BEST performances are not the performances with the least mistakes.
Good days , bad days and average days. A decent player can recover quickly (as long as a band member wakes them up in time - I’m referring to blues bands). Seriously, I don’t make a many mistakes when playing live - I call them variations on a theme.
Paul McCartney screwed up the intro to "maybe I'm amazed" when I saw him a couple of weeks ago. He stopped the song dead, apologised, told a funny story and started again. Even the best blow it.
I saw Blondie last year and she forgot the lyrics. Her recovery was inelegant to say the least.
I saw Blondie last year and she forgot the lyrics. Her recovery was inelegant to say the least.
In Michael Jackson's "This is it" video, he forgot the structure to Billie Jean. Granted, it was rehearsal, but one of the musicians corrected him. He said something like "Right, that's why you have rehearsal". So, everyone forgets stuff now and then.
One trap I've fallen into is seeing a set list with a few tunes I played to death a while ago, and thinking I still had the structure and chords in my head. Only to find out that I'd forgotten to play the song when we went live. So, I have to review everything when there are second-nature tunes that I haven't played in a while. How we do forget.
One trap I've fallen into is seeing a set list with a few tunes I played to death a while ago, and thinking I still had the structure and chords in my head. Only to find out that I'd forgotten to play the song when we went live. So, I have to review everything when there are second-nature tunes that I haven't played in a while. How we do forget.
