Playing live and making mistakes

[jeffbrown]

1) Practice, so as to avoid mistakes
2) Make mistakes anyway
3) Practice recovering from mistakes with least damage to remainder of show
4) Feel like crap, get over it, return to 1)


There, I think I fixed it....

I make mistakes, although I do my best to NOT make mistakes. See above.

What addles me is that one note which becomes a brain fart and you just cannot play the proper one. Senior moment. Old-Timer's. Whatever. I had one, it was supposed to be an E, why my self insisted on an A is beyond me. The lead git/singer would look at me and smile and mouth "EEEE" every time. >smh< I've got it now, but now, he just looks at me, just to see if I'll disremember. My cue to play an EEEE.

 

[kartiste]

Whippin Post?

 

[Top 40]

Nice Bass mistake (Sounds like the engineer tried to smooth it out). Don't remember where it is but you'll hear it.
Great live album too!!

 

[Roy Royerson]

I’ve rarely had a gig where I didn’t have a lot of criticisms of my own playing. Usually they are minor, subtle things but of course I’ve had worse. Occasional buzzed notes, untimely slides and just all out wrong notes have happened. Among the worst would be starting a song in the wrong key, especially if we’ve been changing the key just before a show. Also I’ve done the mix up tunes names thing once or twice and played the wrong tune at first. Thankfully it’s been a while for those major mistakes but I bet I’m due for a car wreck. When starting in the wrong key or mixing up songs I have recorded quickly at least, probably going 4 to 8 bars before realizing I’m going the wrong way down the one way street. If your rhythm is good and your in the pocket most mistakes aren’t catastrophic and most people don’t notice but it’s good to be your own worst critic. I once heard Bootsy say in some documentary that the hip hop samples of him were always the mistakes he made on records. Im not sure those samples were really of mistakes but it goes to show how critical of his playing Bootsy is.

 

[Wisebass]

how often do you make mistakes while playing?

never!!! , because...

3.

Wise(b)ass

 

[Bob Rhett]

I make plenty of mistakes and am filled with self-loathing as a result.

On the other hand, one thing I've noticed over many years, those nights when I am struggling the most are the nights I get the most compliments on my playing. Maybe it's because I look like I'm working harder on those occasions. All I know is when I play perfectly nobody seems to notice. Make of that what you will.

 

[bass71]

I find those old R&R tunes get me in a tiz!....I can go from a note perfect funky jazz thing to something like That'll Be The Day and I always forget the order of the walk ups and turn arounds......beats me why he brain messes up when it does but boy does it do it with style!

 

[LT131]

Yup, no regerts!

That's not how you spell ragrets!

You know you're having an off night when all of the groupies troop back over to the accordion player's side of the stage.

Seriously, my worst flubs usually happen 8-9 songs into a set when I realize just how wonderfully I'm nailing it.

 

[OCDave]

As of New Year's Eve, I've been playing bass in bands for 30 years. (my first paying gig was a New Year's Eve party in 1987-88)

[...]

That's great, Happy Anniversary! (of sorts)

 

[Joe Nerve]

I make plenty of mistakes and am filled with self-loathing as a result.

On the other hand, one thing I've noticed over many years, those nights when I am struggling the most are the nights I get the most compliments on my playing. Maybe it's because I look like I'm working harder on those occasions. All I know is when I play perfectly nobody seems to notice. Make of that what you will.

Hmmm... Maybe also that people see you’re struggling and want to cheer you up .

 

[Pbassmanca]

It's crazy how many electric bass mistakes you notice on records from the 60's and 70's when a lot of tracks were apparently being cut live off the floor. So many times where guys go to the IV when they're not supposed to or get lost after a chorus or bridge section and fumble along with the band. My all time favourite example is Ron Wood's bass part on Rod Stewart's "Maggie May". It's not that he makes "mistakes", so much as he completely doesn't know what's going on from beginning to end and yet, his take made the final cut. Classic.

 

[Luciferiad]

I mess up all the time. Just keep playing.

I mean, don't keep playing it wrong. But definitely don't stop.

I used to have maybe a couple too many drinks while doing bar gigs. One night I forgot the words to NIB. Now I have maybe one beer per set, and definitely not shots. Not even if some random event promoter is buying them for me.

 

[bumperbass]

I make plenty of mistakes and am filled with self-loathing as a result.

On the other hand, one thing I've noticed over many years, those nights when I am struggling the most are the nights I get the most compliments on my playing. Maybe it's because I look like I'm working harder on those occasions. All I know is when I play perfectly nobody seems to notice. Make of that what you will.

It seems to me over the years this has happened in a BAND context to me. The nights when the band agrees that we weren't on ("we sucked tonight; yeah man I agree"), are the nights people tell us how good we sounded.

 

[goneflyin]

It happens... it's live music.
When it happens in my band, we laugh it off and say, 'we know he had good intentions'
Or something like that.

 

[Wissen]

With the music styles I play, I rarely have set parts, so that reduces the opportunities for mistakes. What's a mistake if you don't have a "correct" part to compare it to? As long as I am following the chord progression properly, each and every run-through of the song is new and different. Don't get me wrong, I have basic outlines and roadmaps, but that's it.

Frankly though, it has made it harder for me to play other instruments that carry melody lines and therefore do require me to play set parts. I have to concentrate a helluva lot harder in my current band than I ever did in a band where I played bass. As a result I have people tell me I look bored on stage. I'm not bored, I'm working harder than I've ever needed to in my life!

 

[Remyd]

Had a major groove going. Felt good, deep, and danceable. Went to the bridge, came back, and had no freakin' clue what the original groove was. It's like we started a new song.

Happened to me ince in a country bar during Mustang Sally - I went to play it and my fingers said “play what iconic and very simple bass line now?” Dropped back in with a big slide at the end because that can be an arrangement, right?

 

[kartiste]

Hmmm... Maybe also that people see you’re struggling and want to cheer you up .

Nice people in church congregations do this. Bars? Not so much. Except maybe the nice people.

 

[biguglyman]

Was in a recording studio once laying down bass tracks for a keyboard player I know. Nice, fancy, digital place with 40" monitors on the walls etc. Engineer asked me to punch in a part with a slur/slide to the next section. Said he'd paste it where he wanted. Did the part but ended on a "wrong" note. He didn't say anything and the "wrong" note made it on the final mix. I think this qualifies me as a "jazz" guy now...

 

[pigpen1]

God yes!! The trick is just make it unnoticable. Usually a cromatic walk to the right note will do it.
You can't go wrong pedaling on the 5th of the root till brain fart fades. Try a 16th note run down from a couple octaves above the root, and stop when you fumble on the right note. When all else fails, laugh!

+ 1 for the chromatic walk...you're never more than 1/2 a step from a note that fits (better)

My other go to move has been doing a slide for the duration of a change (or fill that goes during a change) that I've forgotten somehow.

 

[McG]

Was in a recording studio once laying down bass tracks for a keyboard player I know. Nice, fancy, digital place with 40" monitors on the walls etc. Engineer asked me to punch in a part with a slur/slide to the next section. Said he'd paste it where he wanted. Did the part but ended on a "wrong" note. He didn't say anything and the "wrong" note made it on the final mix. I think this qualifies me as a "jazz" guy now...

Similar experience here. I was recording a track for our CD when the engineer suggested I try something different. So I made up a new line on the fly (NOT my strength. I'm a work-on-it-for-a-week guy). After one take he said we got it. At playback I wasn't sure about one note. It was WAY out of the box. He said it was edgy and cool. I still wasn't sure and planned on redoing it at some point. Before I knew it the disc was in mastering. Never had a chance to redo the part. Since then I wrote a really good line for the song that is a staple of our set list. I cringe every time I hear the "edgy" note on the recording.