Something is wrong.........

[SpanishDave]

Cover band, support slot of 45 minutes for a TV presenter and his band.
10/11 songs of Rock covers with 2 Spanish songs.

We're 6 songs in and it's not going badly, 100/150 people in this bar, Mr. TV and his band are stood on the side of the stage next to me drinking and dancing. Singer shouts "Cuadratura!", this is our cue to play Vetusa Morla's "cuardratura del circulo", really cool song that we speed and rock up a bit.

Guitar starts, singer starts, then bass and drums build in, something is immediately wrong.
Bass is horribly out of tune. I am baffled and panic. I try playing higher/lower on a different string, nothing. The drummer is looking at me with his head tilted to the side like a dog that thinking deeply about something important. guitarist and Singer are both completely oblivious to the fact that anything is wrong. I am trying to play and check my Aerodyne, have all four tuners failed? has the neck unscrewed itself between songs? has someone plugged in a octave pedal while I wasn't looking?

guitarist looks over at me and mouths "you sound s***" (in Spanish). Then I notice, twinkling in the stages lights, the capo sitting proudly on his Stratocaster's neck.
So between the drum kit and the singer we meet, mid song, to discuss the situation.

Me: you are using a capo
Jose: yup
Me: On the fourth fret
Jose: yup
Me: Any particular reason?
Jose: Don't we always do it?
Me: No, this would be the first time.
Jose: sounds good though right?
Me: well you do.


I realised how much I don't think when I playing and how much concentration it took to just bump things up a couple of frets.
he was right, Did sound better, when we were playing the same notes.

 

[hrodbert696]

It says volumes that the drummer (the DRUMMER) noticed you were in a different key and the guitarist and singer didn't. Classic.

 

[SpanishDave]

It says volumes that the drummer (the DRUMMER) noticed you were in a different key and the guitarist and singer didn't. Classic.

I think he just might have wanted me to tickle his belly.

 

[Acoustic356]

Saw this happen in church on Sunday. The worship leader pops on a capo, starts and every other musician is playing and they are all looking at each other with this what key are we in look.

He stopped a few measures in then says... Sorry, we're in the key of G.

This was their 2nd set of the day too. Changes happen.

 

[RoadRanger]

This is why it ought to be legal to put them guitards down when they get old and start crapping onstage .

 

[Atshen]

Guitarist's fault for not telling you he changed the key. A beginner's mistake, I could even dare sayin'.

 

[SpanishDave]

Guitarist's fault for not telling you he changed the key. A beginner's mistake, I could even dare sayin'.

I think the mistake had more to do with beer than anything else.

 

[DWBass]

Not professional to change keys and not inform the band. Amateur move.

 

[tangentmusic]

Guitarist throwing his capo on without telling you is his big mistake.
He never did it before, was never rehearsed before, and he puts it on just cuz he felt like it?
Shame on him..

 

[RustyAxe]

Sh!t happens. I was on stage with an Americana quintet one night, and when we launched into a song it was immediately apparent to me something was wrong ... very wrong. Even a few in the audience started makin' the "stink face". As I turned to the guitarist to try to determine what was the problem, I noticed him slide his capo down one fret ... and miraculously everything sounded right again. We laugh about it now, but it wasn't so funny at the time.

Those who play this kind of music know that I immediately suspected the banjo player ...

 

[Lobster11]

On the plus side, you're lucky that he used the capo to change the key. If he hadn't, you might still be wondering what was wrong!

 

[SpanishDave]

On the plus side, you're lucky that he used the capo to change the key. If he hadn't, you might still be wondering what was wrong!

Very true, I will take 90 seconds of befuddlement over a broken bass/amp any day of the week.

 

[s0c9]

Very true, I will take 90 seconds of befuddlement over a broken bass/amp any day of the week.

In my experience, it's often W-A-Y longer than that while the rest of the band try to figure out "which key" and adjust accordingly.

 

[Razman]

Oh this brings back the painful memory of a train wreck I experienced at an out of town show where the guitard was in drop D instead of E and it screwed everything up.

 

[pauljude]

My experiences with that are usually with folk artists. They just throw on a capo and are good to go. I guess they feel like singing at a different pitch on certain nights. Thanks for telling me...

 

[Sixgunn]

It says volumes that the drummer (the DRUMMER) noticed you were in a different key and the guitarist and singer didn't. Classic.

My drummer is the first to notice such things. He's an awesome musician!!

 

[Bullitt5135]

Don't feel so bad. I saw The Who in Detroit a few years ago. Pete launches into the intro for Pinball Wizard on his red Strat, then abruptly stops and says in a goofy voice, "I think I'll play this on the GOLD one." -- as his tech hands him the correctly tuned guitar.

 

[SpanishDave]

Don't feel so bad. I saw The Who in Detroit a few years ago. Pete launches into the intro for Pinball Wizard on his red Strat, then abruptly stops and says in a goofy voice, "I think I'll play this on the GOLD one." -- as his tech hands him the correctly tuned guitar.

Oh to have a roadie to blame my mistakes on!

 

[Ewo]

La BOMBA...

 

[Kmonk]

I had a similar situation years ago when a guitar player who had a little too much to drink, picked up a guitar that had alternate tuning. He kept looking at me and yelling that I was playing in the wrong key. I finally made him realize that he had the wrong guitar. The sad thing was that he had done the exact same thing at rehearsal 2 days earlier.