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Something is wrong.........
- Thread starter SpanishDave
- Start date
That sucks....DWBass said it best - Amateur move.
Probably need to address the issue at a band level so its understood why it happened, and what corrective action needs to be taken if happens again. (on stage cues and such help). This way the awkwardness doesn't last too long on stage, in the middle of a song.
Probably need to address the issue at a band level so its understood why it happened, and what corrective action needs to be taken if happens again. (on stage cues and such help). This way the awkwardness doesn't last too long on stage, in the middle of a song.
Folkies do this (with the capo) a lot because many of them (not all) only know a few chords by their shapes and don't know how to find them higher or lower on the neck. Or they can do it but it's easier for them to sing if they can just keep strumming the same ol' open chords. I have seen PROFESSIONAL folkies and singer songwriter types get some really neat effects by putting the capo up rather high (above the 5th fret, to get a cool requinto sound.
pitch black stage, 2nd gig in Chicago, super nervous, guitar slides the capo up just a fret or so off, disaster. we all noticed it right away and I switched up and then he shut the tune down to start over. I was mortified
Had a similar thing happen on a quiet (almost) acoustic jam with guitar, drums, bass, vocals and harp.
I tuned the bass with the same tuner used by the guitarist. He had lent the tuner to his daughter a few weeks earlier and we didn't realise that she had recalibrated it from A=440...
First song starts and all hell broke loose as the harp was completely out with everything else and the poor vocalist had no idea where to pitch her voice.
Oh, the trials and tribulations...
I tuned the bass with the same tuner used by the guitarist. He had lent the tuner to his daughter a few weeks earlier and we didn't realise that she had recalibrated it from A=440...
First song starts and all hell broke loose as the harp was completely out with everything else and the poor vocalist had no idea where to pitch her voice.
Oh, the trials and tribulations...
Yep similar situation with a guitard. Singer wants to change keys, so the guitard uses a capo and then proceeds to argue with me about what key I should be playing in, it goes without saying that he was wrong. I will say though that he was, with out a doubt, the best guitar player that I have ever played with and he usually wasn't wrong, just had a brain fart.
And yet if you beat them senseless, YOU'RE the bad guy!! 
Had my guitarist do this to me at a fund raiser gig (Bob Weir and Steve Kimock in the audience).
Forgot to put the capo on, though. Whole song giving me dirty looks while I questioned whether I was messing up and where I need to be to get in the right key.
Didn't notice until after the song that the capo was sitting on the mic stand and the set list notes had a reminder (Capo) bigger than snit in the margin before the song title.
No apology though.
Forgot to put the capo on, though. Whole song giving me dirty looks while I questioned whether I was messing up and where I need to be to get in the right key.
Didn't notice until after the song that the capo was sitting on the mic stand and the set list notes had a reminder (Capo) bigger than snit in the margin before the song title.
No apology though.
I've had this happen a lot actually. Usually I just adjust right away and the gtr doesn't notice until it gets to his solo section. Looks at me and laughs. It's happened with more than one player and honestly it IS funny most of the time.
Oh, I have to chime in about capos. My previous band had an acoustic guitarist and an electric guitarist. Capos were used on many songs. The electric player would occasionally forget to apply or remove it.
The acoustic player would occasionally place it at the wrong fret. It was funny when she would start the song and a notice the wrong key as soon as she started singing.
As the creator of the set list I started adding the capo positions to the songs.
The acoustic player would occasionally place it at the wrong fret. It was funny when she would start the song and a notice the wrong key as soon as she started singing.
As the creator of the set list I started adding the capo positions to the songs.
Most of my mistakes, musical and otherwise, fall into this categoryI think the mistake had more to do with beer than anything else.
Had something similar this past week. Jamming with these guys for a possibly filling in on some dates this summer. Hard rock, in Drop C#, but no super unusual riffs, so most of the songs I learned to play on my 5 String in regular BEADG tuning, but two songs have riffs that have me pulling my 4 string out in Drop C#AbC#F# tuning.
So dudes are like, hey let's play song XXX, I'm like cool that's a song I play on the 4 string, hang on. I change guitars, we get two measures in I say in my head, "oh $&%^, I DON'T play this in drop C#". So I fight my way through it, get to the end of the song and apologize. They thought it sounded pretty good HAHA.
I played for years with a keyboardist who would use the transpose button on his machine to accommodate the trumpet. Half the time, he forgot to switch it back. I became rather adept at figuring out the key and transposing on the fly.
This happened to a band I play with in a competition setting (20 minute timed set). The guitarist and I both tuned usign the same clip-on tuner to make *absolutely* sure we were tuned the same. He did the intro, I came in, and then the keys. Keyboard was WAY out of tune. Which is impossible. After the set, we figured out that the tuner was set to A=443 or so. We did not score very well.
Our church youth choir leader does this constantly, but only during services.
The transpose function is used flawlessly at rehearsal, naturally.
My regular band's guitarist played with the capo on 1 instead of 3 once (playing 'Brian Wilson').
I usually play quietly with him during the intro, but didn't for some reason this one time.
It took 2 bars before I figured out just what was so very wrong.
Not an easy song to transpose, and I was the one getting the stink eye all the way through!
But a pro will instantly notice it, figure out what key is and adjust his playing, isnt?
Yep, the old capo switcheroo stunt. I've been both victim and perpetrator of that one once or twice.
It's almost as much fun as the grab-the-wrong-harmonica stunt.
It's almost as much fun as the grab-the-wrong-harmonica stunt.
