• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

What was your worst on-stage screwup?

#141
Michael B said:
If I had a nickel for each time someone said "dude are you stoned?"
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have any nickels. I quit smoking anything before I took up bass, and I don't have a very convincing stoner look. Attempting to look stoned as a way to explain incompetence didn't work. A kind friend later told me the first song was a "crippler" but we kinda got it together after that. He was being kind.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scatabrain
#142
Gaolee said:
I wouldn't have any nickels. I quit smoking anything before I took up bass, and I don't have a very convincing stoner look. Attempting to look stoned as a way to explain incompetence didn't work. A kind friend later told me the first song was a "crippler" but we kinda got it together after that. He was being kind.
Click to expand...

It was my everyday look according to others.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gaolee
#143
When I played lead I started a song half a tone high. The first verse was just guitar and vocals and when the lead singer came in he was flat. He quickly adjusted but than I realised my mistake and on the next line I dropped back to the correct key so he was now sharp and had to re-adjust. I'm not sure how many of the audience noticed but the rest of the band certainly did.

Same band - we played 2 Searchers songs (Walk in the room, & Needles and pins). I Started the intro riff (that continued into the verse) and Pete (RIP) started singing the wrong song. He shuffled over to me and asked what the first line was. I was still playing the intro riff and having just heard the wrong line told him that so he went back to his mic and delivered it again. Again he realised it was wrong so shuffled over to the bass player who told him the same line again, which he delivered for a 3rd time.

I was getting fed up with playing the riff so looked at the drummer and we finished the song. We got as much applause as we did for previous songs.
 
#144
Thanks for posting these stories. I can't decide if it was a good idea or bad idea to read through it before I play my first gig! I will make sure to circle back and share what happens. But thanks to you guys I just wrote out a nice checklist.
 
#145
Stepped on my lead while walking on stage. It was yanked and messed up my output Jack. It lost connection but no one noticed except my band members. I just keep pretending to play until the end of the song and switched to my back up bass. The lead was going through my strap too so it probably could have been worse but I got a new heavy duty Jack. Since then I always pay attention to where my cable is, it also proves that it's always good to have a backup even if it's just a little gig. The other real big mess up was a leather strap I had snapped. The p bass I used at the time went down before I could grab the body and fell straight to the floor. It was fine other then a dent where it hit. Everyone noticed that haha but I picked it up and put my guitarists spare strap on and finished the show. Now I always have a spare strap too! Haha lessons learned!
 
#146
ThuzzleFump said:
Sitting in sh**faced with a decent blues band in Chicago, back in the day.

I was fine until I basically fell on my face, which took about 60 seconds.

It was the kind of drunk where you can't see...pretty far gone.

I'm older and MUCH wiser now.
Click to expand...

this. 2016 Easter weekend, dive bar, small crowd, pouring down with rain. The gig was 5 mins from the city center and i could have got into the thick of the festivities if i wanted to.

but the show must go on.

Get absolutely wasted and play like crap. looking over the photo's i can see when i'm fretting on the A string, but plucking the B string. Using 3 fingers to play 1 fret because i need all the help i can get

Got plenty of compliments that night on my playing haha.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ThuzzleFump
#147
40Hz said:
Then the headliner came out, walked up to the microphone, spoke a few words to the audience and then headed towards his piano. But before he sat down, he stopped in front of me, smiled briefly, and then pulled the instrument cord out of my amp. The rest of the band was so surprised they stopped playing. In the silence he said softly - but with a voice that I could tell carried: "Thanks for dropping by. Good-night." Then he went and sat down at the piano and started to play.
Click to expand...
EDIT: In the movie of my life, I'd've stabbed the jack repeatedly into that ****'s neck like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.

I only think about these things. Well, visualize. OK, daydream.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mc900ftj and dbase
#148
BrokenGlass said:
Thanks for posting these stories. I can't decide if it was a good idea or bad idea to read through it before I play my first gig! I will make sure to circle back and share what happens. But thanks to you guys I just wrote out a nice checklist.
Click to expand...
Best of luck with your first gig, hopefully the first of many. Let us know how it went.

Screw ups are quite normal, it's how you deal with them that matters. Just carry on and try not to let it fluster you otherwise there will most likely be more.
 
Last edited:
#149
frsbdg said:
My band played its first actual gig a couple weeks ago. On the second song, something didn't sound right as soon as I started playing. I played the same line again and it still sounded like crap. Then I realized I was playing the chorus part during the verse! Afterwards, I said "sorry about that" to my bandmates, and it turns out nobody noticed. Makes me wonder how bad a bass player has to screw up to be noticeable. It also occurred to me that playing bass could be an alternative to the witness protection program.

I'm sure everyone has a screwup story or five. What's your favorite?
Click to expand...
Fell over the drum riser stage step right onto my A##. Oh boy....and it was the first song. Some impression I made. I wasn't even drunk, well I had a couple but what a loser I was in that song....played well the rest of the night....redeem...ah not so much.
 
#153
My blues band was doing Joe Cocker's arrangement of "The Letter." The record is in Bbm, but we had been doing it in Am. This was right at the edge of the new female singer's range, so she asked if we could do Dm. At the next rehearsal we quickly ran through it once in Dm without the singer, who couldn't make that rehearsal. All was well.

The next gig comes up and we get to "The Letter." Bandleader had printed setlists with keys, but didn't change the key of this song on the list from Am to Dm. So the list says Am, but we just rehearsed it in Dm for this singer, and........BL crossed out the key on my (and only my) setlist and wrote Cm for reasons unknown.

The band started the song in three keys simultaneously.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Torrente Cro, Garret Graves, dbase and 2 others
#154
Reminded of 2 more stories, but not exactly "me screwing up playing"...

1. Same band as my other story, 20 years ago with me on guitar - we're playing the Black Cat in DC, and for some reason I've decided to wear a big ratty Ministry tank-top over what can best be described as damn close to bike shorts, I guess? Not shiny spandex, but tight, knee-length shorts... With a hole in them I didn't know about, where one of my huevos decided to make a guest appearance. Oops! Thanks, commando livin'.

2. Not my issue, but... My father and I were actually playing my sister's wedding *ceremony* a few years ago - Me on bass, Dad on guitar and a lovely young lady on vocals - and as we're about to start, he's got no sound. Totally dead. He'd forgotten to turn his amp on. DOH.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Garret Graves and McG
#155
Skokiaan said:
My blues band was doing Joe Cocker's arrangement of "The Letter." The record is in Bbm, but we had been doing it in Am. This was right at the edge of the new female singer's range, so she asked if we could do Dm. At the next rehearsal we quickly ran through it once in Dm without the singer, who couldn't make that rehearsal. All was well.

The next gig comes up and we get to "The Letter." Bandleader had printed setlists with keys, but didn't change the key of this song on the list from Am to Dm. So the list says Am, but we just rehearsed it in Dm for this singer, and........BL crossed out the key on my (and only my) setlist and wrote Cm for reasons unknown.

The band started the song in three keys simultaneously.
Click to expand...
Something very similar happened in a bad I played lead in.

Keys player wanted to sing this godawful top 20 pop song so we rehearsed it for several weeks in the original key. The rehearsal before the gig he decided to shift the key to one he could actually sing it in.

Come the gig and the bass player reverted to the key he originally learned it in, he was a roots/fifth guy and couldn't cope with key changes.

The rhythm guitarist misread his sheet and played it in a different key (no one knew what key).

Keys player and I played it in the new key, it sounded awful. That was the last time we played it and the last time the keys player sang lead vocals.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dbase
#156
Skokiaan said:
The band started the song in three keys simultaneously.
Click to expand...

Oh man, that must have been one nails-on-a-chalkboard intro.

DDXdesign said:
...as we're about to start, he's got no sound. Totally dead. He'd forgotten to turn his amp on. DOH.
Click to expand...

That reminded me of a stage faux pas I'd forgotten about. It was several years ago at our acoustic trio's annual county fair gig. The fair has a great PA with subs and really nice monitors so we always went direct without amps and cabs. I would however use my 400RB as a DI to add some oomph to the weak piezo in my acoustic bass.

So I get set up, the sound man asks for a bass level. I pluck and... nothing. Maybe I have a bad cable so I switch out... nothing. Maybe it's the cable to the board so he switches it out... nothing. He switches power outlets... still nothing. The announcer was talking to other people and watching the clock for our start time. She wasn't aware of what was going on and at the appointed time she begins our introduction (Yeah, as the stage manager/announcer she should have made sure everything was set before starting). She finally notices me waiving my arms and awkwardly aborts the intro. I'm standing there wondering what is going on.

Then I see it. I had plugged the power cord into the power outlet but not my amp. I never checked to see if the power light was on. DOH! Plugged it in and everything was fine. I had caused so much rushing around and stress. I got a real stinkeye from the sound guy and felt about a foot tall. So much for appearing professional.

At least my embarrassment was only towards the crew, the audience didn't know what was going on. I was relieved to see a different sound guy there the next year. I'm sure he would have remembered me ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Garret Graves and dbase
#159
My biggest goof happened at my biggest gig....there's a combo for ya.

My church band was invited to play for the state youth mass. We ended up taking the stage with over 10,000 in the arena. All was going well until we started into a song that gave me a nice melodic lead as an intro...and my cord was slightly unplugged from my amp. I didn't even notice it when I was looking right at it!

Found the issue about halfway through the song...oh well.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back