when the singer makes a mistake

It depends on the mistake, but in general ... cover the singer. What it comes down to, is that the crowd doesn't know WHO made a mistake, but they will notice that the band doesn't sound together. And a flailing singer makes the band look like they made a mistake.

 

What kind of mistake are we talking about? I can't think of a situation where if the singer makes a mistake that the band would have any chance to try and cover it up. I consider it the same as if anyone makes a mistake, unless it really throws the whole band off, and that's just to play through it and move on. Why derail and change the song at that moment to cover for one person?

 

Kick him in the nutz.

 

Did the band go into the outro or did you ignore her?

 

you follow her. the band is a team that puts on the best performance possible. the people don't know the singer made a mistake, the band made a mistake .

 

Cover the singer. The crowd won't usually notice if you cover the singer but will really notice if you leave them out to dry. In the duo I work with, we never do a song the same way twice. We just cover each other and the audience has no idea if it is right or not. If it sounds good, it is good.

 

He's a she, and we cover her ass as much as we can. We NEVER leave her out to dry.

Comes from serving on a miltary team. HU- WAH!.

Seriously, she's the star of the show., VERY good vocalist, but sometimes... whoops..., and we're there to be her "Mae West". It goes unnoticed that way, and the drummer and I get a kiss. Effing beautiful it is.

" Just doing my job ma'am"

 

cover the singer... the first job is to make the singer sound good

 

My band keeps going on with the music. A any good musican can cover their mistake.

 

The drummer and I turn to each other in earshot of the singer and yell at each other "SLOPPY!" We get a kick out of it, singer gets a kick out of it.

 

+1. All the crowd know is "the band" as a collective did something wrong. And sometimes, they don't pick it, or if you carry on well, they don't care.

That said I wouldn't want to be hung out to dry if I made an error (if being hung out was avoidable).

 

Kick her dead in the arse.

 

+1

 

I think you should always cover for the singer, it is just a matter of how you do it. If he/she forgets to come in to start a verse or forgets a line, you just wait on him and put the changes on hold. If he forgets a line in the middle of a verse, you just keep playing as if nothing happened.

If he sings a verse out of order, keep going. If he cuts of a solo by starting a verse or chorus, go with him. If he reaches the end of the song 'prematurely', you just go ahead and end it with him.

It still looks bad, though, when he totally forgets a verse and you just have to stand there playing the intro to the verse over and over while you wait on the words to come to him or for him to look over to one of us to mouth the words to him.

 

Yep. Follow the singer. You're in this as a band, and the singer's mistakes are going to be the only ones that you can't really fake your way through as a band unless You Follow The Singer.

And if you're more comfortable letting him/her hang out to dry than try to fix it onstage, methinks you'd be better off with another singer... or another band.

 

You think Tim's band would have followed him if he didn't come back in on time here? I think not:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,371741,00.html#

 

We adjust to our singer like this, too. He likes to start verses and choruses a little early at times, and he sometimes starts singing at the wrong time if he talks to the crowd in the middle of the song. We all know to be ready for anything, and we've gotten pretty good at catching his miscues and adjusting. His timing might be better if he wasn't so excited and wound up when he's on stage, but then he wouldn't be as entertaining. He's a good front man, and he relates well to people at shows, so it's a small thing for us to have to adjust to him when playing live.

 

Hahah, that hilarious