Last night I muffed it up

[neepheid]

I've only had 1 bad gig out of 11 so far. Sure, I'll make a few little mistakes most gigs but this one was poor. Afterwards, I was all for tendering my resignation from the band because I felt so bad. The guitarist said to me that he was glad I'd had an off night as it proved I wasn't a robot. Then we all had a good drink and a laugh.

Go figure.

My wife showed me how to deal with mistakes. She took a tea towel in her hand and said "See this? This is your mistake." She then scrunched it up in a ball and threw it over her shoulder.

[Bottle]

Don't often have a bad gig - occasionally will screw up an intro or fill or bridge, but generally just gaze at my shoes in shame and get on with it. Half the time the congregation don't even notice. Most times it doesn't bother me. Sometimes, if I know I've made a complete hash of it, afterwards I'll have a chat with the worship leader or another musician that I trust and just go through stuff with them, identify any areas where I could improve i.e. timing and scales etc.

Obviously, if you've not practiced or not slept well the night before, then it shows, and a couple of times I've had to phone the other bassist to get them to dep for me or ask them to take over during the set.

If I'm playing in the funk jam open-mic night, then it's a bit more complicated, but generally I dig in and keep going - it's all meant to be a learning experience, after all.

HTH, Ian

Edited November 8, 2010 by Bottle

[BigRedX]

The serious band carries on playing as if nothing untoward ever happened. You don't look perplexed, or glare at whoever made the mistake. Just ignore it because on the next beat it will all be history.

Also the majority of your audience won't even have noticed it and the few that did will have forgotten all about it before the end of the song.

[Bottle]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1016092' date='Nov 8 2010, 10:13 AM']The serious band carries on playing as if nothing untoward ever happened. You don't look perplexed, or glare at whoever made the mistake. Just ignore it because on the next beat it will all be history.

Also the majority of your audience won't even have noticed it and the few that did will have forgotten all about it before the end of the song.[/quote]
I'm really trying with the first one!! Still, I know when I've made a mistake, and the other bassist, who's usually in the congregation, will also smile at me when I've done it! But we encourage each other - us bassists have to stick together, you know! So when she's playing and does a run or a fill that I think is cool, I'll give her a little thumbs-up or something.

Amen to the second, it's generally only the musos in the congregation or audience who'll notice a minor error - I know I do.

Ian

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='Bottle' post='1016090' date='Nov 8 2010, 10:13 AM']Don't often have a bad gig - occasionally will screw up an intro or fill or bridge, but generally just gaze at my shoes in shame and get on with it. Half the time the congregation don't even notice. Most times it doesn't bother me. Sometimes, if I know I've made a complete hash of it, afterwards I'll have a chat with the worship leader or another musician that I trust and just go through stuff with them, identify any areas where I could improve i.e. timing and scales etc.

Obviously, if you've not practiced or not slept well the night before, then it shows, and a couple of times I've had to phone the other bassist to get them to dep for me or ask them to take over during the set.

If I'm playing in the funk jam open-mic night, then it's a bit more complicated, but generally I dig in and keep going - it's all meant to be a learning experience, after all.

HTH, Ian[/quote]


I guess if you're in church and you screw up you will be forgiven.

[Bottle]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1016103' date='Nov 8 2010, 10:27 AM']I guess if you're in church and you screw up you will be forgiven.[/quote]
Hehehe, although it's better not screw up in the first place! I have a lot of grace with my fellow musicians - we can all have a laff about it later

Had a doozie last week, at a student event our church was hosting. One of our guitarists couldn't make it, so I had to double up on one of the guitar parts on one song and play the intro (bearing in mind that with this particular song I generally only play on the root note), so I had about ten minutes to learn how to play the intro before we started - guess I needed a bit longer . Plus with no drummer (just me, an acoustic guitar player and a singer), I had to set the pace and I couldn't get that bit right either . Still, the students all got behind me and started clapping the beat and we just went from there. Worked out in the end. Just hope we don't do the same song tomorrow night

Ian

[tauzero]

I don't let it get to me too much, although I sometimes find myself concentrating too much after a mistake - I don't know how anyone else finds it, but once I start thinking specifically in note terms what I should be playing on songs that I know well and don't normally think about, my playing can suffer a bit.

If we make a significant cockup (for any band except the ceilidh band), we will probably talk about it afterwards just to decide whether it was a one-off or whether we need to do a bit more rehearsal on the song. With the ceilidh band, we follow the melodeon anyway so even if she heads off into a different tune entirely (it has happened a couple of times) we'll stick with her.

As for the little slips, one of the drummers I play with occasionally makes a slight fluff of a fill, and we will exchange glances (in a good way) when that happens.

[howdoesitgoagain]

We often play the Lamb in West Malvern, usually full of local musicians [ Malvern has more musicians per acre than anywhere in the universe ] so everyone knows you have muffed it up

When I watch other bands there it is clear that plenty of folk do realise when a player has messed up and it sometimes gets a cheer or laugh, Schadenfreude can't be beaten

[cheddatom]

on bass I really didn't care. Unless I did something horrible like knock my gate off while all my dirt pedals are on, no-one would notice. Now I play drums it's horrible. Every little mistake turns me red.

[thunderbird13]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1016001' date='Nov 8 2010, 08:47 AM']Laugh and treat it as a jazz solo.[/quote]

Cant believe that anyone laughs whilst playing a jazz solo - scowling and looking intent are more whats required.

OT the one thing I would add is that its natural to make mistakes but if you make the same mistake repeatedly then there is something wrong

[Gust0o]

Surely, it's just much the same as making a cock-up during a speech or presentation? If it's minor, remind yourself of the message you're trying to get across and get on with it; if it's major, stop and apologise or make light, then remind yourself of the message you're trying to get across and get on with it?

I managed to transcribe the "worksite" as "worksh*te" on a presentation to 150 managers. But they were there to hear what I had to say, and, having had a good laugh, we built some rapport on it; surely the gig is the same. They're there to listen, so build rapport and move on.

I saw Bloc Party implode on the first song at the Leeds Academy earlier in the year, ironically in the middle of "One more chance" - they laughed it off, some great patter from the jaws of embarassment, and on they went. Sure, they're pros, but I think we all have it in us to shake these off and win some hearts whilst doing so.

[allighatt0r]

[Slaveunit]

At practice or gigs, it's the rythum sections duty to spot any other members mistakes and then promptly flip them off whilst playing.