Dread Bass Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Well im doing my first gig in almost 2 years next week and i started thinking abot what silly things i may do. I remembered on my first gig ever with my one week old alembic i was playing starting to get into and my bass just went dead. I had no backup and im left handed so couldnt borrow one In my blind panic i checked the controls. Yes i had turned the volune down with my hand while rocking out. what a fool. So i was wondering if i can learn from some of your guys school boy errors or wise words and save myself looking like a numpty again. Quote
rohan Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 I've left my tuner pedal muted as we opened a song. woopsie. Quote
Machines Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Usual ones really. I find simplicity in the signal chain reduces the likeliness for failures, and makes them easier to isolate if there are any. Make sure you have spare battery / cable etc.. Quote
martthebass Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Forgetting to turn on the wireless pack..............do that quite often Quote
sixshooter Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 2nd Gig ever 38 years ago, broke my G string on my Bass just before I was about to play and did not have a spare Bass or string. Went on and played without a G string, if you pardon the expression! Quote
Muppet Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 I write the starting note or chord for each song on my set list. Get the beginning right and the rest follows. Quote
birdy Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 My best was to start a song thumping away on the open E only to find out I had left the D Tuner down in the D position from the previous song. After thinking someones out of key for about 30 seconds I realised and flicked it back up :-) Steve Quote
Dread Bass Posted January 13, 2008 Author Posted January 13, 2008 they are some good ones. I may be playing fretless for this gig its a really easy tune so should be ok. im going to go sit in a dark room and practice now. Quote
Mickeyboro Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Last night my wireless failed - our roadie got on and whacked in the spare lead, only for me to tread on it and pull it out at the amplifier-end. Moral: have a pal (preferably smarter than you) who can bail you ouit of these situations! Quote
wateroftyne Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Similar to the above.. in my reckless youth I snapped a string on the second song and didn't have a spare string or bass. I did the rest of the set on the bottom four strings of an insanely-EQ'd 6-string acoustic. It sounded crap. Quote
Dread Bass Posted January 13, 2008 Author Posted January 13, 2008 so i guess its a good idea to take spare set of strings to the gig then. I cant take a backup as i only have one six string. i will have my freless tho hahahah jus have to do the whole gig on that. Quote
tombboy Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Turned up for a gig without my bass once! Quote
WarPig Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Erm, the only one that comes to mind is forgetting the key change at the end of Free's Wishing Well. Quote
tonybassplayer Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 My classic silly error that I do every few gigs is to start the correct riff for the song but on the wrong string !!! Quote
The Funk Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 [quote name='BeLow' post='119583' date='Jan 13 2008, 04:54 PM']Classic for me is the shock that chord charts and fretless side dot markers are suddenly invisble when you are under stage lighting conditions.[/quote] First gig I ever had with a fretless (not long after getting my first one) I realised that wearing sunglasses on a stage with poor lighting while not having good enough monitoring to check my intonation was maybe not such a great idea. Quote
ARGH Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 (edited) OK heres the list:- 1st song in set,1st note broke my E string,get what note the song was in? Stepped on tuner during 'Bass only part of song' Yanked cables out of guitars,amps,FX etc Hit singer with headstock (It was an accident ..honest) Kept tuner on when going into song... Not switched on Amp Not connected speaker lead properly...hense panic searching for battery/cable/FX connection issues FORGOT STRAP! (Dont ever do this EVER...NO.... REALLY DONT!) Started in TOTALLY the wrong key Got drunk,and gone mental in the 1st set..then the alcohol lag kicks in,and nearly died doing the next 2 hours onstage. Walked off mid set,for a piss.... Played fretless (When I couldnt) Beaten the pub champ at the quiz Picked the double bingo Ball (thus doubling what the landlord had to pay the winning punter,compared to the week before...bad news for me was,this was the 4TH WEEK it was picked in succession...and the landlord had to shell out about £500) No cable bag.....("Wheres MY f***ing CABLE BAG"???) Listened to the singer Windmill'd and smacked my hand through the Snooker table lights,showering me in glass. Edited January 13, 2008 by ARGH Quote
The Funk Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 [quote name='ARGH' post='119698' date='Jan 13 2008, 07:02 PM']FORGOT STRAP! (Dont ever do this EVER...NO.... REALLY DONT!)[/quote] First pro gig - arrived 3 hours early. Hung out with everyone, laid back, ate dinner. About half an hour before, wanted to warm up. Opened my gig bag... "Where's my strap? Oh ****. Not enough time to go home!". A friend of the bandleader ran off to another nearby venue and came back as we were about to start the set with a spare guitar strap - a cheap, nasty, weedy thing, but I've never been so grateful. Quote
DirkThrust Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 (edited) [quote name='Machines' post='119580' date='Jan 13 2008, 04:48 PM']Usual ones really. I find simplicity in the signal chain reduces the likeliness for failures, and makes them easier to isolate if there are any.[/quote] Absolutely. Passive bass direct into amp hasn't let me down yet. One daft thing I've done was when I decided to check all my leads over before a gig and I managed to rewire one of my speakons out of phase with the other. Anyone who has ever experienced two cabs out of phase with each other will know how horrible that sounds. Luckily there was someone smarter than me present who figured it out Another time I left a pint of beer on a shelf where I thought it would be safe. How stupid is that? Rule one is never have drinks above electrics. Unfortuately thanks to Mr Ashdown it vibrated off and landed on the multi-way mains adaptor supplying all our amps. All we knew was that everything went dead. We were in semi darkness. I started fumbling about behind my cabs to trace the mains back and put my hand in a pool of liquid. Thankfully the fault was that the Pub's RCCD had tripped out. I like to buy a pint for the electrician who installed that. Otherwise I'd have been fried Edited January 13, 2008 by PaulMartin Quote
paul h Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Forgot the little strap that kept my glasses on! The singer forgot his lucky beads too, so we decided we had no choice but to pop home and get them. Cue our manager chasing after us as we drive out of the car park 30 seconds before we were due to go on! Very unprofessional, but it was during our "trainee rockstar" phase. p. Quote
Breakfast Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 I've trodden on my lead before jumping in the air and unplugging myself. Also started gigs with the volume right down. Also started songs without checking which fret I'm on and turned out to be a semitone flat ( such a small difference, yet so noticeable ) The worst one was half way through a song suddenly thinking "hang on a minute, is this how I normally play this" - obviously I immediately forgot how I played the song - I knew the notes but couldn't recall the fingering - and had to work it out again over the next week from first principles. Probably the audience never even noticed but it did my head in. Quote
Faithless Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 For Seitan's sake, this thread is sooo funny sometimes The worst time for me was, when we got to setup in ~5 minutes, if not less, so I didn't set my amp's EQ properly and it was me, who had to play intro... Omg, I will not ever forget playing, and changing EQ settings together. Quote
terryblyth Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 Charts in pencil. In clear plastic wallets. With lights shining right on them. Quote
spike Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 At rehearsal tonight I plugged one end of my lead into my amp, the other end into my tuner and then wondered why there was no signal getting from my bass to the tuner. It's not the first time I've done it either. Quote
Muppet Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 [quote name='terryblyth' post='119813' date='Jan 13 2008, 10:05 PM']Charts in pencil. In clear plastic wallets. With lights shining right on them.[/quote] ....and setlists printed in red ink..... Quote
stu_g Posted January 13, 2008 Posted January 13, 2008 mine are jumping off stage for some audience interaction and unplugging myself at same time doh! playing the wrong song i evaded detection by staring in guitarists direction making everyone believe it was him playing wrong song and got away with it ha ha Quote
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