Do you ever get mental block when playing live? How do you deal with it

[redbandit599]

I think it probably happens to everyone - my guitarist (who's very good) is not immune either. He's asked us to 'hum the riff' recently - we usually make a joke of it and the punters seem to find it endearing- mind you, we aren't exactly playing the O2...

[burno70]

This happens to me occasionally and is always because I've thought about what notes are in the next riff which then comes undone because of uncertainty. The brain just gets in the way - if I had played without thinking then the hands would have been fine. 

[Staggering on]

If it hasn't ever happened you haven't played enough gigs yet! It happens to everyone eventually and how you recover is the important part. At a gig a few months ago I was part way through singing a song that I  first heard as a kid in 1959 and I have been playing in jazz bands and singing for years and suddenly the second verse was completely gone from my head so I developed a very bad coughing fit that lasted long enough to get to the next verse and get back on track.The people listening didn't even seem to notice but the the rest of the band were all doubled over laughing and still give me a hard time when we do the song and start telling me that the memory thing is the first thing to go at my age(72) but of course I pretend I can't hear them. 😉

[solo4652]

If I forget something, it's normally right at the start of a song. Thinks: "How does this song start?..." I confess that I do use notes hidden amongst the drummer's cymbals on a music stand. A quick glance, and I'm usually good to go.

The other occasion |I forget something is when two adjacent songs have similar chord sequences. Confusion sets in immediately. That's why I generally request that such songs are seperated in the setlist by a couple of dissimilar songs. Again - quick glance at my covert notes, and I'm usually back on track.

[Skinnyman]

It happens to us all and i now have the set list on a tablet with a memory jogger by each song.

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, Stylon Pilson said:

Yes, this has happened to me once or twice in situations where I've been overconfident.

At rehearsals only but this is true for me. If i'm too confident and not thinking about what i'm playing or about to play.

On occasion at rehearsals the singer will state the song we are about to play and i draw a blank until the guitarist starts the song. I've had it the other way round more often where guitarist starts playing the intro and for the love of me i can't remember what the damned song is. 

That's why i like a set list even for rehearsals and you simply work your way thru it top to bottom. Everyone knows exactly what song is next. Not every band or musician is that strict with order of songs.

I know one local bass player who has played with some decent bands that started one song when the band played another. They were the bands own songs too. He told me that no-one even noticed. 

Dave

[PaulWarning]

I do have mental blocks when playing bass, but I've had a mental block trying to think of one.

 I also do open mics playing acoustic guitar and singing, on one occasion I was asked to go up and sing Copperhead Rd with no guitar, made a right mess of the lyrics, it's surprising how certain things trigger the memory and get you out of jail at the last moment when you've got a mental block

 

[Bassman Sam]

10 hours ago, markdavid said:

I had a situation last night where I was playing live and I was confident before hand as I knew all the songs so I thought "this will be a breeze" , when I went on to play we played this song that is dead simple, a total of about 4 chords with a few bass fills here and there, however when we started this song my mind went totally blank for about the first 30 seconds of the song and I basically stayed on A for pretty much the entire 30 seconds, a little embarrassing for such a simple song, in retrospect I probably should have just played nothing for those 30 seconds and come in at the chorus, anyone else have moments like this ?

I found that giving up the 10 pints and a couple of spliffs before going on stage cured this. Before that, I couldn't find the stage, never mind forgetting the bass line. 😀

[casapete]

Anyone else have trouble remembering keys? I rarely mess the song up, as long as I can remember what key it’s in! After a few dodgy starts I now use a set list behind the monitor with the keys on in bold ink. 

[tauzero]

I panic slightly and briefly, fluff a few notes, then stop and wait till I can get back in.

Mrs Zero once led us a right song and dance (so as to speak) when playing "Maria", the Blondie song (as opposed to any other Marias). She kept going to the wrong place, so we kept going round and round until I started singing the chorus that would take us out. If I hadn't, I think we'd still have been there. And then she got cross with me afterwards.

[2elliot]

Bass intro to the first song... on live radio! 

[Guest oZZma]

I'm terrified by the idea. And knowing how shy and anxious I am about anything like speak or do whatever else in public, I'm 100% sure it would happen and I would panic 

That's why I don't think I will ever gig (the other reason is that I'm not the kind of  person who will do a lot of "networking" to get known or find gigs)

Edited February 7, 2019 by oZZma

[mingsta]

I used to lose my concentration and/or have trouble getting in to the zone if we had a rushed setup or if something about the sound or monitoring wasn't quite right, but the more gigs I've done the more I just roll with it and accept that things don't have to be perfect. I've been known to drop a few notes when ladies infiltrate the band space and start grinding us, but that doesn't happen all that often. 

[Monkey Steve]

22 hours ago, kusee pee said:

It happens to me occasionally.  Normally when I'm playing a verse and can't remember what's coming next.  My strategy nowadays is to stop thinking and just let the hands remember when the time comes.  Works surprisingly often!

yeah, I sometimes get something similar - I'll be playing a bass line and can't "hear" what I'm going to play when that finishes.  But I've learned to trust muscle memory - by the time I get to the end of that section either it'll have come back to me, or my fingers will remember and my brain catches up "oh yeah, that's what happens now".  never had it affect a live performance (all my mistakes were badly playing stuff I could remember)

[ubit]

Yes. Happened to me a few times. We used to play losing my religion. We had played it for years. I knew it back to front. Then one night I could t remember how it went. I had to ask the guitarist what the first line in the lyrics. He told me, but I had forgotten the whole thing. It was a disaster. I had to pretend we had a tuning issue. Things is, I worried about it so much that it happened next time. Same song.  Then again next time. My band mates were getting cheesed off. I had to sit down and learn it again! I think we dropped it not long after. It can just hit you. Something you know so well and it’s just blank. 

[dmccombe7]

That's a bit of a nightmare when one particular song draws you a blank more than once. Maybe look for something to trigger the memory.

I tend to learn songs either by ear first then bass tab or manuscript if available to make sure i have it nailed. I'll write the music out as scribbled notes as and when i learn each section. Once all notes are done i rewrite the full bassline in legible notes or hand written bass manuscript. That way i've learned the song by ear or listening to it and i've also remembered my hand written bass sheet. I have 2 ways of remembering how a song goes. Not everyone's idea of learning but it works for me.

Dave 

Edited February 8, 2019 by dmccombe7

[ubit]

19 hours ago, mingsta said:

I used to lose my concentration and/or have trouble getting in to the zone if we had a rushed setup or if something about the sound or monitoring wasn't quite right, but the more gigs I've done the more I just roll with it and accept that things don't have to be perfect. I've been known to drop a few notes when ladies infiltrate the band space and start grinding us, but that doesn't happen all that often. 

Or the old classic. Pulling your mic stand away from you as you sing. That never gets old. Hilarious! 

[GarethFlatlands]

Yeah, worst one was completely blanking on the verse to Moonage Daydream on a decently paid, out of town gig. It's thankfully rare but I always run through any bits of songs I've fluffed recently before we go on now, and Moonage always gets a quick playthrough just to be sure. I feel like it's going to be replaced by Space Oddity now we've started doing that one.

[Stylon Pilson]

4 minutes ago, GarethFlatlands said:

Yeah, worst one was completely blanking on the verse to Moonage Daydream on a decently paid, out of town gig.

I'm a... thingy wotsit,

I'm a dooby dooby dada for you...

S.P.

[super al]

First time I had a proper big blank was forgetting the middle 8 on 'Californication', the song plods along and I suddenly thought "middle 8's coming up soon and I haven't got a scooby as to how it goes!". We must've played it at a dozen gigs before then without incident.

Same band did 'Reptilia' and when the song breaks down to just guitar the guitarist would mess it up without fail at gigs. It became a running theme, Tim's jazz solo!

Played in a trio and the guitarist was excellent,a great player but song structures were his Achilles heel. He wanted to play 'American Idiot' so we rehearsed it loads and it was ok but made me apprehensive. Started fine at the first gig but he soon lost the plot and we just ended up playing the riff in a never ending loop with no vocals! The drummer and I looking at each other and shrugging our shoulders a lot.

These all happened a long time ago thankfully but the memories are still quite vivid 😳

[ubit]

We used to play with far too loud a back line. Small bar with a full drum kit. You can’t hear yourself , so you think I’ll just turn up slightly. I used to find that it became a wall of noise. I’ve since learned that our ears blank out certain frequencies when subjected to constant loud noise. It used to be so annoying for me. As I’m the singer, I would be moving my fingers and hoping I was playing the right notes. It’s amazing how much you need to be able to hear yourself when you are playing. We dabbled with monitors, but really a quieter stage sound should have been the way to go. 

[Hobbayne]

John Lennon had one on the famous Rooftop Gig in January 1969, where during "Don't Let Me Down" (his own song!) he completely forgets the words and instead sings something like "And no reelesa godyebloog jegoobmy". You can see Ringo cracking up at this.

[dmccombe7]

3 hours ago, Hobbayne said:

John Lennon had one on the famous Rooftop Gig in January 1969, where during "Don't Let Me Down" (his own song!) he completely forgets the words and instead sings something like "And no reelesa godyebloog jegoobmy". You can see Ringo cracking up at this.

Class........when your singer can ad-lib like that.

Dave

[bobbytodd]

when brain fart strikes my go to move is volume down and pretend the lead has failed or bass has packed in and join in once I know where I am in the song. when asked dodgy lead/volume pot

Edited February 9, 2019 by bobbytodd

[Paul S]

6 hours ago, Hobbayne said:

John Lennon had one on the famous Rooftop Gig in January 1969, where during "Don't Let Me Down" (his own song!) he completely forgets the words and instead sings something like "And no reelesa godyebloog jegoobmy". You can see Ringo cracking up at this.

I always wondered what the inspiration was behind the lyrics for 'Come Together' - now I know!  He simply forgot the words