That old problem of missing notes when playing

[Graham56]

I watched my mate's band play a quiet cafe-style gig last night. Towards the end of the set they introduced a new song, Taylor Swift's Shake it Off. And they had a communal band-wide brain fart and couldn't get the riff going. They took three attempts then moved on to the next song. 

 

They handled it brilliantly though, with lots of humour and asking the audience if anyone knew how to play it. When they finished, people asked them to have another go. And this time they nailed it. Got the biggest cheer of the night too.

[Chienmortbb]

WE have two Beatles songs in our usual set list and a few gigs ago started the second set with I Want To Hold Your Hand, Rhythm  guitarist played Eight Days A Week. As he is the first to criticize any mistakes, we all had a quite smile to ourselves. 

[ezbass]

47 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

WE have two Beatles songs in our usual set list and a few gigs ago started the second set with I Want To Hold Your Hand, Rhythm  guitarist played Eight Days A Week. As he is the first to criticise any mistakes, we all had a quite smile to ourselves. 

As previously mentioned, I’ve done this with The Who.

[Skybone]

Keep practicing, but if you do miss notes or whatever, just keep playing and pick up the song as quick as you can. Most of the time, no one will notice. If you do mess up at a gig, then don't make a fuss about it or show people you've messed up (shaking your head or pulling faces etc.), laugh it off and enjoy the show.

 

The only person who'll give you a hard time about it is you. 

[Woodinblack]

19 minutes ago, ezbass said:

As previously mentioned, I’ve done this with The Who.

 

I have done that many times in my last group with 'ever fallen in love' and 'teenaged kicks' - they always merged into one with me!

[SumOne]

There are plenty ot trite phrases for this, everything from 'practice makes perfect' through to 'Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order'.

 

.... I guess there is a middle ground where you strive to be better but don't take it badly when your expectations were set too high.

 

 

[tauzero]

It helps to be aware of what you've done. If you keep making the same mistake, you need to work on it. Generally it's a one-off. I have one song I need to do more work on as I keep stumbling over a couple of notes, everything else seems OK.

[Stub Mandrel]

Slightly different mistake last night... rhythm guitarist organised the gig... and told us wrong venue! Luckily right place was only 15 minutes away.

[asingardenof]

On 06/12/2024 at 15:03, gjones said:

I played a whole song once in the key of C.

 

It should have been played in the key of B.

 

Nobody noticed (not even me).

 

Although the drummer did give me a funny look.

Done that, I knew something was off throughout but couldn't put my finger on it until the penny dropped a day or two later

[Ed_S]

I used to kick myself for more obvious (to me) mistakes, but then I saw a live festival set from a band I like, where the bassist butchered the key change at the end of the encore song. It was obvious and they literally only got it back on the held last note. As uncomfortable as I found it to listen to, and as much as I felt a bit bad for the guy, I'm glad they didn't just cut the encore off that video because it hammered home to me that not only can you still royally stuff up a song you've played at every gig for the last 12 years, it can be the fist-in-the-air moment, it can be recorded in HD and viewed over 650,000 times, and even then nobody will give a damn enough to say anything about it in the comments. I've found it quite freeing to know that I'll try to go easy on myself for any mistakes I make going forward.

 

Last gig I played was a really solid one for me personally, but the band as a whole had a couple of blips. One where the keys were still on transpose, which made no difference to me as I play by ear, but all I could do was give the guitarist the 'watch out' look and play index-finger-only for a couple of bars to try and show him where we'd ended up before he had to come in ...and then hope the singers were still ok 4 semitones up. Went fine, but would have been an instant wreck (seemingly of my making) had I stuck doggedly to playing it where we'd rehearsed it. The other was an intro that for some reason one singer just couldn't pitch so she was perfectly out of tune for the first verse. Every fibre of me wanted to follow her and make it sound right, but the keys were sticking doggedly to playing it where we'd rehearsed it, so that one just had to be a bit clenchy until the other singer came in. Some you can cover.. some you can't.

[BassTool]

There's me thinking I was the only one to mess up regularly - pleased to hear I'm not alone 🤭

 

My clangers are a standing joke amongst my band mates, and it's not often I can get through a gig without hitting a bummer or three 😖

 

OP asks how do we cope?

 

In my case, without a care in the world 😉 Playing covers for  almost 50 years, I've been getting away with mediocre for long enough to get used to it 🤣

 

 

[ubit]

We played at a 40th party a good few years ago. It was in a barn out in the country and the electrics were pretty dodgy.

 

My Ampeg SVT 2 valve amp kept cutting out. I would play for thirty seconds and it would stop for about ten or twenty seconds and so on.

 

I was also the singer so it was really off putting.

 

We took a break and a number of people approached us and said how great it was.

 

I couldn't believe it. I realised then that drunk people just need a beat and a recognisable melody and they are happy.

 

It didn't matter to them that the bass was cutting in and out.

[musicbassman]

57 minutes ago, Ed_S said:

but the keys were sticking doggedly to playing it where we'd rehearsed it

Oh yes, I've played with these types of people just too many times. Doggedly stick to the script even though it's b.obvious the singer has either skipped a line or two, or is singing completely out of their range.......

I did a dep gig a couple of years ago where the band had 'Rhythm Stick' on the setlist. In F, as the original. Not the easiest line to play, and not helped by the newly recruited guitarist playing it in E from the off. He was on the other side of the stage and no amount of arm waving and gesticulations would make him look in my direction. Poor front singer wasn't sure what to do. When we took a break I asked the gitard whether he'd realised he was in the wrong key - he said thought it had sounded a bit odd, but he hadn't changed to the correct key as he thought 'people might have noticed'  🥺

[BassTractor]

Dutch classical pianist Daniël Wayenberg, after cöcking up during a relatively light-hearted Sunday afternoon concert, went down on his knees and crawled under the grand piano to pick up the missed notes, to then throw those notes back into the piano and play the piece from the start again  -  -  playing well, this time.
The audience lurved it. 

Edited December 9 by BassTractor

[Mickeyboro]

I once tried to play four and five stringed basses in the same set - managing to be a consistent semitone out on the newly acquired latter! 
 

No b@stard noticed as far as I am aware, but I’ve never tried it again. 😂

[Mickeyboro]

On 06/12/2024 at 12:21, ezbass said:

Last weekend the band launched into The Who’s Substitute, whilst I decided to play I Can’t Explain. It took me almost an entire verse to work out why it sounded wrong  

That sort of mistake could happen anyway, anyhow, anywhere…😂

[Dan Earp]

I’m relatively new to bass playing, coming from keys/piano. I make mistakes all the time, though they are reducing. I have two observations 
firstly, I never stay in a band that insists that there is only one right way to play a song. If doing a stones number, the singer doesn’t sound like Mick Jagger and no one complains. So my mantra is get the essence of the song, and success is tapping feet or hands, and singing along, a and in  extremis for a pub blues rock band, dancing along

Secondly, to me  timing is far more important to concentrate on, with a simpler line, rather than chase after a ‘right’ set of notes that are ever so slightly out. 
combine the two points to say you should do your thing well and be proud and not some one else’s thing not so well

finally, although I’m all to aware of my mistakes, the recordings sound surprisingly good, much better than my feelings at the time…

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, BassTool said:

OP asks how do we cope?

I just move on in the sure and certain knowledge that no one died, no kittens were harmed, no one probably noticed anyway and it’ll happen again eventually (and again and again…).

[Buddster]

I play all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, someone had to say it

[chris_b]

On 08/12/2024 at 15:22, Stub Mandrel said:

Slightly different mistake last night... rhythm guitarist organised the gig... and told us wrong venue! Luckily right place was only 15 minutes away.

 

I've done that. I didn't bother to read  the instructions(!!) and turned up at the cricket club. The gig had been moved, 6 months before, 2 miles down the road to the rugby club!!

[Mickeyboro]

44 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

I've done that. I didn't bother to read  the instructions(!!) and turned up at the cricket club. The gig had been moved, 6 months before, 2 miles down the road to the rugby club!!

Owzat for a balls-up? 🏉 🏏 

[chris_b]

3 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

Owzat for a balls-up? 🏉 🏏 

 

Sadly, I can beat that!

 

We had a gig in Basildon. A saturday afternoon slot at a festival. When I got there I couldn't find any sign of the event. I called the band leader and asked where they were. They said they were at  the festival site waiting for me.

 

I had gone to Blues At The Farm when I should have been at Blues On The Farm. . . . near freeking Chichester!!!!!

 

I got there 2 1/2 hours late after a 90mph ride around the M25, M23 and I think the A27. My blood pressure and stress levels were through the roof.

[Grahambythesea]

On 06/12/2024 at 13:54, SimonK said:

Couldn't help think of this thread as we played this tonight!

 

Granted the bass line pretty much is the tune but loads more notes than I'm used to!!

 

I thought that was a chord chart for the guitarist 🤣

[casapete]

12 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

I've done that. I didn't bother to read  the instructions(!!) and turned up at the cricket club. The gig had been moved, 6 months before, 2 miles down the road to the rugby club!!

In an old band we were playing for a wedding at York Racecourse, nice function suite and quite posh.

Seven of the band’s members arrived on time, but the guitarist was notable by his absence. Eventually

we got a phone call from him, wondering if the set up time had been put back. When told we were due 

to start playing soon, he asked if we were in a different part of the venue, and only then did it dawn on

him that he was at Beverley Racecourse, over 30 miles away!
We did the first set without him, nobody died…

[chris_b]

We did the first set without our drummer. He was stuck on the M25. IMO we sounded pretty good.

 

He arrived just before the second set and only had time to set up the bass drum, snare , hi-hat and 1 cymbal. With fewer things to hit, it was the best gig he played during his time with the band.