To the Pros - How Often Do You **** Up?

[thisnameistaken]

So we all make mistakes, for a variety of reasons, but some of us here make a living as professionals and - while I'm sure their musical knowledge and potential application is way broader than what most of us can offer - I find myself wondering if they f*** up as often as the rest of us do?

It's got to be hard if your work is routinely stuff that you haven't rehearsed or stuff you don't really care about all that much. So my guess is that you make more mistakes in those situations. But then often you'll be playing in a situation where you don't have to look the part or have any of that image burden, so maybe there are less mistakes because there's less to worry about.

For the record I think I make at least one obvious mistake per gig. And I'm playing originals, so an obvious mistake has to be fairly obvious! Come on, Pros, how often do you manage a fully clean gig while still being bang on the money musically?

[Pete Academy]

The more I concentrate, the more mistakes I make. Relaxing is the key.

[Delberthot]

i drift in and out of my own wee world when I'm playing and sometimes have to think where in the song I am when I come out of it.

I also have a tendency to try difficult stuff on the spur of the moment during a gig which may or may not work. I never think of my widdling in terms of major, minor etc - i just play on the fretboard where I think will sound right and most of the time its right.

I do make mistakes but can't remember the last time I did though so it must've been a good few months ago. The good thing is that doing mainly weddings and functions, the crowd tend not to notice. We usually have a laugh between ourselves if one of us make a mistake

[chris_b]

Accuracy is helped when you are playing within your capabilities. That means that you are relaxed, confident and able to think while you are playing, so you are not at the limit.

A long time ago I was told that you don't practise to get it right; you practise so that you can't get it wrong. All this comes easier for some people but getting to a good standard usually involves a lot of hard work and dedication for a large part of your playing career.

[OutToPlayJazz]

Most of my jobs are reading jobs, so yes I do drop the occasional gaff here and there, but they're thankfully very rare.

I was out last Friday with the Nick Ross Orchestra (an awesome big band formed from the founding members of the Sid Lawrence Band) and I was in full sight reading mode, pulling off fully notated pieces at up to 200+ bpm that I'd never seen before. There was one little solo passage that no one had warned me about and I had to do a twenty second "flailing around roughly in the key", but thankfully that was it. On the plus side, the band members are still going on about how awesome the "new" bass player is and how I drive the band's swing like nothing else, so it's all good.

This week I'm doing "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Lyceum, so it's an easier job and the challenge there is not to drift off. There are a lot of time changes going on, but the music is thankfully easy.

The next challenge is this coming weekend I'm with the Jeff Hooper Band on the Strictly Come Dancing tour for the first time. More sight reading, but it should be easier than last week!

At the end of the day, we all drop the odd musical gaff, but what people really notice is the overall musicality of the whole. We're only human after all!

Rich.

Edited March 10, 2010 by OutToPlayJazz

[thumperbob 2002]

Yeah when I was a pro there were always gaffs going on- but really none that the audience would notice- depended upon how bored I was or how many pints I had had that night. Drinking and being bored are related.

I think there are real differences between true pros like Out to Play Jazz who have a real solid reading background and someone like me who, whilst I think I am pretty good, would never think of doing one nights solid reading. Being in a successful band where your living depends upon it is a professional job, whatever the difficulty of the material.... However there are pros and pros.

May I mention that I was pro for 4 years that was 14 years ago- wow!!!

Bob

[bassace]

Well, first of all, playing bass you are not quite as exposed as lead trumpet for instance. So a few gaffes can go unnoticed perhaps. After 40 years I still occasionally fluff codas. eg the band stops on 3 and I stop on 4. Trouble is, right from school, I had and still have the concentration of a gnat.

[lowdown]

For me it's all about focus and discipline, and of course confidence.
Focus for when you are depping,or recording.
and discipline if you are in the pit on a long running show, its easy to get bored playing the
same thing 8 times a week. [ so when you get the chance to dep it out and do some other gig - do it!]

If you are depping for the first time or two, you will get away with the odd clam.
If on the other hand you are on a regular show/gig and you keep droping clams,
you will start to p**s of MD's and other muso's,

Its the same in any profession - keep f**ing up and that equals the P45...

Garry

[dudewheresmybass]

mistakes will happen, but thankfully they don't seem to happen too often.
it doesn't seem to affect my bookings though, so i must be doing something right!
what i might class as a mistake might very well go unnoticed by others. I find i am always my own worst critic.

[woodster]

[quote name='lowdown' post='770134' date='Mar 10 2010, 10:15 AM']For me it's all about focus and discipline, and of course confidence.
Focus for when you are depping,or recording.
and discipline if you are in the pit on a long running show, its easy to get bored playing the
same thing 8 times a week. [ so when you get the chance to dep it out and do some other gig - do it!]

If you are depping for the first time or two, you will get away with the odd clam.
If on the other hand you are on a regular show/gig and you keep droping clams,
you will start to p**s of MD's and other muso's,

Its the same in any profession - keep f**ing up and that equals the P45...

Garry[/quote]


+1000

[bassninja]

Isn't the skill in turning the 'mistake' into something musical? Isn't that right, Jimmy Page?

...and I don't necessarily mean repeat the 'honker' 3 times, louder each time in the hope that it will sound 'out there' or 'inspired'. You're only ever a semitone away from the diatonic...

[lowdown]

[quote name='bassninja' post='770378' date='Mar 10 2010, 01:52 PM']Isn't the skill in turning the 'mistake' into something musical? Isn't that right, Jimmy Page?

...and I don't necessarily mean repeat the 'honker' 3 times, louder each time in the hope that it will sound 'out there' or 'inspired'. You're only ever a semitone away from the diatonic...[/quote]


You can never turn a turd into a Strawberry.
Now that would be a skill.


Garry

[bassninja]

[quote name='lowdown' post='770495' date='Mar 10 2010, 03:04 PM']You can never turn a turd into a Strawberry.
Now that would be a skill.


Garry[/quote]



I'm suggesting you can still stick sparklers in it and cover it in glitter so it looks less... er... turdy.

[dudewheresmybass]

or you could put a flag in it

[Doddy]

If I'm on a high pressure gig,I am a lot less likely to make a mistake than if I was playing a small laid back
gig where I've played the set loads. I like the pressure of having to get it right-like sight reading in front of
2000 people or something.In them kind of situations I always feel like I raise my game higher and make no
mistakes,whereas if I'm doing a small pub set,my mind might wander a little more than it should at times and I
might make some mistakes.
Pro players make mistakes like everyone else,the difference is that they can get out of them more easily.

[tom1946]

Our keyboard player says that I am the only person who knows I've made a mistake, he makes the obvious ones thankfully.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='tom1946' post='772102' date='Mar 11 2010, 09:04 PM']Our keyboard player says that I am the only person who knows I've made a mistake, he makes the obvious ones thankfully. [/quote]

Yeah the other night our front man made such a monumental cock-up that anything the rest of us did was totally inconsequential. Really takes the pressure off when something like that happens.

Although if I actually [i]had[/i] fallen over and taken him with me it probably would've outdone him.