Members crisis Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 per gig are acceptable. I dont have a lot of experience gigging, we have only been doing private shows for about 18 months and I have had no real prior experience. I practice our songs (covers) almost every night and we jam mostly once a week. I know (and am mostly over) that I have to expect a few mistakes and generally no one seems to hear them. Yet last Satuday I felt like {censored} after the gig despite the generosity of the crowd because I stuffed up so much. I need to not feel so bad after a show or will loose the enjoyment I get from playing.Got the number for a good analyst? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shellpink Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 1-800-WHOCARES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Krashpad Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Bottom line, it ain't the mistakes, it's how well you "cover." Mistakes will happen to the best of players. I ain't the best of players, but I am pretty damn good at covering. 90% of your audience is not going to realize a mistake's been made if it's covered well. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jimi Ray Halen Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Consistency is one of the things that a lot of musicians have to develop. My teacher is one of the most consistently excellent players I've ever seen in my life. I'm not. So I asked him about that and he said that it took him years and years of steady gigging to be able to play at a consistently high level every gig. Which made me feel better. And it's true. That being said, I've heard him hit a clam before. He ain't serving them up like a seafood restaurant but everbody makes mistakes. It's what makes us humans and not machines. And unless you hit a note that makes dogs howl, shatter glasses, and curdles milk I don't think most people even really notice. Just do it again like you meant to do it. And don't make a disgusted face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zookie Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Originally posted by Brian Krashpad Bottom line, it ain't the mistakes, it's how well you "cover." Yep. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that. Time and time again I've been surprised no one else heard that clunker. Not to sound Pollyanna about it, but an audience really does want to like you. They want you to succeed and they will give the benefit of the doubt. Some people are impressed you had the nerve to get up on stage in the first place. Others are impressed you can form a C chord. And all of them have come out that evening to have a good time. When you have a brain spasm and land on the wrong chord, just get your fingers back to the right one and keep going. No one will notice. If your band has a total meltdown and the song just stops, step up to the mic and make a self-effacing joke about it. Stay positive and you'll keep them on your side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Everyone makes mistakes gigging. A couple of tips. If you're lost in the song but the band is still going strong, cut your volume way back or pretend to play till you catch up. Not playing anything will sound better than playing wrong. It'll also prevent the rest of band from getting distracted. If you hear a band mate mess up, try to tune it out and keep the groove going. It's easy to let one person train wreck the song if you start trying to follow them. Follow the singer. If (s)he forgets the lyrics, repeat the verse or just stay on the chord and wait for it to come around again. If they skip a verse or leave out some lyrics, follow where they are in the song and the audience probably won't know. At least it will be tight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members worthyjoe Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Also, when someone goofs up do not give them a look and make sure they know to do the same for you. Like everyone is saying, non-musicians will not notice 90% of mistakes so there is no need to alert them to something. Just be cool and go out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Singin' Dave Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 +1 - mistakes happen. We are human, not digi machines, and this is part of what makes live music fun. The advice above is great and i would not add anything to it except for keep the groove and the energy going, forget about and laugh at that clam you just hit or that lyric you muffled and RAWK on. Very few will notice a mistake, but many will notice if you let it effect your overall performance on stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members digwhisper Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 That depends on what kind of mistake you're making. My keyboard player (who sings most of the lead vocals) will sometimes hit a bad note or strike the wrong chord while she's playing and singing but she's really quick to recover and for most it's not a massively noticable thing. A drummer I work with has a habit of missing huge cues. On a song that say the guitar starts and the rest of the band comes in later he'll miss the cue and the rest of the band will come in with him sitting there looking silly. I make a lot of little mistakes every night where I mis finger a chord or through in a couple of jazzy passing tones in the middle of a solo if I'm rockin' out too much. We all make some minor and major mistakes from time to time. How these mistakes effect the rest of the band and the performance as a whole is pretty important. If you're making little quick mistakes that probably only you notice than you can get away with a ton of them. If you're bringing the whole song to screaching trainwreak then you probably don't won't to do those more than once in while. Also, you have to consider the style and performance you're doing. If you're playing in a musician heavy situation like jazz or prog rock or something than you're not going to want to screw up as much as you might get away with in a Sunday night jam we're you're poking out Brown Eyed Girl again for the millionth time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.Bagley Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 My wife tells me she know when every mistake happens. She'll hear something and questions if that was quite right or not... Then she sees me smile. There it is - a Mistake! And the band plays on. When I don't smile she's pretty sure we ment to do it that way. - Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Greazygeo Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 I think as far as mistakes go, gtrs and bass players can get away with alot....vocalists, not so much since that is what alot of people pay attention to....drums, if they make a mistake it's noticed right away....dropping beats and fills that don't fit the measures, those type of things are not good.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MDLMUSIC Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Some thoughts about musical mistakes... If you don't acknowledge it, most people won't even catch it. Just keep going. If you hit a wrong note once, it's a mistake. If you hit it twice, it's your personal style. If the mistake is so jarring that it brings the song to a complete stop, just do what I always do. Point at the drummer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Originally posted by worthyjoe Also, when someone goofs up do not give them a look and make sure they know to do the same for you. Like everyone is saying, non-musicians will not notice 90% of mistakes so there is no need to alert them to something. Just be cool and go out of it. I think sometimes if there's an obvious mistake (singer forgets the words, guitarist breaks a string, messes up the solo, etc) it can be funny to make a quick comment about it. I've had that happen a few times and the crowd can get into the making fun of the person who screwed up. As long as you do it in a friendly jab kinda way instead of a "hey jerk, you screwed up!" kinda way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brassic Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 The best advice I've had so far in my vast experience of gigging (4 and counting) was given to me by a friend/guitarist with many more years experience - basically if I screw up really badly, I should just throw my arms up in the air and make the devil horns. By the time I've done that, it'll be far enough into the next bar to be able to recover and everyone will just think it was all for show. Funnily enough, I found myself doing this very thing during the set that night. People later came up and said that I had "great energy". Ha ha. If the mistake is so jarring that it brings the song to a complete stop, just do what I always do. Point at the drummer. We use a drum machine. Damnit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vanlatte Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Originally posted by MDLMUSIC If you hit a wrong note once, it's a mistake. If you hit it twice, it's your personal style. I thought it was: "If you hit a wrong note once, it's a mistake. If you hit it twice, it's Jazz" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MDLMUSIC Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Originally posted by vanlatte I thought it was: "If you hit a wrong note once, it's a mistake. If you hit it twice, it's Jazz" My definition of jazz has always been..."Four guys playing four different songs at the same time". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members anonpostguy Posted October 4, 2005 Members Share Posted October 4, 2005 Depends if you're an entertainer or a musician. Imagine these two are at opposite ends of the spectrum. You find your balance somewhere between the two. When I feel like being more of an entertainer I end up making a lot more mistakes. When I'm in more of a musician's groove I make less mistakes. Kiss Alive is a perfect example of that. That's why it wasn't exactly "Alive". It's always a compromise between showmanship or musicality. Pick where you want to be and don't sweat the mistakes. The audience didn't notice. And never apologize to anyone for what you may perceive to be a poor performance. If someone comes up to you and compliments your show, don't say "Yeah, but it would of been better if..." Or "I've been fighting this awful cold so my singing was off" etc. This only brings people down. Keep professional, people are buying into the illusion that entertainment creates, don't blow it for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crisis Posted October 5, 2005 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2005 Originally posted by Jimi Ray Halen Consistency is one of the things that a lot of musicians have to develop. My teacher is one of the most consistently excellent players I've ever seen in my life. I'm not. So I asked him about that and he said that it took him years and years of steady gigging to be able to play at a consistently high level every gig. Which made me feel better. And it's true. That being said, I've heard him hit a clam before. He ain't serving them up like a seafood restaurant but everbody makes mistakes. It's what makes us humans and not machines. And unless you hit a note that makes dogs howl, shatter glasses, and curdles milk I don't think most people even really notice. Just do it again like you meant to do it. And don't make a disgusted face. Gold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orfalot Posted October 5, 2005 Members Share Posted October 5, 2005 Its not like we can choose when we will or won't make mistakes. However if you start the song out good and end it good then the mistakes in the middle seem to vanish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KeysBear Posted October 5, 2005 Members Share Posted October 5, 2005 Our band tries our best to stay loose and doesn't care at all about an occasional mistake. We don't really make mistakes that often and when one happens it's usually because one of us got space out for a second or distracted. Laugh it off and keep going because most crowds can't tell the difference. We have a tradition of trying to play at least one song per gig that we've never even rehearsed. Sometimes that song will be the highlight of the evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Matter-Eater Lad Posted October 5, 2005 Members Share Posted October 5, 2005 My all time favorite mistake is when there are two guitarists and say the other guy is playing a barred D chord and I'm not looking and I hit it a 1/2 step lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ulank Posted October 5, 2005 Members Share Posted October 5, 2005 Originally posted by MDLMUSIC If you don't acknowledge it, most people won't even catch it. Just keep going. Indeed. If you get all pissy on stage and draw attention to the fact that you made a mistake, then people will notice it. The nice thing about live music is the audience can't go back and rewind to hear what you just played. So just plug ahead, forget about it and it will undoubtedly be forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crisis Posted October 6, 2005 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2005 Originally posted by KeysBear We have a tradition of trying to play at least one song per gig that we've never even rehearsed. Sometimes that song will be the highlight of the evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cortfan Posted October 6, 2005 Members Share Posted October 6, 2005 If I don't remember the right note, I just skip it, and blame it on equipment malfunction, and give the soundperson a funny look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ss454 Posted October 6, 2005 Members Share Posted October 6, 2005 {censored} happens and you just have to accept that. There have only been a few times when we REALLY caved in on a song and the best thing to do is STOP...and have the singer say "Well we really butchered that...lets kick that one off again!" Most of the time when that happens you collect your thoughts and tear it up...at least that's how it worked for us. You will mess up several times in a set that's just guarneteed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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