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How many mistakes per gig do you make?


The Dark Lord

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[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1354014195' post='1880736']
in my band we all make mistakes, hopefully not at the same time, the guitard's the worse cause he doesn't practice enough and drinks to much, in the last 2 gigs the worse ones were when the singer forgot to sing the last verse in Tommy Gun so the rest of us didn't know whether to go into the outro or not so we just sort of stopped and the guitard had no volume at the start of the set after I'd said everybody "ready and turned on". But guess what? the crowd loved it had a laugh at our expense and enjoyed the gigs, so we keep getting away with it, some people actually say it makes the gig more 'live'
[/quote]

That happens in one of my bands, The Daves, every now and then, but as I`m usually at the mic, I just sing whatevers meant to be sung and the singer then carries on, it makes it look like it`s planned. Or it would, if he didn`t have an "I`m a fool, i can`t remember the words" grin on his face.

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Our guitard has a habit of starting Long Train Running in the wrong key so when I do my massive powerslide up to the top E (D string - correct key) and then a run down to bottom E, it sounds like[b] I've[/b] had a visit from the f*ckup fairies, not him.

Attractive dancing girls in front of us are my downfall when it comes to playing 'differently correct' notes

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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1354018205' post='1880799']
That happens in one of my bands, The Daves, every now and then, but as I`m usually at the mic, I just sing whatevers meant to be sung and the singer then carries on, it makes it look like it`s planned. Or it would, if he didn`t have an "I`m a fool, i can`t remember the words" grin on his face.
[/quote]
tell him to use our singers usual technique, he plays around with his mic pretending there's a fault

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At least one per song - and probably a lot more if you include things that are musically correct but not actually what I ought to have been playing. However in over 30 years of gigging I don't think I've ever messed up so badly that it's brought the song to a halt.

As others have said it doesn't matter. I've now learnt not to acknowledge mine or anyone else's mistakes. They are over as soon as you play the next right note and long forgotten by the end of the next bar.

Edited by BigRedX
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I make stacks of them all the time, but as Chrisb says, it's how you get out of them that matters. Our fiddle player in the original outfit makes them and can cover them well, but he rarely catches me out. It always makes me laugh and I always mutter "I heard that"!
From a band I was in a fair while ago, me and the sax player had a great system of how good a gig was; if you can count the mistakes on one hand, that's a good gig. If you need two hands to count the mistakes then you need to practice a little more!

Pretty much all my gigs are one hand gigs. Once and only once I've had a no hand gig.



Dan

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[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1354021065' post='1880858']
Wrong notes happen all the time. Don't worry about them.

Coming in with the wrong intro is what I call a mistake. I did that last gig. Whoops. Oh Well.
[/quote]

I think I heard somewhere that in the early years of Yes, Rick Wakeman used to go around the band and tell them the first song just before the show, except he would tell them all a different song!

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Oh dear - a couple of cringeworthy moments spring to mind. I remember coming in after 4 bars of lead guitar with a massive power chord... in the wrong key! :( I had no idea what was going on in my head... we just stopped - laughed a lot - and re-started the whole thing. The audience seemed cool about it (charity gig - forgiving crowd!)

Oh, and playing almost the entire 'killing me softly' in F# minor rather than F minor, but funnily enough it didn't seem to be a problem until the end of the first chorus where it sounded bad enough that i worked out the problem.

Funnily enough, the band didn't ask me to pack my bags.... :)

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If you dissect it to the nth degree I'm probably along with BRX around the 1 per song mark, depends how regularly I'm gigging a particular song. However these will be occasional duff notes rather than, say, playing the whole thing in the wrong key or mixing up verses and choruses. There are mistakes and then there are MISTAKES. Never ceases to amaze me how often I've come off stage feeling I've had a shocker and even reasonably muso savvy mates have enjoyed the gig and are unaware of my gaffs.

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Thank you all for being so honest. I'm finding this discussion thread really helpful and encouraging.

I would agree that a) I must make a small number of fluffs per gig B) most of them are hardly noticed by the rest of the band c) very exceptional ones are noticed by the audience. I'm my own harshest critic.

In our band it is the drummer often who makes more obvious glitches, the keyboard player failing to change the transposition setting on her keyboard or the male vocalist who fluffs a vocal line.We all occasionally get the tempo wrong when we start a song - sometimes too slow but sometimes too fast.

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At least a couple per gig, but considering most of our numbers are 3 minutes or less I spose thats not so bad, just have to keep a straight face. Or smile if its a really big one that might get noticed, but usually they dont if you can find your way out of them. I can never remember which number is which, so I get distracted by looking at the set list and trying to remember the right intros in advance.

Have to admit at our last gig, I cut a whole verse and a chorus out of 'Stupidity', which is only about 1 min 40 long to start with....

Edited by BILL POSTERS
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[quote name='vsmith1' timestamp='1354026287' post='1881004']
We all occasionally get the tempo wrong when we start a song - sometimes too slow but sometimes too fast.
[/quote]
I'm the one that shouts 1234 Ramones style for some songs, and like the Ramones we quite often set of at an entirely different speed, it's one of our few talents

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[i]I very rarely make mistakes on bass with the trio as it's all simple covers stuff. However, as I'm lead vocalist, I have a tendancy to sing the verses in the wrong order. Much to the confusion of the others in the band. Especially when the last verse (normally sung as first verse if I'm having a bad night) leads the song into the finish :lol: We have actually done a one verse version of a couple of numbers.[/i]

[i]Still, we laugh about it and so do the audience. Need to able to laugh at yourself so I don't beat myself up about it.[/i]

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I'd rate my bands as good to very good and all the "Charlie Chaplin" moments don't detract on gigs.

Recording is different (although that never bothered Dylan, Hendrix or any of my Blues heroes).

We made a live CD with the duo but the guitarist was so worried about mistakes that we recorded it in the studio. He was right. A lot of drop-ins were needed (but not from me).

I was quite proud that when the soul band made a live CD the drums, bass and keys (his first gig with us) were kept, while the vocals and guitar had to be re recorded in the studio. Yay!

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A fluff or two if I am having a bad night..which might just mean as much as me coming off a note.

I wouldn't be able count mistakes per gig... more like 3 gigs per mistake or somesuch.
I guess it depends on what is a mistake..?? a wrong turning or section..?? Not many of those noticable ones

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