Mistakes playing gigs?

Juan Luis Vidal

Juan Luis Vidal

Not so new member
Joined
Jul 18, 2023
Messages
264
Location
Santander, Spain
I just saw this discussion on a Reddit sub and I think it is a good one.

How many mistakes do you make when playing live? Like a lot? a few ones? No mistakes at all?

I think I have never played a single song live that I could consider 100% perfect. You know, like straight out of the studio recording. From slight offbeat notes to wrong ones, or confusing the next section to be played (yeah, those were the big ones). Anyway I quickly learned to not make any faces and just shrug it off and keep playing. I had this cool bass player, which normally you don't hear that much in a live metal gig, that could not stop making faces or yelling "f**k" each time he screwed it up, even if nobody had noticed. We sent him to take some acting classes and it worked (a little bit of an exaggeration, but I guess you get the idea).

And what about solutions for solving / improving the issue? In my case just practicing practicing and practicing, until I could play the damn thing blindfolded and just from muscle memory.
 
I have a friend who has been a professional musician for 50 years, toured the world and plays impeccably. He once answered a similar question, after stating that there’s no such thing as perfect, that he “can’t be bothered by people who perceive my bold explorations of new tonalities as ‘wrong notes’, I just play on”. 😄 A bit of humor of course, but the mentality is right. Mistakes happen. Play on, 99.674% of the people didn’t notice anyway.
 
Juan Luis Vidal said:
I just saw this discussion on a Reddit sub and I think it is a good one.

How many mistakes do you make when playing live? Like a lot? a few ones? No mistakes at all?

I think I have never played a single song live that I could consider 100% perfect. You know, like straight out of the studio recording. From slight offbeat notes to wrong ones, or confusing the next section to be played (yeah, those were the big ones). Anyway I quickly learned to not make any faces and just shrug it off and keep playing. I had this cool bass player, which normally you don't hear that much in a live metal gig, that could not stop making faces or yelling "f**k" each time he screwed it up, even if nobody had noticed. We sent him to take some acting classes and it worked (a little bit of an exaggeration, but I guess you get the idea).

And what about solutions for solving / improving the issue? In my case just practicing practicing and practicing, until I could play the damn thing blindfolded and just from muscle memory.
Click to expand...
I’ve been playing live since 1972. (Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m still just a hack) At first, I made the faces, and even, on occasion, stopped the song and started over. Finally, a bit of maturity developed and I realized that most people don’t even notice the error (unless I do something stupid like make a face or stop playing). So I just recover quickly and keep going. If it’s a real boner, I often repeat it at the same spot with an expression like, “Yeah, I meant to do that”.
 
Do open mikes for a while. That’ll get you over your fear of making mistakes. Most of my big chances are in rehearsals or open mikes, that’s where I usually try to stretch. When it’s gig time, I try to focus on moving the crowd. I figure if you don’t want to do that, just stay home and play to the walls.
 
We had a small gig two weeks ago. I had two significant mistakes. One time our music was written in one key, and while a member of the audience was engaging me between songs. The leader told everybody to play it a different key. Of course I didn’t hear him, so when I hit my first cord, it was wrong.

Our music is written out as the words would be for a singer, but with chords listed and then just a word here and there like “solo -guitar” or “turn around-banjo” just so we know who does what solos where, etc. we were playing a new song that I had never played before, and they had played the previous gig that I was not at.. As we ended one chorus, there was “solo- mandolin “ written. Just as the last line ended the singer says “take it Howie. “ This may be a revelation to some of you but, Howie don’t play mandolin.

I looked at the mandolin player and he looked at me and by then I’m a two count behind where I should be playing. I jump in and start playing a solo. Then I get the double whammy. It was only supposed to be a turnaround so only two measures, I have launched into a solo and I’m playing away when all three singers start singing the next verse :eek:. I quickly pulled back to fill riffs and probably clearly showed some disgust although I tried to hide it lol.

I told him after the gig that if he would’ve just done it in the order it was written I would’ve heard the mandolin and realized it was only a turnaround, and would’ve been ready for my turn, but solo was written and he called me early so launched into a solo!

The very next day we played at church for special music. Because I am the soundman I have to let my assistant take the board and circle from the back of the building all the way around and come in the back of the stage during the song proceeding special music Song started with the rhythm guitar player launching into some chords he plays two measures and then I come in with a lead Melody riff for two measures and then the singing starts . He plays his two measures and I start playing and no sound is coming out. I quickly looked down and realized that I have not turned my atomic amplifier on. I quickly lean over and turn it on and wait for him to complete two measures and then I play my two measures Along with him and the singing starts. As I looked out, I saw several people are laughing because they knew what I had done. I guess it was very obvious when you’re standing up there in front of 1000 people playing, nothing comes out, then you frantically reach to the floor , stand up, and then start playing again.
 
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My guitar teacher believes in getting his students on stage with his band as soon as they are ready
He tells us we will make mistakes
but its normal Just dont ever stop playing
He teaches us how to watch him and pick back up if we get lost

It happens, Just dont stop!
 
We All Make Mistakes Of Some Sort But The Key Is Not Getting Hung Up On Them And Keep On Playing To The Next Note.

I Remember Years Ago Doing Something Completely Moronic (When I Look Back On It Now) And Somehow Pulled Off A Complete Miracle. I Had Just Gotten A Wireless Unit And Was All Excited To Have One. This Was Back In The Day When All The Guitar Theatrics Were Thought To Be Cool So I Couldn't Wait To Pull Some Off Now That I Wasn't Tied To A Guitar Cable Anymore. We Had A Gig Coming Up And I Knew I Was Going To Do Something (Stupid Most Likely), But Wasn't Sure Exactly What. I Got The Bright Idea That A Guitar Flip Would Be Cool Because I Saw It On MTV And Nobody Else Around Had Done It...LOL.

The Show Begins...We Were Weedly Weedlying Away At The Introduction And I Saw My Moment As The Song Was About To Begin But I Had Plenty Of Time. I Throw It Forward And It Swings Around And It Was A Hit. I Could Have Swung It Maybe 10% Harder To Easily Get It All The Way Around But It Was Fine How It Happened. The Final Song Ended With A Solo Part To It And Since The First Trick Went So Well I Figured I Would Do It Again But This Time Throw The Guitar Forward A Little Harder And The Guitar Could Be Stopped In Its Upright Position After The Rotation. Imagine Holding Your Guitar As High As You Can In The Air With Your Fretting Hand. That Was The Idea. I Would Flip It Around To End The Song/Show And Be In That Guitar God Position With Guitar Held High When It Was All Said And Done. It Was Time And I Let It Fly...I Probably Threw It A Little More Forcefully That My Extra 10% I Was Thinking And It Went Up And Never Came Back Around As The Strap Popped Off And The Guitar Luckily Shot Straight Up Above Me In The Air. I Had Already Been Looking Up After I Threw It To Be Ready For My Finale' And Saw My Guitar Going Up And Then Coming Down. Luckily It Came Down In The Upright Position I Was Set To Catch It In And Thankfully I Was Able To Catch It By The Neck Though The Final Pose In Reality Was Nothing Like I Had Imagined It. The Wireless Got Damaged From Smacking The Guitar. The Guitar Had A Little Chunk Taken Out Of It But Was Essentially Ok Playability Wise. I Still Have That Guitar. In The End It Looked Like Another Cool Move But In All Truth It Was One Of The Stupidest Things I Have Ever Done. Looking Back I Realize I Was Incredibly Lucky As It Could Have Easily Hit Somebody And Really Hurt Them. When You Are Young You Usually Don't Think About The Consequences Of Your "Brilliant Ideas." To This Day, Most Of The People I Know That Were At That Show Just Think I Threw The Guitar Up In The Air And Caught It. I Didn't Have The Heart To Admit That I Was Trying To Duplicate And Build On My First Dick Move.
 
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When I make mistakes playing (in studio or my limited live performances) I try to ensure a "professional recovery". We all make mistakes, even the greats, but how you recover from it is what separates the wheat from the chaff IMO! My most recent album "Real Notes" is titled that in part because it is me, in real time, playing real notes, without any corrections, no punch-ins, overdubs, no auto tuning, etc. So essentially a live performance with minimal studio effects. I did 83 takes of the album before I got one that I deemed to be "good enough IMO" for release. Of course there are still mistakes, but nothing that I found glaring and the mistakes made were recovered from in what I would say was a professional manner. That said, the whole album is nothing but cowboy chords so not difficult material, but when you are playing guitar, and singing, and playing the percussion, and switching the effects for both guitar and vocals, and monitoring the recording, there is a lot going on where mistakes can be made. If I would have played the album for a year straight, it would have been better and had less mistakes, but I need to move on rather than obsess with the flawless performance, which likely will NEVER materialize. In the live performances I have done, I have been able to not fall apart when mistakes are made as well, so I am not worried about myself in that environment either largely due to the fact that I am comfortable with making mistakes and ensuring that I move on without drama or pause ;~))

I will also note that, most of my mistakes on already learned material, happen when my mind wanders. When songs become ingrained, my mind will start thinking about general life stuff while I am in a song (because the song is so easy to play now), and that is 99% of the time when I make mistakes, because I am thinking about something that has nothing to do with what I am playing ;~(( Point is, stay in the moment, in the song and if other thoughts creep in while playing, get your mind out of that gutter and back into the moment!!!
 
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