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Location: Michigan | have you ever been playing live and forgotten the words to a song that you have performed hundreds or thousands of times before? if so how did you handle it ? peter looks totally confused and seems to be striving to think of the words but manages to keep his cool and play a little more and just start the song out one verse later.
ever had a worst case scenario and forget what chords or leads to a song that you start playing and mess up the rest of the people that your'e playing with and have to stop playing ?
i would bet some of you have some good stories about that happenning.
lets fess up and hear about them    GWB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNgVCPNbUYE |
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Location: south east Michigan | Yeah... I've done it.
I think it happens to everyone who gets up in front of people.
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I forgot the first words of Pretty Women.
Top that.
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There's a lot to learn.
You need to concentrate, but not obsess.
You need to think ahead, but not to far ahead.
You need to be well practiced, but still sound fresh.
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Wild Horses has always been a challenge. Played it since I was 17. But if I'm not careful I'll get comfortable and my mind will stray. i.e.... Wild Horses.. out in the pasture... the green grass pasture... I better cut the lawn when I get home. Crap!!! What's the next line??!!
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And there is still so much to learn. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | All of the above.. you forge on. My "worst case" was for some reason on a Emerson Lake and Palmer tune Karn Evil 9 Lyrics (although I don't remember it by that name) has a line "Performing on a stool a sight to make you drool Seven virgins and a mule Keep it cool. Keep it cool." I'd always get it right during rehearsal, but EVERY damn time on stage it would come out 7 virgins and a "moool" whatever that is. Drove me nuts.. drove everyone in the band nuts to the point they thought I was doing it on purpose...
On one occasion I forgot how to play Don't Fear the Reaper... knew it starts with a picked Am melody.... it starts with the guitar only... I just played an Am chord the Bass player and drums jumped in when they should and I got my act together about 2 bars later... I don't think the audience never knew.
Lyrics I generally had problems with after a lead break... especially if the lead was improved a bit. I'd be on an adrenaline rush from trying stuff in a live situation that I'd never played that way... Just sometimes you get inspired by the sound of a large PA... and the crowd maybe just isn't ready for the lead to be over yet... anyway.... sometimes I'd forget the following verse so I got in the habit of writing the first couple of words of the verses I knew could be issues on the setlist... that fixed the problem..
My setlists has all sorts of notes on them.. Song titles... abbreviations for which guitar or which effect patch I would use... who starts the tune, some words.. a $ with an arrow off the top pointing to the audience as a reminder they paid to see a show... so look at them once in awhile... and a couple of smiley faces to remember to let my face know that I'm having fun...
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Very comforting & reassuring. Things I will never experience. Never playing in public....... |
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Location: Indiana | It happened to me on nationwide tv once. Ooops. Repeated the first verse twice and sweated thru a nice leather vest. |
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Location: Tennessee | Jonmark Stone - 2015-03-27 8:51 PM It happened to me on nationwide tv once. Ooops. Repeated the first verse twice and sweated thru a nice leather vest. John Lennon did that when the Beatles played Help! on the Ed Sullivan Show on live TV except he wasn't wearing a vest. |
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Location: sitting at my computer | Brad Durasa - I forgot the first words of Pretty Women. Top that. . LOL, OK you win!  I haven't played out in years, but way back when I did, I certainly made my share of flubs. Just kept playing and ground through 'em. Usually the only people who seemed to notice (or care) were my bandmates. Now I blame 'em on "senior moments", but since I'm only playing for me, myself and I it don't matter none anyway. . And there is still so much to learn. Amen to that! |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | I've been playing 'Old Man' since before I was "24 and... so much more", and I still either play the verses in the wrong order or play the same verse twice. |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Something equally as embarrassing... Playing a Neil Young cover and getting to the harmonica solo only to discover that you've put the harmonica into the rack upside down. All all you can do is stop, have a chuckle with the audience, put it in the right way round and carry on. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Of course the other side of this coin is that screwing up often creates the best unexpected arrangements ever.
We had one tune with a long, structured, lead break that increased in tempo every 4 bars. At the end of the lead I would go up the scale, hit the top, and the drummer would break into the opening slow tempo and we'd all be back at the opening riff. If you are familiar with BOC, "veterans of psychic wars" or "last days of may" was the structure I ripped off. Anyway, the drummer couldn't really hear me... got to the end of the lead and I was out of breath and out of notes and and in a split second the bass and I just punched the opening chord and the drummer got the message. We had it on video and spent the next several weeks learning how to play it like we did that night.
Another time I decided to NOT change guitar for a tune.... just didn't seem prudent.. forgot the reason I changed was the scale was different on the Preacher than a Viper. It started with guitar and I started 1/2 step up... the bass player looked at me without missing a beat accented the right note... but I knew we couldn't continue in this key... when the drums came in, the bass and I dropped into the right key on the beat. It sounded cool... now that tune has a new opening arrangement.
While out and out fails can feel like crap when they happen, more often than not, you just think on your feet and have fun.
Very recently I was stage manager at a gig for a rather well known blues artist. He went out on stage and HIS engineer forgot to put his harp mic out.... I let the engineer know over my headset, but the artist was calling me out on stage. I went.. the engineer was running from the back of the house to get to the stage, but all focus was on the artist and me. I played the "I have no idea what you are talking about" card.. He hammed it up a bit... the audience was eating it up... I then pointed to the mic that was now on the stand... I'm sure most of the audience didn't even notice the engineer putting it on the stand.. He have a bit of a "oh... that mic" or something like that... and it was on with the show. People came up to me afterward and complimented ME on playing along with the schtick.... LOL... Trust me... I was freak'n out.. I gotta go find that video.. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | muzza - 2015-03-28 8:32 AM
I've been playing 'Old Man' since before I was "24 and... so much more", and I still either play the verses in the wrong order or play the same verse twice.
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | When I was doing off Broadway shows, I had the lead in George M! It starts with ageorge doing a 7 minute monologue. Three pages of memorized script. No problem for a month. Then on night, I zoned out. Totally forgot where I was. The entire cast was on stage in a tableau behind me. I paced for about five seconds then finally somebody tossed me a line and I was back on. Talk about adrenalin. |
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Location: Utah | I was in a band that headlined a charity fund raiser. Rehearsals had been a bit rocky, with one or another person missing from each rehearsal. Two or three of the band members kept looking at their text messages during rehearsals.
Our opening song was "Get Together" by The Youngbloods. I was the lead guitarist playing the signature opening part. Midway through the song it goes to only bass and drums, then I was to come back in. Well everybody else in the band got to that middle part and stopped. They all were lost. So I just came back in and we finished the song.
Shortly after that I was fired from the band for insisting cell phones be turned off during rehearsal.
Edited by FlySig 2015-03-28 9:46 PM
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Interesting topic for sure. I've played "Don't Think Twice" by Bob Dylan more times than I can count and did an open mic not long ago and somehow got lost into the second verse. Yes, repeated a bit but you get thru it. Funny thing, as I've listened to various versions of the song by the same artist, they too mix up the verses, change the words on the fly and likely use it as an escape when they forget the original verses. Some others?
Paul McCartney - Blackbird - Used his live acoustic version and then heard the studio version and he too flipped the versus.
Bert Jansch - Blues Run the Game (original Frank Jackson tune) - got a couple of different versions of that including one where he added a new verse!
So I think there is some poetic flexibility is singing songs. A good artist like those above can sometimes make a good verse up on the fly from the inspiration of a song during a live performance.
Miles - "Don't Fear The Reaper" is one of the great BOC tunes. I jam with some guys monthly and that's been one of our staples!
Gary |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Forgot to mention that I saw Livingston Taylor at the Bull Run, Shirley Mass, last Friday night and as a professor at Berkley in Boston who teaches stage presence, techniques, etc, he has an uncanny way of keeping things fluid. Sometimes he's continually playing the same chord (finger picked of course) in-between tunes, telling stories and even joked about it during his performance. Likely getting his thoughts together on the next song. He is IMHO the ultimate stage master when it comes to performing live and probably changes on the fly more than anyone. He was asked to pull out an old tune that he hadn't played in years, joked around a bit then proceeded to crank it out like it was part of his regular show. He has a number of his lectures on YouTube. |
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Location: Northwest Arkansas | So in 2012, it's Friday night and I'm lying in bed watching tv, when the phone rings, lead guitarist says, "Where are you?". I said , "Watching tv. I can't wait till tomorrow night. Class reunion. Right?". He said it was that night and laughed. It WAS that night. We played in 45 minutes. I was 20 minutes away and my gear had already been loaded so I didn't have to do it later. I got to the gig, got set-up and literally forgot half the words for the 1st two sets. I drank 2 liters of water, almost passed out and I was wearing a vest. You could literally see my heart beating through a t-shirt, collared shirt and a vest. I finally got my words down. I didn't forget any chords, but I almost passed out twice. When we finished, the lead guitarist and bass player were mad as .... I did not have the energy to pick up my gear. Our drummer loaded every piece of two (acoustic and electric) guitar rigs. I made it home and I felt fine Monday. Tuesday was a different story. So I go to the Dr. and he comes in a white-as-a-sheet. He said you only have 1/3rd of your blood. I played 4 sets of music with 1/3rd of my blood. I got a transfusion and it happened about 6 months later. I went to a different Dr. and she found the cause. No problems since. But the band I played with for 20+ years didn't call me back. They folded a month or so later. Now they want a reunion show. I'll do one night. But that's it. I'm going to do solo acoustic shows from now on. 34 years of clubs was enough. I did get to see who my friends were in the band. The lead guitarist and bass player loaded their gear and left. Even after they found the reason for my problem, not one apology from the other two. The drummer felt badly. I just felt tired. Later that night I couldn't have picked up a toothpick. I haven't forgotten a lyric since. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | There's constant challenges to working in a band and some of those you mentioned are the reason I prefer solo performing over a group setting. I still do but limit my commitments religiously marked on my calendar, requiring plenty of notice and time to revisit my music library before the gigs.
Had a different story when our keyboard player calls two hours before a gig at a local venue sayings he's throwing up blood! Arghh! We were thinking the worse for him and not so much the gig. So we couldn't find a replacement and an hour later he calls saying it turned out to be some spaghetti sauce that disagreed with his stomach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had visions of my hands around his neck but after a couple of beers, it subsided! I'm sure there's a few more stories to be told given the experiences of many on this forum. Maybe a good topic for a new thread? That could go on forever!!!
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Location: GA USA | Has anyone read The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green? I'm not usually one for psych babble, but there are some helpful things in it, about not letting thoughts in your head mess up you music making. |
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Location: Colorado | Of course - I've screwed up lyrics royally many times....sang The Boxer once...10 minutes worth of the first verse only |
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Location: Jet City | yep... Saturday night
shtuff happens |
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Location: GA USA | It doesn't bother me to make a mistake. It bothers me if I'm unprepared. |
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Location: Muenster/Germany | Sure I forgot some first words live on stage like many of us, but the worst was that I played in a trio and we had been invited to play on the Gronau Jazz Festival (which was far beyond our musicianship) so we practised a lot and fixed everything on our sheets, all the lyrics and the intros and outros , quite unlike we used to play normally, to be able to play at our best. But when we came to the place we spotted that we forgot our sheets at home.
I was so focused on our notes that I had absolutely no idea of the whole program we wanted to play, no lyrics, no keys, not even the titles we wanted to play.I sat there in front of an attentive audience with a full blackout and deperately started to play "Let the good times roll", which was far better than nothing, but when I started to sing I realized to have chosen the wrong key! It was unsingable, too high or too low for the lower octave... Anyway, we improvised the full show (and all the lyrics) more or less high-flying, but that was a terrible experience. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I've played and sang in public probably 6 times in my life and I think I forgot some lyrics every time. That seems to be normal for me. At a wedding, I was given a stool to sit on because I didn't use a guitar strap. I not only forgot the order of the verses to "The Wedding Song", my foot was on the rung of the stool and starting twitching so badly that it was noticeable from the pews. It made it especially hard to keep the roundback from sliding off my lap. I was supposed to start a recorder when I went up there, but fortunately I forgot that, too. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Atta-boy Mark... Best to make multiple mistakes all at one time rather that drag out 12 mistakes over 12 gigs. |
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Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | Mark, Once you get all the mistakes out of the way, there's nothing left but perfection! ;-)
I think the more you play in front of people, the better it gets. With comfort comes better memory! If I don't do an open mic once in a while, it's hard to get back in the groove OR go to a place that has a crappy sound system (or sound man), lousy acoustics, and finding the sweet spot that you're comfortable with is not always there. That contributes to the loss of memory too! You push thru it and accept some things as they are.
It's like talking in front of groups of people. I spent a lifetime doing presentations and running week long training classes and in the beginning, I got the vapors more than once on the podium! Over time it got much better with learning to manage my anxiety which became a regular part of managing the problem. It still sneaks up on me on occasion but at least its not a surprise and I can manage it.
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this ever happen to any of you who play out in public ???
