How do you get over a crappy show?? LONG post..sorry.

[khabibissell]

Ah, don't sweat it... shit happens. You know what? You will probably make a mistake again sometime in the future. Its just the nature of the beast. Learn to accept that and you actually loosen up and play better as a result. I used to get really uptight when I made a mistake on stage (believe me, it happens ALOT ) until I started to think that way. What are you gonna do? You've only got one chance to play something and you won't always execute it perfectly. All you can do is prepare yourself before a show and focus on the task at hand.

I know what you mean about improvising. I have been forcing myself to do it more lately, and I'm horrible at it sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Unless you are really comfortable playing leads over your tunes, write something beforehand. In the event that you can't hear anything on stage you'll know what you're gonna play and not have to rely on being able to hear the rest of the band, which is very important when you're trying to come up with something on the spot.

As for your bass player, he needs to get another bass, plain and simple. For the band to have to stop while he changes a string is totally unprofessional. Besides... Alot of times you'll be limited to a 30 minute set (at least the original acts around here are in most cases), and that kind of delay will cut into your playing time.

[RacerX]

Throw a shit fit & blame it all on the bass player! Do a huge rant about having backup axes ready to go... :ROTF: :ROTF:

[straycat]

He should have a back up no shit.

[Inearthed]

Everyone has off shows, don't worry too much about it. Sounds like you just had two smaller hiccups in your performance, which is nothing bad at all. All you can do is admit that you didn't nail the parts you needed to and practice them a bunch. Next practice go through your two songs that you had trouble during and really work on them and pretty much come out and say that you weren't happy with your performance on those two songs and you want to get a couple extra run throughs on them to get the parts down better. This will do two things, one they can't really say shit to you about it if you're working on it and two it'll give you extra practice on the parts that'll help out a ton.

I've done plenty of solo botching, ran into assorted technical problems (breaking a string on the first song of the set on the first chord), and harmony section fuckups. It definitely sucks but overall, it isn't anything to get too stressed about, just realize you made the mistake and practice the parts you need to work on. If anything it should give you even further motivation for doing a damn good job the next time.

And yes, bringing a backup is absolutely essential. Even if it is a piece of shit bass that sounds terrible. That should give someone else time to restring up his main bass so he can switch it back in a little later.

[Inazone]

I am the master of butchering clean/acoustic parts - in songs I wrote and have played hundreds of times - so I can relate there. We have had shows get derailed by technical problems before, and just like a broken string, a minor issue can really rattle anyone and ruin the show from the band's perspective. The bassist really needs a backup bass, even if it's a cheap POS. Having played bass in several bands, I know that most people don't pay much attention to the bass tone, only if there is enough (or too much/little) bass in the mix.

As for the solo error, I've seen it happen to far better guitarists than myself...and it happens often enough to me! I've created a few trainwrecks, that's for sure.

[OnlineStageGear]

As far as making a mistake on stage, don't sweat it. It happens to all of us, even the big acts CLICK: http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/show...750#post821750

As far as your bass player goes, and anyone else for that matter, you MUST have a backup axe. He is lucky all he broke was a string and not a bridge piece or something else show stopping. Dead time is 10 times worse than an ocassional "Whoops"

[Big D]

Jeri, the solution that works for me is to go home and practice until I forget about it. You'll nail it next time I'm sure.

I have bad shows a lot these days. We added a second guitarist who is better than I am which adds a lot of stress. Whenever I make a mistake at a show, it gnaws at me for days.

Lastly, your bass player should be slapped for not having a backup axe.

[jgcable]

Live and learn Jeri.
Shit happens on stage and you can either grow from it or not.
Lessons learned:
Your bass player MUST have a backup bass for shows.
In the event that something happens that prevents a key band member from playing you MUST have a back up plan. Talk, go into an acoustic piece or... here is what we used to do:
If something like that happened we would have a few T-shirts and our CD's to give away and I would talk it up a little and maybe have the crowd do something to win a T-Shirt or a CD while the band member gets his or her act together.
Pete is correct, the majority of the crowd doesn't realize anything. Most of them can't even tell the difference between musical instruments.
Don't sweat it AT ALL.

[guitarsjb]

Thanks guys, that's why I came here I guess, was to lick my wounds with folks who have been there. I mean, James (my husband) listens real well, but he has no clue what i went through. We have screwed up a bit before, but this was MY first time..and like the rest of you I am my own worse critic and EXTREMELY hard on myself. I'll kick ass at the next show..
And..I did apologize to the guys. But I refuse to over do it..Once is enough. We all had our moments..mine just stand out more this time.
Thanks again. I feel much better.

[atomic charvel guy]

Jeri,
Extend middle finger to any heat tossed at you, remind them that you are a self contained unit and a band, and to move on. You ever hear Slash , Page, EVH, they all hit clinkers, I know it doesn't feel good, but here's a bad analogy for you, when I got beaned in little league for the first time, i was a little worried about the next at bat, and my dad was adamant about me gettting in there and taking my rips at the ball or i'll never be able to feel the same up at the plate again, so he fired me up and I roped a double. It's not always going to be perfect, and it may never be perfect, but it can be rockin' and full of attitude, just like slash, who actually had cleaned his playing up remarkably after the appetite tour. don't hold on to it too long, some of my heroes made it cool to fukk up their parts, a la Keith Richards, David Lee Roth, EVH, Slash, etc. there's clinkers everywhere Jeri, don't lose a wink of sleep about it.

[Chad]

One key thing when you screw up is to act like you MEANT to do that because, like others said, most people in the audience won't notice anyway. And that mentality helps build confidence to carry on.

[Sinistas]

That happened with my lead guitarist last year - he forgot his backup and mine was in the shop. Same thing, destroyed our momentum, I fucked up all over the place, etc. We haven't played shows without bringing backups since.

[hippietim]

When you make a mistake, look disgustingly at the drummer/bassist/other guitarist as if to say "what the fuck are you doing - are you a goddam beginner? get your shit together". But never do it to the singer - you'll pay for that.



Seriously, I wouldn't sweat it. Nobody died, nobody lost a limb, you just lost some pride. So unless your culture demands ritual suicide for this sort of thing I wouldn't worry about it any more.

[mm2002]

eh, don't sweat it sis. Like others have said, 99% of the audience won't know when you screw up anyway (as long as you don't just STOP). As far as the bass player goes, even a $50.00 pawn shop bass would be better than the down time. Maybe during the rest of the song James or someone could be replacing the string on the good bass and have it ready for the next song.
Keep your chin up, you'll do fine.

[hippietim]

Jeri, send me your address and I'll send you a set of bass strings to give your bass player for Christmas.