screwed up my first gig

cr.drums

Junior Member
Had my first proper gig yesterday. It was a five song set and managed to play at least one mistake per song :(

for the first song, sugar, we're going down by fallout boys, I came in one beat early and screwed up the early groove and kept rushing.

second song, for a pessimist, i'm pretty optimistic, screwed up one of the fill-ins otherwise it was rather fine.

third song, my lovely man by RHCP. was a bit shaky during some parts of the drum solos, otherwise fine

fourth song, smoke on the water, it was going rather well until i misplayed near the end. owells.

and the last, i forgot to play a fill-in to cue the vocalists' entrance.
argh. feeling so bad now.

anyone mind sharing their first gig experience as well?
 
My first gig on the drums was probably about 11 years ago when I was still at school. I played in front of the assembled cohort and made a complete and utter f&#)@#$ mess of it. After that, I realised that it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things!

I've played dozens upon dozens of gigs on the drums since then. I still have stage fright on occasion (when I play out, which is rare now) but having had such a serious mess so early on, it doesn't affect me any more.

Congratulations on your first gig and hopefully many more to come!
 
No problems. Clams are part of the process and the pros make them too. With the pros, they are better at recovering or skating past. Dropped sticks are a common problem. Check out Gavin Harrison playing The Chicken on Letterman's show several years ago. He dropped a stick in the middle of the song. I'm sure the audience didn't notice and close in camera shots hardly caught it.
 
Hey, that could have been a LOT worse, so well done!

I dropped a stick in my first gig, I couldn't reach the cymbals (not my set-up), and if I made mistakes, nobody noticed because nobody could actually hear me play.
 
You are on the road to being a great drummer.

The fact that you are aware of your mistakes and you care about them means you have the right attitude and you will become a great musician.

I watch many drummers who make mistakes and don't care about them.
Usually it is because they are playing with abandon and they are detached from being part of the band.

I wish I could remember my first gig. It was probably pretty bad.

.
 
My first gig and this goes quite a ways back the early "50's" I played the whole gig with my hi hat on 1and 3, no body said any thing.
 
My first Gig, 1968, playing in a cover band, probably made a ton of mistakes as did the rest of the band. I still like drumming, music, and the world moves on. Tough being human
 
Welcome to the club. Your cherry is popped now and it stung a little. You're doing fine and you got it out of the way. I would be worried if you said you nailed the gig. Delusion and all that. But you aren't deluding yourself. That's a really important pre-requisite to improving.

Plus there was no talk of capes, or Moms, or running away and knocking the drumset all over the place. So good job.

My first public showing of my playing....I was asked to leave after 1 song. I nailed it! (No I didn't)
 
Welcome to the club. Your cherry is popped now and it stung a little. You're doing fine and you got it out of the way. I would be worried if you said you nailed the gig. Delusion and all that. But you aren't deluding yourself. That's a really important pre-requisite to improving.

Plus there was no talk of capes, or Moms, or running away and knocking the drumset all over the place. So good job.

Funny,

Larry essentially said the same thing that I said,
yet his comments were so much more............

So much more...............

Ah..........

Colorful.

.
 
If you care to look on the bright side....you knew exactly what went wrong. The first step in fixing a problem is identifying it. Then the solution makes itself apparent. So you're identifying the problem with ease. A required skill that you obviously have. Plus you know exactly where any errors were, and exactly what happened. So you're organized. You're no different than other drummers, you are just starting to gig that's all.

OK now for the shoulds lol...You really should record yourself because what you think happened and how it actually turned out.....2 different things until you get used to hearing yourself and how you come across. Just set up an audio recorder and get the horror out of the way lol.

One more....don't think up there. Feel. Shut off the dialogue, use that energy to open your ears and develop super listening powers. Changing your mind changes your playing. EVERY problem starts in the head. By the same token, every friggin awesome idea starts there too. Your choice.

Here comes the bike analogy:

Drumming is like riding a bike. You don't look down at how you are pumping the pedals (focusing on the mechanics) you are looking down the road (super listening powers) to see how to navigate. Listen to the big picture, meaning the total resolved sound of the band....as if you are not even playing in it...and the drums will slip in to where they are supposed to be naturally. Your ears naturally guide your playing just like your eyes guide your muscles when you are riding a bike. If you allow them to.

You've heard the expression big ears. Listening is skill number one. It's fun and easy to do. Clear your mind, listen, feel, play. Drumming should come easily and naturally. It's all about the flow, it's all about the flow, it's all about the flow..Don't restrict the flow with negative thoughts.
 
Had my first proper gig yesterday. It was a five song set and managed to play at least one mistake per song :(

for the first song, sugar, we're going down by fallout boys, I came in one beat early and screwed up the early groove and kept rushing.

second song, for a pessimist, i'm pretty optimistic, screwed up one of the fill-ins otherwise it was rather fine.

third song, my lovely man by RHCP. was a bit shaky during some parts of the drum solos, otherwise fine

fourth song, smoke on the water, it was going rather well until i misplayed near the end. owells.

and the last, i forgot to play a fill-in to cue the vocalists' entrance.
argh. feeling so bad now.

anyone mind sharing their first gig experience as well?

If it's a consolation I did a gig recently where I personally had to call time on the song about a minute in. First time I've EVER done this. And I've been in gigging bands on and off since I was in my early teens and I'm now 45.

I carry lightweight cymbal stands around me...as my back isn't what it used to be so I'm mindful of heavy weights and often arrive early to gigs so start setting up and carrying alone.

I got a bit giddy...and a crash cymbal fell down from my right hand side...across the floor tom, and across me with both arms under it.

It's happened before....I've carried on....but after about 10 seconds trying to disentangle myself from this chunk of wildly inconvenient metal which insisted on constricting me like some kind of mechanical boa, I had to stop.

No-one gives a toss mate...these things happen. I'd say half a dozen mistakes in a first gig is a decent pump to be honest. I've come away from gigs thinking of at least half a dozen errors, in not the most complex of songs, and those gigs have still gone down a storm.
 
Focus on the donut and not the hole. You did good. You were out there playing to a live audience. Lots of people don't get that far. Now go do it again.
 
Dwforever posted this a while back and it reminded me of your experience .

Hey guys, who has any embarrassing gig stories? I need some to make me feel better, because something awful happened to me..

>at gig
>stick flys out of my greasy, gammy, grubby butter hands
>actually execute a manly yell in horror as I realise I have no back up sticks
>in shock and adrenaline, I leap for the stick
>I manage to take a crash, a high-hat, my snare drum, and my tom stand with me
>the whole place falls silent after a dramatic gasp when me and half my kit spill across the stage with a tremendous goulash of CLUNKS and SHWOOMPSHS
>have an anxiety attack and run for the door
>my leg is wounded, so I trip and fall into some chick
>her boyfriend grabs me by my cape, drags me outside, and throws me onto the pavement
>too humiliated to go back and collect my gear
>made my mom do it
>band has cut contact with me


Now, feel better? :)
 
Heh...You sound like you had fun. I do not remember much about my first gig except that I had 8 hours of practice TOTAL on a kit (that was not mine) for a gig at our church where the drums ended up in accoustical limbo (the sound from the rest of the instruments swirled around but did not enter where the drums were...even before having to allow for the presence of the drums).
 
thanks guys for the awesome replies, made me feel much better :)

but for drummers, we are supposed to be the backbone of the band. pretty everything we do must be perfect/steady enough...how do u guys cover up mistakes or whatnot?
 
Depends on the mistake. We worked it out for one gig that, since I always threw a stick diagonally behind me to the right, someone would throw me one to me from forward right. =)

Failing that, play through it like it was an addition to the song.
 
Embrace the mistakes...they will always be there. If they are not, then you are not doing something new or expanding into new territory. You did something new, your first gig, you made some mistakes....now you will fix those, get bored with that level of accomplishment and then "mistake" your way to the next level, and etc.

Every time I touch a drumstick at a gig, I'm probably 5 mistakes away from finishing a song....5 years drumming

Every time I pickup a guitar at a gig, I'm probably 1 or 2 mistakes or clams from finishing a song....31 years of paid gigging on guitar.

Once in a while you get that hole in one or exemplary gig....you will get those....that's what keeps the wheel turning. Until then, expect mistakes and practice patience and recovery.

Neil Peart makes mistakes.....doh!
 
It's all about keeping a cool head and having a quick seamless recovery. Dropping sticks? Should be expected, so have a stick bag or holder close. I keep a minimum of two pairs in a stick bag that is attached to my floor tom. Drop a stick, just casually reach over with the free hand and grab another, resume at the beginning of the next bar. It will only be noticed by other musicians if you do it right.

The worst time for me, we played a bar in Moab, UT. After driving 400 miles to get there I was pretty tired. During one song I dropped at least 4 or 5 sticks with my left hand. At the time I had a pair with a finger loop, ended up using them the rest of the night.

I nitpick our & my performances all the time, fortunately the audience hardly ever notices or cares enough to ever say anything.

Btw, I've gone about 4 shows without dropping sticks, that is my new record.
 
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