Brain Fart :-)

2bsticks

2bsticks

Platinum Member
So I'm at the gig last night. They call Unchained Melody. A tune I must have played 500 times in my life, a simple 12/8 groove. Normally our recently deceased keyboard player would start it off. Now we have a new keyboard player and we have yet to do this tune with him so I fgure I would help the situation by counting it off. The problem is in my head I'm thinking we are playing,You Lost That Loving Feeling so I count off the slow 4/4. No matter how hard the bass player (tapping his chest) and guitarist (strumming in 12/8) tried getting me off 4/4 to 12/8 the damage was done, and so was I. I played the whole tune in 4/4. I felt like a complete fool. Funny thing is the singer had no clue and people danced without missing a beat.
 
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Stuff happens during live shows.

You might practice counting out the song a few times, refresh your memory.
 
That's a special kind of feeling, isn't it? You aren't alone. Wires get crossed. Did you realize it during the song but were paralyzed?
 
Oh yeah, I knew I was wrong but paralyzed is correct. Lost in space :)
 
Ha ! Great story.

My band leader is a perfectionist. I keep trying to tell him that the audience, in the bars where we play, won't notice one tiny little mistake.
But he insists that we in the band will know and we should feel embarrassed when we goof up.


.
 
2bsticks said:
So I'm at the gig last night. They call Unchained Melody. A tune I must have played 500 times in my life, a simple 12/8 groove. Normally our recently deceased keyboard player would start it off. Now we have a new keyboard player and we have yet to do this tune with him so I fgure I would help the situation by counting it off. The problem is in my head I'm thinking we are playing,You Lost That Loving Feeling so I count off the slow 4/4. No matter how hard the bass player (tapping his chest) and guitarist (strumming in 12/8) tried getting me off 4/4 to 12/8 the damage was done, and so was I. I played the whole tune in 4/4. I felt like a complete fool. Funny thing is the singer had no clue and people danced without missing a beat.
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Gah! I've been there so many times. Well, you put your own stamp on it, LOL!!
 
Hey Hollywood. We are not machines. We all have our moments, I'm sure your band leader does as well. My bass player is a Berklee Professor and all his skills and knowledge he gave up trying to real me in.

I think my new nick name is 12/8 :-(
 
It tends to happen to me every few shows, we start off a song, usually covers, and I will get locked into the wrong beat or count. It definitely feels awkward but all you can do is go with it, at least until you have a convenient part of the song to switch back. Sometimes it will be my fault, sometimes it will be another band member. We definitely notice, buts 9 times out 10 the audience doesn't.
 
no worries brother

just recently I played Footprints... the Shorter tune in 4/4 and did not realize it until I heard a recording of the gig ..... the only person that noticed was the bass player and he said he dug it and thought I was just trying to keep him on his toes :)

the recording actually sounded quite good and sounded like I was just playing a little "out".... it created a kind of hip poly with the band

I actually like the way it sounded... so much so that I may try to work out a way to play it that way permanently..... but for some reason I feel that if I try to do it intentionally it will just suck
 
2bsticks said:
Hey Hollywood. We are not machines. We all have our moments, I'm sure your band leader does as well. My bass player is a Berklee Professor and all his skills and knowledge he gave up trying to real me in.

I think my new nick name is 12/8 :-(
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Right on !


WhoIsTony? said:
no worries brother

just recently I played Footprints... the Shorter tune in 4/4 and did not realize it until I heard a recording of the gig ..... the only person that noticed was the bass player and he said he dug it and thought I was just trying to keep him on his toes :)

the recording actually sounded quite good and sounded like I was just playing a little "out".... it created a kind of hip poly with the band

I actually like the way it sounded... so much so that I may try to work out a way to play it that way permanently..... but for some reason I feel that if I try to do it intentionally it will just suck
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HA ! Good one !

.
 
Happened to me a couple of weeks ago. We were finished the set list and the leader was calling off a couple of songs. He called out Surfin' Safari and I heard Surfin' USA. He was waiting for me to count off and I was waiting for the guitar intro. We just kind of looked at each other till he just started off by himself. The audience didn't seem to notice, though.
 
Too funny. I have "been there, done that" as well. I have also counted into the wrong song. I thought I was counting us into "Use Somebody", but eveyone else was playing "Proud Mary". On the playback, surprisingly, you couldn't tell unless reall listening close. ( I was able to adjust quickly)... All part of the fun. :)
 
Errors happen...its how you handle 'em that matters.

Sounds like it was handled pretty well!...I call that sucess!
 
My brain fart of the night was a tempo issue. We use backing tracks so I start most songs with a click. Well, I forgot to change songs on my SPD and the click was at 147 instead of 103 :)

We figured it out before anyone started playing and the lead guy announced to the room that "every time the drummer makes a mistake, everybody has to drink" :) That explains the intoxication level.


Hollywood Jim said:
My band leader is a perfectionist. I keep trying to tell him that the audience, in the bars where we play, won't notice one tiny little mistake. But he insists that we in the band will know and we should feel embarrassed when we goof up.
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We just had that discussion Saturday night. My band mates positions were, 1) the bar owners were happy and wanted us back and, 2) the (small and intoxicated) crowd was happy so I should be happy. I did not concur :) Mistakes will always happen but I just want us to make the effort to learn our parts.

Mistakes from forgetting your parts? Hey, it happens :) Mistakes from not learning your parts are unacceptable to me.

I feel that I am far from a perfectionist but I am embarrassed when I make a mistake. Not a simple one like dropping a stick and playing one handed for a bit, but a huge one like missing a stop, a bridge or lyrics.
 
eddypierce said:
Well, you're in good company at least--Tony Williams plays a superimposed 4/4 on the tune for over half the length of the Miles Davis version (off of Miles Smiles).
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exactly

I think that was in my subconscious

I listen to the live in Europe 1967 double disc religiously and it must have just absorbed

Tony pretty much stays in that 4/4 feel for the tunes entirety in all three version on those discs
 
A couple months ago I had one with the blues band.

I started a 12/8 tune, confusing in my head with another 12/8 song we do and ended up starting it easily twice as fast as it should have been.

There wasn't any coming back from that. The guitarist did one quick solo and we were out.
 
No matter how hard the bass player (tapping his chest) and guitarist (strumming in 12/8) tried getting me off 4/4 to 12/8 the damage was done, and so was I.
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Funny how sometimes the more others try to help, the worse it gets. Perhaps it has to do with their (or your) sense of panic... lol

New Tricks said:
My brain fart of the night was a tempo issue....
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re: tempo ... I played in a quasi Dixieland band once. One of the few hits (meaning "modern" pop) tunes we played was "When I'm 64". To avoid my often rushed tempo on this tune, I reminded myself to slow down ... and then I overcompensated. It was the slowest, most depressing, miserable version that has ever been played ... from a dixieland band no less!

Of course the joke after was that I played it like I was 64 (I was ~34 at the time!). lol

radman
 
Not a gigging drummer in this forum who hasn't had something like this happen to him. We've all been there. Indeed it's how you handle the situation that matters. One small mistake, or a couple even, doesn't ruin a good gig. It may have seemed like a train wreck to you, but not to those in the audience.
 
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