As a lead guitarist the trick is when you accidentally play a bum note, play it again then bend the string to the right pitch. To the uninitiated, it’s like wow!
And even if it is noticeable, have fun with and laugh and keep on rolling. If you’re hitting hard and really putting on a show, a bum note here and there is going to happen.
Play with good guys/girls, not jerks, and I tell ya...having a gr8 time will be the best ever situation. When you can laugh at mistakes, call them out jokingly, not only the crowd will love it, but you will form friendships in the band you never thought is possible.❤🤘🏻🤘🏻
My favorite band has been around since the late '60s-early '70s, and there is a live album of them doing just that between songs. I guess it was an accepted "thing" back then, but they most certainly stopped doing it when they hit their second peak-unless someone fell off the piano stool before performing the song on which they were the featured vocalist.
It’s never been a good thing to do. Guitar player in my band plays the intro to a tune we are ‘not’ performing. It’s annoying and the audience doesn’t like it.
You forgot about the guitar player who is tuning between every song. And not muting his instrument but treating everyone to his wonderful tuning ability.
Q: What if the guy playing the solo is so low you can't hear him? A: Then play so low the solo is still solo. I learned that from Napolean. Napolean Solo. Any Man from Uncle fans out there? Never mind.
Retired pro (mostly local Chicago area) keyboardist here. Regarding mistakes: your average audience member has no idea that you played a wrong note, a bad chord, the wrong thing at the wrong time. So learn to quickly recover like the man says and have fun. I once saw some friends of mine who had a band that I used to love to watch on nights off. Once they were playing at this club and they were doing their arrangement of a favorite R&B tune that had a repeating figure for the intro. The intro was a repeating 4 bar figure with an accent that they moved a bar later each go around. The bass player flubbed by playing the accent a bar early on one round. They all laughed-never stopped playing-and the next round the guitar player repeated the flub, then the keyboardist, then the drummer; all while keeping the pattern of having the accent one bar later than before with the flubbing player playing the accent a bar early. They clearly were having fun doing this as I was having fun watching. I turned to a server standing next to me also watching, and asked, "You see what happened there?" She, not being a musician had no clue, mainly because nobody made a big deal about the initial flub, but laughed and just took turns reproducing it, making it seem more deliberate to the "civilian" ear, and just having fun with the fact that we all make mistakes at times.
This is a GREAT comment! I really dislike when you’re playing with musicians & if someone plays something incorrect, one or two musicians in the group make it NOTICEABLE!!!
I was playing a duo once with a banjo player who just played the same 4 notes over and over, and his banjo was extremely loud for a 2 piece acoustic sound. I was devastated and humiliated at how bad I thought we sounded, and did not even want, or expect, to be paid. When we were done, the hostess expressed how 'great' we sounded, and I was floored: You have no idea what other people hear, I guess.
I play jazz, and sometimes it will happen that a "mistake" actually turns out to be something highly desirable, something that sounds better than expected, not worse. If it's good enough, it might get incorporated into later playing of that or even another tune. Happy little accidents sometimes work out great!
I can only think of one gig that I was super distracted at. I was working lead guitarist in this particular band. We were at the venue, had everything set up and ready to go. Five minutes before go time and I get a phone call that my father had a heart attack and was being taken to the hospital. We got through the gig and everyone said the show went very smoothly, but my head wasn't there at all. Just to let everyone know, my father is fine and was well taken care of.
Sometimes we need to think a bit before giving this type of news... My brother and I were visiting mom. My brother rode his motorcycle. Mom comes out and tells bro she just got a call that one of his long time friends just died of a heart attack. My bro walks up and down the street, comes back, says not a word to anyone, gets on his bike, and rides away...obviously distracted. Did she have to tell him right then and there? Of course not. Your story reminded me of my story. We need to be considerate as to when to break news, especially when there is nothing positive the recipient can do with it. Glad the audience liked your performance. And more importantly, that dad is doing OK now. My brother did make it home safely. I was very concerned about him.
You’re hitting the nail on the head in this video. My pet peeve is dead air on stage… If I start a song. you better be ready… if there’s a problem with your instrument, make sure whoever starts the next tune knows. Mistakes are part of playing. There’s a famous Miles Davis quote: “When you play a wrong note, it’s the next note you play that makes it good or bad “ - get good at recovering from mistakes and ignoring those that your bandmates make.
I worked full-time in the 80s. These were our rules. Never smoke on stage. Never drink on stage. Never wear casual street clothes on stage, dress so people know you're in the band as soon as you walk in the room. Never turn your back on the audience. Never leave the audience with dead-air, always be playing or speaking for the audience.
I agree with all those rules. It served me well. I always thought it odd people wearing street clothes. I wanted to dress a bit loud or fancy to show respect. I had been on the road where the second night I was pulled aside and told to dress down. That’s cool. I don’t want to seem a clown. I have lost possiblehigher level opportunities due to a mangaer approaching that was drunk and me assuming if they were a big deal, they’d be together. Of course, a stupid assumption but my bad. Lol
We call that "Playin' the greens",... as opposed to "Playin' the Blues".... Greens aren't quite as sweet,... but they certainly give you a healthy focus.
I used to get really flustered when I messed up on stage. In my experience, 9 times out of 10, no one notices in the audience and don’t even have a clue until you show it on stage or tell them afterwards. Great advice brother, enjoy your videos!
That also applies to the digital vs analog argument where guitar is concerned. The audience doesn't know squat. Play with what sounds good and is easy to work with.
Or you were a complete ass to them and they give it back to you. The majority of house sound guys are good, they’re just moody because so many bands are straight buttholes to him.
Not necessarily. Think about that one for a second. I've seen guys on stage having the time of their lives doing something that sounds awful and the audience wasn't having any of it. It takes empathy to build a rapport with a crowd and give them what they want, not concern for your own fun. The tule is actually "If the crowd is having fun, you're having fun," not the other way around.
You have to make sure to include the audience in on the fun. If it seems like the band is solely playing for their own amusement in some kind of inside joke that the audience isn’t privy to.
I addressed this a second ago before reading the comments. If you care to read it, but the primary point is, nobody wants to hear your mini solo, we are playing 40 or 50 songs, one will have plenty of play time and soloing. I can't stand hearing one single stitch of a noise from an instrument before the set begins and between songs. I can't believe people have ever been to a concert in their life or something. Or the bands they are into take quiet little solos while the singer is addressing the audience, or before the set begins. That drives me crazy.
I grew up in the 60s/70s and i can tell you the number one thing that was preached was professionalism what's a must if you look back at all the acts back then you did not see one member fiddling with their instruments or if they were in a group doing something if they were in a band you definitely didn't see them messing with their instruments while performing it was a must to stay sharp while on stage when i was growing up and you saw a member of the group or band doing something while on stage it was considered unprofessional and the group or band got called out for it that's what it was back in my day
Here is a bad mistake for a band. Stop begging for claps and cheers. You are either a good band or not. Let the audience decide if they wany to clap and cheer. Never say "Give it up for" such and such. Never say "Make some noise". But If you have a special guest joining your band for a song, you can say "give him/her a hand" out of respect when the song is done.
It's a back and forth with the audience. Some crowds need to be given permission to cheer. It's called working the crowd. And it's what good front men do.
Heard Deep Purple years ago. The band quietly entered a dark stage, low volume tuning (to G), some shuffling on the drums. What sounded like noodling morphed into tempo and a crescendo as the band broke into Highway Star - stage lights mon cue. The show started in tune, warmed up and in time. Brilliant!
As already stated: if there’s a ‘goof’ that is big and glaring: then repeat that goof. Make it seem deliberate. If, however, you simply miss a note or something, then just stay in rhythm and play like it never occurred. One of the surest ways to tell a pro from an amateur is in how they handle mistakes. The pro knows his/her stuff well enough that an error does not throw them off track.
@@WrvrUgoThrUR as well as a concept from centuries ago. Remember, back in the day the great composers were also (no surprise here) great improvisers. And they would have to have employed the same performance concepts. Would have been easier then, as there were no recordings to memorize.
If you're playing an outdoor gig and your instrument goes out of tune, you tune it, as gracefully as possible. As a violinist, it happens often under certain conditions. I would rather play in tune than not address it for the sake of looking good.
I remember watching a Cheville live video and the bass ist was out of tune for 5 or more songs. It got to me, only because I play bass. But still, nobody in their crew caught that?
being from NORTH LOUISIANA ( by Grambling) .. that BLACK COLLEGE name on his shirt got me............... GRAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY!!!!!!!! .. i love it
I’ve never seen a musician fiddle with a knob or their instrument absentmindedly, there’s always a purpose that likely is going to serve the music. As a guitar player I check my tuning after almost every song, or I’m adjusting my pedals to get the necessary tone for the next song
Take your Guitar to a luthier so that it stays in tune (I'm assuming, here that you know how to tune a guitar? NOT being nasty or rude it's just surprising to me, as a Luthier, how many guitarists who are far better than I'll ever be don't quite know how to put strings on!) As for pedals: Have a "Settings list" next to your set list as what will work for one setting, once the sound's been sorted at sound check, will very likely work for the rest IF They've all worked fine together when you were setting them up in the first place👍
@@BeesWaxMinder thanks for the tips. I like floating tremolo bars which create tuning instabilities in general but my guitar isn’t going out of tune every song. What I said was that I CHECK the tuning after almost every song at a gig just to make sure everything is still good and that doing crazy whammy tricks in the last song didn’t pull something out of wack. (One of my biggest pet peeves is guitarists who play loud and out of tune) If I’m not doing that then I’m likely adjusting settings on a pedal. I’ve had the same board for over 10 years so I know how to adjust my settings, it’s just one song may call for a crazy amount of chorus and the next one calls for a more mild effect so I need 30 seconds max between songs to bend down and adjust the rate and effect level knob before we start. If I don’t have time I don’t have time and can/will make it work but there’s also nothing wrong with taking a sec to make sure everything sounds as optimal as possible and give the audience the experience they paid for.
@@BeesWaxMinder guitarists definitely don’t know how to change strings though😂😂 to be fair there’s a lot of videos and articles that tell you to do different things so can’t blame people for getting overloaded by all the (mis)information
Guitarists absentmindedly fiddling? Absolutely not - they're fidlimg to get their tone EXACTLY right - as if the minute changes they make matter. Even tuning isn't that important. Did you actually go onstage with an untuned instrument? How far out can it get? Play two songs - them have a quick tune once the strings have warmed up. You're playing for the audience - if you're playing to yourself save all the bother and stay in your bedroom.
Noodling is my greatest pet peeve, especially when noodling at stage volume. It's mostly a guitar player thing, but any player can be that guy. In my last band, it got so bad with the keyboard player that he'd actually be doing a sort of "noodling performance" on break, in between sets. I tried so many times to change their behaviors, but in the end, the only thing that worked was to leave.
I've had more issues with drummers doing it, honestly. The aggravating part for me was that the worst drummers for noodling between songs were guys I really liked both on and off the stage, played well with, but that incessant noodling....
Some very good points, but I have to point out that if you are playing a true analog synth, "fiddling with the knobs" is part of the performance, that's how you add expression to your playing!
I used to get some amazing sounds out of a delay pedal by fiddleing with the knobs. Guitars don't normally sound like that. But who wants normal? That's been done.
Thank you for saying this! As a seasoned guitarist I know how easy it is to buy the newest pedal tech and then not knowing the gear well enough which leads to massive technical difficulties. Nobody wants to watch you tap dance trying to figure it out. Know your gear!
I did a performance with a guitar rig and (intentionally) a Roland guitar synth rig in duo. As this was a live TV moment I realized to my minor horror the synth didn't come out at all in the mix. The pre-show setup was fast (and at 5:45 am). We were on a local feed of the Today show segment. I tried not to freak out, kept as much cool as possible. Played whole original piece guitar only. It was way more lush with synth, but it was already going. Afterward, it was the fact I had left a volume pedal unpressed. Yikes. Live and learn and keep playing.
I do a Rush jam session every year where we use the "host" band's rig. Trying to switch guitar patches after getting at most a 5-minute overview can be QUITE interesting... The bass side usually isn't too bad, until I tried to play "Countdown". If you know the song, you understand... 🙂
Spot on. I play several gigs a week, and I definitely think too much time between songs and having to point out when your bandmates mess up is pretty unprofessional. The soloing thing, too. Kills me. I make a concerted effort to play a little softer when my colleagues are strutting their stuff so people can hear how talented they are. You gotta be a team and lift each other up so everyone can shine.
As a bass player I'm used to being the bottom support for the band and the show. There was one time what I did on stage got me a big response and applause from the audience. I was playing with a recording artist and a friend who is a Nashville guitarist. In the middle of a song my bass completely went dead. No sound at all. I did not freak out. I kept cool and turned around to troubleshoot what happened while a stage tech also came on stage to assist. we found the problem. It was a power strip that was twisted. It unwound itself and fell over and the on/off switch hit a cymbal stand of the drummer. Easy . . just turned it back on and I turned around and rejoined the song since the band kept going. Being able to recover like that was impressive to the audience and I got my first applause LOL. I totally agree. Stuff happens sometimes and it is best to keep cool and help the situation. Your audience is understanding on issues like this. But when you make face when other make a mistake. the audience sees that as you sing arrogant. Not a good look. Thank you Terance for the wise word in your videos.
I had a few guitar players that would mess with their gear in between each song. I told them they needed to get it together and stop doing that. We were making good money back then, and I told them to get at least two more guitars. Have them tuned and ready to go. That way if a string breaks or something happens, they just grab the next one and fix their issues on the break. As a drummer you should always have spare parts and a FLASHLIGHT with you. That way you can fix issues in the dark. Another big no no, is no band drama on stage. I have had to talk with a few guys about not getting into it with another player if they make a mistake for all the world to see. Save it for after the show. If the guy is that much of an issue, have a band meeting or find another player that fits better. Musicians have the most fragile ego's out of any job set. Tread carefully. Know your job. Prepare for your job. A lot of musicians are in it only for themselves and have huge ego. All ships rise with the tide. Learn to support and help each other and get over yourselves.
@@decosteruniverse I was a drummer, but even when I did play, I kept a tool box of spare parts and a rolling case of other doo dads in case something broke.
1 dress up 2 smile 3 talk to everyone on your break, aknowledge your audience during performance. These are all assumimg you can play, in time, in key We're entertainers, our job is to make a party up in here. Bring your happy and spread it around.
Exactly right. It helped calm my nerves if I concentrated on showing the bar crowd a good time instead of focusing too hard on my playing. It made me play more smoothly, and the bar would sell more drinks.
My #1 pet peeve is when you're standing on stage getting ready to start a song and one member of the band is practicing their part! DON'T PRACTICE ON STAGE!!!
Good advice all around. Also, video your band playing live and send it to your band mates, without any critical comments. I use this to spot my own areas needing improvement. And others [usually] can spot their own. It’s a fast way to tighten everyone up, without saying a word.
"Bearing" was the marching band term for recovery - Could be stomping through ankle deep horse manure during a parade competition and still appear as if you were marching on sunshine. Good thing to learn early!
Love this! And yes, music wouldn't be possible without Music, but entirely possible without ego, and especially enjoyable without ego. So, put it down, get out of the way! Let the good times roll!
@@richardirvin6155did you even watch the video? he said nothing about that, and if that’s your experience during an actual performance then your gigs aren’t anything serious to begin with so pipe down and let the professionals speak
Bass player here, Made my first dollar in 71 and I was 15 working in a band. Did this till I retired when I turned 60. Mostly because of health. The business of music sucks. I have worked with the best and the worst , been taught by the best about being a musician for hire and studio work. You are correct about stage presence and what not to do on stage. That comes from direction and maturity. Most musicians do not get the direction. Drinking and smoking on stage was the biggest no no in the 80's, that was ok in the 70's though and some places had dress codes for the band. Look at how management changed the Beatles for the good. That is direction. You are providing this service. And I commend you for that. Well done. PS never give a drummer knobs to play with. Why do bands take 15 min breaks?.........to retrain the drummer.
As a guitarist, pick slides, sides, harmonics, trills, and gratuitous use if the vibrato bar were the major tools for hiding oopsies, lol. Always have em handy.
@@marilyncatterall402 Yeah, we're not talking about who you personally enjoy watching from the audience. We're talking about musicians performing in a band that has a singer. Ever been in a band? Didn't think so......
@@longsnapper5381why so rude? As a singer in a band myself, when im at a concert I tend to listen not to the vox but rather to the drums and bass. Different styles of music mean in certain genres, vocals are not as important. In metal for instance vocals are not usually the most important thing.
@@clairecrichtonmusic Why so rude? How about "why so thick'? AGAIN, no one gives a shit what you choose to listen to in the audience. Listen to your wife bleating for all I care. The band on stage performing is what we're talking about here, genius.
Great video Terence! I'm 70 and played my first professional gig at the age of 14. Most of my performances have been in night clubs and several concerts throughout the years. I've had to deal with all of these problems you mentioned from other band members. One thing you forgot to mention is to work and interact the crowd into total enjoyment. Don't make fun of anyone in the crowd or even show a dislike to anyone. Play the requests even if you hate the song. I've about seen it all with musicians unprofessional attitudes. Even when the crowd gets rowdy and out of hand, the band still needs to keep going and performing the best they can. Have a good day brother.
I once forgot to tune my guitar to open G tuning on our break...and we started the song...only to realize I was not ready.....I felt SO bad.... AKWARD! We quickly moved to the next song that did not require a different tuning.
Cool videos!!! As a drummer, I can say that we never TUNE a drum in the middle of a song during a show. If we are “adjusting” something it’s because that something is about to fall over😂😂. Keep the videos coming brother!!
VERY GOOD VIDEO (liked and subbed) , and while not disagreeing, here in Florida, those hot outdoor gigs make stringed instruments go flat even mid song, or in colder outdoor climates, strings go sharp - so sometimes having to tune mid song or after the song has to happen unfortunately - even if you stretch the strings out adequately, etc... - Other times, the soundcheck is usually the first few songs because either the bar doesn't allow it, or we are following a band right after, so we have to adjust our levels on instruments, monitor mix during the songs, because there is very little to sometimes no time for an adequate soundcheck. - I agree with the not being distracted aspect, but sometimes the bar either has no security, or the security completely disregards the band (very common), and drunks will trip over equipment or even try to get on stage, so I believe situational awareness is in order to a very high degree because sometimes we have to be bouncers unfortunately. Again, this was a great video, and i don't intend to discount the value of it, but there are these exceptions that I believe are important.
I have played and continue playing clarinet for over 20 years; I get flashbacks of marching band rehearsals outside in the cold, and this happens when I have to play in a cold room (ie the church sanctuary) . I can’t always “push in” my barrel before the performance; most of the time I do it when I notice I’m flat, because it’ll be awhile before I play during the service.
As a guitarist constantly trying to balance my tone between rythym and soloing, I'm constantly messing with the volume and tones knobs on my guitar...it makes a world of difference to me and inspires me to play better. I don't care how it looks. All my heros do (or did) the same.
Thank you, Mr. Fisher. The one that I cleaned the most from was the last point, the one about making mistakes noticeable. I’ve been grappling with that all 30 of the years I’ve been trying to play music up to 2024.
As a teenager in a band who played two shows, both times I’ve just spent the whole shows headbanging or walking around looking occasionally at the ground but mainly my fretboard/feet, probably because it helps me feel like I’m playing along to my favourite bands, to cope with my stage fright
I played with a lot of people that look over at somebody and give them a dirty look when they make a mistake. The audience doesn’t even notice at all or doesn’t play something the way exactly they want it played and I look at at the audience and I see people looking at that person giving dirty looking and rolling eyes and they notice, and it doesn’t make the band look good at all… Never play with those types of people for multiple reasons other than just that because there’s other things going on there
Indeed, all good material here. In college, one of my professors gave me the best information, "At that particular point in time, the music you are playing, YOU know it best!". Granted, other musicians may know it and have played it in their setlists, but right now, YOU are the one playing it.". And true, the audience isn't going to know if you made a mistake because they will believe it is part of the arrangement, anyway. Musicians "substitute" chords all the time, international or unintentionally. Yes, really good video!
I've been right in the middle of an instrumental solo, and the praise and worship leader started singing over me! This has happened a lot. It's like they don't know what to do when not singing. One time, the pastor walked over and whispered to his P&W leader, "It's an instrumental solo. Stop singing!" 🤣🤣🤣
I've never had that, but I WILL have drummers who will tingaling during a piano song and stuff and it's like dude. NOW is you chance to LITERALLY just sit there and relax. It's DISTRACTING. Fking cut it out bro 😂 You have to be protective of those moments. Just be straight up like, "Hey, this is MY part. MY moment so don't fking play!"
@@djjazzyjeff1232 That doesn't sound like very Christian talk, coming from someone who plays at a church. You must be one of those cussin' christians I've heard about.
Thank you very much for excellent advice. You have a great attitude and express it beautifully. I had a fail in a guitar pedal setup which sounded horrible. Another accompanist covered the next verse while I plugged the guitar directly into the amp, and I moved forward for the rest of the set without any effects- more importantly, without disturbing the rest of the set.
In our 2nd ever gig (if you can call it that.. We were teens). I messed something up pretty badly in the first few bars of a song. I stopped everything, apologized and we started again. My mom, a seasoned musician, taught me the next day to never apologize or stop the song. She said not to call any attention to it, not even with a grimace or body language. She said most folks won't even know and if they do catch it, they'll quickly forget about it. Some of the best advice ever. I learned over the years too (mainly in jamming) to turn mistakes around quickly so they sound more deliberate. Some songs can evolve to become even better from mistakes, because they can spark new ideas for phrasing or builds or transitions, etc.
Not totally true. I Saw recently Cat Power in concert. She started a song wrongly and stopped it. But she did it very in a kindly way that the audience appreciated it. We are musicians aka human beings ...
@@alainbrasseur7083 I would say, generally speaking, this is an exception to the rule (and could depend on the artist and other factors. Plus, nowadays your mistakes, etc., can be spread all over the net. I would rather not call attention to mistakes for the most part.
Thanks! I can relate to the idea of over-reacting to mistakes and goof-ups. I tend to want to react badly to my own, self-frustration, that kind of thing. And I'm working on not showing that frustration. Other band members sometimes don't even notice but I'm one of my own worst critics when I KNOW I've messed something up or thrown out a "clinker" or two. I wanna be perfect. (Common tale, aye? LOL!)
Good one Terrence. I deal with some of these often, and am sometimes guilty myself. Not only on stage. Soloing in any situation. For instance I hold jams with semi-pro friends (weekend dad-band types) in my studio. They bring new people over as well. Some guitarists can't wait. I'm soloing and building up to go around the blues a second time, and all of a sudden buddy comes blasting in. Or they noodle constantly and never get down with rhythm, and/or step all over the vocals. Drummers need to hear this to. Overplaying, and drum rolls during the vocals. Volume awareness is another area needing work. Some people come just to play rock-star on a Friday night. A couple of players actually said that. Unreal. That gets really tedious to have some failed actor ego-monkey doing his best Jagger dance moves, and getting all out of time, head somewhere in the clouds, ears absent, and no audience watching. I have some jam rules (signs on wall) and try to help get people in line, get them monitored adequately, and so we all can hear and have fun. After a couple of chances I put them on a list in my head. People, I never invite back, and those I do. One other thing. If the guy who brought 24 beer to the jam is a mess halfway through, he's cut, unless he can hold it.
fiddling with the knobs I agree you shouldn't if it isn't necessary but sometimes it is. you assume we all get sound checks at every gig. there are times where you need to make adjustments on the fly because it's a detriment to the music. but everything said is pretty on point. thanks for sharing... I just noticed 2 years ago. still holds up though.
One of those you really hit the nail on the head for me. Probably my biggest pet peeve ever is when guys aren’t ready when it’s time to count it off, or they’re looking around at other band members like they’re unsure of themselves.
I (the guitar player) had a moment where l looked to the bassist and the drummer with “ what are you ding?” consternation. Turned out what they were doing was playing the song correctly. It was l who’d gotten lost. l did have an apologetic laugh at myself when l (pretty quickly - with help from their expressions) realized this.
as a keyboard player who layers and stacks I fade through out the chourse of the song depending on what's going on and if there's a transition where there is a patch change!!!
As a bassist, one of my pet peeves when playing a church service, is having the organist step all over me with the bass pedals. What's the point of inviting me to play bass if the organist is not willing to let me handle the low end. I can't read the organists mind to know what he/she is going to play ; gives the appearance that I don't know what I'm doing. Also restricts my playing when I'm trying to match what the bass pedals - can't really relax and "do what I do". Can be a bit frustrating.
but the other side of the coin is the drummer is usually the one with the best feel for the timing and tempo, and I've seen bands where I wondered if the drummer was going to throw a stick at the soloist to get them to wrap up their solo and let the song move on. - which is not to say your drummer has reached that level of awareness, of course. you know them better than I do.
We were in a Portland Or. bar with Dr Hook when Operation Desert Storm started mid show. Kinda hard to compete with the TVs and the 'shock and awe' images. We all agreed that this would be a great time to skip to the closers and wrap up the show early that night.
Such great advice !!! In our bands you had very little time between songs (NO DEAD AIR). We planned guitar changes with song setup & if you didn't have the gift of gab (SHUT UP & PLAY) !!!
As a synth player, I can say that it's "acceptable fiddling" to turn knobs or click buttons when intentionally changing the sound that's being played, as in "live automation" over time, for that part of the riff 👍
Just because you said not to do these things makes me definitely want to do them. This video has inspired me to invent some more things to confuse and anoy my audience. Thanks 😊
Thanks for the great content! These tips are useful for all performers to keep in mind, especially the last one. The time to pay attention to mistakes is while you are doing your individual practice, and that's it. There are people who have seen me perform for years who say I never make a mistake, but spoiler alert - I make them a lot, I just don't make it obvious.
We all make mistakes, I learned a long time ago the art of playing live with a band is covering them up. In a good band the members will cover each other. The worst thing you can do is make a face, or otherwise draw attention to it!
Caught Neil Peart screwing up a fill once. Still one of my top 5 favourite live moments of all time. And lemme tell you, his recovery was impeccable. The only reason I caught it is that I play drums and know all his parts so well lol. Clearly the man was human after all.
The art of recovery. YES! I actually practice this. I intentionally make a mistake so I can practice the recovery. This way, my mind is trained to be able to react to it instead of being paralyzed by it when it happens for real.
I’m always fiddling with stuff, but I also mess with analog (modeling) keyboards, so half the fun is fiddling with with it. Also, I consider a mixer just as much of an instrument as anything else.
I fell down a tele rabbit hole a couple years ago. For me, that is the Swiss Army knife of guitars. That tonal palette is huge, and there’s tons to work with, all under two knobs and one switch. I am constantly keeping my tone dialed where it makes me smile, regardless if a jazz piece, a country swing thing, or some straight up rockin blues. Hopefully my set is diverse and interesting, that requires a wide pallet. I make absolutely zero apologies for constantly caressing my controls, I am God of that sound box and that’s how I coax the good stuff out. I also pull the volume all the way down anytime I’m not gonna have a hand on those strings at one end or the other, I may be riding that volume knob for some volume swells, it’s called nuance and dynamic and it makes me feel good inside and it helps have fun and connect with an audience…(so I hear) it seems a weird complaint to me. I mean, if a guitarist is on stage mucking about with his pedal settings, then he’s not got his gear ready for his performance. But if I’m caressing the switches and knobs on my instrument, I am playing my instrument.
All good stuff! I admit to distraction…playing the same songs night after night my mind would sometimes wander if I wasn’t careful. (…”hmmm, should I do laundry tonight or wait..”) Yeah. The way I learned to combat it was to keep moving! Moving around the stage, emphasizing a change or whatever.
Your right, I watch the really top guitar players and they just play, so many others are all ways turning knobs adjusting strings don’t know why it sounds the same
I’m a bass player, but I would say we can give some slack about fiddling with your instrument to keyboards, in particular if a synth is involved and even more if it is a Mini Moog.
One thing you didn't mention is noodling between songs. In the bands I've been in, that was a no no. the crowd doesn't want to hear someone goofing around like that between songs. If you feel you have to do that, turn down so it doesn't go to FOH
As a lead guitarist the trick is when you accidentally play a bum note, play it again then bend the string to the right pitch. To the uninitiated, it’s like wow!
Thats true Ive heard pros do it
That's exactly how jazz musicians learn to improvise!
Jon Lord from Deep Purple used to Say the same thing!!
When the note you tried to play on guitar didn't sound out, the trick is to quickly continue your timing of where you are in the solo/song.
Ok but... I'm a drummer 😂😂
Real pros still mess up. But they hide their mistakes and recover so well that it’s rarely noticeable! That is my aim.
If that's your aim, it's hard to miss. That was my philosophy for 30 years.
And even if it is noticeable, have fun with and laugh and keep on rolling. If you’re hitting hard and really putting on a show, a bum note here and there is going to happen.
🎯💯
Play with good guys/girls, not jerks, and I tell ya...having a gr8 time will be the best ever situation. When you can laugh at mistakes, call them out jokingly, not only the crowd will love it, but you will form friendships in the band you never thought is possible.❤🤘🏻🤘🏻
Here is an old pro tip: when you hit a sour note, do it again to make it seem like that is a "jazz" note you meant to hit.
One of the worst is when musicians noodle around in between songs -- or they practice the songs coming in the next set during the break
Yesssss!
My favorite band has been around since the late '60s-early '70s, and there is a live album of them doing just that between songs. I guess it was an accepted "thing" back then, but they most certainly stopped doing it when they hit their second peak-unless someone fell off the piano stool before performing the song on which they were the featured vocalist.
It’s never been a good thing to do. Guitar player in my band plays the intro to a tune we are ‘not’ performing. It’s annoying and the audience doesn’t like it.
You forgot about the guitar player who is tuning between every song. And not muting his instrument but treating everyone to his wonderful tuning ability.
those people are called wankers. they're not allowed in most bands.
Guys, when a solo is soloing while solo, let the solo be solo because soloing is about the solo solo so let the solo solo, solo.
so.... in short... let the solo... solo..... got it LOL
Q: What if the guy playing the solo is so low you can't hear him?
A: Then play so low the solo is still solo.
I learned that from Napolean.
Napolean Solo.
Any Man from Uncle fans out there?
Never mind.
Han Solo agrees.
So low bro
This is The Golden Rule!
Retired pro (mostly local Chicago area) keyboardist here. Regarding mistakes: your average audience member has no idea that you played a wrong note, a bad chord, the wrong thing at the wrong time. So learn to quickly recover like the man says and have fun. I once saw some friends of mine who had a band that I used to love to watch on nights off. Once they were playing at this club and they were doing their arrangement of a favorite R&B tune that had a repeating figure for the intro. The intro was a repeating 4 bar figure with an accent that they moved a bar later each go around. The bass player flubbed by playing the accent a bar early on one round. They all laughed-never stopped playing-and the next round the guitar player repeated the flub, then the keyboardist, then the drummer; all while keeping the pattern of having the accent one bar later than before with the flubbing player playing the accent a bar early. They clearly were having fun doing this as I was having fun watching. I turned to a server standing next to me also watching, and asked, "You see what happened there?" She, not being a musician had no clue, mainly because nobody made a big deal about the initial flub, but laughed and just took turns reproducing it, making it seem more deliberate to the "civilian" ear, and just having fun with the fact that we all make mistakes at times.
This is a GREAT comment! I really dislike when you’re playing with musicians & if someone plays something incorrect, one or two musicians in the group make it NOTICEABLE!!!
I was playing a duo once with a banjo player who just played the same 4 notes over and over, and his banjo was extremely loud for a 2 piece acoustic sound. I was devastated and humiliated at how bad I thought we sounded, and did not even want, or expect, to be paid. When we were done, the hostess expressed how 'great' we sounded, and I was floored: You have no idea what other people hear, I guess.
I play jazz, and sometimes it will happen that a "mistake" actually turns out to be something highly desirable, something that sounds better than expected, not worse. If it's good enough, it might get incorporated into later playing of that or even another tune. Happy little accidents sometimes work out great!
When wrong, play strong! 😅
Did a gig last night. I'm the bassist and flubbed a line. Had a quick chuckle to myself and off I went. Get over it and move on.
It’s definitely an underrated skill to be able to tune your instrument while talking on stage between songs, having banter that’s light and funny etc.
Banter is necessary but keep it to a minimum. I didn't come for a comedy act
I can only think of one gig that I was super distracted at. I was working lead guitarist in this particular band. We were at the venue, had everything set up and ready to go. Five minutes before go time and I get a phone call that my father had a heart attack and was being taken to the hospital. We got through the gig and everyone said the show went very smoothly, but my head wasn't there at all. Just to let everyone know, my father is fine and was well taken care of.
Sometimes we need to think a bit before giving this type of news...
My brother and I were visiting mom. My brother rode his motorcycle. Mom comes out and tells bro she just got a call that one of his long time friends just died of a heart attack.
My bro walks up and down the street, comes back, says not a word to anyone, gets on his bike, and rides away...obviously distracted. Did she have to tell him right then and there? Of course not.
Your story reminded me of my story.
We need to be considerate as to when to break news, especially when there is nothing positive the recipient can do with it.
Glad the audience liked your performance. And more importantly, that dad is doing OK now.
My brother did make it home safely. I was very concerned about him.
I've seen or heard of other artists who had experienced circumstances. They shared them with the audience, and they were empathetic ❤
Not being ready is the worst
You’re hitting the nail on the head in this video. My pet peeve is dead air on stage… If I start a song. you better be ready… if there’s a problem with your instrument, make sure whoever starts the next tune knows. Mistakes are part of playing. There’s a famous Miles Davis quote: “When you play a wrong note, it’s the next note you play that makes it good or bad “ - get good at recovering from mistakes and ignoring those that your bandmates make.
I never knew peeves could also be pets.
I worked full-time in the 80s. These were our rules. Never smoke on stage. Never drink on stage. Never wear casual street clothes on stage, dress so people know you're in the band as soon as you walk in the room. Never turn your back on the audience. Never leave the audience with dead-air, always be playing or speaking for the audience.
And that's how you got to "full-time". Well done.
I’ve broke all those rules every show for the last 25 years
I agree with all those rules. It served me well.
I always thought it odd people wearing street clothes. I wanted to dress a bit loud or fancy to show respect. I had been on the road where the second night I was pulled aside and told to dress down. That’s cool. I don’t want to seem a clown.
I have lost possiblehigher level opportunities due to a mangaer approaching that was drunk and me assuming if they were a big deal, they’d be together.
Of course, a stupid assumption but my bad. Lol
Go tell Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc not to wear their street clothes on stage.
Hilarious... So many bands we all love do/did all of the above.
That bum note was just my jazz influence kicking in
ha ha - that's a good one
If you hit a bum note, just repeat it. Maybe more than once. Then it's a new arrangement.
Lol I need to remember that 😂
I'm pretty sure that every note of mine is a bum
We call that "Playin' the greens",... as opposed to "Playin' the Blues"....
Greens aren't quite as sweet,... but they certainly give you a healthy focus.
I used to get really flustered when I messed up on stage. In my experience, 9 times out of 10, no one notices in the audience and don’t even have a clue until you show it on stage or tell them afterwards. Great advice brother, enjoy your videos!
That also applies to the digital vs analog argument where guitar is concerned. The audience doesn't know squat. Play with what sounds good and is easy to work with.
I would ask the audience if anyone had spotted the "deliberate" mistake. Not many replied.
@@johnnythermos8288 lol “any of yall notice that totally 100% intentional new thingy I did there that was definitely on purpose?!”
Self humility is a big key here.
Wrong note, chord, or a f'd up bar chord. It happens. But a bridge out of place....its ruined.
The fiddling may be to compensate for an abysmal soundman. They are legion.
Don’t get me started! 😫
You gotta do what you gotta do
This.
Or (as a guitarist) the lead singer calls out a song that is in a completely different tuning and expects the guitars to be ready instantly 🙃
Or you were a complete ass to them and they give it back to you. The majority of house sound guys are good, they’re just moody because so many bands are straight buttholes to him.
You are forgetting the most important one. If your having fun, the crowd is having fun
Not necessarily. Think about that one for a second. I've seen guys on stage having the time of their lives doing something that sounds awful and the audience wasn't having any of it. It takes empathy to build a rapport with a crowd and give them what they want, not concern for your own fun. The tule is actually "If the crowd is having fun, you're having fun," not the other way around.
@@rrsjr I agree, but those are normally bands that would suck even if they all wore suits and acted professionally
You have to make sure to include the audience in on the fun. If it seems like the band is solely playing for their own amusement in some kind of inside joke that the audience isn’t privy to.
@@thundernels good point!
@@thundernels got any advice for what to say between songs?
"Don't fiddle with your instrument"-- unless it's a violin (i.e. a fiddle). lol
Totally took my thunder!
Good pun.
I’ve been fiddling since age 14 🍆 emoji seen is not actual size.
I addressed this a second ago before reading the comments. If you care to read it, but the primary point is, nobody wants to hear your mini solo, we are playing 40 or 50 songs, one will have plenty of play time and soloing. I can't stand hearing one single stitch of a noise from an instrument before the set begins and between songs. I can't believe people have ever been to a concert in their life or something. Or the bands they are into take quiet little solos while the singer is addressing the audience, or before the set begins. That drives me crazy.
If don't fiddle with your Synths on stage, you're just a keyboard player
I grew up in the 60s/70s and i can tell you the number one thing that was preached was professionalism what's a must if you look back at all the acts back then you did not see one member fiddling with their instruments or if they were in a group doing something if they were in a band you definitely didn't see them messing with their instruments while performing it was a must to stay sharp while on stage when i was growing up and you saw a member of the group or band doing something while on stage it was considered unprofessional and the group or band got called out for it that's what it was back in my day
Here is a bad mistake for a band. Stop begging for claps and cheers. You are either a good band or not. Let the audience decide if they wany to clap and cheer. Never say "Give it up for" such and such. Never say "Make some noise". But If you have a special guest joining your band for a song, you can say "give him/her a hand" out of respect when the song is done.
What about props for the fellow bands involved at the show?
It's a back and forth with the audience. Some crowds need to be given permission to cheer. It's called working the crowd. And it's what good front men do.
@@redshed5467 If there's an emcee between acts, that's their job to do
@@suburbanindie you've never been to a P-funk show
I wish I could get the hardest working man in show biz's take on this point.
Heard Deep Purple years ago. The band quietly entered a dark stage, low volume tuning (to G), some shuffling on the drums. What sounded like noodling morphed into tempo and a crescendo as the band broke into Highway Star - stage lights mon cue. The show started in tune, warmed up and in time. Brilliant!
Yes I agree that was a clever start
As already stated: if there’s a ‘goof’ that is big and glaring: then repeat that goof. Make it seem deliberate. If, however, you simply miss a note or something, then just stay in rhythm and play like it never occurred. One of the surest ways to tell a pro from an amateur is in how they handle mistakes. The pro knows his/her stuff well enough that an error does not throw them off track.
@Gk2003m Came here to say the same thing!
Literally a Miles Davis Quote.
@@WrvrUgoThrUR as well as a concept from centuries ago. Remember, back in the day the great composers were also (no surprise here) great improvisers. And they would have to have employed the same performance concepts. Would have been easier then, as there were no recordings to memorize.
If you're playing an outdoor gig and your instrument goes out of tune, you tune it, as gracefully as possible. As a violinist, it happens often under certain conditions. I would rather play in tune than not address it for the sake of looking good.
I remember watching a Cheville live video and the bass ist was out of tune for 5 or more songs. It got to me, only because I play bass. But still, nobody in their crew caught that?
Yes! Even a little out of tune on a violin is several cycles per second off and the ear picks that up easier than in the mids or the bass
Even indoors, you can slowly go out of tune during the performance.
@@karlroveynope, imposible
@@Zach-ls1if I've been in venues that warmed up drastically (to the point they were running AC while it was snowing outside) during a concert.
being from NORTH LOUISIANA ( by Grambling) .. that BLACK COLLEGE name on his shirt got me............... GRAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY!!!!!!!! .. i love it
@@ThePrinceOfTheTalkbox I went to Southern University. Let's fight! LOL!
I’ve never seen a musician fiddle with a knob or their instrument absentmindedly, there’s always a purpose that likely is going to serve the music. As a guitar player I check my tuning after almost every song, or I’m adjusting my pedals to get the necessary tone for the next song
Take your Guitar to a luthier so that it stays in tune (I'm assuming, here that you know how to tune a guitar? NOT being nasty or rude it's just surprising to me, as a Luthier, how many guitarists who are far better than I'll ever be don't quite know how to put strings on!)
As for pedals:
Have a "Settings list" next to your set list as what will work for one setting, once the sound's been sorted at sound check, will very likely work for the rest IF They've all worked fine together when you were setting them up in the first place👍
@@BeesWaxMinder thanks for the tips. I like floating tremolo bars which create tuning instabilities in general but my guitar isn’t going out of tune every song. What I said was that I CHECK the tuning after almost every song at a gig just to make sure everything is still good and that doing crazy whammy tricks in the last song didn’t pull something out of wack. (One of my biggest pet peeves is guitarists who play loud and out of tune)
If I’m not doing that then I’m likely adjusting settings on a pedal. I’ve had the same board for over 10 years so I know how to adjust my settings, it’s just one song may call for a crazy amount of chorus and the next one calls for a more mild effect so I need 30 seconds max between songs to bend down and adjust the rate and effect level knob before we start. If I don’t have time I don’t have time and can/will make it work but there’s also nothing wrong with taking a sec to make sure everything sounds as optimal as possible and give the audience the experience they paid for.
@@BeesWaxMinder guitarists definitely don’t know how to change strings though😂😂 to be fair there’s a lot of videos and articles that tell you to do different things so can’t blame people for getting overloaded by all the (mis)information
Guitarists absentmindedly fiddling?
Absolutely not - they're fidlimg to get their tone EXACTLY right - as if the minute changes they make matter.
Even tuning isn't that important. Did you actually go onstage with an untuned instrument? How far out can it get?
Play two songs - them have a quick tune once the strings have warmed up.
You're playing for the audience - if you're playing to yourself save all the bother and stay in your bedroom.
If it doesn't sound out of tune to you, it's close enough. Check it when you think it may be out. Just hit the next song other wise.
Noodling is my greatest pet peeve, especially when noodling at stage volume. It's mostly a guitar player thing, but any player can be that guy. In my last band, it got so bad with the keyboard player that he'd actually be doing a sort of "noodling performance" on break, in between sets. I tried so many times to change their behaviors, but in the end, the only thing that worked was to leave.
I've had more issues with drummers doing it, honestly. The aggravating part for me was that the worst drummers for noodling between songs were guys I really liked both on and off the stage, played well with, but that incessant noodling....
Some very good points, but I have to point out that if you are playing a true analog synth, "fiddling with the knobs" is part of the performance, that's how you add expression to your
playing!
I used to get some amazing sounds out of a delay pedal by fiddleing with the knobs. Guitars don't normally sound like that. But who wants normal? That's been done.
Also if you play a fiddle then it’s pretty much necessary to fiddle during the song
@@Zach-ls1if If you give a fiddler some ritalin, does it stop their fiddlin'?
I was thinking the same thing about changing synth sounds on purpose...
Thank you for saying this! As a seasoned guitarist I know how easy it is to buy the newest pedal tech and then not knowing the gear well enough which leads to massive technical difficulties. Nobody wants to watch you tap dance trying to figure it out. Know your gear!
I did a performance with a guitar rig and (intentionally) a Roland guitar synth rig in duo. As this was a live TV moment I realized to my minor horror the synth didn't come out at all in the mix. The pre-show setup was fast (and at 5:45 am). We were on a local feed of the Today show segment. I tried not to freak out, kept as much cool as possible. Played whole original piece guitar only. It was way more lush with synth, but it was already going. Afterward, it was the fact I had left a volume pedal unpressed. Yikes. Live and learn and keep playing.
@williamwalsh4013 yeah, between the volume pedal being in the wrong position or the damn patch cords having shorts it can be a real headache
I do a Rush jam session every year where we use the "host" band's rig. Trying to switch guitar patches after getting at most a 5-minute overview can be QUITE interesting... The bass side usually isn't too bad, until I tried to play "Countdown". If you know the song, you understand... 🙂
Spot on. I play several gigs a week, and I definitely think too much time between songs and having to point out when your bandmates mess up is pretty unprofessional. The soloing thing, too. Kills me. I make a concerted effort to play a little softer when my colleagues are strutting their stuff so people can hear how talented they are. You gotta be a team and lift each other up so everyone can shine.
As a bass player I'm used to being the bottom support for the band and the show. There was one time what I did on stage got me a big response and applause from the audience. I was playing with a recording artist and a friend who is a Nashville guitarist. In the middle of a song my bass completely went dead. No sound at all. I did not freak out. I kept cool and turned around to troubleshoot what happened while a stage tech also came on stage to assist. we found the problem. It was a power strip that was twisted. It unwound itself and fell over and the on/off switch hit a cymbal stand of the drummer. Easy . . just turned it back on and I turned around and rejoined the song since the band kept going. Being able to recover like that was impressive to the audience and I got my first applause LOL. I totally agree. Stuff happens sometimes and it is best to keep cool and help the situation. Your audience is understanding on issues like this. But when you make face when other make a mistake. the audience sees that as you sing arrogant. Not a good look. Thank you Terance for the wise word in your videos.
Great points!
I had a few guitar players that would mess with their gear in between each song. I told them they needed to get it together and stop doing that. We were making good money back then, and I told them to get at least two more guitars. Have them tuned and ready to go. That way if a string breaks or something happens, they just grab the next one and fix their issues on the break. As a drummer you should always have spare parts and a FLASHLIGHT with you. That way you can fix issues in the dark. Another big no no, is no band drama on stage. I have had to talk with a few guys about not getting into it with another player if they make a mistake for all the world to see. Save it for after the show. If the guy is that much of an issue, have a band meeting or find another player that fits better. Musicians have the most fragile ego's out of any job set. Tread carefully. Know your job. Prepare for your job. A lot of musicians are in it only for themselves and have huge ego. All ships rise with the tide. Learn to support and help each other and get over yourselves.
If you're a guitarist, know how you'll use your gear ahead of time. Get that straight in practice.
@@decosteruniverse I was a drummer, but even when I did play, I kept a tool box of spare parts and a rolling case of other doo dads in case something broke.
Or if you are going to fight onstage at least make it entertaining for the audience (see The BJM in Dig!)
@@decosteruniverse I hate when guys are figuring out how to use their pedals.
Bruh sometimes you gotta change some settings for the song 💀
1 dress up
2 smile
3 talk to everyone on your break, aknowledge your audience during performance.
These are all assumimg you can play, in time, in key
We're entertainers, our job is to make a party up in here. Bring your happy and spread it around.
🎯💯
It's amazing how far the smiles go. Very good points.
Exactly right. It helped calm my nerves if I concentrated on showing the bar crowd a good time instead of focusing too hard on my playing. It made me play more smoothly, and the bar would sell more drinks.
My #1 pet peeve is when you're standing on stage getting ready to start a song and one member of the band is practicing their part! DON'T PRACTICE ON STAGE!!!
I've found that its a frontman habit to talk or sing over my solos.. it drives me crazy!
Good advice all around. Also, video your band playing live and send it to your band mates, without any critical comments. I use this to spot my own areas needing improvement. And others [usually] can spot their own. It’s a fast way to tighten everyone up, without saying a word.
"Bearing" was the marching band term for recovery - Could be stomping through ankle deep horse manure during a parade competition and still appear as if you were marching on sunshine. Good thing to learn early!
Love this! And yes, music wouldn't be possible without Music, but entirely possible without ego, and especially enjoyable without ego. So, put it down, get out of the way! Let the good times roll!
🎯💯
As a professional drummer, I 100% concur with this video!!
I always tune DURING the song.
The algorithm brought me here, 2 years later. But these lessons are timeless. Subbed!
For the fiddling part… I’m the drummer and I also run the click tracks, backing tracks, etc from the laptop so…. I kind of have to fiddle.
what you don't have to do is sit there and bang on the drums between every damn song, like most of the drummers i've been stuck with do.
@@richardirvin6155did you even watch the video? he said nothing about that, and if that’s your experience during an actual performance then your gigs aren’t anything serious to begin with so pipe down and let the professionals speak
Bass player here, Made my first dollar in 71 and I was 15 working in a band.
Did this till I retired when I turned 60. Mostly because of health.
The business of music sucks. I have worked with the best and the worst , been taught by the best about being a musician for hire and studio work.
You are correct about stage presence and what not to do on stage. That comes from direction and maturity. Most musicians do not get the direction.
Drinking and smoking on stage was the biggest no no in the 80's, that was ok in the 70's though and some places had dress codes for the band.
Look at how management changed the Beatles for the good. That is direction.
You are providing this service. And I commend you for that.
Well done.
PS never give a drummer knobs to play with.
Why do bands take 15 min breaks?.........to retrain the drummer.
Dress code for the band's?! 😂😂😂😂
I've seen & heard a lot of stupid stuff in music, but wow. 😂😂😂
@@JakeStrange66most of the time dress codes in general just make me cringe fr.
Hey, Terence. Came across your channel by chance and really enjoying it! Thanks so much, sir, and will be sharing. Peace ☮
As a guitarist, pick slides, sides, harmonics, trills, and gratuitous use if the vibrato bar were the major tools for hiding oopsies, lol. Always have em handy.
As a drummer, I never messed around with my gear on stage. I always tuned before the set, and I always made all my adjustments during the sound checks
Stagehand with 37 years in the business.great video.let me add sound check is just sound check not rehearsal..
Focus, good manners, & support. Most important. Thanks.
Great advice, all. Much to guitar player's dismay, we are ALL here to support the singer. Singer is #1. Everybody else is #2.
underrated comment
Not in everybody's opinion. I'm usually in the audience to watch the guitarist, most of the time I couldn't care if the singer is there or not.
@@marilyncatterall402 Yeah, we're not talking about who you personally enjoy watching from the audience. We're talking about musicians performing in a band that has a singer. Ever been in a band? Didn't think so......
@@longsnapper5381why so rude? As a singer in a band myself, when im at a concert I tend to listen not to the vox but rather to the drums and bass. Different styles of music mean in certain genres, vocals are not as important. In metal for instance vocals are not usually the most important thing.
@@clairecrichtonmusic Why so rude? How about "why so thick'? AGAIN, no one gives a shit what you choose to listen to in the audience. Listen to your wife bleating for all I care. The band on stage performing is what we're talking about here, genius.
Great video Terence! I'm 70 and played my first professional gig at the age of 14. Most of my performances have been in night clubs and several concerts throughout the years. I've had to deal with all of these problems you mentioned from other band members. One thing you forgot to mention is to work and interact the crowd into total enjoyment. Don't make fun of anyone in the crowd or even show a dislike to anyone. Play the requests even if you hate the song. I've about seen it all with musicians unprofessional attitudes. Even when the crowd gets rowdy and out of hand, the band still needs to keep going and performing the best they can. Have a good day brother.
I once forgot to tune my guitar to open G tuning on our break...and we started the song...only to realize I was not ready.....I felt SO bad.... AKWARD! We quickly moved to the next song that did not require a different tuning.
One love keep the vibes high and remember to do something today that you can thank yourself for tomorrow!!
Cool videos!!! As a drummer, I can say that we never TUNE a drum in the middle of a song during a show. If we are “adjusting” something it’s because that something is about to fall over😂😂.
Keep the videos coming brother!!
100% agree with this. Who's tuning a drum in the middle of a tune?
Yeah, I laughed out loud at that one.
VERY GOOD VIDEO (liked and subbed) , and while not disagreeing, here in Florida, those hot outdoor gigs make stringed instruments go flat even mid song, or in colder outdoor climates, strings go sharp - so sometimes having to tune mid song or after the song has to happen unfortunately - even if you stretch the strings out adequately, etc...
- Other times, the soundcheck is usually the first few songs because either the bar doesn't allow it, or we are following a band right after, so we have to adjust our levels on instruments, monitor mix during the songs, because there is very little to sometimes no time for an adequate soundcheck.
- I agree with the not being distracted aspect, but sometimes the bar either has no security, or the security completely disregards the band (very common), and drunks will trip over equipment or even try to get on stage, so I believe situational awareness is in order to a very high degree because sometimes we have to be bouncers unfortunately.
Again, this was a great video, and i don't intend to discount the value of it, but there are these exceptions that I believe are important.
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
I have played and continue playing clarinet for over 20 years; I get flashbacks of marching band rehearsals outside in the cold, and this happens when I have to play in a cold room (ie the church sanctuary) . I can’t always “push in” my barrel before the performance; most of the time I do it when I notice I’m flat, because it’ll be awhile before I play during the service.
As a guitarist constantly trying to balance my tone between rythym and soloing, I'm constantly messing with the volume and tones knobs on my guitar...it makes a world of difference to me and inspires me to play better. I don't care how it looks.
All my heros do (or did) the same.
I mean JB….
Great advice! Thanks for educating live musicians about these things. They really matter.
👍 I love this…
Stage ELECTRIAN 🤛
Thank you, Mr. Fisher. The one that I cleaned the most from was the last point, the one about making mistakes noticeable. I’ve been grappling with that all 30 of the years I’ve been trying to play music up to 2024.
@2:45 YES! I hate it when that happens. Or if the club/bar has TVs mostly auto racing, I get sucked in.
As a teenager in a band who played two shows, both times I’ve just spent the whole shows headbanging or walking around looking occasionally at the ground but mainly my fretboard/feet, probably because it helps me feel like I’m playing along to my favourite bands, to cope with my stage fright
all valid points and good advice.. thanks sir!
I played with a lot of people that look over at somebody and give them a dirty look when they make a mistake. The audience doesn’t even notice at all or doesn’t play something the way exactly they want it played and I look at at the audience and I see people looking at that person giving dirty looking and rolling eyes and they notice, and it doesn’t make the band look good at all… Never play with those types of people for multiple reasons other than just that because there’s other things going on there
Sounds like you were playing with Van Morrison. He used to do that. I never bought any of his records. He seemed like a jerk.
Our thing was to smile and give a nod to whoever messed up, and hopefully the audience would think it was a cool improvisation.
Indeed, all good material here. In college, one of my professors gave me the best information, "At that particular point in time, the music you are playing, YOU know it best!". Granted, other musicians may know it and have played it in their setlists, but right now, YOU are the one playing it.". And true, the audience isn't going to know if you made a mistake because they will believe it is part of the arrangement, anyway. Musicians "substitute" chords all the time, international or unintentionally. Yes, really good video!
I've been right in the middle of an instrumental solo, and the praise and worship leader started singing over me! This has happened a lot. It's like they don't know what to do when not singing. One time, the pastor walked over and whispered to his P&W leader, "It's an instrumental solo. Stop singing!" 🤣🤣🤣
I've never had that, but I WILL have drummers who will tingaling during a piano song and stuff and it's like dude. NOW is you chance to LITERALLY just sit there and relax. It's DISTRACTING. Fking cut it out bro 😂 You have to be protective of those moments. Just be straight up like, "Hey, this is MY part. MY moment so don't fking play!"
@@djjazzyjeff1232 That doesn't sound like very Christian talk, coming from someone who plays at a church.
You must be one of those cussin' christians I've heard about.
@@onusgumboot5565 I’m not a Christian
@@onusgumboot5565 The devil DOES have all the best tunes.
Why would anyone be playing a solo in church? Solos are self-aggrandizement.
Good advice. I enjoy hearing every morning. Thank you.
Thank you very much for excellent advice. You have a great attitude and express it beautifully.
I had a fail in a guitar pedal setup which sounded horrible. Another accompanist covered the next verse while I plugged the guitar directly into the amp, and I moved forward for the rest of the set without any effects- more importantly, without disturbing the rest of the set.
In our 2nd ever gig (if you can call it that.. We were teens). I messed something up pretty badly in the first few bars of a song. I stopped everything, apologized and we started again.
My mom, a seasoned musician, taught me the next day to never apologize or stop the song. She said not to call any attention to it, not even with a grimace or body language. She said most folks won't even know and if they do catch it, they'll quickly forget about it. Some of the best advice ever.
I learned over the years too (mainly in jamming) to turn mistakes around quickly so they sound more deliberate.
Some songs can evolve to become even better from mistakes, because they can spark new ideas for phrasing or builds or transitions, etc.
Not totally true. I Saw recently Cat Power in concert. She started a song wrongly and stopped it. But she did it very in a kindly way that the audience appreciated it. We are musicians aka human beings ...
@@alainbrasseur7083 I would say, generally speaking, this is an exception to the rule (and could depend on the artist and other factors.
Plus, nowadays your mistakes, etc., can be spread all over the net. I would rather not call attention to mistakes for the most part.
Thanks! I can relate to the idea of over-reacting to mistakes and goof-ups. I tend to want to react badly to my own, self-frustration, that kind of thing. And I'm working on not showing that frustration. Other band members sometimes don't even notice but I'm one of my own worst critics when I KNOW I've messed something up or thrown out a "clinker" or two. I wanna be perfect. (Common tale, aye? LOL!)
Good one Terrence. I deal with some of these often, and am sometimes guilty myself. Not only on stage. Soloing in any situation. For instance I hold jams with semi-pro friends (weekend dad-band types) in my studio. They bring new people over as well. Some guitarists can't wait. I'm soloing and building up to go around the blues a second time, and all of a sudden buddy comes blasting in. Or they noodle constantly and never get down with rhythm, and/or step all over the vocals. Drummers need to hear this to. Overplaying, and drum rolls during the vocals. Volume awareness is another area needing work. Some people come just to play rock-star on a Friday night. A couple of players actually said that. Unreal. That gets really tedious to have some failed actor ego-monkey doing his best Jagger dance moves, and getting all out of time, head somewhere in the clouds, ears absent, and no audience watching. I have some jam rules (signs on wall) and try to help get people in line, get them monitored adequately, and so we all can hear and have fun. After a couple of chances I put them on a list in my head. People, I never invite back, and those I do. One other thing. If the guy who brought 24 beer to the jam is a mess halfway through, he's cut, unless he can hold it.
fiddling with the knobs I agree you shouldn't if it isn't necessary but sometimes it is. you assume we all get sound checks at every gig. there are times where you need to make adjustments on the fly because it's a detriment to the music. but everything said is pretty on point. thanks for sharing... I just noticed 2 years ago. still holds up though.
One of those you really hit the nail on the head for me. Probably my biggest pet peeve ever is when guys aren’t ready when it’s time to count it off, or they’re looking around at other band members like they’re unsure of themselves.
Love that tee shirt, I went to Louisiana Tech.
Tuning noiselessly :) (if it's an amped instrument, that is)
I (the guitar player) had a moment where l looked to the bassist and the drummer with “ what are you ding?” consternation. Turned out what they were doing was playing the song correctly. It was l who’d gotten lost. l did have an apologetic laugh at myself when l (pretty quickly - with help from their expressions) realized this.
My bass player and I would always try to link together/ play a complimentary fill in or flourish now and then. Always loved that.
Great video man.. Thanks for sharing this. Happened all the time
as a keyboard player who layers and stacks I fade through out the chourse of the song depending on what's going on and if there's a transition where there is a patch change!!!
Thanks for this advice
never ware a skynard or slayer shirt on stage unless youre prepared to hear that band name screamed until you play covers of said band. 😂🍻
Love your vids bro. Always dead on 💯
As a bassist, one of my pet peeves when playing a church service, is having the organist step all over me with the bass pedals. What's the point of inviting me to play bass if the organist is not willing to let me handle the low end. I can't read the organists mind to know what he/she is going to play ; gives the appearance that I don't know what I'm doing. Also restricts my playing when I'm trying to match what the bass pedals - can't really relax and "do what I do". Can be a bit frustrating.
Oooooh yeah, that part about giving space to solos is a thing our drummer really needs to understand.
Vocalists too.
Solos are better when the drummer supports what the guitar player is doing more so than drummer keeping a bland ass pocket.
Those don’t usually mix well
but the other side of the coin is the drummer is usually the one with the best feel for the timing and tempo, and I've seen bands where I wondered if the drummer was going to throw a stick at the soloist to get them to wrap up their solo and let the song move on. - which is not to say your drummer has reached that level of awareness, of course. you know them better than I do.
Bro thank you for this video...All you said is true.
Mine is when someone messed up and everyone in the band looks at them with frown face...OMG
We were in a Portland Or. bar with Dr Hook when Operation Desert Storm started mid show. Kinda hard to compete with the TVs and the 'shock and awe' images. We all agreed that this would be a great time to skip to the closers and wrap up the show early that night.
Excellent stuff, all true, and some of these are the reasons for leaving the band etc...
Such great advice !!! In our bands you had very little time between songs (NO DEAD AIR). We planned guitar changes with song setup & if you didn't have the gift of gab (SHUT UP & PLAY) !!!
Good stuff man
As a synth player, I can say that it's "acceptable fiddling" to turn knobs or click buttons when intentionally changing the sound that's being played, as in "live automation" over time, for that part of the riff 👍
Just because you said not to do these things makes me definitely want to do them. This video has inspired me to invent some more things to confuse and anoy my audience. Thanks 😊
That bit about people soloing over the soloist is so common with players. Also thinking simplicity is lame and not having good tempo
I appreciate your content bro, keep up the good work.
Thanks for the great content! These tips are useful for all performers to keep in mind, especially the last one. The time to pay attention to mistakes is while you are doing your individual practice, and that's it. There are people who have seen me perform for years who say I never make a mistake, but spoiler alert - I make them a lot, I just don't make it obvious.
We all make mistakes, I learned a long time ago the art of playing live with a band is covering them up. In a good band the members will cover each other. The worst thing you can do is make a face, or otherwise draw attention to it!
Caught Neil Peart screwing up a fill once. Still one of my top 5 favourite live moments of all time. And lemme tell you, his recovery was impeccable. The only reason I caught it is that I play drums and know all his parts so well lol. Clearly the man was human after all.
The art of recovery. YES! I actually practice this. I intentionally make a mistake so I can practice the recovery. This way, my mind is trained to be able to react to it instead of being paralyzed by it when it happens for real.
What a professional approach!
I’m always fiddling with stuff, but I also mess with analog (modeling) keyboards, so half the fun is fiddling with with it. Also, I consider a mixer just as much of an instrument as anything else.
I fell down a tele rabbit hole a couple years ago. For me, that is the Swiss Army knife of guitars. That tonal palette is huge, and there’s tons to work with, all under two knobs and one switch. I am constantly keeping my tone dialed where it makes me smile, regardless if a jazz piece, a country swing thing, or some straight up rockin blues. Hopefully my set is diverse and interesting, that requires a wide pallet.
I make absolutely zero apologies for constantly caressing my controls, I am God of that sound box and that’s how I coax the good stuff out. I also pull the volume all the way down anytime I’m not gonna have a hand on those strings at one end or the other, I may be riding that volume knob for some volume swells, it’s called nuance and dynamic and it makes me feel good inside and it helps have fun and connect with an audience…(so I hear)
it seems a weird complaint to me. I mean, if a guitarist is on stage mucking about with his pedal settings, then he’s not got his gear ready for his performance. But if I’m caressing the switches and knobs on my instrument, I am playing my instrument.
All good stuff! I admit to distraction…playing the same songs night after night my mind would sometimes wander if I wasn’t careful. (…”hmmm, should I do laundry tonight or wait..”)
Yeah.
The way I learned to combat it was to keep moving! Moving around the stage, emphasizing a change or whatever.
This is golden. Thank you
Man, I would love to be a bandmate with you! Even my some of my buddies who have played for decades haven't developed a sense of stage.
Your right, I watch the really top guitar players and they just play, so many others are all ways turning knobs adjusting strings don’t know why it sounds the same
I’m a bass player, but I would say we can give some slack about fiddling with your instrument to keyboards, in particular if a synth is involved and even more if it is a Mini Moog.
Right on with these points
One thing you didn't mention is noodling between songs. In the bands I've been in, that was a no no. the crowd doesn't want to hear someone goofing around like that between songs. If you feel you have to do that, turn down so it doesn't go to FOH