Lead singer keeps stepping back from the mic - eventually he steps right on where my instrument cable entered into my pedal board, and neatly disconnected my bass. Took me about 15 seconds to figure out exactly what happened. Fifteen exceptionally long seconds!!
The sound guy in a bar was apparently also the cook. We needed a condensor mic turned on for a song 3 or 4 songs in to the set. Seemed like we were calling for the sound guy for 10 min (probably only 30 seconds). So the guitar player goes to sound board to turn up the channel. Bam! Sound guy comes running out of the kitchen hollering at the guit player to not touch his board...
First arena gig ever, been waiting all my life for it. Intro is all cool then supposed to come in with a bang. First note, forgot to turn off my tuner. Had to walk back to the rig to turn it off. Whole band is looking at me like DUDE??? 😂😂😂
My favourite onstage cringe memory is from being in a band where we opened our set with a super quiet opening sixteen bars. As I was barely tickling the bass I could hear the sound engineer out front lifting the volume fader up on the mixer (and thinking holy cr@p!) knowing that in a few bars time the band was going to explode into our opening song and the PA was about to get desrroyed!
My worst was in Nashville about 15 years ago. Doing “The Chain” and it got to the little bass lick that sets up the big ending. Went to hit the big “D” to get it started, and my finger slides off the strings and gets caught under it ! Luckily, kept my presence of mind and just laid off for 2 bars as did the others and then came in.
Yyyesss!!! Thank you for this awesome compilation - that was great, totally love those stories! Even the world's greatest bassists do mistakes, too - and it's makes them even cooler. Hope there will be more stories, would be great! ❤👍
Given today's music scenes it seems that stories in the future will be either that the backing track failed, the pitch correction/auto tune failed or the playback track crashed.
In my early 20s in a metal band. First show with my new wireless rig. VERY first song guitar player steps down onto the floor and I get the brilliant idea to do a Van Halenesq leap off stage. Intent was to land at his side and start rocking out with him. I'm at the apex of an adrenaline fueled leap and I see the guitarist turn and step a foot to his left. Directly under me. In the chaos that ensued my wireless came unplugged. A friend ripped a fingernail out trying to get the clip back onto my strap. Yeah... that was the first and last time I tried any kind of stage acrobatics.
Back before I played bass, I was asked to play acoustic guitar and do a solo, in a song being sung by a decent local singer. It was at a free "festival" afternoon, with a crowd of about 1000 people. Which was about 980 people more than I had ever played in front of at any time up to then..... My friend lent me an electro acoustic guitar, but just as I went to play the solo another bandmate stepped on the lead and disconnected it. So I played the solo with the guitar pulled up under my chin, to get it in front of a microphone. The lesson is: always pass your instrument lead through your guitar strap, to give yourself a chance of not getting it pulled out by a clumsy bandmate.
Think my worst moment was a mate (John Gotting) who played in a bluesy rock and roll style called me up one afternoon to say that his bass player couldn't make a pub gig that night and he knew i had seen the band a few times....so could i dep for the evening,. It was mainly 12 bar songs , so not too taxing to fake it for the evening. What i had forgotten was that i had cut my index finger on my fretting hand a day before, but i turned up, plugged in and started playing. Was really enjoying the gig, and the band were cooking, when i noticed a few of the people up front looking weirdly at me. it was only when i got to the end of the first set that i looked down (I am capable of playing without looking at the fretboard!) and realised that the neck of my bass was now covered in blood from my finger! No wonder i was getting worried looks from the audience!
What a brilliant idea for a video. my story Mick are guitarist put his head phones to tune up but nothing was working so he’s checking the leads the nobs nothing so confused sitting strumming way at this point Chris the singer walked in looked at Mick walked over to the wall and turned on the power then Mick shot through the air screaming 40 years on and I’m still laughing about it
Great compilation... What is great fun is sitting around with bassists-- musicians-- and trading stories like this... Such as playing a biker bar, nice looking chick comes over during a break, starts chatting me up, asking if we do certain songs. I think great, so i start chatting her up. My band mates then physically pull me away from her. Come to find she was with the biggest, badest looking guy in the bar. If looks could kill --or beat the crap out of you!!! Fortunately, he only gave me some seriously bad looks the rest of the gig. I did catch a bunch of crap from the rest of the band, who felt obligated to rescue me if things turned bad!
I had to change from fretless to fretted bass midway through a particular song, and the time to do this was always tight. I had a new bass that I hadn't put strap locks on yet, and the strap came off just as I was about to start playing, so I ended up down on one knee, playing the bass like an upright bass. That was fine, because it was a pretty cool recovery, but I found out that the guys in the band and people in the audience didn't realise it was an accident, so rather than a cool recovery, to the crowd it must have looked like the saddest, lamest attempt at show boating in the history of music.
Worst for me was my 9v battery died mid set . Screw driver required . Asking bad members if they had a screw driver then moved onto asking audience for anything remotely screwdriver ish . Got a set of car keys with a fob . Great . In my panic got the battery swapped but thought I could get away with not screwing battery in . Just fell out of my bass in the next song . Sooo then mid song bass was strings down on the stage using the car key fob to screw battery compartment . All in , job done great I thought . Stood up and carried on playing but the machine heads must’ve moved so I was flat as a bowl of pee. That’s when some people realised I had a problem as they all stare at me lol …. Huge lesson learned
. *In 2022, I played a gig in a venue whose AC broke a few hours before the show.* *Temp felt like 110°F and my bass was covered in sweat after the first 5 songs (enough that I was worried about shorting out my electronics) & I didn't have a towel, terry cloth...nothing.* *Desperate, I asked the crowd for help & suddenly I see this cute girl in the front row throwing me what I thought were 2, little white towels.* *After thoroughly wiping my bass down with one and my face with the other, I realised they were socks, not towels.* *My band still jokes about it at every rehearsal & gig.* *"What's that foot smell in here?"*
We were playing a set last year and one of the songs was Them Changes by thundercat, so I was using a whammy pedal that night to have a higher octave for the Thundercat sound, but I also decided to use it for a solo a few songs before this one, and as I turn it off after the solo I accidentally changed the setting from an octave to major 3rds and I didn’t notice until I started playing the riff and the whole band just stopped and watched me as I awkwardly laughed it off and changed the setting back to the higher octave. Everyone laughed it off so I guess it went well😂
Someone kicked my set list upside down and I played the wrong song. I quickly adjusted to the correct one. Later I asked the band and audience members if they heard the gaffe and they said no, it sounded fine. Weird.
Forgot to unplug compressor after sound check. Dead battery made it sound like overdrive on first tune of show. Another time singer stepped on cable then put it into the wrong jack for me. Somehow caused howling feedback. Not good in the pit for a musical!
Back in the 80, Most Bands or Groups wore those "Uniforms"... Shiny or Glittered One Piece Outfits... I was doing a Gig while I was living in OKC... The WHOLE FIRST SET, my Zipper was down... Skin Tight Red Glittery Jumpsuit, NO UNDERWEAR!!! Never noticed till I felt a Draft!!!😅😅😅😅
First arena gig ever, been waiting all my life for it. Intro is all cool then supposed to come in with a bang. First note, forgot to turn off my tuner. Had to walk back to the rig to turn it off. Whole band is looking at me like DUDE??? 😂😂😂
Knowing our heroes all have Spinal Tap moments is genuinely reassuring. Thank you!
Amen! Good to know I’m not crazy :)
Lead singer keeps stepping back from the mic - eventually he steps right on where my instrument cable entered into my pedal board, and neatly disconnected my bass. Took me about 15 seconds to figure out exactly what happened. Fifteen exceptionally long seconds!!
that's a classic 😅
The sound guy in a bar was apparently also the cook. We needed a condensor mic turned on for a song 3 or 4 songs in to the set. Seemed like we were calling for the sound guy for 10 min (probably only 30 seconds). So the guitar player goes to sound board to turn up the channel. Bam! Sound guy comes running out of the kitchen hollering at the guit player to not touch his board...
This is excellent. Love the idea of asking this to so many greats. Thanks for doing this and uploading for all of us!
First arena gig ever, been waiting all my life for it. Intro is all cool then supposed to come in with a bang. First note, forgot to turn off my tuner. Had to walk back to the rig to turn it off. Whole band is looking at me like DUDE??? 😂😂😂
I do that at least once every other show haha
@ Haha, I hear you!!
I don't feel so bad now hearing stories from these legend's 😂😂
Great compilation! Thanks for this!
My favourite onstage cringe memory is from being in a band where we opened our set with a super quiet opening sixteen bars. As I was barely tickling the bass I could hear the sound engineer out front lifting the volume fader up on the mixer (and thinking holy cr@p!) knowing that in a few bars time the band was going to explode into our opening song and the PA was about to get desrroyed!
That’s crazy
My worst was in Nashville about 15 years ago.
Doing “The Chain” and it got to the little bass lick that sets up the big ending.
Went to hit the big “D” to get it started, and my finger slides off the strings and gets caught under it !
Luckily, kept my presence of mind and just laid off for 2 bars as did the others and then came in.
love that Bowie overlooked Tim's momentary challenges
Yyyesss!!! Thank you for this awesome compilation - that was great, totally love those stories! Even the world's greatest bassists do mistakes, too - and it's makes them even cooler. Hope there will be more stories, would be great! ❤👍
What a great video!
Given today's music scenes it seems that stories in the future will be either that the backing track failed, the pitch correction/auto tune failed or the playback track crashed.
In my early 20s in a metal band. First show with my new wireless rig. VERY first song guitar player steps down onto the floor and I get the brilliant idea to do a Van Halenesq leap off stage. Intent was to land at his side and start rocking out with him. I'm at the apex of an adrenaline fueled leap and I see the guitarist turn and step a foot to his left. Directly under me. In the chaos that ensued my wireless came unplugged. A friend ripped a fingernail out trying to get the clip back onto my strap.
Yeah... that was the first and last time I tried any kind of stage acrobatics.
Back before I played bass, I was asked to play acoustic guitar and do a solo, in a song being sung by a decent local singer. It was at a free "festival" afternoon, with a crowd of about 1000 people. Which was about 980 people more than I had ever played in front of at any time up to then.....
My friend lent me an electro acoustic guitar, but just as I went to play the solo another bandmate stepped on the lead and disconnected it. So I played the solo with the guitar pulled up under my chin, to get it in front of a microphone.
The lesson is: always pass your instrument lead through your guitar strap, to give yourself a chance of not getting it pulled out by a clumsy bandmate.
Think my worst moment was a mate (John Gotting) who played in a bluesy rock and roll style called me up one afternoon to say that his bass player couldn't make a pub gig that night and he knew i had seen the band a few times....so could i dep for the evening,. It was mainly 12 bar songs , so not too taxing to fake it for the evening.
What i had forgotten was that i had cut my index finger on my fretting hand a day before, but i turned up, plugged in and started playing. Was really enjoying the gig, and the band were cooking, when i noticed a few of the people up front looking weirdly at me. it was only when i got to the end of the first set that i looked down (I am capable of playing without looking at the fretboard!) and realised that the neck of my bass was now covered in blood from my finger!
No wonder i was getting worried looks from the audience!
Love hearing these funny stories.😁
What a brilliant idea for a video. my story Mick are guitarist put his head phones to tune up but nothing was working so he’s checking the leads the nobs nothing so confused sitting strumming way at this point Chris the singer walked in looked at Mick walked over to the wall and turned on the power then Mick shot through the air screaming 40 years on and I’m still laughing about it
Great compilation... What is great fun is sitting around with bassists-- musicians-- and trading stories like this...
Such as playing a biker bar, nice looking chick comes over during a break, starts chatting me up, asking if we do certain songs. I think great, so i start chatting her up.
My band mates then physically pull me away from her. Come to find she was with the biggest, badest looking guy in the bar.
If looks could kill --or beat the crap out of you!!!
Fortunately, he only gave me some seriously bad looks the rest of the gig.
I did catch a bunch of crap from the rest of the band, who felt obligated to rescue me if things turned bad!
I had to change from fretless to fretted bass midway through a particular song, and the time to do this was always tight. I had a new bass that I hadn't put strap locks on yet, and the strap came off just as I was about to start playing, so I ended up down on one knee, playing the bass like an upright bass.
That was fine, because it was a pretty cool recovery, but I found out that the guys in the band and people in the audience didn't realise it was an accident, so rather than a cool recovery, to the crowd it must have looked like the saddest, lamest attempt at show boating in the history of music.
Worst for me was my 9v battery died mid set . Screw driver required . Asking bad members if they had a screw driver then moved onto asking audience for anything remotely screwdriver ish . Got a set of car keys with a fob . Great . In my panic got the battery swapped but thought I could get away with not screwing battery in . Just fell out of my bass in the next song . Sooo then mid song bass was strings down on the stage using the car key fob to screw battery compartment . All in , job done great I thought . Stood up and carried on playing but the machine heads must’ve moved so I was flat as a bowl of pee. That’s when some people realised I had a problem as they all stare at me lol …. Huge lesson learned
That's why all my basses are active and passive battery died at gig this weekend just went passive no problem
All the Greats🍻
.
*In 2022, I played a gig in a venue whose AC broke a few hours before the show.*
*Temp felt like 110°F and my bass was covered in sweat after the first 5 songs (enough that I was worried about shorting out my electronics) & I didn't have a towel, terry cloth...nothing.*
*Desperate, I asked the crowd for help & suddenly I see this cute girl in the front row throwing me what I thought were 2, little white towels.*
*After thoroughly wiping my bass down with one and my face with the other, I realised they were socks, not towels.*
*My band still jokes about it at every rehearsal & gig.*
*"What's that foot smell in here?"*
Thumbs up to this vid 👍🏼
Rocco ❤
We were playing a set last year and one of the songs was Them Changes by thundercat, so I was using a whammy pedal that night to have a higher octave for the Thundercat sound, but I also decided to use it for a solo a few songs before this one, and as I turn it off after the solo I accidentally changed the setting from an octave to major 3rds and I didn’t notice until I started playing the riff and the whole band just stopped and watched me as I awkwardly laughed it off and changed the setting back to the higher octave. Everyone laughed it off so I guess it went well😂
Hugh MacDonald looks like Keifer Sutherland for real
More plz
One an use almost every key from a case with every other guitar case, they are interchangeable.
Victor Wooten talking about throwing up on stage, that’s true. Turn around and throw up into some king of hidden bucket or something
Someone kicked my set list upside down and I played the wrong song. I quickly adjusted to the correct one. Later I asked the band and audience members if they heard the gaffe and they said no, it sounded fine. Weird.
Eheheh me. Miller with a towel, great
Forgot to unplug compressor after sound check. Dead battery made it sound like overdrive on first tune of show.
Another time singer stepped on cable then put it into the wrong jack for me. Somehow caused howling feedback. Not good in the pit for a musical!
Sid Vicious was a one big bass fail.
great bass palyers are human as well...
Why am I not in this video?
Funny! By the way, what brand is Bakithi's headless bass, anyone?
Vader bass by Kiesel (formerly Carvin).
@@randychow8524 Oh, so Carvin it was! Thank you very much, Randy!
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh
It's great to hear they're human but unfortunately none of this helps when it happens to you! You still feel like a complete ahole.
Back in the 80, Most Bands or Groups wore those "Uniforms"... Shiny or Glittered One Piece Outfits...
I was doing a Gig while I was living in OKC... The WHOLE FIRST SET, my Zipper was down...
Skin Tight Red Glittery Jumpsuit, NO UNDERWEAR!!!
Never noticed till I felt a Draft!!!😅😅😅😅
First arena gig ever, been waiting all my life for it. Intro is all cool then supposed to come in with a bang. First note, forgot to turn off my tuner. Had to walk back to the rig to turn it off. Whole band is looking at me like DUDE??? 😂😂😂