# What a mess



## SPBY (Mar 5, 2010)

So tonight was the talent show at my University, also the first time for me playing live for a large number of people (around 200-300). Anyway, it was just me and my friend playing "The Great Plains" by Scale the Summit, but, since he forgot his footswitch we had to play the whole thing on a clean channel. So, we decided that some parts didn't really sound good clean and through the monitors that the school had set up (WAY too much bass coming out of them).

Anyway, i come from a school who can't understand music that isn't C, G, F chord played repeatedly (the 3 people who placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd all played chords throughout their songs), and we already had a disadvantage playing something out of the mainstream. I get insanely nervous when i do anything in a large group of people, and playing guitar in front of people for the first time doesn't help either. So, my nervousness took over, i played a part of the song we decided to cut out, messed it up, stopped, looked at the other guitarist said "shit" and laughed it off and continued. After the mess up we finished the song fine, i played the solo correctly, yada yada.

I'm fine to laugh stuff off, but what got me angry (mainly at myself) was:

1. i laughed it off, but the host had to say stuff like "you guys dont seem to enthused about your performance "
2. i am a perfectionist when it comes to playing (and "The Great Plains" is not the most difficult song in the world ), i'm always telling whoever i play it with to slow down, do it over or random other things, and the first time i play in front of people i mess up hugely. 

This thread was mainly for me to vent that stuff, buuuuuuut  to not get closed how about you guys share similar stories???


----------



## Malacoda (Mar 5, 2010)

I'm sorry about that man. It really sucks that it was your first in front of 200+ people. My first real gig was at a small house party, and I was just helping out a friend who wanted a guitarist to play one song. I didn't even like the song and it was just one, but I was really nervous because hey, it was my first show and almost all of the people in the audience were older than me. I didn't mess up THAT badly, but there were a couple killers.

1. It was really cold, and we were playing outside. I expected us to start playing before the sun went down, but we didn't, so my hands were freezing and I messed up some simple 7th chords and minor arpeggios. 

2. The host of the party kicked us off after one song, and I was expecting to do a solo. But he said we didn't have time, but I could play something very very short. I had written a 3 minute solo, but I ended up playing the diminished arpeggios for "The River Dragon Has Come", which I didn't have down cleanly anyway and (in addition to my cold hands) sounded pretty awful.

Most of the people didn't notice the mess-ups, but I did and felt bad. As first gigs go, it could have been worse, but it wasn't a situation I'd like to go through again.


----------



## Evil7 (Mar 5, 2010)

Just remember you will have a bad performance Here or there... Its only experience for you to learn from.... When something goes wrong, it teaches you how to prevent it next time...... The key is not to beat your self up to bad.... On to the next one buddy....


----------



## Uncle Remus (Mar 5, 2010)

Malacoda said:


> I'm sorry about that man. It really sucks that it was your first in front of 200+ people. My first real gig was at a small house party, and I was just helping out a friend who wanted a guitarist to play one song. I didn't even like the song and it was just one, but I was really nervous because hey, it was my first show and almost all of the people in the audience were older than me. I didn't mess up THAT badly, but there were a couple killers.
> 
> 1. It was really cold, and we were playing outside. I expected us to start playing before the sun went down, but we didn't, so my hands were freezing and I messed up some simple 7th chords and minor arpeggios.
> 
> ...


 
I think most people in an audience don't notice the average mistake unless its really in your face obvious. There was a story someone once told me of a ballerina who fell flat over during an important perfomance but she was so professional she managed to make it look like part of her routine. Skill 

As a wise man once said: "you're your own worst critic"


----------



## TheMasterplan (Mar 5, 2010)

You can't get down on yourself about something like that because it's only going to get you down and if you don't level then it's going to be on your mind the next time you go play in front of people and you don't need extra pressure from yourself on top of doing the performance itself.

You also can't be too hard on yourself because A) Nothing by Scale The Summit is going to be easy to play and as you said, even if you played it perfectly it would appear your audience wouldn't have appreciated the musicianship needed to play that and B) It was your friend's fault that you couldn't do it properly to begin with so if anything you should be impressed with yourself to be able to adjust yourself on the fly like that and at least play something instead of going "Well fuck, now that your dumbass can't use distortion I guess we're not going to play now". 

You just have to do the best you can and be as prepared as possible. You can't do anything more and it's really useless to be upset about things that are out of your control. Also there will be several times in which your audience won't appreciate what you're doing. They will equate three chords and an emotion-packed vocal performance or a half-assed rendition of "Free Bird" far more "amazing" than anything worth taking the time to learn and play. Sometimes you fuck up and sometimes shit happens - but it's not often and what's important is that you can adapt to situations which you did and for that, again, you should be proud of yourself for.

Don't get down on yourself, just be more prepared in the future, do your best and don't worry about anyone else. Trust me when I say it's far more rewarding to have one person come up to you after a show who knows music and talks to you about it than it is to have a whole room clapping for you because you can play a Green Day song on your acoustic. It will be better!


----------



## SPBY (Mar 5, 2010)

Thanks guys 

I love SSO


----------



## Tukaar (Mar 28, 2010)

Talent shows are fun. Our first show was at one, haha. Pretty fun making people question the structural integrity of the gym while we played. We got people to say that we played too loud there. We felt accomplished. :3


----------



## 13point9 (Mar 28, 2010)

My first ever show, headlining a sold out venue (only 100 mind) my bass pedal cut out during my bass intro for the last song, so annoying lol


----------



## Jogeta (Jun 7, 2010)

you have to have bad shows in order for there to be the contrast to enable you to recognise the good shows.

dwelling on where you went wrong IS NOT a bad thing! it's the best way to make sure you avoid making the same mistakes again!

you learn so much more from mistakes. it just sucks to make them in front of other people :')


the most important thing is: don't ever give up - turn something poor into something exceptional the very next time you have the opportunity to do so \m/


----------



## signalgrey (Jun 7, 2010)

im playing a big rock festival this summer and im totally pumped.


----------



## JohnIce (Jun 8, 2010)

It's only a mistake if you don't learn anything from it 

Fucking up is the best way to keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the target, it makes you want to practice and get better. Btw, playing wrong notes is NOT the same thing as doing a bad show. I've done bad shows were I played everything perfectly, that's not what it's about. If the audience enjoys themselves and dig your band, that's a good show. As Pete Townshend once said: "Don't let the music get in the way of your live act!".


----------



## blister7321 (Jun 8, 2010)

my frikkin singer sang too low 
and we had epic volume issues


----------

