STOP Doing This On Stage!!!

Real pros still mess up. But they hide their mistakes and recover so well that it’s rarely noticeable! That is my aim.

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.

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

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.

Not being ready is the worst

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!

You are forgetting the most important one. If your having fun, the crowd is having fun

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.

That bum note was just my jazz influence kicking in

"Don't fiddle with your instrument"-- unless it's a violin (i.e. a fiddle). lol

The fiddling may be to compensate for an abysmal soundman. They are legion.

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.

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.

As a professional drummer, I 100% concur with this video!!

I've found that its a frontman habit to talk or sing over my solos.. it drives me crazy!

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.

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!" 🤣🤣🤣

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.

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.

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!