Ever freeze up at a gig?

[straightblues]

Man I filled in with a band tonight playing lead guitar and lead vocals. I totally botched the solo guitar intro to the song and then missed when I was supposed to start singing. Thankfully I got caught up 12 bars later.

It is a song I have played at least a hundred times in public, I don't know what happened. I kinda chocked on the vocals throughout the song because I was nervous. Man I hate when that happens! Thanks God it doesn't happen often. Gigging is always an adventure. Man I wish I had a do over! Oh well, we will get um next time.

Share your stories.

[candh]

Sure, I'm lead singer, and lead guitar player. Total clam bake some nights...:puh

[21stcenturykid]

Snap! It sure makes it a lot easier to make mistakes when your doing 2 things at the same time that are probably the more noticeable parts. A lot of pressure!

[nealpolitan]

Yes.

Playing guitar and singing taxes my brain even if I've played the song a million times. Combine that with a live situation where maybe you had a drink or two before you go on, your tone is off and you don't know why, some drunk guy is screaming nonsense in your face, and a drunk lady is trying to grab the tambourine off your monitor and join in...

I had it happen with "Six Days on the Road" once and haven't played that song since. I had probably done it a million times before that. I was playing it fine but could not remember a single word, not even one of the other verses so I couldn't even fake it. All the other guys in the band were looking at me wondering if I was stroking out or something. I finally just waved us to a stop, made a joke about somebody spiking my beer, and announced a break.

I'm hoping that happens to everyone once in a while.

[SteveO]

I've never actually frozen up, but I have had more than my share of bad moments!

[mark norwine]

You're never as good as you think you are; you're never as bad as you think you are.

[Goldie295]

I don't drink any more and everything has been very easy ever since. I do still have two songs however when I have a lot going on, guitar riff, lots of lyrics, emphasis, actions and eye movements within the lyric lines etc, etc and my brain get fried and then talks to me during the last few bars of my solo close to the end of the song: "bet you don't remember the first line of this last verse coming up!". It happens every time. I first panic, then take a deep breath, and then literally say back to that voice: "Oh yer, well watch this!" and then I do the line no issues. It is weird but I guess we all get it....?!? lol

[telecopter]

Only if there are people in the audience.

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

I kind of quit getting nervous around hitting 40. It's like I don't care what people think, :red I'm just there to jam and have fun!! After taking that attitude, it really takes the pressure off and it really is fun! :YinYang

Probably the best thing I can think of is to rehearse until you can do it in your sleep.... then you know you have it nailed and can be more confident. Too, I don't know if you are drinking or not, but that will really screw up your performance if you have more than a couple (whether you think so or not).

[buddaman71]

Only one time. The first large gig I ever played (about 25,000 people) the drummer kicked off, the awesome PA kicked in, the lights hit and the massive wave of that many people focusing on the stage hit me. I got a massive adrenaline rush and my right arm physically locked up for about 5 seconds.

I just hit a big note, vibratoed the bejeebers out of it until I relaxed and all was good. Pretty intense the first time.

[ronedee]

in the beginning of my career....until I realized most everyone in the audience haven't a clue what or who screwed up!

Now...sometimes I hit a few errant notes, and point at other guys in the band for fun!;)

[germs]

just once.

largest gig to date, festival atmosphere.

before the show, i couldn't remember the songs. just stared at my guitar off stage trying to remember progressions i've played tired, exhausted, drunk, hungover, etc.

all of a sudden, i'm on stage and the drummer is counting off...typically for the first song we have an open note build up, thank God! drummer shouts off "One...Two...Three..." cymbals crash twice, and muscle memory takes over.

a scary and tense few moments of psyching myself out!

[twitch]

i have never really froze, but feel I have way too many clams. I am the lead guitar player in an original band (no vocals for me). Being we play our own tunes, it does help hide when I mess up, although I am sure ither musicians in the crowd may notice. The other members of the band seem to have no idea when i talk to them about it later, and i am certainly my biggest and harshest critic.

The mopre we oplay a certain song, the more I start getting ideas and hearing what i really want to be playing, particularly with the leads. while i don't want to necessarily map it out note for note, I don't want to totally fly by the seat of my pants either. Ultimately, too many clams. so just last week, i finally decided to really practice our songs outside of our bands rehearsals, which are no frequent then a 2 hour session once a week. I recorded the rythym guitar track to 4 of our songs we will be playing for a gig at the end of August. It will be a 9 song set, and a few of the songs, I really don't need to practice much more, but most I do. For these 4, i am seeing a HUGE difference, and can't wait until we practice as a band in 2 days. i expect to notice a big change.

Also, getting more comfortable translates to better "presentation" for me. i won't be up there like a statue just looking down at my guitar. I tend to move around a little anyway, but I will be much more comfortable with the songs, and my body language will likely translate as much.

[Boris Bubbanov]

My lead player's left hand would just freeze (anatomically) on him on rare occasions and I would try to be there to pick up.

But that's not what you mean.

[Tony]

I forgot my name, rank, serial number and how to play guitar at a festival (4,000 or so in attendance) one time. The drummer laid down the groove, and I was supposed to play in the intro hook. I almost NEVER look down at my picking hand while playing, and for some reason, I did - and went into total brain lock. It was like there were 500 strings to choose from and I couldn't remember which one to pick. It took about 10 seconds to figure it out, which felt like an absolute eternity.

[straightblues]

Great I am glad I am not alone. The guitar part kicked in after a few seconds, but then the thoughts of I f'd up the guitar part started effecting the singing confidence as well. I am over 40 and I have gigged for awhile. I don't ever drink more than 1 beer before playing. I am usually never nervous. Hope it never happens again.

[A440]

Yes, I went into a situation knowing that I didn't have all my ducks in a row.

I knew I was kicking off the intro to the song, but totally spaced and forgot the rhythm. Unfortunately, the drummer was of little help since he was also new to the material.

Once the drummer kicked in, all was ok. But that short period of time was really painful. I might have hid it pretty well, lol.

[tdawg]

Yes.

Playing guitar and singing taxes my brain even if I've played the song a million times. Combine that with a live situation where maybe you had a drink or two before you go on, your tone is off and you don't know why, some drunk guy is screaming nonsense in your face, and a drunk lady is trying to grab the tambourine off your monitor and join in...
I'm hoping that happens to everyone once in a while.

Yeah it is hard not to happen in a bar situation. Monitors not working properly, can't hear yourself, guitar amp under your feet so you can't hear what your playing while your buddies amp is 4 feet away so all you can hear is him playing too loud, people drunk falling over, always random people thinking they are finally going to be the lead singer of a band and they actually have talent and all they need was the 4 martinis and the tequila shot they had earlier grabbing the mic. Ladies asking for us to play songs by lady gaga or something that we couldn't even remotely think of covering properly and getting all into a twist because you don't want to talk to them about it in the middle of playing a song. people tripping over your mic stand and the mic banging into your teeth. etc. Its good training, for what I am not exactly sure.

[captain_bob]

One evening Sony Records was at one of our gigs. When I heard that, I totally froze up. I was several measures late when I finally jumped in.

[DGTCrazy]

Yeah.....a few weeks ago when members of a couple of famous bands were in the audience....I got so self conscious....my fingers turned to jello for a few measures....but fortunately I recovered...LOL

It's really silly too, as I play in a cover band at a club frequented by some pretty cool musicians who live in the area (Marin, CA)....and they just come to this particular restaurant/club to have dinner and hang out.