Ever had a rehearsal or gig where you just did terrible...couldn't remember the chords and messed up everything all night to the point where you just wanted to throw in the towl?

I had a night like that a few nights ago...it seemed as if I couldn't keep a beat straight for two seconds and couldn't even play elementary fills without speeding up or slowing down. I became so frustrated and it just so happened it was the one night we were running our entire 4 hour set.

How do you guys get through nights like this? This doesn't just apply to drummers - musicians, engineers, producers, ect. We all have off days and we all face doubts when it comes to attempting careers as musicians. What keeps you driven? Why do you play music in the first place?

This may be a cool place for us to share how we all got into music and get to know each other as well.

This doesn't happen to me on bass very much because playing has become second nature to me. On trombone, however, I struggle unless I practice a lot -- which I don't. I originally played trombone, laid off for almost 30 years, the started again about 10 years ago. I got pretty good, but the amount of practice I had to do to stay in top form just wasn't worth it and playing became a drag.

When a bad shoe or rehearsal happens, there's not much you can do except step away and try to forget about it. Maybe even play some goofy thing, like a blues or an old rock tune, to get away from the intense concentration and restore the fun. The Beatles jammed in the studio quite often and I think that's exactly why they did. Play something fun -- break the routine. Try to do better next time. One of the hardest things I find is to admit that sometimes you have to play to the best of your ability that day -- even though it might not be the best you can play. No one is 100% all the time. I am my own worst critic, but things tend to balance out over time. I'd say without ego that in 45 years of playing bass, I've been great more than I've sucked.

Off nights are very frustrating. The interesting thing about the rehearsal that Alex is talking about was an off night for the entire band. Our singer was forgetting words and entire sections. My fingers were telling me no thanks, everyone was just off. We were in an unfamiliar space but the band sometimes has off nights in the room we have been practicing in for months.

And Dave, if you hadn't been great more that you sucked, you probably would have had a 30+ year music career...

I've had total band breakdown on occasion. Sometimes it just doesn't click. I've also had nights when the band plays so well that we can't believe it happened -- had to listen to a tape to confirm that we sounded as good as we thought. This just happened Thursday when we did a live TV show. At the time, we all thought we played OK -- the singer couldn't hear and we were in a new room playing at lower volume than we're used to. But the playback sounded very good -- just a couple of small glitches that had more to do with the TV mix than our playing. That's always nice.

Agreed, I guess on those off nights a good thing to think about was one of those incredibly "on" nights and just tunnel through it. There is no better feeling than a great performance!

We had one of those "on" nights last night to make up for the off night a few nights ago.

Haha! Yes we did...I guess that sort of answers my question.

"On" nights remind you why you do what you do and keeps that passion alive.

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I am absolutely positive I have them.

But usually when I THINK I've had one,
audience members spontaneously spout
compliments ... or maybe Ms Diva says
it was killer kool.

So, while there's no doubt that I have
off nites, I'm sketchy concerning when
they are or what was wrong with them !

There's times when Ms D tells me I'm
off, but those can also be nites when I
don't sense it, or maybe the audience
heaps praise on me. So Ms D is not an
indicator of my off nites, either. But I
am NO MAESTRO ! Plenty of off nites
are surely happnin ! But which ones ?


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Hhmmnn ... now I'm thinkin "field recorder".

Such devices are disapproved by Ms Diva but
thaz a whole nuther crazy tale. And so where
there's a will, there's a way ...


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Good idea! I feel like I should start bringing my macs to rehearsals and start recording them! Gives a good reference to the entire band and can help me work on my weak spots!

Or maybe an Edirol or H4!

Didgital recorders do an amazing job -- even the handheld variety. I saw Glenn Tilbrook last year and a friend's wife put a simple digital recorder on the table -- wwewere eight feet fromn the stage -- and it came out extremely good. A nice mix from the house sound guy helped. I also play with a guy who can't read music and doesn't feel comfortable with chord charts, so if he's filling in with the band, he comes to rehearsal and records everything, the sheds at home.

I have tapesI made in the '80s by taking a line off the PA for voclas and running guitars with mics and bass right of my bass amp preamp out. They still sound great.

`

I've got a very basic Tascam, very small.
Size and simplicity are important, since
Ms Diva bleebs only SHE has the right to
record her gigs.

The recent development of tiny recorders
that run for hours, unattended by a user,
is toadally outside her experience. So, if
I don't fuss with it at all, it just sits there
looking like a tuning meter or some other
chatchke, while it's recording everything,
including breaks, for the whole night.

I can later spot check each recording at
3 dozen 5 min intervals to see if I suck !
Thaz about a 40 min project. I can do it
the next day when I'm waiting for her to
arrive, as I'm usually way ahead of her,
and that time is otherwise wasted.


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Funny enough, one of our best sounding live recordings came from a band members wives video camera. She was just far enough away that it didn't distort and she got a great signal! I guess anything can really work as a reference - it's not like were gonna release a CD with it!

`

OK. I made one reeaaalllly krappola recording.
Got that "oatmeal box" tone, cuz the recorder
was hidden and not well located.

1. Places where I really knew I blew it jump
right out at me on playback.

2. My intonation is way better than I hoped.

3. My lines are half decent.

Also, Ms Diva made big mention of how well I
played that night, how appropriate blah blah.
I am very much influenced by "my" audience,
most especially when the audience is ME and
I know I'm gonna be UNFORGIVING ... but
more importantly, toadally UNFORGETTING !
[I was very aware every moment that I was
recording for close scrutiny].


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The hardest thing to develop is a sense of accurate self-criticism. I think everyone can hear their own mistakes better than others can. I've finally developed the art of admitting that as long as I ply the best I can that night, I'm happy. It may not be perfect, but as long as it doesn't derail the tune, it's fine. I played a live TV gig earlier this month and didn't worry much about being seen by 3.7 million people. And I found that the band -- and I -- sounded very good. Everyone I have talked to raved about the show, which I know was less than perfect. But we connected, and we all played very well. Perfection can be achieved, but after playing for 45 years, I'm no longer a subscriber to the "less than perfect" is a a failed performance school of thought.

`

One cool thing about a recording is that even
tho actual fuggups are plain as day, you get to
hear what you *felt* were fuggups, or at least
possible fuggups ... and reconsider them in the
listener context rather than the player context.

Sometimes, fairly often if you play by the seat
of your pants, there's many playing moments
that feel "not right", yet on later playback they
sound just fine. My take on this phenominon is
that there are "absolute clams", but there are
also "relative clams". An absolute clam is just
not right. Any well aware listener will hear it as
sounding "out". OTOH, *relative* clams are not
necessarily really "out". We hear them as "out"
when we play them because we had a different
expectation, a different intention, than what we
actually executed. IOW, in our own view it's a
real slip up, we heard *a difference*. But taken
more globally, since it's on-key and on-time it
passes unnoticed ... "no harm, no foul". So not
every 'slip up' is a true 'fuggup' !


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I am a fan of these "fuggups" on live recordings. A band like Zeppelin with unmatchable chemistry makes them part of the product. If they messed up, (which they always did) they didn't retake. That is probably why they are revered as the legends of live music. They were just as accurate live as they were in the studio. But take the Eagles or someone like Boston, they were far better live and in the studio then Led ever was, at least musically. But, as I have been told by those who have seen Zep in concert, they said it was an experience and not just a concert... They were probably on drugs though...

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For my tastes, everyone is better live
than in the studio. For me, this has
nothing to do with any adrenaline rush
or "concert goer's experience", which
is an experience unknown to me.

IOW, I bleeb that the most rewarding
music [not same as "most flawless"] is
a result of the interactions within the
band ... for which an audience maybe
lends extra inspiration, but is not the
main driving engine. IOW, I'd rather
here a 'live recording' than a 'studio
production'.

For me it's all about the music, not the
crowd noise and excitement mixed into
the recording. It's about immediacy of
mindset by the players. You could be a
classical chamber ensemble, whose live
audience is so hushed that they make
no audible intrusion on your recording.
Yet I'd still rather hear the immediacy
of your gig recordings than hear your
studio productions.


`

After getting into the mini-recorder discussion I
realized I never addressed the query in the OP !

I must admit, "career" is not a word I speak in
the same breath as "my music". Why do I play ?
To keep a shred of sanity. I know that seems a
bit of a nonsequitor, given the context of bands,
musicians, chick-singers, and all that goes with
that ... but just imagine sumptin even far LESS
sane than the music scene ... thaz where I'd be
without this.

Thus there is only one possible answer to why I
keep going thru fuggup nites, etc, etc .... and
that answer is: "So I can do it again tomorrow!"


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A little updte on messing with the recorder.

I joined another band and using my recorder
at rehearsals has smacked me with some new
news: I can't read AND attend my intonation
simultaneously. So, I need to get these tunes
down cold so I can pay more attention to my
intonation, without the distraction of charts.
Bummer, but not a biggie.


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Not to be to hard myself, I'm so accustomed
to playing for Ms Diva, and I get two things
from her that I'm not getting from this new,
toadally strings, band. Playing 'against' her
KB I have an absolute sense of intonation but
with two fretted and two fretless string axes
there's no absolute in-tune reference source !

Furthermoose, Ms D has a very singular sense
of time and so all I hafta do is "march in step"
and simply reinforce a time thaz already solid.
But now, with four string players, if I don't
lay it down extra solid, things get way loose !

I have a full time day job, four nights a week
playing with Ms D, one night rehearsing in the
string band, and the scattered gig schedule of
the string band. I really need nine-day weeks
of 36-hour days right now. After I learn all the
new tunes, I can eat and sleep again !


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