Live Mistakes...user error

    I love my Kemper but even after 2 years of steady live use, I occasionally screw up. I've left my wah engaged a few times and launched into the next song wondering why my sound was so thin. But this weekend was a bit more embarrassing. I generally use 5 profiles so rarely do I have to leave my main performance on the Kemper Remote. I do have one with some signature EVH and SRV profiles and another with only Jack and Diane....an acoustic sound and mid distortion type profile. So the next song after Jack and Diane was American Girl (Petty). The rhythm profile sounded ok but it comes time for the lead which I have set to a beautiful Bert Meulendjik Friedman with some delay and I hit what I think is that profile while in full rock star stance, crowd in anticipation......and it is the acoustic Jack and Diane profile....I forgot to go back to my main performance page. I frantically try to get back to the correct page and by that time the first part of the solo is a disaster. I can laugh about it now! Moral to the story....make sure you are on the correct performance page before starting the next song!!!!


    Any similar experiences?

    nothing like that with sounds but done a LOT worse with notes. Blues Brothers set. First song of the set Gimme Some Lovin’. Should be in E. Count in and I hit the riff. Only idiot boy here hits the riff to to Everybody Needs Somebody To Love in C.


    Another time Superstition in Eb. Muggins here hots the riff in E. plays nearly full first verse staring at the bass player with a look that would kill. My eyes and face are screaming “what the #@£f are you doing!!!” Then I realise he’s right because the keyboard player and all 5 horns are all plying in the same key and I seem to be the only one doing something different.

    That's live, isn't it? And that's what I accept (and like) when I am going to see a live band. If I want pure perfection I can take the CD and put it in the player. If I want it breathing and hot then I go for live 8)


    I remember that I saw Gary Moore way back in the 80s when I was a teenager. He played the wonderful intro solo for Empty Rooms, standing there alone in a spotlight... and bam! One string broken... he had Floyd Rose so no way to continue... his face with a very small sign of annoyance, he quickly disappeared from the spot and was back in less than 20sec with the other guitar... and the crowd cheered even more then. Since that time I do not care too much about things going wrong as long as there is energy and commitment in the overall performance :)

    Spinal Tap is funny because all that stuff really happens... to everybody.


    One of my "best" ones was getting a sub gig with a new artist and having a couple of days to learn a set of original music that I had never heard before. That is pretty typical. I did my diligence and learned the songs...had them down cold, no charts needed.


    At the first gig I realized what I did not learn was the NAMES of the songs. This was not a problem until the first song came up that I had to start by myself. I did not clue anyone in that I didn't know the song names and was getting along by judging the tempo of the countoff, or hearing the first few notes and jumping in. I should mention that, though I didn't know the artists songs prior to getting the gig, his fans DID know his songs. AND he chose this point in the show to announce the name of the next song in his chatter and get the crowd fired up.

    I'm sure you can see where this is going: He announced the song, I thought I was starting the next song on the set list (the one announced to the crowd), but started a different song...with guitar blazing. The guy was a trooper and announced, "Well, I guess the new guy wants to hear (song X)!" and we rocked on.

    I made it through the rest of the night, with the band fully aware that someone needed to sing some of each song to me so I would know which song was coming up.

    Good news though: I got my act together before the next night. I ended up subbing on that gig a few times and then got the gig permanently for a few years.

    Be Thankful.

    Like 5

    Now that's funny!

    Quote from kevinduren

    The guy was a trooper and announced, "Well, I guess the new guy wants to hear (song X)!" and we rocked on.

    That's how I really like it. Professionals. Not bitching and arguing on stage (...I have seen that a few times and luckily never ever experienced it myself). The show must go on and it was certainly not ruined by that 8) ...would assume that 90% of the audience did not recognize what was going on in that moment...

    Quote from Southdakota

    Any similar experiences?

    I have started a song in the wrong key....forgotten an intro....had to get the band to hum it to me before I could start it...


    My most recent was at a festival, first song thumping it out, solo comes round, I walk out on the cat walk....KPA switches off.....rest of the band not sure whats going on but carries on.....I scuttle back to the amp to find no power....turns out power lead have fallen out of my power conditioner...frantic plugging back in and rebooting.


    By this time the song has finished and manage to get back on line without too much delay....nightmare..

    Quote from V8guitar

    I have started a song in the wrong key....forgotten an intro....had to get the band to hum it to me before I could start it...


    My most recent was at a festival, first song thumping it out, solo comes round, I walk out on the cat walk....KPA switches off.....rest of the band not sure whats going on but carries on.....I scuttle back to the amp to find no power....turns out power lead have fallen out of my power conditioner...frantic plugging back in and rebooting.


    By this time the song has finished and manage to get back on line without too much delay....nightmare..

    HA! Yeah, if you play live for more than a few gigs, statistically you are going to have "Spinal Tap" moments. If this thread gets going, this could be the longest internet thread in history! Not counting the shows you've played, just think about all of the shows you have seen where things went "Spinal Tap" .


    There is another great one on the Winery Dogs first(only??) live CD (which you can see on youtube,

    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.
    ) where Ritchen Kotzen starts a song wrong and recovers. Right after 1:26:00 in the vid. In addition to "how to recover from a mistake", that show, IMHO, is a clinic on how to be awesome at everything.

    Be Thankful.

    Like 4

    Anybody seen the Unplugged Concert DVD from Alice In Chains way back in the late 90s? When Layne screws up Sludge Factory after the first verse or so? They left the scene on the DVD (and I highly appreciate this - so honest!) and rumours say it was more than two times that they tried to get through the song... his bandmates very cool in that moment. Love that :*

    Quote from V8guitar

    turns out power lead have fallen out of my power conditioner...

    This is how my very bad dreams go... I had that once at a very small venue when the owner intentionally unplugged us because "you guys are too loud!". The drummer kept playing and smiling... while we others were looking around with a mixture of horror and laughter 8)

    Quote from deadman42

    Anybody seen the Unplugged Concert DVD from Alice In Chains way back in the late 90s? When Layne screws up Sludge Factory after the first verse or so? They left the scene on the DVD (and I highly appreciate this - so honest!) and rumours say it was more than two times that they tried to get through the song... his bandmates very cool in that moment. Love that :*

    Really good interview with Jerry about that gig which Layne died not long after ( he looked nearly dead but so soulful!)...Jerry was also really ill etc.


    Sorry drifting...

    Quote from deadman42

    This is how my very bad dreams go... I had that once at a very small venue when the owner intentionally unplugged us because "you guys are too loud!". The drummer kept playing and smiling... while we others were looking around with a mixture of horror and laughter 8)

    I saw this happen to KISS, so like I said...

    Be Thankful.

    Like 1
    Quote from Southdakota

    V8guitar Lol....the band members humming the intro...yes, I have been there as well and the crazy thing is that it was a song I had played 100 times! I am 47 though so shit happens! Bummer on the power going out though, that would tend to throw me off for a bit.

    The full story was we hadn't played together for sometime and I'd only learnt the set. We then needed an encore and something popular so I ( yes I!) suggested Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi which we had played many times, so why would it be a problem...


    Great - I am responsible for the intro...I get the count in....erm how does go again?...the band stops and they try to hmm it to me...band starts up again... I give it a go, hoping muscle memory will kick in...sounds awful....but too late now, we are off as I bludgeon my way through, chrous and verse are fine...thank god the intro is over....oh hang on....the intro is needed later on, oh well I'm sure my muscle memory will, erm, remember.....come to it again confident having played most of the song now, that I know what to play....bloody awful again.....song finishes and I then remember how it goes...nightmare!


    Thankfully the band laughed about it and so did the audience...total mental block!


    Im 51....

    My band does a song in F and it is impossible for me to play it without a Capod.One gig I decided to use the KPA transpose function and set up a preset with it. Worked a treat.


    When the song was over, our band leader kicked off the next song very quickly and it is one I have an opening solo. A bit stressed at the quick start, I went into the solo and yeah, you guessed it, I didn’t switch presets so I was out of key, and because I’d never used the transpose before I kind of forgot about it.

    I looked over at our bass player who was panicking a bit and tweaking his tuning….( I found out later that he thought someone had messed with his bass).
    It took him about a minute, but he did actually retune his bass to match the pitch of my out of tune guitar.


    But the real horror was yet to come.


    After about 3 minutes I realised what I had done and looked sheepishly at the bass player and also realised that our harp player was getting ready for his solo. Of course he couldn’t play it with the harp that he had so I had to communicate that we were out of key and for him NOT to play.

    The audience didn’t notice any of this and we laughed a lot about it after I’d bought all the band a couple of beers.


    I haven’t used the transpose on stage since!

    I had forgotten this one...


    We play a few songs in D. The bass player and other guitarist use a drop pedal. I change guitars...


    The amount of times the other guitarist has forgotten to detune, I've changed guitar and Bass player has tuned down....we then spend first few bars trying to work out who is right....its been that bad that once we had to stop the song and start again!!! Argh!!