Did you ever have those times when you feel like you were the worst bass player ever? Friday’s gig was a piece of crap (me on bass). I was a mile behind the beat all night and could not seem to fix it. Hold On Loosely was so bad that I was almost a chord change behind….

Saturday’s gig was better. But then we played the Eagles “Already Gone”. It is three freakin’ chords. I played it well in rehearsal. I had that oh my God feeling right as we started it. What I was sure should be the bass line was sounding like junk. But could I just lay off and hit roots until I could either recover or the song ended?… nooooo… I had to insist that my fancy ass bass line was just what was needed and it would be ok… it was not.

We later played Feelin Alright and I was so unfunky that I owe funk. Hopefully I can pay it back next time. My little bass solo for Life in the Fast Lane came and went… I never played it. My wife just looked at me and made a hand gesture like “what the…??”.

I believe that I am in a rut or burning out…. I hope it passes. I have embarrassed The Shirt ™

From what I've heard the shirt is very forgiving. I haven't gigged for a while (happy to say that's soon to change), I've had slumps like that and I have found that "getting back in the saddle" was the only cure. Playing with friends just jamming helps a lot. I'm sure it will pass.

Why yes, yes I have!

Me too-the last one of those moments was at an audition. It led to a whole lot of problems of which I'm still dealing with.

Hang in there, Ross, don't get down on yourself. You are forgiven. Next time, you'll be spot on and blow everybody away.

There's really not a lot of rhyme or reason to it - some days you just suck and there's no getting around it. I'd be shocked if even the great ones didn't feel that on some days they sounded like total amateurs.

Go in there with confidence. Maybe Saturdays gig was thrown off by the fear of having a repeat Friday.

Oh walk it off, Evelyn -- everybody has a bad night or two.

Ditto - or sell your gear and buy an accordian.

Sounds like you were distracted and/or lacked focus. Easiest way to bomb a gig: forget to eat beforehand and watch everything fall to pieces as your blood sugar plummets.

I had some dicey moments on Sunday at the outdoor gig because I forgot to wash my hands after load in and they were sticky/gummy with sweat. When we finally took a short break I rinsed off with water and wiped down my neck; was better after that.

But you're the one who mentioned being "in a rut or burning out". What makes you say that?

...or a kazoo. Or is that too close to the singing subject that's been beaten to death in recent months?

Yeah I've had nights where things just seemed a little off. It happens.

You're a kazoo

learning songs for two bands... and 4 gigs, 2 rehearsals in nine days. Also, work two jobs currently.

I believe that I took a shot to my confidence after a couple of screw ups. Normally I would get over it... That's why I wonder about burn out. Who is Evelyn?

Evelyn Champagne King...sang "Shame"...oar knot.

I believe he referred to you by a female name as a concurrent attempt at endearment and belittlement as commonly seen on the TV show "Scrubs" between Dr. Cox and JD but the end result was not as desired due to the subject of said ribbing not getting it.

Sounds like one of those gigs where you play a wrong note and can't let it go. You worry about it and then start playing more wrong stuff and before you know it everything you play is wrong. A downward spiral. Only to be slightly redeemed when you play Mustang Sally at the end but by which time it is too late.

Can't say it's ever happened to me though.

Yes.

The key thing to do in this situation is to make sure that nothing you do (IE. facial expressions, face-palms, lack of control over bodily functions, etc.) makes the audience aware of the fact that you realize you are bringing the "suck" to your performance. Just remember that other than any musicians in the crowd, 98.5% of all audience members are completely oblivious to the performance of the bassist. While this is usually an aggravating fact of life for a bassist, there are times when an audiences lack of comprehension of what's going on in the bass department should really be appreciated.

Uh, you are, if you don't shake it off and dive back in.

Tough love -- it was the most delicate, lady-like name I could think of.

You'll be fine -- the key is not to over-think it.

As you'd imagine, no one has ever accused me of that.

I think you are having withrawal symptoms. You need another hit of The Shirt(r). By the way, is it still living the bohemian lifestyle and trapsing across the UK & Europe? Or is it lost at sea?

Did you ever have those times when you feel like you were the worst accordian player ever?

How would you know?

I might call that overload instead of burn out. If it happens again you might need to cut back on something, eh? We all have our limits.

Shake it off, it was one night and next one will be better.

Just last Sunday morning, most of the band arrived only moments before playing, so we didn't have time to set up properly, and we were asked to play a couple songs some of us had never practiced, or even HEARD before! Of course, it was a disaster... of truly MINIMAL proportions, LOL! Seriously, it was pretty bad...

Then a few hours later we played downstairs and it was better than it had ever been!

I guess I don't get as excited about a bad song or two as I used to... of course, if there were recording company execs out there thinking of signing us, I might have looked at it differently!

Surely this can't be the first time you ever played a lousy gig ? But that aside, what really matters is two things, neither of which you seem to have touched upon:

1) what did the band say (if anything) ?
2) how was the crowd ?

The first one is - in my opinion - slightly less important than the second one, as ultimately you are there to entertain the audience, not yourself nor your band (obviously, you are supposed to have fun, but you know what I mean).

On a personal note, I have played gigs where I played great (for my level of expertise and skills), but where the band as a whole was sub par, or where the singer was so horribly off-key that in the end, my part of the whole was negligible ...

Suck it up and move on, man. You ARE after all The Keeper Of The Shirt - wherever It may be right now ...

On a Shirt-note: I'll work on the site tomorrow, promised. I'm home anyway, but I need to shop for groceries, mop the floor (thank you, sister) and I heard that my WAV is shipped so I might get distracted ...

Band was cool. They know they could be next. Singer said he did not notice, but do they ever? Guitarist noticed and laughed it off. He was more focused on his hacking of the intro to Feel Like Making Love...

The drunks did not notice (that I could tell).

I have recovered. Thanks for listening. Had a good rehearsal last night (for the blues band). We auditioned a keyboardist too. I did not embarrass myself.

Sorry for being a puss

While reading this thread I thought - this guy needs The Shirt(tm) - but then I realised who the OP was.

As for where it is - it's nicely stored on top of my chest of drawers. I have worn it to 'loud practice' and had some pix taken (which I'm not happy with as they don't do The Shirt(tm) justice) and since I have a gig (finally) in 2 weeks time I'd like to hang on to it till then if that's ok.

A gig in two weeks sounds great!! post pics

I have recovered....

Good to know where The Shirt is ! I'm going to get breakfast and start updating the site ... finally It's raining cats, dogs and assorted pets so no chance of me going out for a walk today anyway