The dont's of live performance

[Given To Fly]

I don't have much experience with spitting on the crowd but I can comment on mistakes with two words: Poker face.

If you play every single note wrong but you look like you are playing every note perfectly, you'll have a slightly confused audience with more supporters than haters. If you play 95% of the notes perfectly and look like you are playing every note perfectly then as far as anybody is concerned, you are playing every note perfectly.

To make this work you have to have a "poker face" on all the time. Body language, spoken language, restarting the music are all examples of "tells"; the audience now knows you have a terrible "hand of cards." If you perform horribly, but with confidence, you may have a "Royal Flush" and the audience will likely assume you do.

PS - If the majority of people know the song, such as Sweet Home Alabama, no poker face in the world will work.

 

[ghost_of_karelia]

Don't use variations of the word "fvck" more times in a sentence than words that actually contribute to the sentence's meaning when talking to the audience.

 

[Pat Olson]

We've actually gotten compliments on how loud we WEREN'T.

So many people have commented that they can actually hear everything, and that it's not all white noise.

It's easier to enjoy that way.

We had a few similar experiences with the crowd complimenting us that our volume was lower than all the other bands there and they were enjoying themselves because of it.

 

[codycarter]

Oh here is one control your drummer

If your drummer is using an acoustic kit, and the venue is rather small, please tell him not to hit so damn hard
You aren't the hulk, cymbols aren't cheap, we can hear your crash from outside, and that's about all we hear

 

[UnderTheSign]

skip to 3:50. i promise it's worth it. then keep watching. it doesn't stop. yes I'm drinking out of a prosthetic leg in the beginning. my drummer plays with his running leg. the other one makes a great mug!
Pain After Death - Live At Tremont - August 2011 - 4 - YouTube

I'm still stuck trying to get over how out of place your bassist looks compared to the rest of you

 

[JoshuaVonFlash]

I'm still stuck trying to get over how out of place your bassist looks compared to the rest of you

He looks like Bill Gates

 

[welsh_7stinger]

Here is some don'ts I have come across from when i was teching for a local band for awhile.

-don't decide to not do a set that u have told the owner of the venue that you would do purely because its a smaller audience than the last time you played at that venue. as i say a gig to 1 is the same to a gig to 1000.

-don't do a gig if you KNOW your drummer can not bring his breakables.

-don't ask to borrow the headliners equipment at last minute. sort this out before the date of the gig.

-don't get inebriated before going on stage to do a set.

-don't call the headliner band 's vocalist a c**t into the microphone during their set. If you ain't got anything nice to say of a band don't say anything atall. untill after you leave the venue.

-don't spend ur time pre set just talking to people and getting drinks. (here is a do) warm up on ur instrument before hand.

-don't leave ur guitar/bass laying on the stage where people WILL be walking over it (better yet don't leave it laying on the floor atall)

-don't leave the gig after your set without 1st saying goodbye to the other bands and apologizing for having to leave before their sets.

by the way every single one of these was DONE by the band i use to tech for.

 

[Beowulf Von Thrashmeister]

While we're on that one, DON'T forget to entertain your audience. Unless you're Dream Theater/Steve Vai etc, your audience is not entirely made up of musicians and they really don't care if you're playing in a 'Mixolydian half gypsy nunchuck' scale. Entertain them for the sake of all that is carbon based.

'Mixolydian half gypsy nunchuck' scale ?

I would love to see that one in the Guitar Grimoire books. Would it be related to the Shinobi scale ?

 

[guitarfan85]

Don't play somebody else's famous solo. Don't get up there and play Eruption half way through the set like its your own. ....Even if you are a cover/tribute band.

 

[JoshuaVonFlash]

Don't play somebody else's famous solo. Don't get up there and play Eruption half way through the set like its your own. ....Even if you are a cover/tribute band.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a cover band?

 

[guitarfan85]

Sorry then disregard the cover band part. If your band is playing original music, don't play eruption as your solo spot. There's a video of dime bag Darrell playing randy rhoads' solo from revelation mother earth....now that may be excusable, i suppose, as hes paying homage to randy because he passed. But if he was still alive and dimebag played that solo, THAT would be inexcuseable.

If any given guitarist from an original band is going to have their own solo spot, dont play someone elses solo!

 

[JoshuaVonFlash]

Sorry then disregard the cover band part. If your band is playing original music, don't play eruption as your solo spot. There's a video of dime bag Darrell playing randy rhoads' solo from revelation mother earth....now that may be excusable, i suppose, as hes paying homage to randy because he passed. But if he was still alive and dimebag played that solo, THAT would be inexcuseable.

If any given guitarist from an original band is going to have their own solo spot, dont play someone elses solo!

During a break in the music I say it's ok and during songs as long as it's tastefully done, I've heard many of my hero's play parts of their hero's music whether their dead or not as long as it's tastefully done and sounds good it doesn't matter.

 

[codycarter]

Sorry then disregard the cover band part. If your band is playing original music, don't play eruption as your solo spot. There's a video of dime bag Darrell playing randy rhoads' solo from revelation mother earth....now that may be excusable, i suppose, as hes paying homage to randy because he passed. But if he was still alive and dimebag played that solo, THAT would be inexcuseable.

If any given guitarist from an original band is going to have their own solo spot, dont play someone elses solo!

Whoa, why not? When I used to have a solo spot in a song, I would improv, and by improv I mean play what ever sounded cool. Sometimes I would even throw in a lick or riff from a song I like. Usually they would be really recognizable. We as a band also covered a lot of songs, usually remixing them, chopping them up, and adding our style to them.

I thought it was cool and people did too

 

[guitarfan85]

Whoa, why not? When I used to have a solo spot in a song, I would improv, and by improv I mean play what ever sounded cool. Sometimes I would even throw in a lick or riff from a song I like. Usually they would be really recognizable. We as a band also covered a lot of songs, usually remixing them, chopping them up, and adding our style to them.

I thought it was cool and people did too

Little hints of a famous riff here and there is cool but note for note in the solos entirety doesn't jive with me. Just my opinion. I'm just not a fan of covers I guess

 

[walleye]

this is a do:
if you're not the last act on, get off the stage as quick as you can after you finish your set and bow/smile whatever you do at the end of a set
- coil cables OFFSTAGE (or somewhere that allows the next guitarist to start setting up his area without waiting for you)
- put the lids on your rack case offstage
- put pedals in your box/bag OFFSTAGE

seriously, i have never seen anyone get off stage faster than me, and im not bragging, i do it exactly as fast as i think it is reasonable, but i have NEVER seen anyone do it quicker. this is a bad thing. you all suck. isn't it common courtesy?

 

[flexkill]

Don't do anything seen in this video....anything.

 

[JacksonandTravellerBass]

A do is:
If you're playing in a local band and are playing alongside others in a local show and time is a crunch, help each band before and after your set. The before band helps you set up and take down after and the after band loves you for helping them out. It's a win win for everyone!

 

[savanderbok]

don't cry

 

[kaptinfire]

A big no no for me is hearing a mistake and the whole band turns and stares a the guilty member.
mistakes can be covered, built upon or just ignored, no need for the audience to be staring at the mistakee aswell making them nervous and ultimately leading to more mistakes

ps guilty of mistaking AND staring on occasion

 

[TasmanSam]

A big no no for me is hearing a mistake and the whole band turns and stares a the guilty member.
mistakes can be covered, built upon or just ignored, no need for the audience to be staring at the mistakee aswell making them nervous and ultimately leading to more mistakes

ps guilty of mistaking AND staring on occasion

This, although in my band we laugh about it, when my drummer stuffs up I look at him and make him laugh and vice versa, people dig it because we are only human and its great to pass mistakes off as something funny because shit just happens sometimes haha