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I have a rehearsal band and the other guitarist does this a lot. Last rehearsal I was sure he nailed gimme shelter. He said he started it as mick Taylor on the album and then improvised it. Fooled me. Sounded great and that's the point
By that I mean sometimes you can learn something really well but if the drummer mistimes or the bass player goes astray or the singer does a verse instead of a chorus, it can throw you when you just need to adapt to fit in with what happened, and likewise they need to adapt to you if it doesn't go quite as it should. The good tight bands do this instinctively ... it's about playing together rather than necessarily playing it right, if that makes sense.
And in 99 out of 100 cases the audience has no clue you've played it 'wrong' anyway! So, what can you do? Well, here's a tip if you start getting lost...don't panic and just stop playing for a few seconds, refocus on what the band are doing, and rejoin once you're settled again. If you've missed a beat, physically watch the drummer for the rhythm, or make eye contact with your bass player or other guitarist whilst listening to and watching what they're doing.
And if you've played the wrong run, here's another tip...repeat it and make it look like you meant to do that. Especially with original stuff, the audience will have no clue.
But above all, enjoy yourself and try to move around a bit on stage and engage with them and your band mates. Remember, you're entertaining the audience, so give it some attitude and posturing. It will give you confidence, make it fun, and help loosen you up.
And it's just a gig, lives aren't at stake, and if you fluff something so what...just relax, laugh it off and in the immortal words of one Mr Winston Churchill..."just keep buggering on"!
And if I had a pound for every time I fluffed something, or had to adapt to something that happened, I'd be a wealthy boy! And it's what makes live music fun and interesting!
https://youtu.be/bP-1W6qtTZg
If your familiarity with the under-lying structure is good enough - and your ability to improvise over that structure is good enough - you should be able get yourself out of trouble if a set-piece goes wrong.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
i know someone here has that as their sig., but can’t see sigs on this phone.
1) Practice standing up... And in the dark.
2) controversial this one... But play the part while doing or concentrating on something else like watching tv. This kind of simulates a live environment where there are multiple distractions happening when playing.
3) when you fudge a note, laugh to yourself or the audience and just say to yourself next note and move on with your life and the show.
4) realising that I'm not playing to an internet guitar forum (tgp for example) where you know that every person will be scrutinizing everything thing about you and picking up on a tiny mistake. But I'm playing to people who want to have a good time and couldn't careless if I play a solo note for note with an authentic tone.... If they even know what that is. Most of a crowd don't know the difference between a bass or guitar!
5) practice wise, start the solo at different points eg try starting from the middle of the end. This works well as it's stops you remembering the solo as a linear string of notes which if you miss one you lose your follow, but let's you drop in at different points and get a better understanding of the solo.
Most of all don't worry, we all do it. It's part of the experience! Laugh at yourself when you fluff and just think about moving on.
All the best
Neil
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
First of all, it's normal and most of us have been there. It's to do with adrenaline and stress, fight or flight stuff and if you didn't have that your performances wouldn't sparkle.
The others have said the same - in most cases, the audience don't notice.
In terms of why it happened out of the blue after so long playing is probably linked to your initial statement - that normally you improvise. Improvising is a different skill to, say, the rigidity of playing from a score. Most classically trained musicians can't improvise for toffee and vice versa.
So not only were you trying out a new skill, but your subconscious will have been kicking out stress signals too. That combination can lead to unpredictable results. Sometimes it will be a blistering performance. Sometimes, as happened to me in the middle of a solo instrumental, your hands stop moving and your mind goes blank!
Practice always helps - in as close to normal performing mode as possible - because your finger movement start becoming intuitive.
But at first, why dont you improvise your own set piece? It will be close enough for that audience and ease your subconscious into knowing it's OK to play specific notes. It should reduce the stress of 'I must get it exactly right!' so you don't end up with a mental block about it and over a few pefformances you can get closer and closer to the set piece you want to end up with...
https://www.facebook.com/benswanwickguitar
I'd much rather listen to live music with a fun atmosphere and a few mistakes than wanting something that is exactly the same as the Spotify track I have in my ears on the bus to work.