Ahhhh ... now we're hitting some very useful discussion for the budding solo performer.

First ... yes I've used the improv angle and that's actually pretty smart if you can do it. There was a stretch where I would start an open mic performance with improv for that very reason.

Rob brings up an even more important topic though. You can practice, practice and practice but the fact is, you WILL screw up from time to time and you have to develop your "train wreck recovery" skills. This is kind of hard to work as it's not something you plan. I suppose the best advice I could give would be to devote time prior to a performance to a "dress rehearsal." What I mean by that is this. Have a session or two at home where you are essentially practicing performing. This means no stops, no do overs and possibly some wrecks you need to recover from.

Of course, if some of your tunes revolve around some complex loops and drum patterns and you train wreck ... there is some times simply no recovery at all

I love that phrase - "Train wreck recovery skills". Brilliant!

I've been known to fudge my way back into playing when practicing with various instrumentals, but the problem comes when people are singing along (eg Church songs) and you have to try to jump forward a bar or two and fit in again!

Wonderful! That's exactly what I'm most afraid of. I saw another member of the forum (Sensedoor) play guitar at a concert last week. He's been performing solo live for over 30 years. After the concert he remarked at how embarrassed he was making so many mistakes. I was aware of maybe 2 mistakes and I'm sure I was the only one who noticed those. He has amazing recovery skills, he even improvised a section of a classical guitar piece as a recovery and we didn't notice. The only way to get my performance chops/train wreck recovery skills going is to get out there. I sometimes tell my students, "Dare to be bad." I guess I'm going to have to eat my own dog food.

-Eric

That's a really good point, Twiz. When you make a mistake, your first instinct (besides panic) is to correct what you just did. Unfortunately, once you rectify that bum note or chord, that moment of the song has come and gone! Then you're really fumbling around as everything you do is out of sync from there. I really had to train myself to look past the "train wreck" and slip back in at the right moment. It sure isn't easy, but it really minimizes those hideous moments of miscalculation.

One thing that eases my mind is the fact that your mistakes don't matter to anyone but you. Even though you might dwell on that note you missed or the bend that slipped from under your finger, no one else will. The one thing that you don't want to do is stop the song mid-stream. Keep going even if your fudging chords and completly lost (you can always call it the jazz part). You will eventually get your bearings and finish the song proper.

- David -

'Train wreck recovery' is quite difficult for me, I think its a habit that you everyone should try to develop as early as posible. My first reflex is to stop or redo the part, very very bad habit .
Since most of us play the stick as a solo instrument it gets worse. Maybe I should practice consistently with the metronome (it won't wait for me), reading (or at least following) the score when available and make sure that when I make a mistake, try to recover in the next measure.
Another problem that I have is that mistakes tend to propagate, if I miss something with my right hand, the left will panic and screw it too or even worse loose the tempo

Yeah, I'm still at the stage where if I get thru 8 bars I'm happy if both the "boys" in the band know where "one" is.

Marty

Something that helps prepare for Train Wreck Recovery is knowing the song REALLY well - makes it easier to jump back in. Besides knowing the structure of the song - learn the key and practice playing in that key - a lot! Even if it's not the melody - just something. Everyone is going to make mistakes. It's how you recover from them that counts.

A trick you can use also is to resort to a percussive interlude until you figure out where you can jump back in. Could be a beat or several bars. This works well when playing with others or loops.

Dave

Good comments by all. This one brings up another point I would like to add to all this though.

If a stranger approaches you complimentary of your performance, you should ALWAYS smile and say "thank you" regardless of what you thought of it. Your first instinct after an iffy performance will likely be to go on about how awful it was. This is ok with your friends and people that you know but it's a bad idea with your general audience and could almost be taken as an insult to their tastes.

As many people have pointed out already, you know the tunes and know the mistakes. It's likely they don't. So just suck it up and be gracious.

My wife has learned to read my face and can always point out where I went off. I guess my poker face isn't that good.

That's good point. When you do make a mistake try not to roll your eyes and make a stupid face. That makes your screw-up show up more than the bad note itself.

As Glenn pointed out, work on a good poker face.

- David -