TOPIC: when you forget the words

Recently I was at a Bluegrass festival in Tennessee. I was watching and listening to the groups rehearse before they went on stage.There where a number of groups preforming and all seemed to have a good warm up session, all where have a good time with no mistakes that I could hear. Then on stage things changed, a few of the lead singers forgot the words, but instead of blowing the song, another member of the group took another break to fill in the gap. It was real cool to see how, with a lot of practicing playing together you can overcome this mistakes and it was a relief to see even tight groups also have there moments:ohmy:

OSCAR - Great observation! I guess that we all need to learn that if we screw up a song a little it's not the end of the world as we know it. Most times the audience won't even notice it - they'll think it's just a variation of the song. It's also an opportunity to ad lib with words,other instrument breaks,or comedy etc.

The bottom line is smile, smile smile and keep on playing.

Remember, Bob Dylan was good in concert and he made it with his "nasal twang" singing and you couldn't even understand most of his words.

The easiest way to fluff through - is to substitute non-descript words - like 'na-na-na-na-na.....' -along with the tune- -similar to what one might use in the song 'Bobby Magee' and hope the next line comes to mind - so you can carry on.

What gives it away - is the smile on my face - which says it all - 'I messed up - but we're carrying on!'

Good point...It's been pointed out many ways that if you hum the melody when playing rythmn, it helps you to know where you are in the song... hence, something messes up:dry: / you jump in!