Worship Leading Blunders (For Laughs)

[russhutto]

Hey I was reading Fred's recap of his first Sunday at a new church, and I thought I'd open a topic (for laughs) centered around our human blunders.

I think God has a great sense of humor, and probably laughs along with us at these slip ups.

So, if you've got any (and if you don't please share your wisdom, great guru!) please share so that we can laugh with you!

I think the funniest one that ever happened to me was having a line-up ready to go and then when it came time to do a particular song, I accidently had turned 2 pages instead of one, and so basically I counted us off and dove headfirst into the song AFTER the one that was actually planned, while the rest of the team dove headfirst into the CORRECT song. Needless to say it was a train wreck. Not a huge blunder, but a big enough one to stop everything, turn 3 shades of red, and then continue on...

Russ

[bblankin]

Hey I was reading Fred's recap of his first Sunday at a new church, and I thought I'd open a topic (for laughs) centered around our human blunders.

just in the past few weeks i've started the first song in the wrong key (still not sure how that happened) and sung too many verses of a song (the way we usually do it, rather than the way we rehearsed it that week). but the biggest blunder we've had recently wasn't mine. we were doing a song with a four-bar intro, and our tenor sax was going to join the rhythm section on the third and fourth bars. she hadn't soaked her reed and hadn't had time to warm up, and she came in honking and sqeaking so bad, people were looking around for the geese.

[chrismoncus]

So I played with a guy who was forever changing where he wanted to capo the song. Sometimes it was on 3, sometimes on 1, sometimes not capo'ed at all. Well this habit got us in trouble on many occasions where the band would strike an Ab and he would strike a G and much embarrassment came to the whole room.

It's all fun and games until someone gets an eye poked out...

[twc_admin]

Chris -
that reminds me of the "Capo Disaster" video/audio that was circulating around the internet a few months back .. for "Holy is the Lord" ... after "Everyone sing" .. they all came in with the wrong key - the acoustic player (and leader) had started a 1/2 step in the other direction!

[russhutto]

Chris -
that reminds me of the "Capo Disaster" video/audio that was circulating around the internet a few months back .. for "Holy is the Lord" ... after "Everyone sing" .. they all came in with the wrong key - the acoustic player (and leader) had started a 1/2 step in the other direction!
Yeah, found it over on this blog. Not sure who it was, but I've been there and done that!!

http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=440

2 options in this situation.

Be like "WHOAH NELLY! I think we messed up!" And start over...

OR

Keep trudging on through it. Personally I would probably have just stopped and been extremely embarrassed for a second, then started over as opposed to plowing through it and being embarrassed for the entire prechorus/chorus and possibly the next verse, but that's just me...ha.

[chrismoncus]

HAHAHA!!!! I do remember hearing that.

[FreedbyJC]

A few years back-Had an interim worship leader intro the song-he intro'ed EVERY song- and then sang the next song on the list and got mad and called us all out in the service when neither the band nor the singers followed him.



Then to start the 2nd service he told them how we torpedo'ed him-


and ---


then---



wait for it






He did it again! AND ...We still did not follow ... this time he just laughed and moved on...never mentioned it at practice either.

[FreedbyJC]

Many others...

the PPT guy is forbidden to have his girlfreind in the balcony - let alone the booth with him....Praise God for good memories...and seasoned singers!

The drummmer is to drink caffine free diet coke ONLYbefore the services...

NO eclairs for the WL...at the in-house brunch between services

Musci in the wrong Key ... a sleepy piano player -playing at the about half tempo... keyboards wrong key ...

Praise team members missing the weekly and AM practice session and showing up 2 minutes before the service and singing...

It's wonderful that we learn from our mistakes and we have a God who forgives...even if the crowd cannot.

[chipshot0701]

LOL, I've been wondering why our drummer drinks RED BULL ENERGY DRINKS at practices!!!!!!

[bblankin]

Be like "WHOAH NELLY! I think we messed up!" And start over...

OR

Keep trudging on through it.

that's a tough choice sometimes, innit? we always teach kids, "don't stop the performance when you make a mistake, just keep going and hope no one notices." but it doesn't always work that way, does it? that's when i hate being the leader -- when everyone is looking at me with that expression that says, "what do we do now?"

[bblankin]

Praise team members missing the weekly and AM practice session and showing up 2 minutes before the service and singing...

interesting sub-thread: we're pretty strict that if you miss rehearsal, you don't play/sing up front that week. nohting personal, no hurt feelings, but we'll see you next week. do others do that?

[El Ben]

I would love to do that, but if I did, then I would not have a drummer...ever. And that's a sacrifice that I'm not willing to make. Plus, I've only been doing worship here for about three months, so I don't have that kind of credibility yet. If I had a pool of instrumentalists and vocalists to pull from, I'd SORT of implement that system. Some people just can't make it. Most of my guys will call if they can't. If they don't call, then I get angry and call them.

[russhutto]

that's a tough choice sometimes, innit? we always teach kids, "don't stop the performance when you make a mistake, just keep going and hope no one notices." but it doesn't always work that way, does it? that's when i hate being the leader -- when everyone is looking at me with that expression that says, "what do we do now?"

I think for me, it depends on when in the song it happens. I also teach my students to continue on if they mess up. It's a bad habit to stop.

I guess I meant more from a if the whole team is trainwrecking at the beginning of a song, sometimes it's better to just stop and start over.

interesting sub-thread: we're pretty strict that if you miss rehearsal, you don't play/sing up front that week. nohting personal, no hurt feelings, but we'll see you next week. do others do that?


We have that policy as a general, loose guideline. But it depends on who we DO have that week, and if they are a vocalist or not. During the summer several of our key players will be gone to summer jobs/camps. We'll take any and everyone we can get! BUT they will have to plug in and practice with us at our rehearsals.

Occasionally, one of our vocals will have to work during our rehearsal times, she's a nurse, and she'll get with our other lead vocalist and go over songs on a different night.

For the most part, musicians are no practice, no play...

[chipshot0701]

Sounds to me like we all face the same challenges. We implemented the no -practice no - play policy. But we also understand we have to be flexible and allow some missing of practice.
Our policy was put into place mainly to get more committment from new comers and to have them recognize the importance of being fully dedicated to the cause of Jesus, as his ministry is being worked out through each of us.

dedication, and devotion!
peace and out

[bblankin]

I would love to do that, but if I did, then I would not have a drummer...ever. And that's a sacrifice that I'm not willing to make. Plus, I've only been doing worship here for about three months, so I don't have that kind of credibility yet. If I had a pool of instrumentalists and vocalists to pull from, I'd SORT of implement that system. Some people just can't make it. Most of my guys will call if they can't. If they don't call, then I get angry and call them.

yeah, it's definitely something each team has to work out on its own. i'm not a "one size fits all" person -- i'm really into finding individual solutions to individual problems.

[chrismoncus]

I guess I have to make my push for preventative maintenance. Just like we replace an appliance before it you know, blows up and hurts someone, we also have to do things preventatively to keep things like this from arising. It hurts, but we have to face it - we don't plan and practice enough as churches. Many times, a cue sheet supplied to all members of the music, teaching, tech, and other teams would eliminate many errors. A full run-through of the service is also a great place to find errors and not let the first service be the Guinea Pig. What a sad thing for single-service churches with no practices.

A few extra hours set aside to ensure that we don't mess up in ways that would hinder our message and distort the message is well worth it. Many of us have a hard time giving up "our" time for things like that. It's human nature to first care about ourselves first. It's hard for me. But I can tell you that I've seen the results of time well spent planning, practicing, and praying.

The example set for me by one of our pastor's named Mitch at a church I was at has stuck with me. No matter how far behind we are, he made time to get us all together on the same page regarding the service and pep-talk us regarding the lives present today at the service and why we do what we do. We would always pray a serious prayer for that day, say amen, and head to our posts. We always entered the service ready to do battle and do it as flawlessly as possible. Did we mess up? Yes. Did the worship leader's voice crack like he was 12? Yes. :) Did we sometimes hit wrong notes or skip a page? Yes. But what I can say is that those time were extremely rare and were handled very professionally with grace and love.

It seems to come down to, as they say, keeping the main thing the main thing. The main thing is love - no and's, if's, or but's about it. God loves us, we recognize that love, we want to communicate that love to a world who desperately needs it. That's the Church. Little "c" church is one of the methods for communicating that. Getting that message across with as few flubs as possible is critical.

Do we have to be jerks to our team to get it right? NO!

Do we have to be so hard on our team that we frustrate them? NO!

Do we have to "program the Spirit out"? What the heck are you thinking? No!

We just have to care enough about the lives in need of God's love and grace to put in that additional amount of work to clear the stage of error so that we ARE His hands and feet and don't get in His way.

I don't have all the answers. I may not be correct in everything. But I do know that God wants all men to come to repentance and He charged us with helping Him.

Amen.

[El Ben]

I officially love you, Chris.

[worshiptrench]

Once our kids choir opened the service...I left my acoustic onstage near the end of a riser and evidently some kid thought those golden knobs on the headstock looked really fun to turn. I didn't know so when I stepped up and strummed the first chord, I was tuned to play a Schoenberg 12 tone piece or Asian semi-tone piece perfectly...the congregation just laughed.

I have consulted with a church where they did a Saturday night and Sunday morning...same service, same team so they did no polish rehearsal on Sunday morning. They were using a loop off of a CD. Evidently, the night janitor knew how to run the CD player while he cleaned the sanctuary late Saturday's and had a penchant for taking the Zep for a ride during this time. Let's just say that the loop on Sunday turned out to be about two measures of Black Dog before the tech caught it....classic.

One final, years ago my old mentor did not realize what stage lights do. He was going all out for their Vacation Bible School (one night driving a motorcycle down the aisle, etc.) On the final night, he was going to swing from their balcony to onstage in full Batman costume. One problem the leotard spandex that came with the costume didn't fit him, so his wife ran out and bought him a large set of ballet tights type pants. He landed on stage beautifully and spread open his cape yelling, "I'm batman" under the lights at which point the parents and kids gasped, the staff fell on the floor laughing and his wife was signaling close the cape in the best charades mode she could. He didn't catch on and went to the other side of the stage and repeated the cape opening. It appears that the ballet tights were quite transparent under the heavy theatrical lights and the whole world got an image they did NOT want to see....whenever I call him on the phone to this day, I tell his admin it is "Boy Wonder" calling when she answers. He is at a new church now and she has no clue what I am talking about...priceless.

[SeanMichael]

Our team has had it's fair share of blunders during worship. Everything from wrong keys to bad bass notes that rumble through the subs. My personal favorite are when, while singing lead, I completly go blank on lyrics. This happens mostly during new songs, but has happened during some standards as well. About a year ago we were playing All In All during a reflection/prayer time and for some reason my brain went blank and for the life of me I could not remember the verse. The funny part is I just kept repeating the last line over and over. "You are my strength when I am weak, You are my strength when I am weak, You are my...
Every time we have sang that since we all look at each other and smile.

[BillyChia]

"All of God's people did the dead man's float
Pharaoh, pharaoh, Oh baby let my people go..."

-Me leading at Bible camp cira 1998

[maydavidj]

One time when another worship leader was leading our youth band, I was playing drums. It was the second or third song into the set. For whatever reason, we changed the order of songs from practice. This didn't sink in for me or something. So, when we were supposed to go to a soft, worshipful sounding song, I thought we were starting "Every Move I Make," which started with a drum solo. The funniest thing was, after I yelled out my four counts and started the funky groove, I realized no one came in, I did it again! I thought, OK, they weren't ready. I made it really obvious that I was starting and made sure the band was all looking at me and I started the song again! After everyone gave me the death stare for a little while I realized that I was on the wrong song!!! That was one of the most embarassing moments I've had on stage. :o

One more- It was a Sunday night special service and the youth band was leading an adult service in the main auditorium. I was leading, and our music minister was on lead guitar. We went to start the song "You, You Are God." The drummer started the 16th note snare thing, and the lead guitarist started playing this awful sounding riff in the wrong key and everything. He just couldn't get it. Our rythm electric guitarist came to the rescue and played the lick for him. Afterwards, I found out that he thought we were going to the song we had put in for the offertory, "Extravagant." He said his mind just wouldn't make his fingers do the right thing! :p

So the lesson that I've learned in both of these is... If you change/add/delete songs from the order, make sure you tell everyone. Never trust someone to pass it on to the other guy. And say it more than once! :D

[sicstrings]

Blunders are so cool, it's what keeps me praying. :) The blunder dearest to me happened between my wife and I during a song we were using as part of communion. We had practiced an extended instrumental part the night before but she forgot and started singing too soon. So, I walked over near to her and whispered (I thougth it was a whisper) "No, not yet, don't sing". She was mortified that I "called her out" :eek: and couldn't sing for the rest of the set. Afterwards I assured her no when else heard, WRONG!! Pretty much everyone heard and saw my not so suttle move. To this day people jab me about this :D

[free_by_grace]

One Sunday at a small church we had a college-aged gal leading worship. Included in the set was "Trading My Sorrows" with that cool bass intro.

She didn't tell me we were doing it in the key of D rather than G... so I did the intro and then just about flipped when the piano and guitar came in in a different key.

[garyhodges]

One Sunday I was playing my keyboard softly while the Pastor was doing the invitation at the end of the sermon. The instrument was an old Ensonique with a horrible Fatar keyboard (that I was so impressed with when I first bought it). I used to bang the crap out of the middle octave when the full band was playing. Suddenly one of the keys decided that it was tired of being velocity sensitive. When I played that particular F# (softly, mind you) it was at full volume. I'm not sure I could have played it hard enough to get it that loud. I jumped, the congregation jumped, the pastor paused to regain his composure and then continued his prayer while I tried to concentrate on avoiding that key at all cost.

[humbleservant]

My sister was leading a backyard bible club years ago and sang the song Bullfrogs and Butterflies. If you don't know the song, the first verse is about a "little tadpole in a fishing hole, couldn't jump or croak to save his soul" while the second verse is a "little caterpillar on a blade of grass, noticing the days going by so fast." As she got into the second verse she got her lyrics confused and sang "little caterpillar on a blade of grass, couldn't jump or croak to save his..." followed by stunned silence as one of the kids calls out "I know what you were gonna say!!!"

[garyhodges]

That's the best one so far humbleservant!

[amazedbygrace]

Hi everyone! I SO enjoyed reading about your blunders...........thanks for giving me some more joy today! Hee Hee!!!!

I HAVE to share my BIGGEST blunder with you...........

I am the worship leader, and I lead from piano or keyboard....and our pastor was just preaching (this was just a part of it) about how we are to dress modestly, that ladies should watch the necklines of their shirts, and to watch the hemlines of their dresses......to dress conservatively, so as not to cause a man to stumble, etc.............

From the sounds of it, it sounded like I had just a bit of time to quick run to the bathroom........so I did that really quick and made it back before the end.......

And at the end of his message (I still can't remember what ACTUALLY the sermon was on this particular day) he asked for every head bowed and every eye closed.......and then motions for me to come up and play like I or our other keyboardist does........and then he gives the altar call..............

Then at the end of the service, a lady from our congregation comes up to me while I'm still playing (the service just ended), and says her son who was singing on our worship team at that time tells her to tell me that my dress is caught in the back of my pantyhose................

I stop playing, and discreetly pull my dress out of my hose, and walk off the stage to the choir room, where I am so embarrassed that I don't know whether to laugh or cry...........then in comes the pastor's wife, who was sitting way up in the balcony.........and she is with her daughter-in-law, and her littel granddaughter who is 4...............

She tells me she is SO SORRY......but she was praying for a bionic arm to pick my dress out of my pantyhose.....but it's impossible.................and also at that moment that i was walking up to the front of the church with this major wedgie, her granddaughter wants to yell, "HI Suzie!" in the biggest loudest voice she could............but they managed to keep her quiet.......(Thank you Jesus!)

It took me 2 weeks to recover.......i went home and cried for about 2 hours out of total embarrassment..............and after that 2 weeks, I sheepishly say to my pastor, " well, I spose you heard about my most embarrassing moment".........to which he replied, "you need to put it behind you"........:)

[manasotakey41]

I have a habit of capo-ing praise songs with Bb, Eb, etc just to avoid the fingering. So we start out with the intro to the next song and I had forgotten to remove the capo for a simple key of D. Ugh it sounded terrible, but I quickly removed the capo only to hear the keyboard (and she has a degree in piano) automatically change key to match me. Now she was playing in the wrong key and I was strumming away...yes...it also sounded ugly. The both of us were laughing so hard when we realized what had happened that the praise team sang the rest of the song acapella. Mmm...it sounded much better without that kind of accompaniment :)

Years ago, our very capable choir director was micromanaging each part for us with a very complicated song...counting, whispering "now" and pointing to the section that was supposed to come in, saying "more" for more volume. Well, the mic was a little too close and little too hot that Sunday morning...every word and expression of his came through....especially for the simultaneous radio broadcast.

[wyf4lyf]

I love this topic. Here are my two favorites. The first was my blunder, leading worship at a leaders' meeting, I was singing "Be the Centre" and I got the words mixed up. I started to sing, "You're my hope" but in the middle of the word "hope" I realized that it was supposed to be "source" so I changed it in mid-vowel...so I wound up singing, "You're my horse." :)

But my all-time favorite was years ago on EASTER morning...I was playing keys and singing on the team, and the song was "We Will Dance." One of the phrases says, "Oh, we will look on His face." Another says, "Oh, we will stand by His side." You guessed it...the worship leader realized his error and changed courses in midstream, so what came out was "Oh, we will stand on His face." It took everything we had to not bust out laughing!!

[amazedbygrace]

wyf4lyf: LOVED your sharing your blunders! Those were HILARIOUS!!!!! Thanks for sharing!

God Bless You!

Suzie P., MT

[Stevie Nature]

Here's one that just happened. My wife and I were leading worship at camp for our youth group. It was just a guitar, my wife, and I. Well apparently my wife was having a rough time with her voice so she didn't want to do a key change where we normally did one in a particular song. She tried to quitely tell me "no key change", but didn't get the mic away from you mouth in time and ended up saying, "Key change!!!!" extremely loudly into the mic. Everyone started laughing so much that we had to end the song. The whole rest of the camp people were yelling "key change" whenever my wife was around. It was pretty funny. My wife was very embarrassed.

[twc_admin]

so .. this thread was originally started by Russ, who referred to my post elsewhere ,but didn't quote it ... so since it's been a while ...

I used to be the Worship Leader at Christian Renewal Church of St. Simons for nearly 12 years. So, earlier this year i made a lateral move in the kingdom - down the street a couple of miles, and joined the staff at St. Simons Community Church.

My first Sunday ... I was fine in the 8:00 service ... as well as the 9:30 .. I guess I got comfie and more relaxed, and in the 11:00 .... after the opening song, I said " good morning everyone - welcome to Christian Renewal Church".

OUCH!

[63934171]

Well when i started as WL we did not have a band we had 3 singers and that's all. So we did video mpegs they actually worked very well. Except for when the sound board guys decide to play with the computer and in the middle of a song right when your really singing to the Lord, it changes to the next song, no warning were just doing the next song now. Ya happened more than once.
Robin

[Stevie Nature]

At the risk of necroposting I had a blunder this Sunday. I'm normally pretty meticulous about tuning, and I remember tuning during practice that morning and everything sounded fine. We'd finished our first three songs and I could tell something was a little off the whole time. I figured it was one of the vocalists. Well I went to play the intro to "How Great Is Our God" and one of my strings was just ridiculously out. I real quick switched on my tuner, but the string was so out it would have taken too much time to tune it. I had my pianist lead the song and it went pretty well in the end, but was still kind of embarrassing. I don't know what happened with the string. Someone must have bumped my guitar or something.

[russhutto]

No worries about necroposting, this is a living thread. I'm sure we'll all eventually run across some sort of blunder we'll need to post. Keep em coming!

[maydavidj]

We had a kind of energetic entrance planned for this Sunday. I got to fill in for our worship pastor, so I had the drummer start the groove for We're Here to Worship (Prestonwood) before everyone else came out. So, we all kind of run onto the stage as he starts. Well, second service, there was a baptism before we played. So, I forgot. I run out anyways, and it's only me! The drummer points up to our screen (baptismal place is behind) and I realize it. I just play it cool and head straight for one of the choir chairs and sit in it and start looking at the screen, waiting for it to come up for the baptism. After about 10 seconds, I realize that the video person forgot too. So I comically said, "Is there a baptism, or is there not...?" The screen finally starts coming up and the youth pastor who's doing the baptism says, "Pickaboo!" :o

[El Ben]

Okay, so at the young adults ministry that I lead worship at on Tuesday nights, our current teacher (who also happens to open up the gathering with announcements and prayer) was STILL hem-hawing around with some visitors six minutes after we were supposed to start. The band was starting to get antsy and I was feeling kinda nervous myself, so I look back at the sound guy (who just happens to be Chris Moncus (http://www.chrismoncus.com/)), and he looks pretty panicked too. He looks at Corey (the teacher), shrugs, and points at me.

I told the electric guitar player to go ahead and start playing the intro to "I Am Free," our opener, and he did. Well, I started praying over the music and it was really good, I was feeling some energy getting built up, and then, when the band was supposed to come in, they didn't, so the electric guitar player stopped playing, leaving me with this high-energy prayer cutting very loudly through the mix.

People started chuckling and I wrapped that prayer up REAL quick. Afterwards, I asked the band why they didn't come in.

"Because you were prayin'."

Shoot me in the face. It was embarrassing.

[garyhodges]

Stevie - about that tuning thing...

I had a friend who shared with me that one Sunday, his guitar was onstage between sound check and service and someone (didn't know who) who was apparently a type A personality had helped him out by lining up all the tuning keys, nice and neat.

[Stevie Nature]

That's sweet. Did he figure it out before he started playing or did he have to find out the hard way?

[ohsohappy6]

Other than my intro, this is my first post here...but I just HAD to share my blunder. It's too embarrassing not to laugh.

About a year ago, before a service, we were talking about our focus remaining on Jesus and that pride not enter in. Then we pray, go out to lead worship and it's going FANTASTIC right up until it came time for me to sing "Jesus, Lover of my Soul (It's All About You)." In my heart, my prayer was that Jesus be glorified. Honest it was. But just as pretty as you please, I belted out "It's all about me, Jesus. And all this is for me...." Imagine, just imagine, the looks on the faces of the congregation. I don't think I've ever been so mortified in my entire life. Awful! Thankfully, I wasn't publicly flogged. To this day, they still pick on me about it.

[garyhodges]

Happy - maybe that's why I've never done that song! JK

Stevie - He did notice it before he played, but you know how a quick on-the-fly tuning can be...

[Jeremiah]

But my all-time favorite was years ago on EASTER morning...I was playing keys and singing on the team, and the song was "We Will Dance." One of the phrases says, "Oh, we will look on His face." Another says, "Oh, we will stand by His side." You guessed it...the worship leader realized his error and changed courses in midstream, so what came out was "Oh, we will stand on His face." It took everything we had to not bust out laughing!!

I've done that exact same thing!

Back when I was playing bass with the previous worship leader we did this older song with the lines "and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands". Almost everytime we did it he would sing "We are the sheeple of his pasture"

We've had many blunders with intros. I once messed up the guitar part on "Your Name Is Holy" so bad that we didn't do the song again for months.

Another intro blunder was this complex guitar part and this big booming drum intro thing for Psalms 20 (some trust in chariots). I started the intro and then the drummer came in playing something I had never heard before. We've made mistakes before and can usually fix them and just keep going. For some reason we couldn't get on the same page! To make it worse we kept trying by repeating the intro over and over and over. After the fourth time I stopped playing and raised both my hands signalling for a total stop. I said "I'm really sorry. Lets try that one again." Everyone laughed and we went into it the second time without a hitch.

Last one! Our band was playing at an outdoor convention of sorts. It was REALLY windy and we had all kinds of clips holding the pages to the music stands. We were playing a roudy "You Are Good". (Lord you are good and your mercy endures forever). Anyway, we do it with this really long and extremely fun full band solo kinda thing. Like the Battle Cry CD. At the exact moment we start it the music that the bass AND electric player were using blows away and here I am with the drums pop'n plinking out the sorriest little notes on my accousitc. To make it worse I couldn't cuz it short because it's just a little to complex. I kept hoping the guitar guys would collect their songs and join me but they just stood there smiling until it was done. Such a flat ending....

[maydavidj]

One time, the youth band led an adult service in the main auditorium, so I was leading and our worship pastor was playing electric guitar. We attempted to start You, You Are God...but when the drummer started the 16th's on the snare, the electric guitarist completely forgot where he was at! He started playing something and it sounded so bad that it resembled Charlie Brown's teacher! Lucky for us, our rythm electric guitarist knew the lick and started playing it... I've got it on video and everything! The worship pastor didn't put that song in the setlist for a long time after that... :o

And just this last week, in a Wednesday night youth service, I forgot my capo, so my electric guitarist had to pass one down accross the stage in between songs. To top that off, my soft pick crumbled into peices and I had to bum an extra pick off of the acoustic guitarist! In the SAME service, my in ear headphones to my personal monitor mix stopped working as well...I just had to take them out and deal with the mix that was in the wedges for the keyboardist and other singers. It's a good thing we still had wedges up there or I would have been in big trouble. I've learned to always take a capo and extra picks on the stage.

[Stevie Nature]

Well fortunately I figured out what the problem was with my guitar tuning. I have a Breedlove which has an odd shaped head. It's sort of tilted to one side. When I take my capo off I put it on the head. Come to find out it kept landing on the G by the peg. When I'd tune the string was tighten, when I took it off the string detuned.....glad I figured that out.

[El Ben]

I took the opportunity to do a song at the Wednesday night bible study last night at my home church, a little ditty that I'd written when I first left home to serve my church in Saint Simons Island. Well, I was playing an old Yamaha p-200 and made a big flub. I was playing a slow piano-balld that was sounding kind of empty, so I thought I'd add some some strings to the piano mid-song. Unfortunately, instead of ADDING strings, I CHANGED to strings. So I go from playing a soft piano patch to playing a heinous eighties-sounding symphonic string patch that was piercingly loud.

It was so bad that I had to stop for a minute and just laugh. There were only about thirty or forty people there, and they joined right in. I started the song over and was VERY careful to not make the same mistake twice. It went off without a hitch and everyone liked the song.

[skyescraper]

blakfvib, I'm still laughing about the keys of your bass getting tangled in the fake plant...

In our former church, there was a jungle of fake plants all over the stage and whenever I went over to the piano, they would brush against me... they were really dusty and I tried to avoid them, but inevitably some would touch me, each time. I was relieved when we got the church remodeled and the plants were removed ... with just a few potted ferns on the stage instead.

[Joseph]

Never eat Hot chilli the night before you lead Praise & Worship in the service.
My Biggest Blunder. We were coming to the close of The worship singing Majesty, The Pastor stood up and said lets just wait in silence before The Lord and wait for His Word or just stand there in Awe of His presence. Well By then My face was turning green from holding in the WHOPPER Fart that was building up in me. and as one dearly beloved soul stood up and said
Thus saith The Lord God. That Whopper exploded from my bowls and the stink was..... well I`m sure you can guess the reaction on people`s faces as they glanced by me to the pianist who regretably took the blame. And on a short note! I few years later married her, the Pianist. And she still wont let me live it down when the topic arises.:D

[skyescraper]

Joseph, in my opinion, you get the prize for the best - or should I say WORST, story... I have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

Thanks for the advice about not eating chili...

[maydavidj]

I know, right! That was great!!! Reminds me of the time our worship pastor went on stage with his fly undone. He said, lets all join togethor and pray! Good thing they still had the old huge pulpit back then!

[NLoomis]

It was great. Just last Saturday night, we're doing Voice of Truth to match Nehemiah 4 and the nay-sayers. We're doing it in E, so I'm supposed to be capo'd on the 2nd fret. Luckily I was starting the song and only strummed once in the wrong key! Oops! I guess God can even use an idiot like me! I got it right in the 2nd service though.

Nathan