What do you do when well-meaning audience members come up to you in the middle of a song and start talking to you?
A. Ignore them.
B. Stop playing and let BIAB take it.
C. Keep playing flawlessly while chatting with them for as long as they like.
D. Other?

A. Ignore them. I've held up a "wait a minute" finger and most will either wait or return to their seat.

If they don't take the hint use the next finger down the hand turning the palm of the hand towards yourself.... perhaps they will take THAT hint.

Or.... you can always STOP the song and the show.... explain to the audience that THIS buffoon thinks he or she is SO important that they will not wait until the song is over like everyone else to make a request..... embarrass the idiot.... of course, if they're plastered, the hint won't work nor will the non-verbal communications, and very likely they are beyond being able to be embarrassed either.

If this problem persists, get a note pad for idiots like that to write the request on a piece of paper..... we used to tell the audience, multiple times throughout the evening's show.... "If you have a request, please write it down on the back of a $20 bill, wrap a quarter in it and toss it up here.... if we don't know the song, we'll be glad to give you your quarter back". Some folks actually did that.

LOL! My sentiments exactly, Guitarhacker.

I've had them come up to me and extend their arm to shake hands as I'm playing the piano with a live band. That's different. I usually give them "I'll be with you in a moment" line, but some people just don't think this out well.

Got to watch the teeth whenever anyone comes up to me as I'm playing a horn. If they're drunk, I look like a rushing fullback with a stiff arm out.

A quick head nod usually gets them to wait a bit. They really just need to know I saw that they want to talk. And I'm the horn player so I can soon. Not sure what I would do if I played something rhythmic.

Fun question. Lots of memories.

Thanks Matt.
I had several the other night. One of them, after some initial chit-chat, stood right in front of me and stared at my fingers for the longest time! Then said "Nice" and walked away. What a hoot!

My wife is a pro guitarist. She always looks at guitarist's fingers from up close; that could have been it. She plays in alternate tunings so she gets some incredulous looks too.

I've been known to watch good guitarists closely and I often go up in the break to have a look at their gear. Just nosy and love watching people play guitar. Now I also watch singers very closely, but luckily it's less obvious.

When I'm playing, I often spot musicians from similar behaviour.

Social media is a whole different ball game. People think and say anything that comes into their limited brains. If they said it live, there would be a riot. Some guy was continually telling me to 'please stop singing' on Periscope on Monday and then said he was joking. Figure that one out? Wanting to do strange things with/to you is passe. Happens most shows. Must be awful for female performers. Luckily Periscope has a group block now that works well. The other people watching block them quite quickly. I had a couple fighting it out verbally as well.

Ignore all that advice if it's a biker bar. And be really careful with those hand signals. Bikers generally don't like being flipped off.

Matt mentioned teeth.... you'd probably be picking yours up off the floor. It really helps to have a road crew when you play in some clubs.

Guess we were lucky. We played large and small outdoor festivals for many years and we were always on an elevated stage. We also played a circuit of small acoustic music specific venues and were always on a stage with some space between us and the crowd. We tended to avoid bars and venues where we would be nothing but background music. We had the luxury of not having to make a living or even part of a living from music so we could bookings gigs that we enjoyed - evenso we performed frequently as bluegrass was very popular in the 80's and 90's (and is currently undergoing another revival).

What do you do when well-meaning audience members come up to you in the middle of a song and start talking to you?

A. Ignore them.

Bad form (and you just lost a good tip).

B. Stop playing and let BIAB take it.

Not an option. We play live guitar and bass – gotta keep playing.

C. Keep playing flawlessly while chatting with them for as long as they like.

We're a vocal band – again, not an option.


D. Other?

Usually, we just smile, nod, and in between verses, say: “Be with you in a minute”. Usually, they realize that you're in the middle of a song, and wait.

Alcohol diminishes inhibition, but it also makes good tippers.





Regards,

Bob