Bonehead mistakes

Kfostercma

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I believe that it is healthy and sometimes productive to laugh at oneself every so often. Has anybody ever made a really dumb mistake? Well, I did last night!
I really like the ukulele, but I wanted to try a banjolele. Music shops in my area typically don't stock banjoleles, so I ended up ordering one online. Well, the bridge wasn't attached...and the instrument did not come with instructions.
I read some online instructions designed for adjusting a floating bridge on a banjo, and thought a banjolele would not be terribly different, and so I started loosening my strings and--SNAP! I guess lefty isn't loosy when it comes to stringing an instrument is it?
I'm going to the guitar store tonight to see if they can help me!

Kev
 
Two nights ago I was trying to work out an opening riff to a new cover song. Spent over an hour trying to make it work with the main riff coming from the 1st and 2nd strings. Then I finally decided to try the riff on the 4th string and the whole riff is easy as pie now.

Doh!!!
 
Yes, typically it's lefty loosy on two out of the four strings. If this is you're stupidest mistake, you're a genious.
 
Ever heard what an E string on a bass sounds like when you tune it up one octave, me either, cause it breaks with an unimpressive sound.

Ever try to play along with your band on stage when you've just got done tuning your uke to a tuner set to 431Hz instead of 440 ("wow the weather really has affected these strings" I said as I tuned it to 431).

Ever grab the wrong harmonica (Key of G instead of D) and start wailing away on harp solo break in front of a room of folks.

Ever switch between a Kazoo and Harmonica and continue to Humm in to the harmonica (at least nothing comes out).

Ever play two songs back to back in the same key with similar chords and start out on the second one and end up back on the first song (Not by design)....and nobody notices?
 
When I re-strung my tiple last year, I somehow managed to tune some of the strings a full octave too high without them breaking. Then I made a UU post complaining about how it hurt my fingers to play it.
 
I purchased a Koaloha Tenor directly from the factory and they ship it with the strings loose so it doesn't get damaged. Anyways, I tuned it to My Dog Has Fleas but the G knob would unwind as there was too much tension. I called Koaloha and the person laughed and said it was tuned to low G. They were nice enough to send me a new low G and high G string. Good thing the bridge didn't pop off.
 
I never make bonehead mistakes, except for this one right now= typing with the same hand with which I am eating buttered toast... off to find something to get the butter off of my keyboard. :rolleyes:
 
I still don't know how I did it, but once when I was tuning up fresh strings on my fiddle, the material holding the tailpiece on broke, sending it flying into my chin, the bridge collapsed, of course. I put the tailpiece back on with a piece of wire! I don't know how the accident didn't damage the fiddle, but there was nary a scratch. My chin hurt for several hours!
 
That's just the most recent that came to mind ;)

There's a lot to be said for losing one's memory - I can't recall every having done anything embarassing! :biglaugh:
 
A 431

Ever try to play along with your band on stage when you've just got done tuning your uke to a tuner set to 431Hz instead of 440 ("wow the weather really has affected these strings" I said as I tuned it to 431).

From a design standpoint, I really like the elegance of A 431 (Scientific Pitch), because every C is a power of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256Hz, etc). Makes the math a bit easier. Not sure why a non-experimental instrument would use it, though.
 
Maybe, how boneheaded depends on the responses to my first post in the Beginners section. I might have been too impulsive and bought a toy instead of a cheapie uke.
 
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Ever heard what an E string on a bass sounds like when you tune it up one octave, me either, cause it breaks with an unimpressive sound.

Ever try to play along with your band on stage when you've just got done tuning your uke to a tuner set to 431Hz instead of 440 ("wow the weather really has affected these strings" I said as I tuned it to 431).

Ever grab the wrong harmonica (Key of G instead of D) and start wailing away on harp solo break in front of a room of folks.

Ever switch between a Kazoo and Harmonica and continue to Humm in to the harmonica (at least nothing comes out).

Ever play two songs back to back in the same key with similar chords and start out on the second one and end up back on the first song (Not by design)....and nobody notices?

These are awesome. I especially like your last one. Which two songs were they? People probably thought you were doing a mashup or something. :)
 
I have too many to choose from, but the first one that comes to mind is an oldie.

I was first chair in the beginner band, and I had a big solo in this new piece. It had an octave jump to 2nd octave Eb, which back then was a big deal to me. I practiced and practiced and practiced, until I got it just right. I was too tired to put my clarinet back in its case. I'd do it in the morning..

Fast forward to band class the next day. The score order had me sitting right next to the director, who to this day is my favorite band director. I bragged about how excited I was and how much I'd practiced... as I opened the case, I did an EEP! in mid-sentence. The case was empty! You'd think I'd notice the weight of the case was wrong, but nope, I was the most surprised person in the room, to see an empty case.

We're supposed to get a zero for the day if we don't bring our instruments, but he just leaned over and peered into the case, laughed and said "What an airhead!" I let myself be the punchline for the rest of the year, because it was pretty funny. :D

When I called mom at work, as I always was supposed to when I got home from school, I told her, and we mutually agreed I was an airhead. Later on, she told me some people in the break room were saying she should complain to the school. Why? I was an airhead, and it was hilarious. I didn't even get the zero.

To this day, I double check the case.
 
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