Someone else posted about playing in church, so I thought I would share a story that happened to me…
A few years ago, our church held a talent show and the music director asked me to play for the congregation. I had played in our services a few times before and was looking forward to it. My son and I decided we would play Ashokan Farewell. He would play the lead on mandolin and I would back him on guitar. We arrived early and I tuned my guitar and set it on the stage, then I went to the restroom. I had also brought my banjo. I left it in the case on the stage, by my guitar. There were several young kids playing near the front of the stage as I left.
When the show started, my son and I went on the stage. He grabbed his mandolin and broke into the song. As I strummed the first chords on guitar, something was wrong. At first, I thought my son was playing in the wrong key or something. My guitar sounded horrible. I could see the look of pain on the faces of the congregation. I immediately stopped playing and allowed my son to continue solo. When he finished, the crowd clapped. Then I took my banjo from the case and we played Foggy Mountain Breakdown together. The audience loved it and praised us after the show.
It appears my guitar was extremely out of tune, even though I had just tuned it before I went to the restroom. The music director later told me that the kids had “played with the knobs” on my guitar while I was gone. Very embarrassing, but it turned out ok. I learned a valuable lesson about making sure your in tune!