Stage fright??????????

rpe

rpe

NM - Land of Excrement
Well, I practiced for over a month on two fingerstyle songs for a church service we had yesterday. One was a beautiful hymn and the arrangement I learned was really nice. I probably played the song 100 times in practice and had it memorized and could play it without error. I get to the church service and begin to play and a sudden fear of blacking out came over me and made me hesitate just long enough to mess up the timing for about two seconds. I’m sure this is probably pretty natural – stage fright, anxiety, whatever. My question is: how can I better prepare for these performance situations? What is it that causes this anxiety when I’ve practiced the song ad naseum and have got it up to performance level?

Appreciate the help,

rpe
 
Jamal said it. The ONLY way you can get more comfortable is to keep on doing it. There is no substitute for experience.

Oh, and while you're at it, take this word of advice: Go ahead and give up now on trying to never make mistakes. You will make mistakes. You will never reach a point in performing when you DON'T make mistakes. The difference is in how you handle them.

Some people beat themselves up when they make a mistake...they get angry at themselves and totally suffocate what could be an amazing piece of music. The people who really excel are the people who learn from it. I've played my fair share of "wrong" chords or notes in the past, but instead of getting upset about it, I just think "oh...so that's what that sounds like!" or "so that's how you do that...hmm...what could I use that for in the future?" It's the only way your creativity can really be set free.
 
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Play in front of people more often.
Parties.
Open Mic nights.
Jam with Friends.
Recording.
You name it.

Eventually, you'll tune them out. I played a funeral a few months back. Every now and then, stage fright comes back to me, too. I just kept my eyes closed for the first few seconds, then focused on one spot in the very back of the chapel.

For some reason, I have a much easier time in front of hundreds of people as compared to a small crowd of 20 to 30. If stage fright grabs me now, I just put on a pair of sunglasses and go to work. Usually I'm okay by the end of the second or third song and can dump the shades.

I'm sure you did fantastic. Keep it up. See if you can go back and perform again soon. Doing it regularly will help build your confidence and lessen the chances of stage fright/anxiety taking hold of you as you begin to perform.

-jimbo
 
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I played a lot in children's church. Mistakes in there are part of the fun, and you can be silly with it and everyone gets a good laugh. It taught me to take the pressure off myself.
 
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Just yesterday was my first time as the official band "frontman" in our church's contemporary service. I've never been comfortable leading, or singing and playing at the same time, and this was all of that rolled into one. Add to this that I was also responsible for the direction of everyone else in the band, and it could have been a fair bit of stress. I actually started out one of the songs in the right key, but then thought I was in the wrong key so I stopped and switched....started again and then realized that I had been in the right key the first time. I just casually played it off (strum strum strum) "wait...I'm in the wrong key..." (change capo, strum strum strum) "no I wasn't..." (change capo again, strum strum strum) "Ok, there we go". Everyone that came up to me afterward said it was hilarious! They weren't distracted by it, they didn't think poorly....they just thought it was funny!
 
Jamal and sile2001, nailed it. Experience is the key and just forget about never making a mistake. I used to stress about playing everything perfect but I think it makes you more error-prone. Instead of playing comfortably (like you would when practicing), you get stiff and uptight.

Jimmy Page once said if you make a mistake, do it three times in a row and it will sound like you meant to do it. I guess that probably applies more to a sour note than a botched rhythm-- but it can help.

My wife tells me she only notices when I make a mistake because I make a certain face (the face of shame). Honestly, most people in the audience probably don't notice most mistakes. Plus, I've seen tons of big time stars make mistakes on national TV or whatever.

I remember seeing Clapton play a wrong chord on Layla or some other song he's probably played 10,000 times. He just quickly switched to the proper chord and acted like nothing happened. I'm sure very few people caught it. I saw Dave Grohl forget a lyric on Letterman... he kept playing and said something like "what the hell", smiled real big and then continued with the verse. I saw some guitar video with Jason Becker and Marty Friedman where Becker was playing this blazing solo at the beginning of the show and totally clammed that final dramatic note-- you know the one that you pick and then throw your hand up in the air and pose like a guitar god? He totally missed the note-- LOL! Kind of ruins the dramatic effect.

Just keep at it and relax. You aren't a robot... so don't expect to play like one.
 
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Scottgman said:
\

My wife tells me she only notices when I make a mistake because I make a certain face (the face of shame).
Click to expand...

I once read some music god's recommendation about that. He said something to the effect of, "When you make a mistake, don't grimace, but if you can't help making a face, look at someone else in the band when you do it." ;^)
 
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In addition to the excellent advice offered elsewhere in this post (you too, apl! :D ), I would offer the following:

When you are practicing your songs, don't stop every time you make a mistake - play through them. This way you can learn to not lose your timing and overall awareness of the song when your fingers misbehave.

Surely, if you have problem areas you need to work on them in isolation from the rest of the song. But get used to just soldiering on through.

One other thing to remember: You audience wants you to succeed, and are going to remember what you did well, not the momentary flubs.

Good luck!
 
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when i play in church i isually rush and i juss kidna look donw at the ground or at my strings adn keep telling my self to slow down an not hurry. i don't think that was your problem but you just got to let it flow adn thier is nothing to worry about when you are playing in god's name :D
 
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Zaphod B said:
When you are practicing your songs, don't stop every time you make a mistake - play through them. This way you can learn to not lose your timing and overall awareness of the song when your fingers misbehave.
Click to expand...

this is GREAT advice .

When you are practicing your songs, don't stop every time you make a mistake - play through them. This way you can learn to not lose your timing and overall awareness of the song when your fingers misbehave.



When you are practicing your songs, don't stop every time you make a mistake - play through them. This way you can learn to not lose your timing and overall awareness of the song when your fingers misbehave.



When you are practicing your songs, don't stop every time you make a mistake - play through them. This way you can learn to not lose your timing and overall awareness of the song when your fingers misbehave.



....there that should sink it in ! :)
 
Zaphod's advice is some of the best on this subject. If you screw up and stop, then everyone's going to know you made a mistake, and it makes for a really embarassing moment.
 
Some great advice, even APL is talking sense, I'll have to bookmark the thread! :p :D (just kidding friend).

I just remember that the standards I set for myself are way, way higher than those the audience expects of me. Also the vast majority of people watching wouldn't have the cohones to do what I'm doing and therefore I have most people's respect by just getting up there.

Those are the two things I try and force to the front of my mind.

I used to suffer pretty badly, almost to the point of giving up playing live altogether. As everyone else said, largely it's just a case of getting used to it.
 
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Thank you all very much for the outstanding advice (even APL!!). I'll put it all into practice & try to increase my performances too.

thanks,

rpe
 
Stage fright and performance anxiety are different. Performance anxiety is what I have gotten.

I do some pit work (musical theater things) and when you're playing to a packed house in the silent theater and you have to get through some delicate fingerpicking part with 8 people onstage counting on you not to screw the pooch, you can really get some sweatie palms. Dozens of rehearsals, or even a few perfect performances doesn't seem to alleviate the butt clenching that comes in those situations. It also doesn't help that my reading is pathetic and everyone else is a goddamned music phd.

The best defense is being prepared for it. I generally have 2 versions of the difficult passage. The first version is what I intend to play, and the other is some crappy, mel bay approximation that gets the idea across in case of lockup. No one ever notices the substitution of the simpler version, but everyone hears you step on your pudendum.

I am naturally an attention wh0re, so i never have experienced stagefright except when trying to pee in one of those trough urinals at the fairgrounds. Getting over that involves unhinging your jaw, telling yourself you have the biggest peepee in the county and reciting your multiplication tables backward like batman did to maintain his sanity.

Boo
http://boocephus.blogspot.com
(recently updated with even more profanity and drunken rambling!)
 
apl said:
I played a lot in children's church. Mistakes in there are part of the fun, and you can be silly with it and everyone gets a good laugh. It taught me to take the pressure off myself.
Click to expand...

I hear that if you use a Carvin guitar you make fewer mistakes. ;)

Most of the time, the audience won't even notice if you make a slight mistake. They will think it's part of the song.

In highschool, I was acting in a play. One actress was out smoking and missed her cue to come out on stage and deliver her line. Another actor and I improvised for a good two minutes. When she did come back, she was upset about her mistake, and said the wrong line. Then we had to improvise around that to get things back on track. No one knew - even my actor friends in the audience assumed it was in the script.

The same thing works with music. If you play some sour notes in a solo, play them again and make it sound intentional. They will think you are a great artist on the cutting edge of music.
 
rpe, keep performing..

some of my first gigs or professional venues were good and others were quite bad...
with time you will gain more confidence..just perform as much as possible :o :
 
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