Stagefrite

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NEB

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Performing live is a good way to sell CD's right? So this topic belongs here as far as I am concerned.

How do you live performers conquer this dreaded curse?

Sometimes I can go into a guitar store, lose myself in my music for a while, and look up to find I have drawn a small crowd.

But if the wrong person is watching, or if I am in the wrong frame of mind, I freeze up and my fingers shake and I cannot play. Sometimes I can't even tune.

It sucks.

What gives? I refuse to use a chemical crutch. Does anyone have any tips. Meditation or anything? All ideas are welcome, even those in left field.
 
Never had it so bad that I couldn't perform. I did get nervous for a while when I did the open mic a while back, but it's been 17 years since I was on a stage. That stuff goes away pretty fast once you get going. Find a friend in the audience, and when you look out into the crowd look directly at your friend. When you speak, speak to your friend. You'll find that after just a few minutes, you'll calm down considerably. Then you can start looking around the room and interacting with the crowd. NEB, they can't kill you. If you don't have anyone in the crowd that you know.....just look past the crowd and talk to the back wall. There might be pictures on the wall....you'll be good to go. Just don't get so hung up on it that you loose your place......you know, the swiss cheese effect.


bd
 
first off, remember that nobody came to see you screw up......and if you do, they won't care too much anyways (unless you completely suck)

example, in my first show with a band we had an awful first set.... broke a string on the very first song.....our timing was off compared to how we usually locked in........during the first break i walked off the stage pissed off....people started coming up to us telling us how awesome we were.......we all just looked at eachother and laughed......we realized we were taking it way too serious, went back out and had a great second set and encore........
 
You overcome it like any fear...by facing it head on.

If your only experience of performing is in a guitar store then there's no wonder you are scared! You don't say if you've done any gigs?

There's no substitute for playing lots and lots of gigs. Just getting used to being on stage in front of a group of people who are expecting you to do something cool. You should never get to the stage where you are completely blase about performing - that is no good, some nervousness is a good thing - gets you worked up and pumping. Neither should you be so scared that you can't perform to your best ability. The way to overcome that is through experience. The more gigs you play the more confidence you gain - you realise that you don't suck becuse people clap their hands and cheer and come up after and say how good you were, and you think 'Yes, I can do this'.

Now I am not a solo performer - THAT would be terryfying! I have three other guys in the band, which helps a lot. You can always think to yourself if I screw up the others will pull us through, or the audience aren't all looking at me they are looking at the rest of the band, so it helps a lot. Having to carry the burden of the perfomance alone must be a real gut rencher! But now I have played with a band I think I could tackle it better than if I had never gained that experience.

If you have never played a gig I would advise you to start off low key and don't invite any friends and family, do an open mic slot out of town and see how it goes. If you fu@k up it doesn't matter, but you have gained the valuable experience. Go and do it again. Once you are more confident do the same thing close to home and invite friends and family. Also, if you perform your own material consider throwing in a couple of covers first, to win over the audience witrh something they know.

Playing Live - when its good, there's nothing to beat it (well only ONE thing ;-) )
 
That's all great advice... yes..I am a soloist. I did one open mic last summer. Two songs, my first was Micheal Hedges "Baal T' Shuvah" and the second was a Leo Kottke version of "Little Martha". I had a few beers in me and thought I played horribly, but when I finished there were jaws on the floor and you could have heard a pin drop. I did some recording of my own stuff and passed a few cds around and now everyone is asking me to play live, bookstores and stuff. Word gets around fast.

I'm really not that good, just a different sound, and i dont know if I can pull the strength from within to do a solo performance. If I could, I think it would be well accepted, but I would have to play as good as I do at home.

I guess it goes as Micheal put it...."Face Yourself".
 
It's never been much of a problem for me (I guess I'm a natural show off). But on those rare occassions, I used to focus on something at the back of the room and lock in on that (something like a clock or a beer sign or whatever). This way it appeared that I was looking into the audience but I wouldn't have to lock eyes with anyone and avoid increasing that self consciousness.
 
NEB you have to ask yourself
1. Do you really want to play live, I mean REALLY want to play live?

2. Do you ENJOY playing live?

If yes to both, then you have already said people enjoyed what you did and you affected them emotionaly with your performance - I mean they didn't ignore you and carry on talking and drinking - they listened and they came up afterwards and wanted you to perform again? Right?

So you've got it. Don't get hung up on the fact that the next guy has a better guitar technique or in your opinion has a better voice - concentrate on YOU. Do more gigs, grow, gain more confidence. If you find it awkward to talk to the audience, work out a little intro to each song so you're not tongue tied, rehears it all and rehearse again, and again, leave nothing to chance, that way you'll not fall apart because something unexpected goes wrong - ie you break a string! (You have a spare guitar standing there right?)

On the other hand...
If you don't enjoy live work, don't do it. Don't play gigs just in order to sell CDs, thats the wrong reason.
 
Here's something:

Think of the last time you saw somebody else perform, and focus on a time that they fucked up a part of their set.

Now, think about how long YOU thought about their fuck up.

I'm willing to bet that you didn't think about it for longer 30 seconds. Christ, if Eric Clapton can put out an unplugged album where he screws up the intro for a song, and tells the band to start over...you can certainly get away with a NOTICEABLE (chances are, it will only be noticeable to you) mistake on stage.
 
as everyone is giving you constructive criticism, I feel it is my duty to provide you with some "glass is half empty" advice.

Firstly, If you live in a small town, and it turns out you ABSOLUTELY screw up your first performance, chances are you will have close to ruined your chances of getting another gig anytime soon.

secondly, some people in the audience are just there to pick at mistakes - i cant stand those people, but yes they are there.

solution - alcohol. :D

y
 
And the good advice keeps commin'

No ....I don't care about sellling cds....I would just like to perform because all my friends are encouraging me to. And yes...I do live in a small town, and everyone would show up with a critical ear. I am not worried about guys being better than me, I am humble, but, most of the guys around here in my opinion could really work on there guitar work if you know what I mean. (With a couple of exceptions, but those guys would be supportive and maybe even inspired to try something new)

Yeah...I hear guys screw up all the time, but they are playing mushed out chords and can cover it up with vocals, so no one even knows it was a mistake, no one except a good guitarist that is. The difference with me is that I play instrumental fingerstyle, and every note has to be hit perfectly. Articulation is hugely important, and when amplified, as you know, mistakes are glaringly obvious. Especially with a difficult composition in a suspended tuning such as DADGAD.

As for the pros, like kottke, when they make a mistake, it reminds me that even my idols are human, but what is even better is watching a good guitarist recover. That is really cool.

I just need to work on my confidence I guess. I need to use the sack god gave me and let it hang for all the world to judge.

And I need to learn how to spell stagefrite.
 
i used to have quite a bit of stage fright-i still get anxious onstage, but it's mostly the surplus of stimulus, and not a concern for the people in the audience. time playing onstage makes a big difference. not giving a shit about what people think about you makes a big difference. alcohol can make a big difference. nowadays, i still get shaky and occasionally make mistakes live, but i don't hold back while playing and i emote effectively. there's not much more to it in my opinion. do it, keep doing it, and realize that there are mostly 2 types of people watching you: 1> fellow musicians who will try to respect what you're doing and 2> people who don't have a clue enough to know when you screw up anyway.

in the end, you're doing this because you love it, right? well, do it. people are a poor excuse not to get what you want from life, and that's coming from someone with a long history of social anxiety.
 
NEB, there has been some good advice here. I think glynb asked some key questions. If you enjoy performing in front of people and you really have a driving desire - then you need to do it. You sound like you have confidence in your chops (since you indicate you draw crowds in a store and "jaws dropped" when you performed). So use that to face your fear.

Certianly focusing on a friend in the audiance (or at least a friendly face) can help alot. As a rule the majority of people in a venue came because they enjoy and support live music. They want to be entertained and they will not get uptight over a few mistakes - at least as long as you don't get too uptight and draw undo attention to the error. Hell, most people don't even notice!!!

I've been gigging for about 35 years and have done somewhere close to 4,000 gigs (give or take I've never actually kept real close count). Every once in a while I still get a small case of nerves before a gig (depends on the gig) - it is a natural reaction, but it is not something to prevent you from pursueing something you want to do.

I've always lived by 3 key thoughts (as far as gigs go).

1. It's only 4 hours (or 2 hours or whatever) I can deal with almost anything for a couple of hours!

2. So I made a mistake - it's already history!!

3. If the people in the crowd could do this any better - why the hell ain't they at a gig???
 
The best way to do it man, is to DO IT. Just think 'fuck it, if i screw up i can get drunk after' or just get drunk before and that might help.
 
Im lucky I've never been "really" nervous before or during a gig..Excited yes!Maybe you should look at it that way..They all wish they were you when your on stage!Enjoy their envy.LOL..Become the charecter you think they want to see...step outside yourself..just a couple of ideas..JUST HAVE FUN



Don
 
Henri Devill said:
..Become the charecter you think they want to see...step outside yourself..just a couple of ideas..JUST HAVE FUN
Don
Click to expand...
- Good advice, be yourself, but just exagerate it a little. You are up there to entertain people, not just look bored and just play a song, they can get that by listening to your CD at home. Live performance has to give that something extra special you can't get by listening to recorded music at home.

"Firstly, If you live in a small town, and it turns out you ABSOLUTELY screw up your first performance, chances are you will have close to ruined your chances of getting another gig anytime soon."
I agree through bitter experience. We played our first gig when we weren't that good. Unfrortunately we invited all our frinds and family and they ALL TURNED UP. Big mistake. Although they were polite and said they enjoyed it many have not come back since. Since then we have played loads of gigs and we are now a great live band, but it took time to get to that stage. That's why I think its best to play low key gigs, maybe uner a different name, just to get used to playing live together and develop you own style. THEN play the big one and invite everyone along once you are confident.
 
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