Got a gig on Sunday... and I'm a little scared!

[Jeff Leites]

How do I get into these things? I was just looking for a jam buddy last summer, and I ended up playing lead guitar in a surf band. We had one gig after only 3 practices. Now we have another at the same place. I was ok playing Doors covers in the 60's. The attention was on the singer, I could hide behind the amps if I screwed up. Now I'm in a very high profile postion. What if my fingers forget what to do, or I have a senior moment aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Does anyone else suffer from performance anxiety? What do you do about it? :confused:

[John Sayers]

the secret is to not have any negative thoughts about your performance capabilities :D

[UstadKhanAli]

Oh, damn, you've exposed The Secret! :D

Practice as much as you can, with and away from the band, then go out there and have a great time. Someone having a great time is infectious. No one will notice if you drop a note or two.

[daklander]

Let your hair, what's left of it, grow out and tease it up again. No one will notice your playing.

[Jeff Leites]

Let your hair, what's left of it, grow out and tease it up again. No one will notice your playing.


Hey! I think I still have nearly full coverage, it's just a lot thinner ;)

[Tedster]

You'll do fine.

I have a method to avoid performance anxiety. I worry about other stuff..like whether all the gear will work. ;)

[rasputin1963]

Practice as much as you can, with and away from the band, then go out there and have a great time. Someone having a great time is infectious. No one will notice if you drop a note or two.


Ditto. Audiences-- contrary to popular belief (and SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO) -- WANT to like you.

[UstadKhanAli]

You know what's funny is that if we're all having a good time playing and we've got a decent crowd, it almost doesn't matter how sloppy I play (not that I try and cultivate this, you understand...:D ). I've had gigs where it's generally gone quite good, but I've mischorded or had technically difficulties, and what's always interesting to me is how many people say, "Oh, really? Didn't notice any of that...it just sounded really great to me!"

The last gig I did, I badly mischorded when my guitar cord got caught while I was moving, jerking my guitar back slightly. One person, who had seen us several times before, definitely noticed. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled and just kept playing.

[steveg]

Learned from long hard experience- you notice 20x the details of your performance than anyone else. The audience reacts to more general things like do you look like you are enjoying yourself? Does the band make eye contact with each other and the audience? Missed notes mostly go unnoticed, people notice if you smile, move and generally like what you are doing!!!

[ultravibe]

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got is "If you don't point out to the audience that you messed up, they'll never know."

I had a habit of scowling, shaking my head or otherwise emoting when I screwed up onstage. Those visual clues were the only things tipping off the audience to the fact that I had screwed up.

Take the advice of others here - keep smiling, make eye contact and don't worry so much. You're there to have fun and so are they.

[Jeff Leites]

Learned from long hard experience- you notice 20x the details of your performance than anyone else. The audience reacts to more general things like do you look like you are enjoying yourself? Does the band make eye contact with each other and the audience? Missed notes mostly go unnoticed, people notice if you smile, move and generally like what you are doing!!!

I know that is something I have to work on. I tend to watch either my fingering, or which string I hit. It's kind of strange because sometimes I think a finger should fret one note, and it uncontrollably frets a different note... the RIGHT note!

[tradivoro1]

Just to help out, sometimes our own self perceptions make us feel the worse... Years ago, I was in a cover band and I was playing guitar. We had this medley in which I was supposed to solo for like 8 measures and everything else was the singer covering the tunes. Well, she's doing her thing in the medley, and at one point she runs off the stage... I was left doing a 7 minute guitar solo, to cover the singer... Not being prepared for this, after all was said and done, I said to myself, man that must have been really bad... Anyway, after we took a break, patrons kept coming up to me and saying that was a really nice solo, great guitar playing etc... and I didn't know any of these people... So I must have done something right... So sometimes we are our own worse enemies... I think the advice here is right, practice as much as you can, and then just have a good time...

P.S. The singer was about to throw up cause she was sick, that's why she ran off the stage... :)

[blue2blue]

Oh, damn, you've exposed The Secret! :D

Practice as much as you can, with and away from the band, then go out there and have a great time. Someone having a great time is infectious. No one will notice if you drop a note or two.

Damn straight.

Someone communicating the joy of musicmaking will reach an audience and transcend whatever limitations or fleeting problems there might be in the presentation.

When I was growing up I watched a lot of live music on TV and, more than occasionally, in clubs and restaurants with my folks. My ol' man was a pretty accomplished amateur musician and he could dissect a performance fairly critically but, for them, at the bottom line, it seemed to be whether or not the artist(s) seemed to enjoy what they were doing and communicate that.

Must be why I took to the early days of punk rock right off... that and the fact it was loud and obnoxious. :D

[Marc G]

man just shut up and play.....have fun....it's just that easy.

[blackpig]

Get out and have fun. If you have plenty of practise you'll be delighted at how things come together on the stage in spite of your misgivings. That will come across to the audience and they will spur you to even greater heights of performance.

[boosh]

You should play in our band man,...Nobody is afraid. Never,..NO FEARS!!!

Maybe that's because we have serious lack of audience when we play somewhere??

[Anderton]

confidence (whether justified or not) + having fun = happy audience

[Lee Flier]

I was pretty nervous when my current band first got together too, because it was the first time I'd been in a 3 piece... no hiding behind another guitarist, or a keyboardist, if I screw up, everybody knows! :eek:

It went away after a few months... just a matter of lots of practice + getting those first few gigs under your belt... and remembering it's all supposed to be fun, nobody's going to die if you miss a note, unlike with some people's jobs. :lol:

[studio pet-rock]

I've noticed the same thing with recording: all those little mistakes that you kick yourself about - most other people don't hear them. Non-musicians tend to hear the song as a whole, as opposed to hearing the individual parts that complete it....which is very fortunate for hacks like me. :D

Concerning "performance anxiety", I usually have a few drinks before playing to an audience. JUST a few drinks. I've gone beyond that in the past & oh my. :freak: But it really works for me. If you're not the drinking type, just think a lot of good thoughts before the gig. Play, have fun & be you. You'll do fine.:wave:

[Jeff Leites]

Thanks for the encouragement and all the tips. I'll keep them in mind tomorrow!

[Iamtheblues]

Get over yourself, people ain't really paying that close attention to you and could really care less if you screw up.....