Ok, I need some of you experienced musicians who play in bands to help me out with this one. I have been playing in this band for some time now, and this summer we have a few gigs to take care of. The first one is this Friday, and there are going to be a lot of people there. As the youngest band out there we are probably going to be the first to perform. So, now I wanted to ask for helpful tips from experienced musicians here on MS. Since this is our first bigger performance we have to deal with, umm...stage fright and shit like that (don't know a better way how to put this ) I sure hope you can help us out with that.

I'm mainly experienced with classical arrangements, but either way, the ideas stay the same imo.

I find the things that help me is to stay calm, not care if I do good or bad, to ignore the crowd and just act as if I was playing with my band in a rehearsal and to enjoy yourself. A performer looks that much better when they don't seem nervous or frightened. Also, not to worry about doing everything perfectly, let go. When you have all that stress on your shoulders worried about satisfying everyone else, then it channels into your playing for the worst IMO. You tense up and jump the gun.

Some things that might also work, if there is anyone in your band that gives signals or gestures for upcoming parts of the song, then it could help to divert some attention towards them if feel you need guidance. Like the drummer or the singer.

Best thing, is to just be care free.

I had a hard time managing to play my thing with the other bandmates nearby . But it's crap, like Sunioj said, you've got to be free, care free, that's what it's all about (i'm going to shit my pants that one day we're going to play live but well, screw that).

We had a gig last night, and according to everyone in the audience, we were the best band out there. It was so great, I thought I was going to be nervous, but the second I climbed that stage, it was like I left my body, I felt totally relaxed, and after the very first riff I was having the time of my life. It was so much fun, and we sounded great. And this is the first time I played on a big stage, so it was quite a weird experience. On stage I couldn't hear myself play, all I could hear were the bass and the drums, but the audience heard everything. It just felt great to be a star for one night, everyone coming towards you, shaking your hand, congratulating...It was great, and I can't wait for the next gig, coming up in 2 weeks.

Hehehe, pucker up my hartties, t'is a fine day to play Glad to hear that, keep it going.

@Filip
Definitely, I'm happy that you have found what works and that you have genuinely enjoyed yourself up there. The greatest feeling that we have to is that we have affected people with the music you played, its an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

Keep kicking ass

fucking great man, horns up for you, i cant wait for the day

We have a gig at a biker show next Thursday, so the band is undergoing rigorous training. I'm not happy with the way things are turning out now, but everything is going to be fixed by tomorrow, we have to make additional 30 minutes of the setlist (we already have 30). I just hope I won't snap in the middle of our rehearsals and kill the bass player.

lol yeah theres always one person in the band that pisses others off.

When I first played on stage I was scared, but after like 30 seconds I was like "Hey this isnt so bad after all!". For me it just wore off. It was hard for me beforehand though, being the guitar player and all, its the guitarists and the vocalist that are usually the front of attention. Except in my case, this group was small enough the entire band was the front of peoples attention it seemed. Good crowd. Church group at that.

I agree with all the others here, stress free is the best way not to make mistakes and most of all to have a blast, if i get caught up in my own thoughts, my mind isn't where it should be and i'll be rusty on my axe. You've got all types of audiences, some will be really critical, others will just want to have a good time. The important thing is to enjoy yourself.
The bands are the ones who have the balls to deliver the metal man.

Well we had a gig last night, and you wonder what am I doing this early here on this site instead of being in bed sobering up. well, I have a feeling we sucked last night. we messed up in two songs (the fucking drummer did, he says that his stage monitors started to buzz and he couldn't hear shit from us). the dudes from my band were hammered so they didn't care much and they said we were OK. the audience said we were great too, old- school metalheads especially did because we play thrash and they like thrash. but they say that because we had kinda crappy competition, sure the other band is known all over the country, but they play music that is technically simple and it is goth metal. I don't know, I should probably check out the vid and rate it, but I feel as if we sucked and I think the audience is telling us we are good because we are the youngest band ever to perform on a bikers party and they don't want to make us feel bad...damn I don't know. the drummer was off like the whole fucking solo riff, that was the worst...oh well

I can understand where you are coming from. You probably feel that the crowd doesn't know that much better in terms of what is a good live band. Don't be so hard on yourself though, no one is perfect and no band IMO can really get through a night without messing up, its so easy o criticize a live performance! The important thing is when you mess up, you keep playing as if the fluke never happened. That sort of suff is going happen.

You guys just started gigging recently right? You should be damn proud! But of course, don't let that get to your head for the worst. And I wouldn't play wasted either, lol

oh come on!!! at least a small shot ov some hard stuff to get the fingers warm and the stress off your shoulders.

well I watched the vid yesterday, they played at a local bar, and It wasn't really as bad as i thought. I noticed that our vocalist screwed up only once (that was kinda funny ) but everything else was cool. the place where the drummer went off, sounded cool as well because I kinda improvised there. Only problem is that at that point he increased the speed of the song for about 50-60 bpm and I was hardly catching up with him, you could see the smoke coming out of my fingers

Written by NECURATU on 08.08.2008 at 20:50

oh come on!!! at least a small shot ov some hard stuff to get the fingers warm and the stress off your shoulders.

That's true as well... It doesn't work with me though actually when I play stoned, I really get into playing melodic tunes and improvising seems effortless hehe (but I'm less focused on accuracy).

Drinking some brew does help your vocal chords to release though, at least for clean singing.

Written by Smurfophagist on 09.08.2008 at 11:03

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Cool dude, let us know if that vid is uploaded somewhere hehe, no pressure man. I'm just curious because I like old school stuff too.