Posted: 12/3/2008 10:22:00 AM EDT
| What was your first time performing live like? The music club thing I'm in at school is participating in a showcase, so it's gonna be my first time up there. I know I get pretty nervous before and during the playing...and I have a solo I've got to play as well. Any tips to help calm down, etc..Thanks! |
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I was 16 years old and it was for a school showcase as well. That's been 24 years, so I don't remember what that was like.
But I've been a pro/semi-pro for the past 22 years and played thousands of shows and I can tell you that it'll get easier. Concentrate on playing to the best of your abilities... NOT to impress others but to impress YOURSELF. That's what I do EVERY night and whether there is one drunk who could care less sitting at the bar, or 1,700 drunk and screaming people –– I play for ME first and that takes the pressure off. It's not like you're playing an audition for Vai, Satch, and Yngwie... so there's no need to get all nervous and feel like you're under the microscope. Just have fun and do the best you can and you'll soon be able to yawn on-stage... 
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I'll try to keep that in mind..but it's like whenever I get up in front of lots of people like that my picking hand shakes a bit and my left hand feels like rubber. It's hard to get over that feeling. Hard to explain though...just a normal case of being nervous. 
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I walked out on stage during Lollapalooza at Randall's Island to set Kim Deal's vocal mic.
After I plugged it in I stepped around to check it. I looked up and 25,000 people were staring at me. I thought to myself, so this is what it feels like to be a rock star. Most of the time you can't even see the audience because of the lights. For me, I kind of go into a little bubble. My advice to you would be to concentrate on your playing. |
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I'll try to keep that in mind..but it's like whenever I get up in front of lots of people like that my picking hand shakes a bit and my left hand feels like rubber. It's hard to get over that feeling. Hard to explain though...just a normal case of being nervous. Every once in a while, before an important or well-attended gig... I'll start to feel some butterflies. Even after all these years it happens on occasion. But I always dismiss them and just do what I do. Now, I've got all night to get comfortable with it and if I struggle for the first set or two, I'm ALWAYS in the groove by the third set. If you're just doing one tune it will be over before you know it. The fact is, the more you play live the easier it will get. There's just no replacing experience. But you have to start somewhere. And just remember again... that even though YOU are hyper-analyzing your playing, VERY few others are. They are just enjoying the show. So try to have fun with that in-mind. I can't tell you how many nights that I've had that I wasn't too high on my playing that night, that someone came up (even a fellow band member) and said I smoked. And other nights that I felt I kicked-ass, that no one said a thing. People's perceptions are different than our own as musicians. BTW... my metal band back in the 80's used to play Number Of The Beast, The Trooper, Wasted Years, and Stranger in a Strange Land. Good times... |
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I'll try to keep that in mind..but it's like whenever I get up in front of lots of people like that my picking hand shakes a bit and my left hand feels like rubber. It's hard to get over that feeling. Hard to explain though...just a normal case of being nervous. Every once in a while, before an important or well-attended gig... I'll start to feel some butterflies. Even after all these years it happens on occasion. But I always dismiss them and just do what I do. Now, I've got all night to get comfortable with it and if I struggle for the first set or two, I'm ALWAYS in the groove by the third set. If you're just doing one tune it will be over before you know it. The fact is, the more you play live the easier it will get. There's just no replacing experience. But you have to start somewhere. And just remember again... that even though YOU are hyper-analyzing your playing, VERY few others are. They are just enjoying the show. So try to have fun with that in-mind. I can't tell you how many nights that I've had that I wasn't too high on my playing that night, that someone came up (even a fellow band member) and said I smoked. And other nights that I felt I kicked-ass, that no one said a thing. People's perceptions are different than our own as musicians. BTW... my metal band back in the 80's used to play Number Of The Beast, The Trooper, Wasted Years, and Stranger in a Strange Land. Good times... You're not Steve Harris are you?
Thanks though... all this advice is insightful. The good thing is that there's a big group of us playing..drums, keys, bass, saxophone, guitars...so if I do freeze up I can lower the volume a bit and jam out until I get into the "groove".  Then let it rip on the solo and melt some faces. 
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I don't know much about how to calm down before the show, but I noticed that a calm and confidence kind of took over after we were playing for a few minutes. A lot like public speaking.
I sang & played guitar in a band. Our first show was at a punk/ska/hardcore kind of place and we were NOT that style - we were more melodic alternative rock. I was really nervous about what kind of deadly objects might be thrown at the stage 
Nervous as hell, we took the stage. 5 minutes into our first show I was at maximum confidence & attitude, it felt great. The crowd treated us well too 
Just get out and do it, as the music takes hold you'll be back in your element and the nerves will fade. |
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You're not Steve Harris are you?
Thanks though... all this advice is insightful. The good thing is that there's a big group of us playing..drums, keys, bass, saxophone, guitars...so if I do freeze up I can lower the volume a bit and jam out until I get into the "groove". Then let it rip on the solo and melt some faces. LOL. Just an 80's child from the west who's spent most of his life playing metal, rock, and country in the area clubs/bars. I used to have dreams of granduer and wanted to be a rock star. Now I just do my best impersonation of Brad Paisley meets Gary Moore on the weekends. Rock on man, and enjoy every minute on-stage. I get VERY tired of the tiresome routine of driving to the gig, setup, play, teardown, and drive home. It wrecks a lot of my weekends for doing fun things with the family. But when I take a break, I miss it. It's part of my life and it seems as though I can't live without it. |
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Now I just do my best impersonation of Brad Paisley meets Gary Moore on the weekends. Gary Moore is great!
Indeed! And so is Paisley! I don't claim to be a good impersonation, but I try. We do classic rock and country and I would say that my style(s) in that band most closely resembles those two players. I like to shred while playing country and rock. |
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My first show was at the Fastlane in Asbury Park NJ in 1986. We had one weeks notice as a friend of ours (who was in another band) put us on the bill. We were all about 16 and scared shitless, none of us had been on stage. We practiced everyday up to the show which helped alot. If one of us got lost our motto was "when in doubt, play an open E".
Our 20 minute set went surprisingly well. Nobody froze, and we even had a little stage presents. I don't know if the crowd dug us but some of the other bands were very encouraging. Which ment alot because we looked up to those guys. |
Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, off to go stomp ass. 
I think I'll be alright. Update: Tonight was fun. I had more fun playing metal riffs, scales during sound check and warming up than I did playing in the performance. We put on a little jazzy type somewhat improvised song that the music club I'm in has been working on for a bit. I was nervous playing it, and my volume was kind of low during the song/solo. But it was a fun experience.
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My first show was at the Fastlane in Asbury Park NJ in 1986. We had one weeks notice as a friend of ours (who was in another band) put us on the bill. We were all about 16 and scared shitless, none of us had been on stage. We practiced everyday up to the show which helped alot. If one of us got lost our motto was "when in doubt, play an open E".Our 20 minute set went surprisingly well. Nobody froze, and we even had a little stage presents. I don't know if the crowd dug us but some of the other bands were very encouraging. Which ment alot because we looked up to those guys. LOL! Been there done that! Over the years I've had more than a few occasions where we launched into a song as my brain went totally blank. So I'd chug and E5 for a while until I remembered how the tune went. Happens with lyrics once in a while, so I try to keep a lyrics sheet handy for backup purposes. |
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Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, off to go stomp ass.
I think I'll be alright. Update: Tonight was fun. I had more fun playing metal riffs, scales during sound check and warming up than I did playing in the performance. We put on a little jazzy type somewhat improvised song that the music club I'm in has been working on for a bit. I was nervous playing it, and my volume was kind of low during the song/solo. But it was a fun experience. Glad to hear it man. Keep grabbing every change you can get to play live and with different musicians. You'll eventually get comfortable enough that you can read a book while gigging. I studied for and got my Private Pilot's License back in the early 90's by putting my books on top of the rack case and reading them on slow nights while we played.
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My first live performance was the whole concert band thing in middle school... I had fifteen other drummers to cover my ass, so it didn't worry me... my first performance by myself in a real band I was 13 or 14, and I still wasn't nervous... Keep in mind, I think I look at performing live and playing an instrument different than most people... I play for me. So when I play live, I'm still playing for me. For one reason or another I've never once felt nervous in front of a crowd, however, if speaking in front of people, my knees shake and I get nervous, etc...
I've played a few dozen sold out shows opening for bigger bands like Nonpoint, Taproot, Ra, Ten Years, Days of the New, etc... and it always feels the same to me as a rehearsal... If you're confident in your abilities, I think it plays a big part in eliminating nerves. Nervousness, to me, is always a fear of being accepted... I don't really worry too much about that... But... Joey Jordison (Slipknot drummer) still throws up before every show because of nerves... So... to me, it affects everyone differently... the only time I get nervous is talking to fans... I never know what to say and often feel awkward.
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I just noticed the "Shredder Extraordinaire" tag. You just played your first show, and a controlled one at that. That's like calling yourself a stud with only jerking off to back it up.  It refers to Marty in my avatar, one of my favorite guitarists. I can see how it's a bit misleading though.
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I was seventeen, drumming in a band with my friends. We played some talent show BS at our high school. Crowd was about 500. We only played one song that lasted just under two minutes.
Oddly enough, I got out of tempo a few times during the rehearsal, but during the actual show there were no problems. I just didn't think about anything. It's like I was all alone up there drumming. |
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The first time I played live was back in '97 in front of mabye 20 people, so it wasn't a big deal. In '98 the next (& last band) I was in threw some parties to get used to people, every week they got bigger & bigger.
Then there was the time that that same band opened up for Slipknot in April of '98. That was the first "real" show that I played at. There were about 300 people there. When we were playing it just felt like another party to me. But as soon as our set was over, it was a high that I can't really describe, I had that "on top of the world" feeling.
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I just noticed the "Shredder Extraordinaire" tag. You just played your first show, and a controlled one at that. That's like calling yourself a stud with only jerking off to back it up. It refers to Marty in my avatar, one of my favorite guitarists. I can see how it's a bit misleading though.
Though I don't give fuck one about Marty
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