Hi everyone. I'm sure this question would have come up before and I did troll previous discussions, so if I am covering old ground I do apologize.
I was wondering if anyone had some tips for playing in front of people? Like many of us I suspect, I can play well when I sit alone and practice (although I do admit I find it particularly easy to impress myself! ) yet as soon as I get an audience, even if it's one of my family or a friend I start to make mistakes. I understand why, of course I want to impress them with my improvement, so I tense up and think more about avoiding mistakes than just playing. I was just wondering if some of you players have any techniques you use to deal with those nerves? It's quite frustrating.
Ignore everyone and everything around you while you play. Until you get good enough that will help you keep your focus where it belongs.
Of course, Afterwards, be sure and thank them for their generous hospitality to sit and listen. And if you so desire, pass the hat. Tell them its for lessons. LOL (just kidding!)
If you haven't tried playing to a recorder as if is was a group of people, (1 take)you might want to try that and see how well you do, if you don't cheat and start over if you make a mistake. I've found that when I have recorded myself I don't play as well as I thought. Anyway it will put the pressure on you to learn to play your songs without making mistakes which is a good step toward playing in front of a group. Good luck & keep it up. Gary
I forgot, If you have recorded yourself and it sounds great, play that to your group and play a background bass or chords or lead, no pressure since you've already nailed it and you can relax and back up your recording. You'll really impress your group. Gary
Recording yourself is an old technique, but still a very useful one. It really lets you hear what you sound like. It brings out all your mistakes/unplanned events and makes them obvious to you. I had a speech teacher who used to record us and make us listen to it. It really helped my ability to do public speaking. I can only see it doing good for playing as well.
Thanks for the replies guys....I love the idea of passing a hat, very entrepreneurial! I will try recording as well. I'm sure it's something I can overcome but I do feel a little restricted by nerves whenever I play in front of anyone. Like playing itself though, I guess the only way to overcome/improve is to do it.
Recording is good, but you can't beat the real thing start small with family or friends and build up to larger groups, play along with others safety in numbers thing, jam with friends is also good. One of the main things is that if you've practiced long and hard enough and have the songs down pat then thats one less thing to worry about. Hey and really what is the absiolute worst thing that can happen if you stuff up a few notes. I've viewed a couple of members vids on here who have made a few errors in notes but they got away with it because it didn;t slow them down they played through it. Nothing worse than stopping and acknowledging to all and sundry you've made an error. It is possible the audience won't notice minor errors.
And anyways tell them when passing the hat round that the original artist would expect larger bills to go in the hat and you're happy with loose change lol!
Recording is better than "good" as a first step because it helps you connect your playing with reality. And when you are being realistic about your level of proficency you aren't so disappointed or feel there is such a difference between playing alone and to a group. The recorder dosen't lie while a person playing can sometimes fool themselves. Recording is an EXCELLENT reality check on if you are really ready to play in front of a group or at least give you a realistic expectation as to your ability to play through a song without mistakes. Nerves are just part of any performance, I would think for anybody who is not a professional and even then?? "recording is good but" who said that anyway!! They must be on the other side of the world. Hey, keep at it that is the best. Good luck. Gary
Hi everyone. I'm sure this question would have come up before and I did troll previous discussions, so if I am covering old ground I do apologize.
I was wondering if anyone had some tips for playing in front of people? Like many of us I suspect, I can play well when I sit alone and practice (although I do admit I find it particularly easy to impress myself! ) yet as soon as I get an audience, even if it's one of my family or a friend I start to make mistakes. I understand why, of course I want to impress them with my improvement, so I tense up and think more about avoiding mistakes than just playing. I was just wondering if some of you players have any techniques you use to deal with those nerves? It's quite frustrating.
Tovo,
What a timely question, check this out.
I played "Classical Gas" for the first time in front of about i5 of my friends last night at a little dinner party. It really wasn't my choice to play for them, but My wife was bragging and bragging about my learning and practicing it, and everyone wanted to hear it. What was I to do?? all eyes were on me. Well, the first problem was that we weren't at my house, and of course I did not have "MY" guitar. Well--------the 14 year old son of my friend has a guitar that had not been played for months, and he ran of in a dash to get it. Boy, it was so far out of tune I didn't think I would ever get it tuned. But I finely did. (Too Bad for me, now I had to play).
I broke the ice with playing "Here comes the Sun" and it went OK because I have that one down pretty well. So, having practiced it over and over and then posting it for Neil and others to take a look at made it easy to do. I knew I could play it and that made a big difference.
Now all were waiting for "Classical Gas' and this one I am planing to post this week. But still, I haven't played it in front of anyone, except playing along with Neil on the play through, and with Mason Williams on You-Tube.
Was I ready?? I guess I will find out. I closed my eyes and imagined I was in my practice room by myself. That was still tough, because I was sure I wasn't in my office and if I opened my eyes they would still be there. So I peaked and sure enough---they were!! So I said to myself--"Self" Quite stalling and do what you have practiced to do and put everything you love into the song.
The next thing that happened was amazing. I started off and nailed the intro, which was important to me, because I knew if I can do the easiest part without a mistake, then the rest might just follow the same coarse. Well, with eyes closed for most of the song and trying to put my love for this song into my playing, I went thought with only a couple of mistakes and was done in no time. The look on the faces of some of my friends I will never forget as long as I live. It was a look of astonishment, for a lack of a better word.
They knew I played some guitar, but this blew them away. One of the group said to me on the way out, "I could not believe what I was hearing, I have no idea you were that good, I was very surprised, great job." And these friends have know me for 20 or so years now.
I can only say, thank you Neil and TG. Without you I would never have been able to do that. What an event to remember. That is the one song I have always wanted to play but believed I would never be able to.
But back to your question. The most important thing I would say is to practice to the point that you can play the songs you learning in your sleep. When I learn a new song. I play it - and only it - every time I practice. That advice came from Tommy Emmanuel at the following you-tube link. I though I would try it and it paid off last night. I was so glad I had put so much time into it.
I hope you don't mine me giving this experience, but your question was at the top of my list last night. Great question.
One more thing to add, this is a quote from Chet Atkins. "NEVER perform any song that you have not practiced....RECENTLY." If I had only followed that advice it would have saved me several embarrassing moments.
) yet as soon as I get an audience, even if it's one of my family or a friend I start to make mistakes. I understand why, of course I want to impress them with my improvement, so I tense up and think more about avoiding mistakes than just playing. I was just wondering if some of you players have any techniques you use to deal with those nerves? It's quite frustrating.