How have you overcome it?

HALP!

Well there's the old adage to picture everyone else being in their underwear and yourself being the only one fully clothed but that doesn't really work.If at all possible start off with smaller venues and as your confidence grows move on to larger venues.Stage fright in most cases just boils down to lack of confidence.Have a pep talk with your band mates before a gig,or let them know what your situation is.If they are true friends they'll be supportive of you and help you deal with it.I've been gigging since I was 14 of 15 and would be scared almost sick the first few times but after a few great gigs where the people really liked us the stage fright just vanished.Good Luck-now get out there and give 'em a show!

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Oh dang, I've been doing that backwards.



If you get a chance try to take some public speaking courses or join a toastmasters group. They can help you get over stage fright, at least for speaking in front of groups.

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Keep on Truckin, Going full speed ahead down the highway to hades.

you just have to go for it. when i was about 12, my band was asked to play at a 4th of july celebration- fireworks and the whole shebang. i didn't think too much until i hit the stage and saw the thousands of people.

the first song is the toughest! once it is over, and you hear the feedback from the audience, all will be well.

get up on stage and show them you deserve to be there

I can honestly tell you my only answer to it, after it's recent (hopefully 1 time only) re-emergence.

Consider your bandmates, how much you think of them warts and all, how much hard work you've all put into the band.

Then think "How much of a gang of prats will they look, and how little will they think of me if I refuse to go on".

No one else is going to do it.

Worked for me.

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No no and no

Maybe do some small venue open mics, just one or two songs, simple stuff, with a couple others.

What really did it here as a cure was joining a church band as bassist. The music is simple, the choir and piano and flute and clarinet and occasional trumpet are good "cover."

205 Masses and services, to date.

Best of fortune.

Dilemma, listen to what Billy says at about 4:02 in this video
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrSolarcoas ... 4wNfmpYrb8

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Not directed at playing on stage but when speaking in front of people, the first thing you have to realize is that EVERYONE ELSE also has stage fright. Most people are terrified of speaking in front of people becuase they assume everyone is critizing them but in reality they aren't, they're too busy worrying about their turn.

Personally I don't understand why most people hate speaking in front of a crowd. I have a stutter and while 99% it doesn't show if you put me infront of a group I worry about stuttering so much that I usually do.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

i hate that video lol.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I find that being prepared is the best way to remain calm. Know the songs, check your equipment, bring extra strings...

We always tried to set the gear up early in the day so we could relax and stroll in cleaned up and ready to go.

Three things:
1) Practice: both individually and with the band until mistakes are minor and infrequent.
2) Attitude: realize that you are what you are and that you and the band have played the numbers as well as you are capable of doing (evidenced in practices) and that is plenty good enough. Don't expect more.
3) More and more performances.

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The quintessential sound of 60/70's R&R:
Fender Tube Amps
Gibson Guitars

luckily ive gotta long fringe so if i play at a gig i can cover my eyes so i cant see a thing. done

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riley

+1 now thats an inovative idea

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***God made men and men made guitar***

I don't care. Apathy is my shield.

I have a very tentative link with the five senses. I often wake up in the morning, look around, and I get a strong feeling that everything around me is fake. A facade.

This is why I don't get stage fright. What stage? What audience? It just doesn't seem real to me. It's just me and the guitar.

And I like to play the guitar.

-Don't get your ego involved. The world doesn't revolve around you anyway, any singer will tell you.
Take your music seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously.

-Play to have fun. If you mess up, you mess up. Big deal. If you're focused on having fun it doesn't matter.

-Practice, but don't overdo it. I learned Texas Flood note for note over a period of three months practicing 3-8 hours a day. I could play it all the way through with the CD. Then I got into rehearsal with the band and realized that there was no way I could remember the whole thing so 80% of it ended up being improvised. And at that time improvisation was something fairly new to me. Looking back on it I don't regret spending that much time learning it note for note because it really improved my playing, but I probably shouldn't have worried about getting it exactly right. It's impossible to get a song exactly right anyway.

-This last thing is the one and only thing that can truly 100% eliminate the frozen-in-fear type of stage fright. Play out constantly, and play in front of people whenever and wherever you can. That's the only way it'll become normal. And once it's normal you still may get some butterflies every now and then, but it will actually make you play better if you channel it into the music. Being a little scared is fine, and I bet that even some pros get a little scared sometimes. But there's no reason why you can't overcome the bad kind of fear if you face it.

One more story, when I had just started playing drums I signed up for a student recital to play Sunshine of Your Love and Purple Haze. I messed up pretty badly on Sunshine of Your Love because I was so scared and I kept thinking about every little mistake I made, and that caused me to make even bigger mistakes. I had a break between the songs and I reasoned that to make of for the disaster that was Sunshine of Your Love, I was just going to have fun playing Purple Haze and not worry about what people thought or what mistakes I made. I ended up not only having a great time with it (really fun song to play on drums anyway), I played way better than I did on the song before. If you can start winning those mental battles then everything will get a lot easier!

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