CRIPPLING Stage Fright,,,,

Retroverbial · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2010 8:38 am

texasguitarslinger wrote:

-Don't get your ego involved. The world doesn't revolve around you anyway, any singer will tell you. :lol:

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!

+1

And remember......there is no "draft" for aspiring guitarists. You've chosen this path freely.

So "man up", step onto that stand and -- in the immortal words of R. Lee Ermey -- "SOUND OFF LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!"

Arjay

Cambo · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:27 am

It may also help to take a few minutes before you start playing to check out the crowd and perhaps find a few friendly faces that you want to play for. If you look out and play for one person at a time, rather that a crowd, it might feel a little less threatening.

Have fun and enjoy the opportunity.

Rebelsoul · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2010 12:23 pm

Hey man....even Duane Allman froze in the middle of a solo when he saw Eric Clapton sitting down in front of the crowd and he had not known he was there....Dickey had to finish the solo,but he turned his back to Clapton.
What did Duane do after that?....ripped it up,went to the studio with Eric and recorded the rest of the Layla album.

Am I as good as Skydog Allman?...no,but if he can freeze so can I. :lol:

BMW-KTM · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2010 1:05 pm

Most of the above advise is pretty good. Nobody has mentioned the secret weopon though. It's a lot more common than most musos will admit because they think others will see it as cheating.

Ask your doctor for some Beta Blockers until you become accustomed to being on stage. They won't dull your mind. They won't cause you to forget chords or fills or riffs. You can do that quite nicely on your own just by being nervous. They shouldn't be taken with alcohol (or other substances) but they WILL calm the physical shakes. It's a lot easier to deal with the mental aspect of being nervous when you're not fighting your own body. In the early years I would get so nervous it was almost like a caffiene overdose. Shaking hands, sweating, shaking voice, racing heart. Get rid of those things and the mind has a much easier time coping with the job at hand. It's not a cure-all and you don't want to do it all the time but it will help you in the beginning to build the confidence you need by allowing you to feel good afterward about your performance and help you see that you can actually do it. Once you've weaned yourself off of them try to fight the urge to drink. Booze (or pot or whatever) may calm your nerves but it also decreases your ability so it's actually counterproductive. Some musos will tell you that those things enhance creativity. Been there, done that. It's all crap. That's a lie left over from the 60's when people were trying to justify frying brain cells for the sake of their art. My point is you don't want to become dependant on these Beta Blockers or anything else either. Get off them as soon as your confidence builds. Stay sober and derive your enjoyment from playing, not partying.

jeebus · **Joined:** Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:35 pm **Posts:** 1296

i have a few beers. not good advice i might add.

way cool jr · **Joined:** Tue May 18, 2010 7:34 pm **Posts:** 6911

screw all the booze, the beta blockers, picturing folks naked, whatever.
get up there and work through it. earn your stripes and stop trying to
reserve milage. get out there and just do it.

Retroverbial · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2010 5:20 pm

way cool jr wrote:

get out there and just do it.

+1

(cheering wildly from the bleachers......!)

Arjay

way cool jr · **Joined:** Tue May 18, 2010 7:34 pm **Posts:** 6911

Retroverbial wrote:

way cool jr wrote:

get out there and just do it.

+1

(cheering wildly from the bleachers......!)

Arjay

thank you arjay. i knew you would approve.

i just had to boil it down and get to the end. "JUST DO IT".

Rebelsoul · **Posted:** Fri Sep 03, 2010 5:43 am

I agree,some adrenalin is good for performance,I guess that's what it is...I remember asking a karate instructor about getting that nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach when you were facing a possible violent confrontation out in the world and how to get rid of it...he said "I wouldn't ever want that to go away...it means you're ready."

BMW-KTM · **Posted:** Fri Sep 03, 2010 11:39 am

way cool jr wrote:

screw all the booze, the beta blockers, picturing folks naked, whatever.
get up there and work through it. earn your stripes and stop trying to
reserve milage. get out there and just do it.

Yes SIR!! General, SIR!!

:wink:

Rockbassist · **Posted:** Fri Sep 03, 2010 1:30 pm

I developed stage fright a few years ago. I have been playing since the 1970s so I didn't understand why I was all of sudden worried about performing. For me, I always felt more comfortable on a large stage in front of a lot of people. I feel better in an arena in front of 25,000 people than in a club in front of 50 or 100. I think it's because in a club, the audience is right there in your face. You have to work through it yourself. Listen to your favorite bands prior to going on stage. Watch videos of them too. Think about how much you would like to play with them. This will usually get you fired up to go out and perform. Most importantly, make sure you know the material. Practice enough so that you know the songs better than anyone else in the band. Minimize your mistakes and if you do make one, don't worry about it. Most of the time the audience will not know you screwed up unless it is a major mistake. Even the best bands make mistakes every night. If you do screw up, have some fun with it and laugh it off. Deal with it after the performance not during.

Dilemma · **Joined:** Sun May 16, 2010 8:30 pm **Posts:** 60

Lots of great advice! Thanks everyone!

way cool jr · **Joined:** Tue May 18, 2010 7:34 pm **Posts:** 6911

BMW-KTM wrote:

way cool jr wrote:

screw all the booze, the beta blockers, picturing folks naked, whatever.
get up there and work through it. earn your stripes and stop trying to
reserve milage. get out there and just do it.

Yes SIR!! General, SIR!!

:wink:

now thatsmore like it. :wink:

hey look, if he gets out there and just gets it over with
someday he will get the opportunity to do exactly what we are doing, telling a "newbie" if you will, how to just do it.
its an experience he will cherish forever ya know? i think we all do to be honest. now we can set back and laugh about it.

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