how do you work on stage presence?

[jomahu]

i've been looking at some video footage of the band i play in. and i look like an effin' loser on stage....to the point where if i could stand behind my amp on stage, i would.
plus, i hate to be a broken record, but we're all-female, so people REALLY rag on our stage presence.

do y'all practise stage presence, either individually or in your band? if yes, how so?

got lots more thoughts, but i don't want this to turn into a mammoth rant. yet.

[Deacon_Blues]

SHOW that you dig the music you play, and that you enjoy to play on stage in front of an audience. i.e. move to the music you play. Show that the music you play makes you wanna dance.

Also, don't think too much about what you're playing - If you have to do that, you need to practice more. The music should come more or less naturally. If it don't, all your focus will be on playing the song, not on your performance. I don't say you don't know your songs, only that I've noticed the same thing on myself when I need to play something on stage that I'm not totally comfortable with.

Look at the audience, not at the neck of your bass (at least not always), and try to look as confident in your role as possible. If you look confident, people will also take you as a better player than you think you are yourself. It's acting, but it works.

That's my first thoughts on this subject. Hope it helps.

[Passinwind]

Is this your reggae/afrobeat band, or the other one? If it's the former, I can't imagine anyone not groovin' pretty hard onstage.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by jomahu

i've been looking at some video footage of the band i play in. and i look like an effin' loser on stage....to the point where if i could stand behind my amp on stage, i would.
plus, i hate to be a broken record, but we're all-female, so people REALLY rag on our stage presence.

do y'all practise stage presence, either individually or in your band? if yes, how so?

got lots more thoughts, but i don't want this to turn into a mammoth rant. yet.

There's no more effective (or humiliating) method to improving your stage presence than videotaping a performance and having the band watch it together later on. So you're thankfully past the first and hardest stage - denial.

As for measures to improve stage presence, that depends on the band. As Deacon_Blues recommends, eye contact with the audience and especially with other band members is key. Smiling and moving around on stage is key. And rehearsal and preparation are key. If the band is nervous and unprepared, those emotions are going to transmit to the audience and keep them from having a good time.

[Phalex]

I look really stupid on stage. My wife says I look like I'm going to have a seizure (among other less than complimentary things) but people in the audience find my "big ol jellyfish" looking face, my upper body twitches and my uncoordinated foot stomping to be quite entertaining.

Don't be afraid to be stupid. A bass player being stupid on a large scale is cooler than the coolest Rock Poses 101 stuff the guitard is trying to pull off.

[jomahu]

Originally Posted by Passinwind

Is this your reggae/afrobeat band, or the other one? If it's the former, I can't imagine anyone not groovin' pretty hard onstage.

yeh, it's that band.
i think we all groove in our own way. people tend to rag on us because we don't seem to groove together.

also, do you boys get any feedback from audience members about how you look onstage? i tend to think that we're judged more harshly (we've been called dykes and bitches before) 'cause we're chicks, but that could just be me being bitter.

[Phalex]

Most of the feed back I get from the audience is positive. They say I'm fun to watch. I still get called a bitch quite a bit though. Mostly by my gay friends.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by jomahu

yeh, it's that band.
i think we all groove in our own way. people tend to rag on us because we don't seem to groove together.

I occasionally mix a few bands similar to yours, but non are all-female. I see a lot more at our local club too. Some do full choreography with the "yardies", and some just all do their own thing. The ones I enjoy are just whoever's being genuine. Pato Banton's band looked like a slick Vegas parody a few weeks ago, IMHO. Eek-A-Mouse ended up with half the house on the stage with a simple nod or two. Which one would you rather be? Your band kills, and I'd really expect the rest to take care of itself if you let it. But video and/or live recordings are a great tool, painful though the self examination process sometimes is.

also, do you boys get any feedback from audience members about how you look onstage? i tend to think that we're judged more harshly (we've been called dykes and bitches before) 'cause we're chicks, but that could just be me being bitter.

I play mostly jazz, so people only comment on my apparel for the most part. I pay a little attention to that, because it actually seems to help us land better gigs. The female lead singer in my band tends to buy lots of different outfits, pretty much a whole new one for every big festival show.

[jomahu]

Originally Posted by Passinwind

Pato Banton's band looked like a slick Vegas parody a few weeks ago, IMHO.

you recall their name? what did they look like? i saw pato here in MA, was wonderin if it was the same band....

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by jomahu

you recall their name? what did they look like? i saw pato here in MA, was wonderin if it was the same band....

I sent you a PM. I shouldn't really bag on 'em too hard, they were probably doing their best I guess.

[The Golden Boy]

Practice in front of a mirror.

Yeah, it seems kind of poseur-ish, but if you're watching what you're doing and what your fingers are doing and getting used to looking ahead, watching your stance and your movement, and generally being aware of how you're presenting yourself AS YOU'RE DOING IT- the mirror is awesome. The thing about video is that you're removed from it. You don't really remember what you were thinking when you recorded it- if you're able to be seeing yourself doing something bad or doofy looking or whatever- rap yourself on your knuckles right away, rather than an hour later, a day later, a week later...

I've got a big ol' mirror leaning back against some stuff in my practice corner, so it's angled up. While I mostly use mine to watch what my fingers are doing, I also use it to look at my guitars and basses. They're pretty instruments and I like to look at them. I need to use the mirror more for my stance and stage presence. Just the other night I was watching some footage of one of my old bands from around the turn of the century- I had decent movement, decent presence. Now I'm much more stationary and have much worse posture while playing. My feet are too close together, in line with my shoulders, looking down at my instrument...

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=285295

[zac2944]

Originally Posted by jomahu

do you boys get any feedback from audience members about how you look onstage? i tend to think that we're judged more harshly (we've been called dykes and bitches before) 'cause we're chicks, but that could just be me being bitter.

Meh. My band is full of dykes and bitches, but people seem to think we're just discofabulous. I have to agree with what Deacon Blues said. You need to look comfortable and confident. Look at other great bands on stage and try to determine what makes them look good. Style, attitude, confidence, comfort, all this stuff goes into the mix. In some ways you do have to be a "poser", as someone else said. In my gig we all dress up in disco clothes. We even hired a stylist before. I'd call this posing to some degree, but it works.

[stedtale]

I find by drinking a lot of coffee followed by a good amount of ex-lax, I can achieve a nice balance or excited, anxious energy. Plus, if it doesn't work, there'll be one heck of a show if I lay down too much low, phat bass.

[Morfman6]

vodka helps

really tho just clearing your mind and feeling it seems to appear less contrived than trying to put on a show.

What do I know, it seems most of the audience is scared of me anyway

[jomahu]

Originally Posted by zac2944

Meh. My band is full of dykes and bitches, but people seem to think we're just discofabulous. I have to agree with what Deacon Blues said. You need to look comfortable and confident. Look at other great bands on stage and try to determine what makes them look good. Style, attitude, confidence, comfort, all this stuff goes into the mix. In some ways you do have to be a "poser", as someone else said. In my gig we all dress up in disco clothes. We even hired a stylist before. I'd call this posing to some degree, but it works.

dude, come on down to the JP world's fair this sunday and give me some brutal feedback on our set.

[zac2944]

Originally Posted by jomahu

dude, come on down to the JP world's fair this sunday and give me some brutal feedback on our set.

Wish I could. I've got an out of town wedding this weekend and will be traveling back to Boston on Sunday. I tried to catch that Milky Way gig a few weeks back and failed. You ladies play around here enough; I'll get out to a show soon and give you some feedback.

[Asa Samuel]

I turn up the 'presence' controll on my amp

[Jazzdogg]

I'm not exactly charismatic on stage, but I'm learning. You can, too! I sometimes have to remind myself that having fun is one of my favorite things about playing music for a living - a welcome change from the world of business suits and starched shirts I used to inhabit. As a CFO, I'd get strange looks if I was having too much fun at work. As a musician, I get strange looks if I'm not having fun at work.

I've found that making eye contact with people in the audience and providing visible encouragement and enthusiasm for my band mates helps a lot. When I smile (as long as it's not a posed smile), I get positive reactions, so I encourage myself to find the funny side of things and smile a lot - even if I'm smiling because, in my mind, I'm goofing on an audience member or recalling a joke I heard recently.

Our band usually shares an inhibition-reducing shot and a few encouraging words before we go on stage, reminding each other that we're not just playing, we're performing. Believe it or not, it helps!

You're a great player with a lot to offer your band AND the audience. Don't hesitate to let any of them know that you enjoy what you're doing!

[Asa Samuel]

interacting with the audience is the key to it all, if you just stand there looking over thier heads not doing much you'd better be one hell of a bassist to pull it off, take john entwistle for instance, you'd say he has good stage presence but thats only cause he's a good bassist, the rest of the time he just stands there looking round looking bored as hell.

take this for example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkKeZ1z8zGk

for us lesser-mortals we have to do a bit more work.

yes, a look in the eye, a quick smile is nice but you gotta mean it, for heavier bands you might wanna get up close to the edge of the stage bend down closer to thier height and scream along as if you were in the audience yourself, though i once saw a band where the rythm guitarist and the bassist took turns going up to the moniter and putting a foot on it tyring to look sort of god-like but it just didnt work as it was litterally one of the went back and then 3 seconds later the other was there and they werent really putting any effort into it.

so just relax and really get into the groove, dancing along (or more likely nodding your head along) or moving about a bit more than usual is better.

try and imagine your in the audience listening to your band and really get into the music that way!

Hope this helps.

[MAJOR METAL]

Watch as many live performances from bassist you wish to emulate then play in front of the mirror.