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I can't smile and play at the same time

#62
In this biz, things go right and they go oh so wrong... The least you should be entitled to is what the hell you feel or portray on your face. There are certain things people AREN'T entitled to have a say in...

Regarding the OP, I say...

It depends on the gig. At a wedding gig... Smiling might not be a bad idea. Put ye smiling face in context of ye situtaion... ;)
 
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#64
I've never been a good enough actor to force myself to smile and not look like a complete moron. What little smiling I do has to come naturally for me or it just doesn't work. That said, I do smile (on occasion) and have no deep philosophical problem with it. And it does look better on stage if you do smile every so often. People that don't (or refuse to) don't come across so much as hard to get to know. They mostly come across as being hard to like.

But I don't appreciate somebody telling someone (or being told myself) to SMILE! When people I'm not friends with tell me to smile, I tend to respond by paraphrasing something David Lee Roth once said: I just so happen to know that it's possible to be having an absolutely great time - and not smile even once.
 
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#67
Try to practice. If you look like you're having fun the audience will have fun and pay more attention to you. I never used to smile, and if I did I would fail. Now, I can't keep a straight face. Just practice and eventually you will smile. It's a thing you have to get used to.
 
#68
I have seen this topic come up before. I have been making an effort to look up from the neck during shows, especially if my fret hand is maintaining the same position. It is good to look around, just having a bit of eye contact can make somone's experience much more fun. If I see someone really rocking out, I will smile. If I am playing something cool I may lock eyes with someone who happens to be watching and nod. It's little stuff like this that makes connections and turns people from audience members into fans. Just my humble opinion. I get where the other camp is coming from, for years I stared at my neck and didn't look up. Though not intended, it makes you look kinda introverted. Maybe you don't care. I think it's fun to have a little more engagement. If nothing else, you can see what the crowd is up to.
 
#69
I posted this on another thread about band appearance, but it seems appropriate to repeat it here. We're not playing, obviously, but we have no problem letting audiences know that we are enjoying life. (That's ol' Bunk on the far right)
at da bird 091115.jpg
 
#70
My musical ideals growing up were Beethoven and Miles Davis (what does that say about the smiling issue?), not Lawrence Whelk or The Carpenters. I hate that comment. I believe it's evil because its So invasive. I often had some busy-body middle aged woman ask me why I'm not smiling (never on a gig...usually just walking the halls...) and my stock answer was to pause for a long beat and say, "I Am smiling. This Is a smile for me. OK?" In a band I smile for musical reasons, when something tickles or is amazing.
 
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#71
I'm trolling for the "least hip response on this thread" award, but one reason I love watching old reruns of the Lawrence Welk Show is that those guys and gals were really superb musicians who gave some of the toothiest grins while playing some of the hokiest music imaginable. Watching those old shows reminds me that one important role of a musician, even in a supporting role, is to be an entertainer. And for pop and other "feel good" genres of music, smiling is a part of having good stage presence.
 
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#72
bolophonic said:
I'm kind of puzzled by these posters who seem to be obstinately determined to NEVER smile, as though it somehow constitutes a groveling debasement for a showman to be visibly engaged with their audience, or that it is explicit in their contract that they reserve the right to look like they are holding a giant BM while everyone is dancing. I'm not suggesting that everyone is supposed to be giggling like a schoolgirl onstage, but I suspect that many of these "principled" refusals are designed to either rationalize an inability to be visibly engaging or to deflect attention from the fact that these posters only want to do the barest minimum of their job.

It kind of reminds me of guys who stand around on the sidelines at weddings, looking uncomfortable while everyone is having a blast on the dance floor... yeah, I can see that you are having a blast.
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And what of people who are not having a blast while playing bass? What if they do it for reasons other than entertaining others or themselves? Should they smile too? Why?
 
#76
Corbin said:
Played a gig last night for a big organization's Christmas party. It was a ton of fun, the band sounded hot, my playing was kicking ass, the dance floor was packed, and I was having the time of my life. A woman came up to me during a break and told me I needed to smile more. "Aren't you having fun?" I said of course! "You don't look like it." I said, "Huh, I'll try." When we went back on, I tried to smile out at the audience as I played -- and found I could not. I missed two notes I wouldn't normally miss. I went bck to normal -- concentrating 100% on playing, on listening and locking in with the drummer, on not looking at the neck, etc. My question is: how important is it to be able to look like you're having fun when you're playing? I'd rather sound good and look lame than look good and sound lame. It seems I can only pick one of those.
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bolophonic said:
Shouldn't be a problem for a rock gig, but as stated: if it's a professional good-time party band, looking "fun" is a required skill that needs to be strengthened. Don't worry, it gets easier as you go.
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Yep. Standing in the same place and not moving around is just as bad,too. I play a mental game with myself to overcome stage fright. By stage fright, I mean cement boots. I start off moving and acting as though I'm on a dance floor with friends when I hit the stage and forget I'm even on a stage (makes me more relaxed) and I go from there. Your energy is transferring emotion to the audience , and it can be contagious in a great way. That's what I tell myself , anyway.
 
#77
nashvillebill said:
Years ago I was at a Christmas show on the riverboat General Jackson, sitting on the front row but at the end where the entertainers were coming on and off stage. For the brief second to two as each performer was coming on or off, you could see they were exhausted, and probably physically sore, and generally quite tired of repeating the same show five times a day for thirty days in a row--but the moment they hit center stage and the lights were on, they were smiling and making it appear that by golly, they were having the time of their life entertaining us. Some might say their smiles were contrived and forced but the entertainers were pretty good at acting happy. There's no doubt that their professionalism enabled them to smile and help the audience enjoy the show too. When they were taking their final bows, sure they still were smiling automatically, but yet it appeared they were content to have put on a good show, so their smiles weren't totally fake.

For us musicians, maybe we don't have to go to quite that level of contrived smiling, but it sure helps get the audience more involved if it looks like we're enjoying ourselves--even if we've just spent all day loading up the truck with the PA, then driving two hours, then setting up the PA and our gear, and hassling with the bar manager, and knowing at the end of the gig we've got to load out and drive two hours back home. And it's mutual--if the audience gets involved, it makes the gig more fun for us to play for them. Sometimes it does take a little bit of acting, sometimes we have to exaggerate our movements a little bit so the audience will pick up on them. If I know the songs inside and out, though, I can set my mind and hands on "cruise control" sometimes, allowing me to smile, interact with the other band members, check out the hot women on the dance floor, see what the score is on the football game that's playing on the TV behind the bar, then come back to reality and wonder hey are are we on the second verse or the third, and where's that confounded bridge, or did we just play the bridge... The important thing is to know the songs so that I'm not having to spend every second concentrating on what I'm playing. Gets back to the adage, "Amateurs practice until they play it right. Professionals practice until they never play it wrong."
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Amen, brother.
 
#79
40Hz said:
I've never been a good enough actor to force myself to smile and not look like a complete moron. What little smiling I do has to come naturally for me or it just doesn't work. That said, I do smile (on occasion) and have no deep philosophical problem with it. And it does look better on stage if you do smile every so often. People that don't (or refuse to) don't come across so much as hard to get to know. They mostly come across as being hard to like.

But I don't appreciate somebody telling someone (or being told myself) to SMILE! When people I'm not friends with tell me to smile, I tend to respond by paraphrasing something David Lee Roth once said: I just so happen to know that it's possible to be having an absolutely great time - and not smile even once.
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Yet, if you see concert footage of DLR he's a smilin' fool and these days to a fault. I don't think acting like a grandstanding circus ring leader is what we're talking about, though, either. If you're having fun on stage, doing what you're doing, show it. Why the heck not ? Can't show how you feel ? Learn to because that's performing.
 

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