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Rituals before gigs and shows?

#43
1. Drink an energy drink on the way to the venue. (Monster is my favourite, but Red Bull will do.)
2. Get a large coffee and drink it with a smoke.
3. Set up in the greenroom and check all my gear to ensure it's functioning correctly.
4. Drink another energy drink and have another smoke.
5. Scope out the stage and figure out my setup and teardown routes.
6. Drink another energy drink and have another smoke.
7. Practice the setlist to get warmed up.
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 until it's time to play.
 
#44
My drummer sits and places his open hands palm up on his knees. He breathes figuratively into his right hand then his right foot then his left foot then his left hand and completes the circle and continues.
You could see how this works for a drummer. Well it works for us bassists too.
If you heard this guy play drums and thought this was his secret you would adopt it immediately.:)

It does connect you to all your parts and centers you after the sometimes stressful load in.

I find that playing my bass for up to a half an hour right before going on has me warmed up immediately instead of in the third song.:)
 
#46
None really - it depends...

usually on a cover band gig with all our own gear - pace around ready to go for about half an hour before

Original gig (not our own p.a.) - chill, try and find the singer a few mins before to find we've NOT GOT a setlist to work to...

I've been thinking about winter gigs - maybe wash hands in hot water first then dry them off under hot drier immediately before going on...
 
#49
I'm surprised that so many people get nervous before their gigs.

I'll admit that in the beginning of my musical career, I was the biggest nervous wreck you ever saw. As a trumpet player in middle school I shook so hard that I literally could not stand, and you still could distinctly hear the trumpet shaking in my hands, against my lips.

Now I've rocked out in front of 10,000 people without the slightest hesitation, making all kinds of bassface and generally looking really weird. When it comes to playing bass gigs, I have absolute supreme confidence.

On the other hand, I no longer shake, but my mouth dries up before a trumept show. This is probably because trumpet is much more challenging to me, as a lead trumpet player, if I miss one of those high notes everyone knows it and I demand perfection from myself. Do you have any idea how hard it is to play trumpet with a dry mouth? It is a horrible destructive thing that makes the situation ten times worse. I end up guzzling buckets of water on stage and having to pee halfway through the show. Not a great situation.

So my ritual before any show is to pee twice, because I drink a lot on stage. No alcohol, though, Root Beer for me, except during the swimming season in which case I cannot drink soda without becoming ill and stick to water.
 
#50
Is no ritual a ritual?

I just try to limit my alcohol to basically nothing. Best case scenario is one beer before the stage, and one to go onstage with me.

I just like to stretch my hands and warm up a little. If the bass is in tune, I'm ready to go.

I think that if I had some sort of routine that it would just make me nervous and jumpy before hitting the stage. Oh well, to each his own.

Edit: I realized that I used the word "just" in 3 out of 7 sentences. Maybe I'm more nervous than I thought?
 
#53
soundcheck, then i usually go to the nearest store to buy some snacks, after that i lurk around while blasting some miles in my headphones, then i tune my bass and i usually use some duckt tape to secure my strap(i'm to cheap for straplocks). before i go on stage i usually stand in front of a mirror repeating "you can do this" followed by an improvised speech very similar to the speech mark wahlberg gives in the end of boogie nights.
 
#57
Okay, New to talkbass. This seems like a great subject for my first response Soooo.......

Day of the show, new batteries in both basses I'll be playing plus tuner ( very paranoid of dead batteries issues, buy stock in Energizer ).

Set-Up Rig, tune basses, tape up set list and my "How To Play Every Song We Know" Cheat Sheet ( in case I'm overserved during the evening )

Small chinese food meal, not too light, not too heavy.

Half hour before show time both basses need to be on their stands to aclimate. tune basses

Shot of Crown

Walk around, Take Note of fellow musicians in the crowd

Bathroom break, quick staredown in the mirror, nothing said aloud but but I'm pretty sure my reflection knows what I'm thinking........NO Goof Ups & Rock Hard Tonightah !

Shot of Crown

Tune Basses, Double check all cable connections, Check guitarists set list for changes ( even though after song 3 it's anybodies guess )

Shot of Crown plus a beer/drink for the stage

Tune basses, warm up w/ some quick scales

Off We Go !
 
#58
I tend to be a procrastinator about some things, like waiting until the last minute to leave for appointments, etc. When I'm playing a gig though I like to leave early enough to get there and get set up, and still have time to drink a beer or just relax before the first set.
 
#60
1. Arrive early with coffee at least an hour before
2. Check out the equipment
3. Tune up, go over the setlist, warm up
4. Nervously walk around
5. Go to bathroom, wash hands thoroughly just before getting on stage
6. Be one of the first on stage
 

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