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stage fright

#21
Tough one. I've never had stage fright. I always wanted the spotlight on me. But I worked with a drummer a couple years ago that was a buddy of a great guitar player friend of mine. Because of the guitarist I agreed to work with the group. At our first gig, we played for a large community festival in the area. While he had gigged before, he had never once played in a big gig situation. I thought the dude was going to piss himself most of the set. We had one song he could never get, and as much as I tried to force the guys not to play it, they insisted and the drummer had a total collapse. The other guys yelled at him afterwards, I just told the other guys we got what we should have expected. It was a song we didn't need for the show, we always sucked on it and the end result was we looked like hacks.

Rather than help the drummer through his issues, I quit and went back to playing with cats more "my speed". At this point in my playing days, i don't need to work with anybody less than. So I would offer this gem, if he really freaks on any songs in particular, don't play them.
 
#22
Raymeous said:
Here's my dos centavos:

If you are no longer getting nervous before hitting the stage, to me that means you no longer care. The nerves imply that you still want to do a good job, impress people, and put on a good show. ...
Click to expand...

I disagree. I don't get anything approaching nervous before or during a gig, & believe me, I care a lot about the quality of the music and the guests' enjoyment of the whole experience!

Not that I never have gotten nervous, but I've gotten over it through repetition. That, & I really do enjoy being up on a stage performing. Plus, I'm almost always the most-prepared guy most people know.

Confidence is key to not getting the jitters. Know that you've done your homework, your gear all works & is set up right, & you know what you're doing. Know that you've done this before & can do it again. Know that this is going to be a heck of a lot of fun! Know that nobody is going to die if (when) you make a mistake. Know that thet audience really is rooting for you, truly wants you to do well, & every single one of them wants to be your best friend!
 
#24
I used to just tell myself other people do this all the time without any nervousness, why should I be any different?

After all, I'm a bass guitarist. Right? Is this not a bass guitar in my hands? That stage up there is where I belong. That is where my home is. I want to go home up there, relax and just play my bass. My friends in my band will be there with me.
 
#25
Have him play to a metronome. Most of the pros do, anyway. Whenever our drummer uses a click, it's a noticeable difference. Our regulars tell us we're "a lot tighter tonight" or "on our A game."

Also, maybe he needs a drink or two-- no more than 2-- before the gig.
 
#29
If there is a large crowd, I don't get nervous; I get pumped.

When there is little to no crowd, an angry club owner staring at us, and my drummer says, "I have to fix my bass pedal," I get REAL uncomfortable, especially when we've only played four songs, and another band member is saying, "announce a break! Announce a break!"
 
#30
Lazylion said:
I used to tell myself these two things:
1. The vast majority of the audience wishes they had anywhere near enough talent to play/sing.
2. Of those that do have the talent, only a few have the nerve to get onstage and do it in front of strangers.

Tell your drummer to try that.
Click to expand...

+1000..that's some knowledge to remember right there

3. Of those musicians in the crowd that would get up and do it onstage...>99.9% of them aren't going to boo you even if they do think you're bad...they already know how you feel
 
#31
my drummer speeds up without stagefright. i used to get it bad when i started playing but for some reason the bigger the gigs got the less frightend i got until in the end being on stage with a huge crowd became the best and most relaxed place in the world( it still is although my gigs are very small now,) i was told early on to go barefoot as this would calm me down and i must say it felt good to be in touch with the ground( must have good electrics. but drumming barefoot proly wont work. tell him to concentrate on you, the bassist and smile at him and go for the sections with him, be a team, the two of you( you should always be a team with your drummer anyway, but get him to forget about the audiance, its you two against the world and its FUN FUN FUN.dont let him feel alone. i think the lonely aspect is the cause of many cases of stage fright. be best buddies. THE RHYTHM SECTION. you KNOW you can do it.
 
#34
I'm a pretty shy person. One on one, you probably wouldn't realize it but my public speaking class was the most painful thing I had to go through in college. As far as the band, I remember being so nervous Id puke outside the club before we went on. This went on for a while. Eventually that nervousness went away.

IMO the most important thing is to play as many shows as possible.

Having a routine to get in the "zone" helps me a lot. Ussually about 15-20 before we go on I go somewhere where I can be alone. Sometimes ill listen to music, most of the time ill be stretching as our show includes a lot of jumping around and stuff. But I just kinda go off in my own little world.

Having bandmates that are pretty funny guys also helps. There silliness reminds me why we play to begin with. To have fun.

Another thing that really helps is being well prepared for the show. We practice our set a few practices before the gig exacty in the order where going to play it. My singer Will even script out when he's going to push merch, plug the other bands and upcoming shows and so on. We actually determine we're ready to play a new song live when we can pull it off at practice with the lights down to where we can barely see anything. For one if you can play a song with almost no light at all it'll give you more confidence when you can see but it really helps your performance because your not looking at your instrument the whole show,
 
#36
I used to get stage fright. Two things helped me get over it. First, as stated here many times, being prepared. Second, and more important, i told myself that if I wanted to be in a band that played out, that meant I was going to be playing in front of people. Can't have one without the other, so deal with it.
 
#37
Munjibunga said:
Let's see ... getting charged up on nicotine ... that should calm him down.
Click to expand...

The effects of nicotine are dependent on concentrations in the blood. Generally speaking, higher nicotine concentrations suppress parasympathetic nervous system effects and lead to relaxation. Lower concentrations lead to stimulation. The effects do vary from person to person.

/bio nerd

OP: I take my shoes off. It makes me feel good. If you do have stage fright, like genuine stage fright, your doctor might prescribe a beta blocker for you.
 
#38
I never get stage fright. I could be playing in front of ten or ten thousand, and it's all the same to me. The key is preparation. Our band is well rehearsed, my gear is in good working order and is ready to go, I'm well rested and fed, and I know the songs by heart. Clams? Of course I get them once in a while, and I lose my focus at times. No big deal, I'm only human. I recover, and move on. Nobody notices anyways, so I don't make a big deal over it.
 

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