It's not stage presence if you leave the stage. Crowd surfing is audience presence.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Stage presence ?
- Thread starter DAVEYC
- Start date
It's not stage presence if you leave the stage. Crowd surfing is audience presence.
I always try to be animated and engage with the crowd...but then I see videos and it looks like I'm barely moving.. I guess I have to be much more dramatic in my movements and expressions!
Old phart here. Back in the 80s when I played hair metal I did a lot more posing and running around. I wasn't doing any gymnastics, or guitar-spinning (the Cinderella thing), but still did what I could.
These days, there are far fewer venues with proper stages -- the band is often crammed in a corner, little or no room to run around and pose. Still, it's a bad idea to stand still and look disinterested/bored. Even if I have no room to move I try to interact with bandmates, look like I'm enjoying myself, and use body language to emphasize the groove.
I get it, it can be tough to work up to that. Also, I don't claim to have perfect stage presence. Just saying that I try.
One thing to keep in mind: music should be fun, so try to have fun, even in poor conditions: crappy acoustics, grumpy bandleader or bar manager, whatever.
Special case: you're all ready to rock, but there's no audience. Maybe it's a new venue, maybe terrible weather, whatever. I've had too many bandmates who would get grumpy because their ego wasn't going to get stroked. Such a childish, amateur attitude! YOU NEVER KNOW WHO WILL SHOW UP. One of my bands decided to have fun in a situation like that. Turns out the manager of another local venue -- a much bigger venue -- was in the house, and invited us to gig there. If we were whiny and pouty, then he never would have offered the opportunity.
On that note, gotta give a shout-out to the 80's metal band Helix. They were a one-hit wonder, that "R-O-C-K" song. Way back when, I went to see them at a large local venue. Turns out everyone else in the area went to see LA Guns at an even bigger local venue (the California scene was at its zenith). So, Helix was playing this big room in front of their crew, girlfriends, and maybe a dozen of us ticket-purchasers. Didn't matter to them that the room was mostly empty: they put on a show like it was packed with screaming fans. Perfect example of how to be a true professional. Obviously, made a huge impression on me. Easier said than done... the point is to try.
That guy is perfect. I didn't watch everything but he's happy, he's relaxed, he's confident, he looks like he's involved with the music, he's moving to the beat but he doesn't look like he's deliberately trying to draw attention to himself. My kind of stage presence. I don't move as much as that anymore because I'm old and creaky, but that kind of thing is what I've always tried to achieve. Look like you're happy to be there and the audience will be happy, too.
I am know to ham it up while on stage, I enjoy myself and try to get the crowd into it. I was never a hide in the background player, although sometimes I'd like to be
It depends on who I'm playing with. In my Billy Joel tribute the piano player and the sax player are the "show" and I just stand in the back and play bass. When I play in other bands I'm upfront and get to be a bigger part of the show and adjust my stage presence accordingly. Plus this isn't the 80's anymore so the Whitesnake moves are long gone...
OTOH, the Ox was the only statue in the band. So he provided a nice contrast.
I move around as much as I feel it, occasionally more if I think it's necessary. I need to work on it at some point, but at the moment I'm mainly playing at churches, so it's only about how it feels, not a show.
I move around a lot. Not to establish presence, rather to check in with the other members and see where they are headed with a tune, or maybe suggest something to them.
S
S
I’ve been playing shows for 20 years, I love being a conduit for the cosmic groove and the awesomeness of creating so much controlled chaos, such that the tiniest movement of my finger will shake the walls. It’s such a bizarre thing standing up there in front of a crowd, that is unlike anything else I do from day to day.
Stage presence has always been a weak point for me. In my current band I’ve made a point of improving. I refuse to fake a smile, even for a photo, so I’ve decided that being intense and interesting to watch is my best bet. It has to be genuine, right? I love playing music but it doesn’t make me smile, it makes me feel intense. The music seems Important to me. Maybe in a metal band that would be fine, but I’m playing covers for party people to dance to.
At my last show I took a moment to just stand there and regard the crowd. Look each of them in the eye, revel in the power and attention the crowd gives you. They want you to elevate their evening. Suddenly the bizarreness of the situation struck me and I was cracking myself up. The difference between how I’m perceived on stage vs how I’m perceived at work or home seemed like a joke that only I knew. I realized that I had found something about performing that genuinely made me smile. I’m confident that I’ve found a path to continue expressing myself sincerely on stage, as sort of a smart ass meta-conscious reflection of the the crowd. It makes me want to interact with them and do my little tricks and dances and gesticulations that I do when I’m playing by myself. The whole thing is such a trip.
Stage presence has always been a weak point for me. In my current band I’ve made a point of improving. I refuse to fake a smile, even for a photo, so I’ve decided that being intense and interesting to watch is my best bet. It has to be genuine, right? I love playing music but it doesn’t make me smile, it makes me feel intense. The music seems Important to me. Maybe in a metal band that would be fine, but I’m playing covers for party people to dance to.
At my last show I took a moment to just stand there and regard the crowd. Look each of them in the eye, revel in the power and attention the crowd gives you. They want you to elevate their evening. Suddenly the bizarreness of the situation struck me and I was cracking myself up. The difference between how I’m perceived on stage vs how I’m perceived at work or home seemed like a joke that only I knew. I realized that I had found something about performing that genuinely made me smile. I’m confident that I’ve found a path to continue expressing myself sincerely on stage, as sort of a smart ass meta-conscious reflection of the the crowd. It makes me want to interact with them and do my little tricks and dances and gesticulations that I do when I’m playing by myself. The whole thing is such a trip.
Decades ago (when I was exclusively a drummer), a professional that I respected came up to me after a show and told me I needed to "sell the music." I played prog-ish but looked as if I were sitting behind a desk. His point was that, although my playing was technically difficult, nobody in the audience would know that if I didn't show that it took some effort. Facial expressions. Bobbing to the beat. Exaggerated arm motions. I tried it and it made a real difference in the reaction we got from audiences.
"Stage presence" is just selling the music. Yes, it's part of the entertainment. A lot of the audience won't know how cool your music is unless you show that you know it is. A little upper body bob can go a long way towards making an adequate bass player into a "GREAT" bassist.
I'm not advocating Jimi Hendrix style "selling the music." Bassists don't have to move much to demonstrate the beat and the groove to the audience -- but movement helps a lot. Let's face it . . . Hendrix could play the simplest line imaginable and sell it to the crowd as if it were something nobody else on the planet could play. There's nothing wrong with the audience over-estimating your proficiency on the instrument.
"Stage presence" is just selling the music. Yes, it's part of the entertainment. A lot of the audience won't know how cool your music is unless you show that you know it is. A little upper body bob can go a long way towards making an adequate bass player into a "GREAT" bassist.
I'm not advocating Jimi Hendrix style "selling the music." Bassists don't have to move much to demonstrate the beat and the groove to the audience -- but movement helps a lot. Let's face it . . . Hendrix could play the simplest line imaginable and sell it to the crowd as if it were something nobody else on the planet could play. There's nothing wrong with the audience over-estimating your proficiency on the instrument.
That's good because it happens as soon as I step on stage.
My main instrument in writing music was always guitar, so there is a part of me that wants to be that "hey, look at me" showman. But for years I played bass in metal/rock cover bands because *ahem* the world is saturated with guitarists, and everyone always seemed to need a bass player. In these bands I moved around, made the faces, interacted with the crowds, etc. and it was fun. But as an "artist" it was not really fulfilling, and eventually I pretty much dropped out of the music scene altogether. Then a few years ago I was asked to audition for an original modern rock band, a couple of younger guys doing their thing (I'm literally old enough to be the dad of one of the guitar players)...well, turns out, it was the kind of music I'd wanted to do all along - well written, dynamic, thoughtful, at times heavy, at times not so much, with a very current vibe. Only problem was that there was no vocalist. Well, they asked me to join, and it was the first time I ever felt like a "band member" and not just a hired gun. By that I mean, my input had weight when we were writing, I could bring in parts I wrote and they would get integrated, and most importantly, we all really liked each other...we'd have band parties, go out for drinks, developed inside jokes and just developed a genuine friendship. Then after two years of grinding away, the missing piece fell into place, we found our vocalist, a young female. She was fearless from the beginning and eager - when we brought her in to play our music for her at one point I asked her, "So, what kind of music is it that, ideally, you'd like to be doing?" And she replied, "This! This exact music!" After a few weeks it felt like she had been a part of the band from the very beginning...she was in on the jokes, verbally jousting with the rest of us, and just fit right in. I tell you all of this because a few weeks ago we played our first ever full gig after years of writing and practicing, and there was an energy between the five of us and the shockingly enthusiastic audience that was unlike any I'd experienced before. During that show I moved around, jumped, bounced, made faces, grooved with the guitarists, not because I should...but because I couldn't NOT do it. The music we'd written moves us, and apparently it moved the crowd that night as well. People head-banged with us, hooted-and hollered between songs and after certain parts of songs, sang along with some of the songs we've recorded in a studio and released online, and stood cheering for an encore (which we didn't have, whoops). And that, for me, was a compelling (and addictive 
) experience. I moved because we were bringing something out of the ether, giving it to the audience, and they responded. If it never happens again, at least I got to experience that once...and it was awesome!
) experience. I moved because we were bringing something out of the ether, giving it to the audience, and they responded. If it never happens again, at least I got to experience that once...and it was awesome!
Re: Moving around on stage, aka "presence."
If I could do things with my feet and my hands at the same time, then I'd probably still be playing drums.
If I could do things with my feet and my hands at the same time, then I'd probably still be playing drums.
The tribute band I play in, we try to do the “whole show “. Not just the music but the looks , how they interacted with the crowd, the “correct guitars” etc...
It’s a show they come to see ( like a play ) and you can control
the vibe of the room. We interact with each other too. It’s fun energy.
We want to put on a total show.
Works for us, so....
It’s a show they come to see ( like a play ) and you can control
the vibe of the room. We interact with each other too. It’s fun energy.
We want to put on a total show.
Works for us, so....
If your onstage your present
When you strap it on play it.
Half the the time your lucky if you have room to take a couple of steps .
When you strap it on play it.
Half the the time your lucky if you have room to take a couple of steps .
