First Concert

[Rockson]

Im gonna be playing at a concert soon and im really nervous... i keep thinking what if I make a mistake on stage? thats my main fear......... any advice you guys can gimme that can help......?

[Cuno]

Allow yourself to make mistakes :)

[EricV]

Don´t get mad when you make a mistake on stage. Most people in the audience won´t even notice. If you get all angry, you might even make more mistakes, so try to accept it as a funny thing, like "What the heck did I just play ?!?"

Prepare yourself well for the show, practice and warm up. That´s all you can do. You can then walk up on stage thinking "OK, I did all I could to prepare. Now it´s time to have fun, and if there´s a mistake, well, so be it"
Mistakes happen... everyone makes them.
Eric

[Rockson]

lol........ you serious???? :) anyways tell me what if ppl laff at us and start throwing **** on us onstage :) then what?? cuz this like..... you play and if your good you get the respect and right now thats what my band needs...... a lil publicity

[Rockson]

thanx eric,cuno :) you guys be keep rippin

[osiris]

"Mistakes happen... everyone makes them."

that's for sure. listen to live records of any well-known artist - EVERYBODY make mistake...

so - just play and good luck to you :)

[metalprep6969]

The first time I watched Live at the Astoria by Steve Vai, I thought he did a FLAWLESS job of playing, every note as it was intended. It took me many more times of watching it, but now I notice when he does. You can see it on his face and in his reactions. If Vai makes mistakes, then everyone does. The first couple of shows I played with my band, we made so many mistakes: bad song transitions, not starting a song off simultaneously, horrible performances of solos, technical difficulties, stepping on cables and them being yanked from the input jack, etc. etc. etc. No one in the crowd noticed! I was amazed, I kept thinking, did they even pay attention? I think it's just that most people don't know what to look for, or they are just amazed with seeing someone they know onstage and performing. Somehow it clouds their judgemental natures.

\m/

[mjo]

The first time I made a mistake on stage, (that would be my first time on stage) I cracked the biggest smile you've ever seen - :D - yeah, like that. Then I noticed everyone else was doing the same thing. We all came to the conclusion that every time you see a guitar player, with a big smile, on stage, he's just made a mistake. ........I see lots of smiling guitar players - :D

Don't worry about it. Get up there, do your thing and have fun !

I've seen some great advice in someones sig. here - "don't take yourself too seriously"

BTW, people hardly ever throw things at the band -- ;)

Cheers.....and G'luck !
:Mike

[forgottenking2]

In one of our first "big" gigs back when I played with "La Nacion" (The Nation <translated> an unknown band from my native town :p ) we were opening for a very famous national band so it was like the whole town was there, and a whole ton of things went wrong even though we were fully prepared... I take that back, we THOUGHT we were ully prepared :D among the things that happened:

*I snapped my 4th string (in a floating trem guitar) right on the cue for my solo.
*The bass player froze like a statue on the first song (yes we had NO bass)
*The singer forgot the lyrics in english and he was blahbering and
godknowswhat language
*The rhythm guitarist got tangled in his own cable and nearly fell off the stage ( and we were in a pretty high platform)

I could go on all night but that's about the most obvious ones, but we had the attitude of "we're gonna put a show and HAVE FUN wether we play music or not" and guess what? The audience DIDN'T notice!!! they thought it was all part of the show! When I snapped the string instead of freezing I started to pull on it like a madman and do stunts with the wammy bar until I pulled the string off completelly and threw it to the audience (lol) (then of course I was crying after concert 'cause I was sure I was going to have to take my guitar to a tech which over there are everything but cheap) so "my solo" was just a whole bunch of feedback and noise... but they audience thought it was the greatest thing they had heard, most of the audience didn't know a word of english so my friend's native american chant (or whatever he was singing) passed as "english", and so on... we had fun and that was transfered to the audience... that was probably the worst gig of my life, but we still had fun and after that? we just enjoyed a free concert and drank like crazy... so yeah... good things come out of most gigs, it's just a matter of how you look. Keep a possitive attitude, and like Eric said, once you're out there, just have fun.

I just thought I'd share the experience.

I hope this helped a little

Regards,

[Koala]

Wow man, your first gig, go out and enjoy it, have a great time mistakes or no mistakes. We all mess up sometimes and I beleive .1 % of all shows go by without any mistakes. SO take it easy, and as the guys said allow yourself to make mistakes, oh yeah, dont make faces if you mess up that just looks bad and people notice.

best of luck, have fun and please let us know how it goes!

[Bizarro]

And don't get mad at other bandmates if they make mistakes either... It happens, move on, and put on a great show.

[loveguitar]

Our band (consider amateur) once jam with a performance-level guitarist and I supported the rhythm. Somehow I just felt my fingers froze. Be it a drop of confidence when I saw his lick speed and skill, or that I am just not that good.

But somehow I pull through with relatively good rhythm. But I guess if I was to play the lead that day, I would have made a dozens mistakes. I don't know but somehow it's just like that, I guess it's preparation plus self-confidence plus a good attitude to play decently? :)

[ProgBG]

Hi

The first gig with our band was really horrible;) . We played maybe for 5 months or so na dcould only play "lake of fire" and "Song2" and on Californication i played the bass, 'cause our bass player wasn't able to do and aur second guitar player was drunk after 10 minutes. Thank God it was just a crappy birthday party. We didn't even had a singer, so i sang, but only for about 20 seconds :D. It was real horrible. But I think when you make mistakes you learn of them and next time it'll be better. So go and kick some asses on stage :cool: !

KAYA BG

[Stranger]

Mistakes? wtf? it was intended! ;) - that's the way I think it should work for everyone on stage...
anyway, when you're thinking about "what if I make a mistake", you really start making them, just relax, go on stage and make yourself at home there... it's just you, your guitar and your band there... rest are people who came to admire you :D

Good luck on your first stage :cool:

[Danster]

From the perspective of an audience member. I think the mistake itself is not near as important as the way you handle the mistake. If a mistake freaks you out, that comes across to the audience, and its not pleasant for anyone. If you shrug off the mistake and don't make a big deal of it, then no one in the audience will care. Perfection is too high a standard to set. In general, the enjoyment of a show by an audience is not going to be determined mainly by whether someone on stage missed a note or not.

[lepersmeesa]

obvioulsy depending on your music take this advice with a pinch of salt. my band is a metal band and at our first gig we have made the decision that we werent the most realiable of musicians ( at the time! ) and we decided to go more for the stage peformance, enjoying ourselves and interacting with crowd. try and play to the best of your ability but people will enjoy you more if you have good stage presence. think about your favourite band

[MrJo]

Its very true what Eric said, I do it all the time, if you think of your performance as being a laugh, when you make mistakes just laugh them off, some of the times when i do it, its just like "how the hell did i even manage that??" and you laugh it off.

[Relaxation]

Try meditation and visualization. Start by doing breathing exercises then visualizing every part and nerve of your body. When you're relaxed, visualize yourself delivering an excellent performance. Feel the happy emotions from it. Do not visualize yourself not making a mistake. That's very different from imagining yourself succeeding. Do this for 30 minutes everyday before the gig and if possible, do this for 15 or 30 minutes before your performance. It might be hard to concentrate at first but when you notice your thinking of other things, try to bring yourself back to this positive image.

Does this sound an advice from a psychologist? Maybe. But it works. I really believe there's a deep connection between guitarplaying and psychology.
:)

Oh yeah, anybody out here heard of Dianetics? It's a good science of mental health. I bought the book and recently been getting into it. Even Billy Sheehan has used it and he emphasized it has helped him with living and his guitarplaying.