musician seeks advice from musicians.

[Thomnipotent]

hey, you lot. I got my first gig. Thing is, I'm nervous as Hell. What can be done about musical performance anxiety?

[James Casey]

Suffer, perform, play more gigs... In my - limited - experience of live performances, just make sure your first song is one you know bckwards, forwards, sideways, inside out - basically, no matter how bad your nerves, you couldn't mess it up if you had ten broken fingers and a bad dose of laryngitis :p What/where are you playing? If it's in a pub, and you're not an advertised act, chances are no-ones going to care how you perform - so long as you're not offensively bad :D Good luck with it, though, nothing like performing live, whatever your sphere of performance.

[Mr T Jobs To Me]

Heroin. The last thing you'll care about is the crowd when you're chasing that dragon across the stage.

[BurningHamster]

Just accept the fact that you are going to suck and aim to just get it over with. Sounds negative I know, but when you honestly don't give a crap there is no pressure.

[ShadowedFlames]

I'd have to agree with Mr. Casey here. Make certain your first is something to you can nail without thinking. It should calm you down and you'll feel free to use the rest of your repertiore. In non-music stuff, though... GET FINAL FANTASY MAFIA READY FOR PLAYING! :)

[djthefunkchris]

[QUOTE=Mr T Jobs To Me;505853]Heroin. The last thing you'll care about is the crowd when you're chasing that dragon across the stage.[/QUOTE] I was going to say drink some beer. On a serious note though, I aggree... Start with material your VERY FAMILIAR with, and as you get more and more comfortable, start branching out. I'd like to add a couple things to this though. Start out easy (as was said), but hyped. Bring it to them for a couple of songs (not the show stealer's, but one's you know will get a reaction). Then bring it down, and smoothly bring it back up as the night goes on. Always going for more energy, faster paced, etc. till you know it's time to slow it down again (ussually right after a break, is a good time to start over). Everything depends on crowd mood, etc... once you get them into you, then they are your's for the rest of the night, and will take the journey with you.

[Shmoe]

Nerves before gigs are pretty common, and I don't think they ever calm down. I have my first gig with my new band in a few weeks time and we've got precious little time to prepare. What we're doing is starting with some easier songs to play and making sure we don't get distracted or add in other songs so that each song we do play, we know inside out. But yeah, when you're out there, concentrate as hard as you can but have fun. If the crowd can feel that, they'll have fun too and the last thing you want is a dead audience. Good luck man and tell us how it goes!

[rage]

relax - been gigging for years, and i can still remember the first one. nerves are natural. main thing to remember is to stay relaxed, think about it - you KNOW the material, you KNOW your bandmates. if you play an instrument, make sure you cater for any mishaps ( i play guitar and always take a spare in case of broken string etc) just go out there and have fun! all the best to you, let us know how it works out! :cool:

[James Casey]

Definitely follow rage's advice if you're a soloist. In a band, I've seen one guy end up on four strings to his guitar at the end of a song - sounded fine, as he was only playing rhythm. Not so good if you're lead, of course :p

[Nevermore]

[QUOTE=Shmoe;505941]Nerves before gigs are pretty common, and I don't think they ever calm down.[/QUOTE] ...which isn't necessarily an issue. I've toured the UK twice as a drummer in two different bands and, in the last four years, I've never gone more than a month without playing live. However, I still get nervous as hell... even when playing a tiny, back-alley venue. The trick is to know what sort of person you are! If you are bad with nerves (makes you wretch etc.), make sure to calm yourself down. Drink one or two beers (depending upon how you handle your alcohol) just to take the edge off; listen to chilled music on the way there; do some of those breathing excercises that make you look like a buddhist monk; most of all, consciously regulate your breathing between songs on stage Then again, you might be like me: I've realised that nerves make me perform better and I get as worked up as possible. I listen to energetic music (not necessarily heavy); I stay as sober as a buddhist monk before I go on (the lashing happens later :p); before I go on, I psyche myself up, stretch etc etc etc. On stretching, if perchance you're a drummer... DO IT! You'll hurt yourself otherwise if you play anything complex 'cos it's hot on stage, you won't have warmed up and your calves will think "f**k this!" In fact, as a gimmick in one of my bands, I dressed up as an old woman and there are plenty of hysterical pics on facebook of me doing excercises in a dress. On the logistical side, nail a good order for your setlist. Seriously, as DJ was suggesting, crowd management is the whole point, so, make sure you play songs people want to hear in an order that suits them. Quote The Raven Nevermore

[Blasphemywebleed]

The day I don't get nervous before a gig is the day I will quit playing music. I've been playing in a metal band for over 8 years now and have played over 500 gigs including 3 UK tours with Nasum, Mayhem and Defiled. Before each and every gig I am a wreck and will pace the floor for way more than an hour before I go on, as soon as you are on stage the nerves go and adrenaline takes over.