# First ever gigs...



## tributcher (Jan 23, 2012)

Hi, I have my first two GIGs next Friday and Saturday. I've been playing for about 20 years but I just decided this year that I was going to play live.

I'm pretty nervous about it. I'm scared that I'm not ready.

How did you feel before your first gig? Were you nervous?

Eric


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Definitely, but it goes away after a while. The first few gigs I ever played, I was pretty antsy before - butterflies in the stomach, sweaty, all that great stuff! But nowadays, I'm more just full of energy and ready to go. The more you do it the easier (and more fun!) it becomes.

I would say just go out there and play the best you can. Don't strive for perfection, because it's not likely going to happen. Go out and try to have as much fun as possible. People respond more to someone who looks like they're having a good time than to someone who is note-perfect.

If there are lights at the venue, you may not be able to see anyone anyway!


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

I've always thought one gig is equal to ten rehearsals. No matter how much you rehearse you can't prepare yourself for all the things that happen during a gig. Bad sound, blown amps, a drunk guy requesting songs for his dead mother, broken strings, cymbals falling over, wailing feedback. The more gigs under your belt, the more confident you will feel. Confidence I don't think you can get from rehearsing.

Even after twenty years of gigging I still get nervous. Not so much out of fear or stage fright, more so out of anticipation. For a week before a show I am thinking about the first chord I am going to play when I hit the stage.

I spend most of my time afterwards wishing I could do it over again so I can play that first chord better! My only real advice is enjoy the moment! Try to ground yourself and enjoy playing. With nerves and jitters it often flies by quickly.

I forget who said it, but there's a performer who once said the day you stop being nervous is the day you should stop. I think that's true.

Let us know how it goes!


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Good for you!

I don't play a lot of gigs, but nervousness just goes with the territory. Just prepare the best that you can and then rest in the knowledge that you have done your best, and let the chips fall where they may.

Adam Rafferty wrote an excellent blog piece on dealing with nerves: Adam Rafferty blog: 7 Tips for Dealing With Stage Fright and Nerves


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

Definitely make sure you're prepared. I had a rule where I said that the gig equals the worst rehearsal. That is, if you practice until you can get by, but sometimes you blow it, at the gig you'll blow it. If you practice until you get it right every time, you'll gig like that. This is all according to my rule, rather than concrete fact for every performance, but it was a good way to ensure that I probably wouldn't stuff up. You'll never be 100% ready, by the way. Just do the best with what you have when you have it.

The thing to really hold firmly in mind is why you play music in the first place. Chances are that the reason you like music at home is for fun and self-expression. You gotta keep that attitude in mind. Sometimes we get caught up in how we compare to others and our focus becomes the technical aspects. I'm not saying that technical proficiency is totally unimportant, but it's probably not why you liked music in the first place. To stay in a place where you enjoy yourself, you have to hold onto the reason why you like music. So, when you play live, keep your focus on fun and self-expression (if those are your musical raison d'etre). If you focus on the technical aspects of your playing you're much less likely to enjoy yourself and much more likely to stuff up, because you won't be happy if you make mistakes (which you will) and you won't get in that zone of great playing if you over-focus on the minutiae. Gotta let it go and go with the flow.

I also found creative visualisation really helpful. You relax, kinda like you're meditating, and then picture the gig going perfectly. Imagine it in as vivid detail as possible. Picture what you'll wear (make sure you wear it), how it sounds--even what it smells like! Spend quite a few minutes doing this every day. I'd take about twenty minutes per day for a few days on this. It really helps! Try not to think about the gig much any other time. Just focus on the present. 

Because fear is basically the fight or flight mechanism, you can somewhat fool it by doing something physical. Your body is gearing up for one or the other and if you do something like, say, a bunch of pushups five minutes before you go on, your body kinda thinks, "Oh, is that all I was worried about? That's nothing! I can relax now". Just don't go on stage panting.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Having played thousands of gigs, i am still nervous and visit the bathroom a few times before any gig. Being just enough nervous before is o.k. The trick is to settle down before you start playing. Pick your songs carefully and make sure you do the easy stuff first to get comfortable and then you will be good to go. If you can meditate, pray etc... to calm your nerves it helps. I like the push ups idea Mark P suggested as this will remove a bit of anxiety. I bet if you ask some of the biggest artists in the world,they feel just like you before going on stage. There,doesnt that make you feel better.LOL.


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## RobQ (May 29, 2008)

Everyone should read Livingston Taylor's book, Stage Performance.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

I definitely agree with doing easy stuff first. If there are any songs you are worried about, either don't do them, or do them later in the night at a point when you feel like you have relaxed enough around the crowd to have fun with them. This especially goes for any sort of songs that have solos where you may want to sort of improvise or make decisions on the fly. I can't do those songs near the beginning, because I'm not expressing myself at that time... or at least I'm not expressing much but fear at that time.
Songs that are easy for you and involve no decisions are good choices for the first few, when I feel like it is the time to be winning people over and you are getting comfortable with the surroundings and sounds of the room. The mood you create early on will be hard to shake even by the end of the night, so use the beginning to build some confidence.
Also, end sets with strong songs too, so it leaves a good taste in your mouth. 
And then, all the stuff in between, have fun with and expect some mistakes, and enjoy them as part of the charm of live music... unless you are some crazy elitist that no one can relate to.
Those are my thoughts added to all the others so far (that I TOTALLY agree with by the way).


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## Cary (May 11, 2011)

First off, congrats on the gig. Playing live music (at least for me) is such a great payoff for years of work done in the basement. If you've be playing for 20 years, you owe it to yourself to play in front of some people.

My first gig was a young performers stage at the Winnipeg folk festival, I was as sweating like a whore in church as there was a crowd of hundreds there watching us. It went as well as could be expected, but best of all I made out with a cute girl that night. Which i why i started playing in the first place. That was about 8 years ago and I've played many gigs since (on top of hosting a weekly jam night for the last 4 years) None have made me as nervous as that first gig. 

I've got a few tips for you if you want,

-As everyone else is saying, set yourself up to succeed. Be well prepared and be conciencious with your song choices. I can say without question, the gigs i practice the hardest for are always the most well received.

-Also, and this is a big one for me, Tempo is really important. If you're nervous, the tendency is to speed up and rush songs. Just make sure that you're aware of what the tempo should be and that you keep it locked in.

- Bands almost always sound better with a bit more space. As sting (and many others) said, "its not the notes you play, its the ones you don't play"

-if you make a mistake on stage, move on quickly and don't dwell on it. Chances are the crowd didn't notice, throwing a tantrum guarantees that everyone in the house knows you screwed up. Shoot your bandmate a knowing smile and let that be the end of it.

-Make eye contact with the crowd, watch your hands when you need to, but remember, you're hired as entertainment, be entertaining.

-make sure you thank the venue on stage and tell the crowd to tip their bartenders.

-if a drink helps you relax, have *one or two, *no more than that, you don't want to hurt your reflexes, just loosen up.

-Most importantly, have fun. When the band is having fun, the crowd notices, when the crowd is having fun the management notices, when management is having fun (or good drink sales) the band notices by getting invited back to play or maybe getting a little bonus at the end of the night.

Good luck and have fun.


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