# Nerves?



## ashm70 (Apr 2, 2009)

Ok, who here gets nervous when performing in front of a crowd? I was at a local jam night last night and I got a case of nerves really bad. To the point where I was sweating and all tense... I had to work hard to get myself to relax. But then I looked up out into the crowd and noticed all the people watching me... very dis-concerting to say the least.

How do you guys deal with it? I got advance notice of my call up by a few songs and during that time I felt like I was waiting to go into the principle's office.

Do nerves ever go away?

Regardless, I will be back next week. When it was going well it felt AWESOME, one of those "I can't believe I'm doing this" type things...


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## Fader (Mar 10, 2009)

I don't know if they'll ever go away, but they will become less intense.

My first time, my hands were so sweaty and shaking so bad I was having trouble grabing chords.
Now, I still can't play, but I can't blame it on nerves so much.

Try to picture the audience naked. Be sure and ask the good looking ones to move to the front of the crowd.


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## fudb (Dec 8, 2010)

the only way to get over that is to expose yourself to it as often as possible... great to hear you're going back next week.

one thing most musicians never do get over is the idea that the crowd can hear every mistake... most of em can't at all... the ones who can are other musicians who make mistakes when they play too...


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

fudb said:


> one thing most musicians never do get over is the idea that the crowd can hear every mistake... most of em can't at all... the ones who can are other musicians who make mistakes when they play too...


The other thing to remember is that everyone there is rooting for you - people don't go to open mics and jams to be critics.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I am the same way, but I have been going to jams almost every Saturday for a year (summer off though). It is pretty much the same group of anywhere between 8 to 15 musicians. Mostly simple I IV V country stuff, but if you want to play something different it's cool. All acoustic, sometimes a keyboard player shows, sometimes a bassest, sometimes a drummer, sometimes not, but it is laid back. Getting to know the group eases it a bit. I still can't sing and play at the same time (mainly because I can't sing, lol), but my timing and rhythem is getting better, and I am starting to try some alternate voicings, because sometimes you gotta try something different than the other 6 guitars playing. So, keep jamming, find a group your comfortable with and have fun!


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

I used to get them a bit before I would play back when I did, but the worst time for me was playing a bass solo at a festival. I was so used to the singer or guitar player being the center of attention that when I looked out at the audience and noticed everyone staring back at me. Freaked me out for a good minute of my playing, probably the worst I ever played live. But after the sound man realized that I didn't want dub bass for a sound I started to get into it, and did pretty well. That's one I'd rather not relive again though.


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

I need the adrenaline or I can't perform. My playing is often mediocre at rehearsal but when I get up on stage and the money is on the line, the rush from the nerves tightens my playing right up and it gets good.


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## ashm70 (Apr 2, 2009)

thanks for the tips guys! Much appreciated. 

One thing it has done is motivate me to learn new stuff, or at least expand even a little on wat I do know.


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

I find that when you're new to playing onstage, you don't play as well as you do at home. 

After you get more experience, for me it was 5 years or so of playing live regularly, you play better onstage than at home. You're just more inspired and excited; everything seems easier. 

Keep playing live as much as you can. It (usually) beats the hell out of playing alone at home.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

NB_Terry said:


> I find that when you're new to playing onstage, you don't play as well as you do at home.
> 
> After you get more experience, for me it was 5 years or so of playing live regularly, you play better onstage than at home. You're just more inspired and excited; everything seems easier.
> 
> Keep playing live as much as you can. It (usually) beats the hell out of playing alone at home.


I concur completely....


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

fudb said:


> one thing most musicians never do get over is the idea that the crowd can hear every mistake... most of em can't at all... the ones who can are other musicians who make mistakes when they play too...


+1 - i've played a few gigs where I could swear the drummer was way off time here and there, my harmonies were off and my playing was sloppy, but if the crowd's into it, then they're into it! 95% of people in the audience will never know that you missed a note. 

The other thing that I found helps is to record your performances and play them back. First of all, the playback tends to sound way better to me than the actual performance did on stage. When you're on stage and really concentrating on what everyone else is doing and trying to deliver a solid performance, your sensed are really honed into everything that's going on and you pick up a lot of little things. When you hear that same performance back from the audience's point of view, the sound taken as a whole instead of individual components, can sometimes still mesh together to sound really good. We did a gig this past weekend where I could swear we were playing some stuff really poorly, but hearing the tape, it sounded pretty good. Not perfect, no, but full of energy and definitely a respectable performance.

The second good thing about recording your shows is that you can also hone in on what you or anyone else in the band needs to do to improve. This definitely applies to open mics too. You can see where you excel and where you need help.

Grab one of these if you can. There's other less-pricey options too; I just linked this one because it's the model I used this past weekend. You can rent them for the night too if you don't want to buy one. Sometimes being able to hear what you're like on stage can be a huge shot in the arm!


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

my nerves are still bad...but one way i can deal with it...is look past them all...it LOOKS like you are looking at them...but i stare at stuff across the way...

or wear sunglasses...then they don't know my eyes are closed...


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

ezcomes said:


> or wear sunglasses...then they don't know my eyes are closed...


haha, or hungover and high as a kite


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## Chubba (Aug 23, 2009)

i still get nervous, but noticed a change recently - I've recently switched to playing more lead guitar with the band I'm in...when I started playing with this band, I would flub pieces or parts, because i was nervous and it made everything tight, including my hands...but i guess from playing live so much in the last couple of years, I still feel the nerves, especially in an unfamiliar environment, but am able to play live more smoothly....like anything, getting warmed up (which i do more of now) helps a lot, because of timing sometimes you get thrown right into starting a set (what? THAT was sound check? we're starting NOW? lol)

It's definitely from putting ourselves in front of people as often as possible, and I've been attending open mics on my own, and it's done a lot for my confidence and comfort level in front of a group of people...my stage banter is still ridiculous and awkward (i don't feel nervous, but also don't really know what to say to a group of people), but I'm working on it...lol


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## ashm70 (Apr 2, 2009)

hollowbody said:


> +1 - i've played a few gigs where I could swear the drummer was way off time here and there, my harmonies were off and my playing was sloppy, but if the crowd's into it, then they're into it! 95% of people in the audience will never know that you missed a note.
> 
> The other thing that I found helps is to record your performances and play them back. First of all, the playback tends to sound way better to me than the actual performance did on stage. When you're on stage and really concentrating on what everyone else is doing and trying to deliver a solid performance, your sensed are really honed into everything that's going on and you pick up a lot of little things. When you hear that same performance back from the audience's point of view, the sound taken as a whole instead of individual components, can sometimes still mesh together to sound really good. We did a gig this past weekend where I could swear we were playing some stuff really poorly, but hearing the tape, it sounded pretty good. Not perfect, no, but full of energy and definitely a respectable performance.
> 
> ...


I plan on taking video this thursday. I'll post it and you guys can be the judge(s)... As long as you're gentle ;-)


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

ashm70 said:


> I plan on taking video this thursday. I'll post it and you guys can be the judge(s)... As long as you're gentle ;-)


Haha, no worries, here's a couple videos of my band from this weekend for you to make fun of!

[video=youtube;nzz1O6LfOTI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzz1O6LfOTI[/video]

[video=youtube;lLkmPfLOoO4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLkmPfLOoO4[/video]

Like I said, watching these back really helps me figure out what I need to work on, but also will remind you of hiccups you may have forgotten about. For instance, check out the timing issue coming back in from the bridge in American Girl. I couldn't see the other guitarist and couldn't really hear him either, so we ended up out of sync til the drums kicked back in. 

btw - I'm the one in the shadows with the goldtop


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## ashm70 (Apr 2, 2009)

hollowbody said:


> Haha, no worries, here's a couple videos of my band from this weekend for you to make fun of!
> 
> [video=youtube;nzz1O6LfOTI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzz1O6LfOTI[/video]
> 
> ...


Nice shot! I added you as a friend on YT as well...


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

ashm70 said:


> Nice shot! I added you as a friend on YT as well...


yeah, sadly our camera decided to turn itself off after these two songs so we don't have any video of the rest of the night, but we do have some audio from a friend's handheld recorder. always helps to record, regardless of how small the gig is, it's just a learning experience.


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