Stage fright, nerves etc etc …

[john]

Hi Johnny, Once you’ve done the altissimo course, is there any chance of doing some sort of write up on helping people like myself get control of their nerves. Something along the lines of sharing your experiences of dealing with this grey wooly area. In my case i’ve no problem playing guitar in a band as part of the band, but to play sax or guitar solo’s seems a bit daunting.

[john]

It may just boil down to being confident in what you’re playing. As you say you’re ok playing guitar as part of the band but it’s the soloing that makes you nerves. That;’s totally understandable. If you became confident in your soling this would help right?
The theory behind blues and rock improvisation is quite simple. You can start getting on to it with my free lesson videos in the “improvisation” section. This is best done as you’ll see in the videos by taking baby steps with using fist 2, 3, 4, and 5 notes at a time.
You really can blow a decent solo like this. When you’re more confident you can start in with the Killer Blues soloing course which just expands on this basic stuff from the videos. There is lots of appropriate backing tracks to practice the scales and exercises so this gets you ready for playing in a band….it’s the best way that I know of how to do it!

[john]

thanks Johnny that makes sense, basically if i do more ground work it will build my confidence. You don’t just learn to rode a bike and then jump on a 1000 cc motor bike.. I’ll have a look at your improvisation section, and i’ve got both your books, but i haven’t yet looked at the 2nd book yet.

[john]

If the 2nd book is the Killer Blues then yes, that’s the key right there. You can start with the free lessons on the site though and that will get you learning the basic pentatonic etc. Walk before running…absolutely!
Playing a good solo isn’t always easy for anybody but we all need to develop the tools to at least give ourselves a good chance and then hopefully more often than not it will work out.
Check out a blog post I put up some time ago called
What do these solos all have in common?” It’s in the blog section…. quite surprising!

[john]

i shall work through the improvisation section first before doing the Killer blues. i knew i was missing something – it was the improvisation section leading up to it! Also just read thru the blog section you mentioned. thanks again!!

[Dan Fleming]

Another thing that helps me, in addition to having confidence in your playing, is just remember that your audience is rooting for you to do well because the better you sound the more entertaining you are to them. 😉

[john]

hey thanks Dan, I didn’t think of that!

[jake]

Practice is key! The more we practice something the less anxious we should be when we perform it! I receive emails from a harmonica site and I had just received this email. It seemed perfect for the question at hand:

How can you avoid getting nervous when you perform?

Whether you want to perform for a crowd, or just for your
friends and family, staying calm is the name of the game.

Before going on stage, I recommend you meditate on your breathing.
Slowly inhaling and exhaling, even for just a few breaths, will calm
your mind and relieve anxiety.

Here’s another technique that works like a charm.
It will instantly remedy any stage fright you might have and
get you right into the fun and excitement of playing for others.
You can even use this technique for public speaking (or any style of performance).

When you get on stage, look around the room and find one person that is smiling back at you.
(There will always be someone out there).
For the first several minutes of the performance, only look at that one person
(you don’t need to stare, but anytime you want to make contact with the audience,
ONLY look at that one person).

Forget about everyone else in the room.
Allow yourself to be encouraged by that one person sending you “good vibes”.
You will find this person will probably be honored to have so much attention focused
on them and they will send you more smiles and encouragement.

It may sound weird, but when others in the audience notice that you are really connecting
with that one person they also start to feel connected with you.
I don’t know why this is but it works for me every time.

As you begin to allow your eyes to wander around the room, only allow them to stop
and settle on someone who is appreciating your performance. Take some time to connect
and play your music right to that one person.

Never focus your attention on someone who is frowning and not having a good time
(unless you feel very confident with yourself). This person may have gotten in a fight
with their partner and the frowning has nothing to do with you.

If you continue the process of only making eye contact with people who are
appreciating your performance, before you know it you’ll have the whole room
in the palm of your hand……and man is that an amazing feeling.

[john]

thanks Jake – thats very usefull – i just seem to have lost my nerve a couple of weeks ago playing the sax with my instructor. I’m playing guitar in a band next week and that doesn’t bother me at all as part of a group in fact its fun! i think in my case its the build up to playing if you get yourself worked up into a state – then you need to step back and calm down refocus …

[Author]

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