Dealing with nerves

[alexa3020]

Anyone who has played live will have dealt with, at best nervous energy, or, at worst crippling nerves.

Thankfully for me  the nerves have never got the best of me where I can't play, and the majority of the time now I just have a nervous energy.

Anyway, I thought it would be useful to go over the things I do to help deal with the nerves.

1. Be happy with your setup. I'm usually happy when I can play my own setup, but unfortunately as a bass player you are asked to play through house amps, or they take a d.i signal from the bass rather than your amp. During soundcheck make sure you are happy with the sound.

2. Warm up. There's nothing worse going on completely 'cold' - particularly if the first track is fast/complex.

3. Know the material. The better I know it the more at ease I am.

4. Make eye contact with audience. When the nerves have been at their worst I tend to look down at what I am playing and want the ground to swallow me up. Often it's worse in your head compared to the reality of what is happening. I find that if I look up and see the reaction of the audience, it makes me feel so much better.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this as it might help someone out. Alternatively feel free to share anything you guys do to deal with nerves.

cheers

Alex

[Lozz196]

I couldn`t have written that better Alex, I think you`re spot on there with the above as I tend to follow those to the letter and similarly never have nerves get the better of me. Being of a certain age my only addition would be to make sure to have a pre-match pee before going on.

[Roger2611]

Much as Alexa's post is probably a very good idea an alternative would be to ensure your very first ever gig is supporting a band riding high in the charts in front of 2000 people, never having played through a PA before or even on a stage! Add to that the rest of your band are far more experienced than you and even they are pacing the dressing room with  a severe attack of the "hebijeebies" If you manage to survive that then you never need be nervous on stage again!

[Delberthot]

Knowing the material is essential. There's nothing worse than someone shouting the next song and you don't remember how it starts. Before you get on stage, make sure that you are in tune and everything is working so if anything does go wrong then you've done all you can.

I would also recommend breathing exercises to calm yourself down, possibly a bit of meditation which doesn't need to last hours, you can do it over the course of a few minutes in a quiet corner / cupboard / changing room / toilet /etc

Alternatively - do not get completely bladdered and make a complete fool of yourself. Dutch courage is not recommended for gigs, all you get are rubber fingers and the inability to remember what you're meant to be playing

Edited August 30, 2018 by Delberthot

[alexa3020]

3 hours ago, Roger2611 said:

Much as Alexa's post is probably a very good idea an alternative would be to ensure your very first ever gig is supporting a band riding high in the charts in front of 2000 people, never having played through a PA before or even on a stage! Add to that the rest of your band are far more experienced than you and even they are pacing the dressing room with  a severe attack of the "hebijeebies" If you manage to survive that then you never need be nervous on stage again!

I'd love to know the details if this actually happened 

[scalpy]

Great tips above but the biggest advance I made with nerves was when my teacher said ‘Be nervous’. Seriously, being nervous is actually your body’s way of doing better, and I’ve been that person incapacitated with tremors, the chronic self doubt and memory loss (and I’m tee total!) 

It takes a bit of getting used to, but the advice was if you’re nervous you’re about to create some seriously good memories. 

Peace out, hippies!!!!

[BreadBin]

Enjoy it!

[Shaggy]

20 minutes ago, scalpy said:

Great tips above but the biggest advance I made with nerves was when my teacher said ‘Be nervous’. Seriously, being nervous is actually your body’s way of doing better, and I’ve been that person incapacitated with tremors, the chronic self doubt and memory loss (and I’m tee total!) 

It takes a bit of getting used to, but the advice was if you’re nervous you’re about to create some seriously good memories. 

Peace out, hippies!!!!

Great advice

I'm in a job where I often have to give people pre-interview advice or post-interview feedback,  and one thing I always tell them is that being nervous is good - it gives you an edge.   A bit of adrenaline gets you thinking faster, muscles working better, etc.   Being a total nervous wreck is not good however, hence the sage advice above about preparedness

Also - nothing worse than watching a bored band just "going through the motions"   I bet all the true stars who have been doing it for decades still get nerves, because they care about the performance

Personlly, I think bass is the best position in a  band there is - you can hide at the back and just look cool, or act like a total loon and do a "Flea" or a "Sid Vicious" - up to you! .     I wouldn't want to be front-man - that would make me nervous.....  

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Shaggy

[ambient]

I'm generally more nervous and anxious about meeting whoever I'm playing with, that's down to my Asperger's though. I've done a lot of solo gigs over the last two years or so, both solo bass and more recently piano/electronics. My first one was pretty terrifying, since then though I've been absolutely fine, with exception of a bass day one I was doing with Steve Lawson, that was really scary. I find meditation and being fully prepared mentally generally helps. I always try and arrive early, I leave home a lot earlier than I need to, and my journey is planned; I know which train I'm catching and where from etc. Avoid too much caffeine, I'm a caffeine addict, it's my one single vice, but I limit my intake before a gig.

[NewDad]

"Nerves", as a state of anticipation, can stem from both fear and excitement. Telling yourself the feeling is excitement can work wonders.

[JBP]

I think I would be more worried if I was not feeling nervous. That little rush of adrenaline is a wonderful  positive thing, my mindset has always been to use it and enjoy it. If I was not feeling that before going onstage then its probably time to pack it in.

[Roger2611]

19 hours ago, alexa3020 said:

I'd love to know the details if this actually happened 

This actually happened! High Hall in Birmingham circa 1986 supporting the aptly named band "Stress" I still have the recordings of the gig on cassette somewhere

[Roger2611]

13 minutes ago, Roger2611 said:

This actually happened! High Hall in Birmingham circa 1986 supporting the aptly named band "Stress" I still have the recordings of the gig on cassette somewhere

A bit of hunting on line reveals it was 1991 with the song "Flowers in the Rain" which had been on a TV show called Motormouth the morning of the day we supported them!