Nervous before gigs?

[HeavyJay]

I've been playing for 16 years, gigging for probably 12 (not including school bands etc.) and gigging with my current band for about 8 months and I'm stil s****ing myself before tonight's gig! It's the same before every gig!

What's wrong with me?

[crez5150]

Blimey if your not used to it by now perhaps you never will be......... drugs or alcohol is your only hope...

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Well, I think everyone would (probably) have that little bit of adrenalin and be a little psyched up for it.
What I find ,is I'll be a little nervous before gig but after the 2nd song I'm beginning to do lots
of silly rock poses forthe rest of gig!
However, I do what I was told by my mentor. Have 2 drinks before I go on. No more than that tho'

[johnnylager]

A bit of healthy fear never hurt anyone. My problem is it's fear of whether the drummer is too pissed to remember the songs. Again.

[Jase]

[quote name='HeavyJay' post='358204' date='Dec 18 2008, 07:14 PM']I've been playing for 16 years, gigging for probably 12 (not including school bands etc.) and gigging with my current band for about 8 months and I'm stil s****ing myself before tonight's gig! It's the same before every gig!

What's wrong with me?[/quote]

Shows your human

[HeavyJay]

[quote name='crez5150' post='358211' date='Dec 18 2008, 07:28 PM']Blimey if your not used to it by now perhaps you never will be......... drugs or alcohol is your only hope... [/quote]

I drive though, it's a bugger.

[HeavyJay]

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' post='358229' date='Dec 18 2008, 08:15 PM']Well, I think everyone would (probably) have that little bit of adrenalin and be a little psyched up for it.
What I find ,is I'll be a little nervous before gig but after the 2nd song I'm beginning to do lots
of silly rock poses forthe rest of gig!
However, I do what I was told by my mentor. Have 2 drinks before I go on. No more than that tho'[/quote]

I mostly try to just power on through by belting out the singing and generally just rocking out with the playing but it takes me about 6 songs to settle into enjoying it without my knees being a bit knocky and having to force my breaths to be steady.

[HeavyJay]

[quote name='Jase' post='358450' date='Dec 19 2008, 12:21 AM']Shows your human [/quote]

You're probably right, I might just need to deal with the fact that it's going to happen and live with it.

[Jase]

[quote name='HeavyJay' post='358469' date='Dec 19 2008, 12:48 AM']You're probably right, I might just need to deal with the fact that it's going to happen and live with it.[/quote]

Yeah, nerves are good, I've done breathing exercises whilst driving to a gig, sounds stupid but it's true. Try and get to the point where your nerves end up being the positive excitement of playing live.

[HeavyJay]

[quote name='Jase' post='358479' date='Dec 19 2008, 12:59 AM']Yeah, nerves are good, I've done breathing exercises whilst driving to a gig, sounds stupid but it's true. Try and get to the point where your nerves end up being the positive excitement of playing live.[/quote]

Sounds like a plan man. I do Tai Chi so I suppose I should try some of those breathing techniques. It never really occurs to me when it gets to playing, there's always loads to do like soundchecking and flyering, I should probably take few minutes to settle myself.

[Kiwi]

Assume its all going to go tits up from the start and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Then, if it doesn't, its a pleasant surprise. Works for me, at least. Helps me abdicate any sense of responsibility for my f-ups too. There a clip of me playing on youtube somewhere, we're doing The Conga and I come in 4 bars too early. A song I've played hundreds of times before and the one time its recorded for posterity I f*** it up. No abdicating that one!

[HeavyJay]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='358486' date='Dec 19 2008, 01:13 AM']Assume its all going to go tits up from the start and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Then, if it doesn't, its a pleasant surprise. Works for me, at least. Helps me abdicate any sense of responsibility for my f-ups too. There a clip of me playing on youtube somewhere, we're doing The Conga and I come in 4 bars too early. A song I've played hundreds of times before and the one time its recorded for posterity I f*** it up. No abdicating that one![/quote]

Not sure that the expectation of abject humiliation would be sufficient to calm the nerves!

[steve]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='358486' date='Dec 19 2008, 01:13 AM']There a clip of me playing on youtube somewhere, we're doing The Conga and I come in 4 bars too early. A song I've played hundreds of times before and the one time its recorded for posterity I f*** it up. No abdicating that one![/quote]

link please

[yoyobass]

It's definitely a bit random I think. I stopped getting nervous after my worst case of nerves which was so bad I thought about quitting, then the other week I was ready for the gig, well up for it, no pressure then stepped out onstage and found myself in need of a large whisky. Really weird, trick is styling it out I think, being rehearsed up enough that you aren't worried about the notes, then acting like you're having a great time until you settle down. Works for me and as for bum notes...that's never a reason to get worried, I'd be more worried if your groove sucked you can't really fix that, but mistakes come and go.

[katana_manatee]

Breathing exercises are a must but it is largely a mindset issue.

Before you gig you are obviously feeling some kind of excitement, almost anyone would given the prospect of playing a gig. Sometimes we mistake that excitement for nerves and we worry about the fact we are nervous. This creates a vicious circle and amplifies the physical aspects of excitement and nervousness such as involuntary shaking, sweaty hands and so forth.

Check this out:

[url="http://www.pe2000.com/breathe_diaphragm.htm"]http://www.pe2000.com/breathe_diaphragm.htm[/url]

That describes everything you need to know for controlling your breathing.

Another thing is to do this while visualising going up on stage and treating it as a normal thing. Imagine watching a cinema screen which is showing you going up on stage to setting up and actually playing the gig and playing through some songs. Learn to link the feeling of calmness through the breathing to the idea of going up on stage and gigging and your mind sort of learns to go closer to that calm state than tummy rumbling anxiety.

Another thing is after doing the breathing and visualisation try to focus on anything else other than the gig, don't let yourself have time to dwell on the situation and let anxiety rise, this also gets your brain to treat the situation as something you just do every day which is no big deal like going to take a shower, you just don't think about it that much.

It takes a while but forcing yourself to follow a routine of breathing exercises and visualisation followed by focusing on something else will reinforce the idea that what your doing is a totally normal and every day thing that is not worth getting anxious about.

By the time you get on stage your adrenaline will start to kick in a bit but it will feel more like excitement and expectation of something good than something which you should be nervous of.

[The Funk]

I don't get nervous really 'cos I'm not a solo performer and 'cos I'm doing something I'm good at. Even if I'm only at around 60%, then the band shouldn't sound awful overall. And I've also learnt to put bad gigs behind me very quickly. That takes a while and wise words from more experienced players.

An experienced bass player once said to me for most people it's like this: "20% of the time you're awful; 20% of the time you're on fire; and the rest of the time you're fine". And that's pretty much true. Some days things just won't click, other days it'll be effortless and most days it'll be just fine. So you shouldn't really worry about it too much. Just go out there and do what you do! It works.

Edited January 5, 2009 by The Funk

[Charla]

Fine words above from our fellow bass players; I'm 50 and have been playing in Bands since my late teens and it's only over the past 10 years or so that I've learnt to control anxiety and not worry about those times when I've really messed up. My worst nightmare was playing the City Hall, first song the drummer kicks off and I come in after two bars; this donkey comes in on the 3 and not the 1, the drummer looks at me smiles and plays a 6/4 bar and we're off. Playing in a Band is a team game, and we all help each other out, I've returned the favour to most of my colleagues over time. I also have learnt that it's not the end of the World and their are many more good times to bad. I also use breathing exercises, positive thinking and cognitive rehearsal. In fact I often practise songs without a bass or any musical reference, it really help to get them to `stick'. Laughing at yourself is also a good remedy, even the best `cock up'.

Hope all goes well.

Cheers

Charla

[northstreet]

Did my first gig for nearly 30 years last night. No nerves at all until about 2 minutes to go - all of a sudden I couldn't remember which way to hold the bass, let alone the opening chords for the first song. Got up on stage, the drummer counts us in, and thankfully the automatic pilot took over and I was OK. Wouldn't have it any other way though - if I can't get excited/nervous before a gig then it's probably not worth doing.

[Andyalfa]

I usually get pretty nervous driving to the gig. Once I’m there and setting up though, the nerves fade and the excitement takes over. Couple of numbers later and I’m into the routine.

Making cock-ups happens, but having an adrenalin buzz help you concentrate and minimize mistakes. I think the trick is if you do mess up, don’t dwell on it. Just remember you’ve played the song dozens of times in rehearsal, get back on tune and away you go.

Thing is, although you are mortified if you hit a bum note or miss a cue, the audience rarely notices. We played a Christmas pub gig last night, and none of us could remember a time when we’d make so many errors, yet we went down a storm, did 3 encores and got a repeat booking.

[4000]

I always get terribly nervous before gigs, and I've been playing 28 years. I've tried everything to stop it, with no success. The only time it stopped was when I was in a band that was pretty popular (in a local sense) and we were gigging a lot (which I find is the only real cure) . I'm currently in a band that I wrote all the material for (every last bit of it) so that makes things even worse, because the band lives or dies on your songs.

For various reasons we've only played about 4 gigs in the last 2 years (maybe only 8 in the last 5), and at every single one I've been crapping myself. The last one took me 2/3 of the gig to calm down, and then only after I'd changed basses. It is indeed a horrible feeling, and to be honest is one that's made me think about packing it in on more than one occasion. The reason I haven't is simply because that would be admitting defeat.

It's true that the audience doesn't really notice (we also recently went down a storm despite playing terribly) but it's not really the audience I worry about, it's just doing it right. Stupid, I know.

Edited December 24, 2008 by 4000

[mewsie]

[quote name='HeavyJay' post='358204' date='Dec 18 2008, 07:14 PM']I've been playing for 16 years, gigging for probably 12 (not including school bands etc.) and gigging with my current band for about 8 months and I'm stil s****ing myself before tonight's gig! It's the same before every gig!

What's wrong with me?[/quote]

i've seen quite a few people who have stuff around public speaking/performance type situations for therapy sessions. good ol' adrenaline has a lot to answer for!

my suggestion would be to label the feelings you get as something other than 's****ing myself'.

its possible that you are getting the same combination of feelings as another person who labels them, say, 'excitement' or 'thrill' and you and them may have entirely different responses to it as a result.

[Bilbo]

Get Barry Green's 'The Inner Game of Music'.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-Game-Music-Barry-Green/dp/0330300172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230330370&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-Game-Music-B...0370&sr=8-1[/url]

You're talking yourself into being nervous. You just need to learn to talk yourself out of it!

[Dr.Dave]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='363937' date='Dec 26 2008, 10:28 PM']You're talking yourself into being nervous. You just need to learn to talk yourself out of it![/quote]

That's what I do.

I've never been afraid of standing in front of a crowd of people , in fact I find that even less of a problem as the size of the crowd increases and makes it even less 'personal'.

I do get worried about being let down by another band member - or me letting them down. Not sure which order that comes in. In my own case it's always going to be lack of concentration rather than preparation that causes me to cock up.

So - when I feel nervous I scream at myself to stop it on the grounds that nerves will make me cocking up more likely and, therefore, the ongoing problem worse. Seems logical to my fuddled mind.

I don't do drugs - I do do alcohol , but never more than one or two before/during a gig , and I don't have to drive home. If you get a good grove going you get drunk enough on your own spirits.

[Golchen]

I seem to recall reading once that Classical acoustic guitarist John Williams gets so worried that he physically throws up before every gig!

My boss said that he once went on a training course for public speaking, and they had various tricks or ideas to calm you first. All that I can remember off the top of my head was running real fast on the spot for a while just before (eg in the loos if they are empty!?!) He said that it actually works, and he even once sprinted around the building before going in to chair a really big meeting - I kid you not!

[Kiwi]

[quote name='steve' post='358555' date='Dec 19 2008, 08:52 AM']link please [/quote]
Hahaha, NO WAY!