Are You Afraid On Stage??

[rythmtroll]

FEAR IS BULLSHIT. BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR PLAYING. PRACTICE TO WHERE YOU CAN PLAY THE WHOLE CONCERT WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED.(if ya do it and mess up its not my fault)KNOW YOUR PART AND RIP IT TO SHREDS.

[v1rotate]

Never been afraid but always excited... was having too much fun to be afraid...:)

[jemmy]

Well, you've got to be a little nervous, otherwise you probably don't take it seriously enough. But too much is too much, of course: if you're actually experiencing fear, it's too much...

Apart from that, performing equals addiction :D
When I was playing with a youth orchestra (as a violin player, only once with guitar), we'd do a "tour": 13 weeks in a row a concert on saturday night 8 o'clock. Boy, did I have a cold turkey week 14 :cool:

[alencore]

it depends on who you are playing with. although my band way back was quite awesome so i wasn't insecure whoever bands that plays really good. sometimes i get nervous off stage but once i get up there and started setting and adjusting the drums i'm on roll.

btw rythmtroll, it's not proper to post on CAPS. As if you are shouting at us. So I suggest you use these cuter small fonts, hehe.

[rythmtroll]

Sorry alencore. I didnt know that. BUT IM RYTHMTROLL!!!!!!! AND I HAVE THE RIGHT 'CAUSE IM A TROLL AND I CAN SWALLOW YOU WHOLE!!!!!. Whewwww! That was really........Fun? Im a Troll,what can I say.

[jimi]

On the classical guitar i found i was s**tless anytime i went to perform. had a few bad experiences when i was younger and i'm still uneasy with it. strange thing is i'm fine with the electric guitar and with drums. hopefully i can minimise the bad experiences with proper practice, but i have exams all the time and i'm not getting over it yet, a bit frustrating to say the least.

[Me.2]

Originally posted by jimi
hopefully i can minimise the bad experiences with proper practice, but i have exams all the time and i'm not getting over it yet, a bit frustrating to say the least.

The bad experiences are the Past jimi, No point beating yourself up over them. And you know what,.....like the rest of the planet you'll experience some more because,...... thats what Experience is..........an experience to learn and grow.

Frustrations trying TOO hard..relax,,,if you f up you f up. watch football and see how many times they f up. Its been and forgotten in a matter of minutes unless its a game of great importance.

Its interesting why musicians continue to give themselves a hard time?

[jimi]

I think it just brings out the worst in me. i have no probs with any other instruments/styles i play, but i cant transfer that outlook to the classical guitar. Obviously i'm gona do my best again, maybe i'm just worrying cos my college degree depend on it!! wouldn't giv an 'f' otherwise:D
Thanks for the advice, maybe i can apply virg inspiration and dedication to help me through!

[Me.2]

What you need to realise jimi is making mistakes is ok. believe me i've suffered and sampled what you're saying and i'm confident more on a kit than on guitar...... even though people have told me i can play.

But its just FEAR....a fear of making a mistake and looking foolish in front of others and thats to do with the ego.

Its an easy thing to understand but harder to let go because......who wants to look foolish. The point is.....the mistake is quickly forgotten but WE......tend to drag it on in our mind. like self punishment..

Much easier to get miss whiplash to punish us and pay for the pleasure. Right!....off to see her now! :D

[jimi]

Miss Whiplash, eh?? is she expensive?:D

[alencore]

lol.

well, i for one tend to get a little adventurous once i get on stage especially if the guys are already on the comfort zone. i would throw some technical fills and i would repeat the shit if could not get it right the first time. i wasn't playing it safe for most cases on small club dates. but on major events i do screw up bigtime and now i just laught at them. but still i would still throw some few adventurous fancy stuff on big events just to make sure i'm not a that "play it safe" kind of player. it was a reputation some ppl understand and some would interpret me as the sloppy one. heck, i don't care about those ppl coz i was playing drums just to have fun.

[Me.2]

Originally posted by jimi
Miss Whiplash, eh?? is she expensive?:D

She is if i go only 6 days a week instead of seven...Gotta have a day off jimi.....its hard work! :D

[peter]

I might be a tad nervous for about a
couple of bars if it's the first night in
a while. After a couple of bars, it's an
old hat. You just bend and pull it and
it fits like it always did.

[rythmtroll]

Just this remember everyone. Playing on stage is SO FUN!!!! Forget about all the people and play your heart out. ITS YOUR SHOW!!! Its not you dont know the part already. Just Relax and be determined to complete our mission as a DRUMMER. You can make mistakes,its ok!.Were human and its natural to lose complete focus for a quick second. Who cares. If something goes wrong just make up for it by throwin a chill little lick in there. We all have a spiritual drumming voice..............SO SPEAK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! RythmTroll here signing out.

[morgenthaler]

A little bit of tense energy can bring the best out of you.
If you are too confident, you will most likely not be as focused and ready as if you are just a little nervous.
This is my experience anyway....

[jonberg]

I agree with you Morgenthaler!!

[rythmtroll]

VERY TRUE, NERY CRUE, HAIRY POOH

[jimi]

some fo my nervousness on the guitar stems from not preparing properly for an event (comp. exam etc.). when i was a teen there was always something more important to do (ie. hang out with friends and do nothing) and i probably just thought id do fine without noticing that you get out what you put in.
i guess on the drums i can put all of right by doing it properly:)

[wcma]

do i need to rely on the mics in the drums? or i really have to hit louder? how about when im doing a 32 note that was very fast but cannot make it louder. please give me your advice

[scott h]

There is a wonderful trumpet player from Sydney (Australia) who says that when he is on stage he is ''safe'', he is home, and can forget all his off-stage troubles. I think preperation is the biggest preventer of stage fright, also to know the other musicians really well too. I'm from Melbourne, Australia, by the way...Virg's home town.

[peter]

I can get nervous, when I'm not familiar with
an arrangment OR if I am playing with some-
one, who is a monster. In those cases, the
answer always is to get familiar with the mat-
erial and concentrate on what I have to do.

[Smirnoff]

I am not really nervous, quite the opposite. The exception is when I am not quite familiar with the material, such as when I had to go on stage with 9mm the first time when I joined them, which was about a week after I heard a single note of their music for the first time. Basically I had a week of learning an hour and a half worth of material in addition to playing to click track on stage, due to the DAT machine with the samples/effects in the background. In addition to that we had the band Disturbed watching us perform (and considering they were friends with 9mm before I joined and were judging me as "the new guy" I felt like I am in the hot seat. So that was pretty frightening the first night, after that I was fine.

The other time was during the lesson with Mike Mangini he asked me to whip out an improvised best drum solo I could do that particular day, hour, and minute. That was a bit of a shock. What do you say/play/think when you got Mike Mangini watching your every note?

[Lucius]

Far out, so what did you do, did you just blow? Or say you couldnt, Pete Drummond did that to me sort off, and man, I was nervous as hell, the most nervous anyone could possibly be!

[Smirnoff]

Well, I did play a solo, and I did the best I could AT THAT POINT IN TIME. Which was, in my opinion, far from what could do before he actually asked me. And not in a good way, LOL. I don't think it sucked, but it certainly wasn't even up to my standards, let alone his.

The funny thing is, he said my feet are better than his were at that point in his playing (17 yrs of playing). While the compliment was nice and all, it still didn't improve the situation - I want his current speed NOW. :D

[timthedrummer]

i had pete drummond do that to me in my lesson too, i wasnt nervous cuz i knew pete is just a champ and wouldnt tear me down!
its so weird for me cuz i actually play so much better at shows... i just feel like its a time to put everything from practicing together and its the best feeling. of course i try to stay approapriate... its all in your mindset- i just warmup, stretch, listen to music and just keep a happy vibe
cheers

[Jyty]

I´m a drummer in a metal band in Helsinki, Finland. My Band is performing in the best rockclub in Helsinki (Tavastia) next thursday. Even though I´ve played there several times before, I always get really nervous before the show. The reason is simple. All my friends are in the audience. I´ve played before 3000 people and NOT been nervous at all. But when I play before 100 and know 20 of them, it`s completely different mindgame for me. Do any of you guys have the same thing? Beeing nervous is not a bad thing, as long as it doesn`t turn to FEAR. Comments?

[mauricio]

Yeah - I tend to get more nervous when there is people I know in the audience

[Raul]

when i'm nervous,i always play some standard and not so complicated things in the beginning

i see that i can reach a high level,when i know very well what i'm going to play and i had a lot of practice before!
when i'm "cold" or "afraid",it's better wait a favorite moment ..

i can say that often i do my best when i'm relaxed at home with my Roland :)

[Lad.]

In order to not get nervous, you must think this way.

It's not like everyone out in that audience is thinking " I could do better than him / her any day! "
They're there to watch you. Heck, half of the people in the audience don't even understand how you're doing some of the stuff you're doing on drums. Think of it that way.
Put yourself back in mind to the time before you started playing drums. The first few drummers you saw were AMAZING, even if they were just doing a simple AC/DC drum beat or something. That is how they picture you. They all think you're the man, and you must remember this at all times. Don't let that get to your head though. Pretend that you're just practicing, and there's a bunch of people around. It works out just fine. Also, keep a good stage personality. Throw out some of that Mike Portnoy wise-guy drum humor. ( see "Scenes from New York DVD" to understand what I mean )
Fear is only a feeling, much like an itch or a tingle. It's to be ignored.

[Lad.]

it depends on who you are playing with. although my band way back was quite awesome so i wasn't insecure whoever bands that plays really good. sometimes i get nervous off stage but once i get up there and started setting and adjusting the drums i'm on roll.

btw rythmtroll, it's not proper to post on CAPS. As if you are shouting at us. So I suggest you use these cuter small fonts, hehe.

You are exactly right. It does depend on who you're playing with. If your'e playing with some losers who don't know how to play guitar if their life depended on it, and if their messing up makes you look bad, then you have every right in the world to be nervous.
HOWEVER...on a different note...
Say that Steve Vai himself comes and plays with you. Will you be nervous then? Joined by him is Joe Satriani, Tony Levin, and John Petrucci.
Still nervous?
If so, you have problems. It's all in the mix, really. If you have pros at your side, you will play better.
If you have lesser musicians at your side, you will play like a windup toy with no dial.
That's my view...which doesn't necessarily apply to anyone else here.