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Of
course the fear originates from the possibility of having
the ego bruised. It's all mental and it's self-inflicted:
"What
if I say something stupid? What if I stutter? What if
I lose my place and just look stupid? I've made fun
of some of my friends after their reports, I know they'll
return the favor."
The
fear of public speaking or fear of public performance
is one of the most common fears that humans experience.
I'm not here to help you give a great book report but
I am here to explain the value of feeling extreme mental
pressure while you're playing guitar. I don't want to
cause you anxiety but do want to explain why performance
anxiety is necessary for you to become a better player.
It's
Just a Hobby Dude
Many guitarists that play as a hobby have absolutely
no interest in performing for anybody. They feel this
way primarily because of "performance anxiety"
which is the fear of failure while performing. It's
as easy for you to feel this anxiety the first time
your mom listens to you play as it is for a rock star
to feel this anxiety before going on stage. The level
of fear can be quite similar regardless of the number
of people watching the performance.
You've
probably learned a song that sounded great in your practice
setting but the second you played it for someone the
piece completely fell apart. Here's why. When you're
alone, playing guitar becomes "second nature".
You don't even think about what you're playing. The
second that your playing becomes a performance for others
you suddenly "get real," move into a heightened
state of reality, and start analyzing everything - finger
movement, the particular chords that you're playing,
and the difficulty of hand eye coordination. Instead
of allowing your subconscious to play guitar you're
suddenly playing guitar consciously. Instead of performing
you become a critic. The problem is, you haven't played
guitar consciously since you were an absolute beginner.
Remember thinking, "this finger goes on the third
fret, this one goes on the second fret…"?
It's
no wonder that people fear to perform because they haven't
learned to play guitar in that state of mind. And that's
the key- performing is a learned behavior. People think
that you must learn to overcome the mental pressure
and heightened state of awareness, that you must learn
to ignore the pressure. Not true. You must learn to
accept the pressure and actually embrace it.
How
to Overcome Stage Fright
How do you do this? The same way that you learned to
play guitar: practice, practice, practice. How do you
practice performing? Perform for others every chance
you get. While you're performing for mom, dad, sister,
brother, aunts, cousins, uncles, friends, enemies, and
others realize that each performance is an opportunity
to learn to play "under pressure." There's
no way to overcome this fear without actually playing
in a performance setting.
The
more often that you perform the better you get at it.
I've stood on stage in front of a few hundred people
and been so bored that I couldn't even remember playing
the song once it was completed. It was all second nature.
How
did I learn to become comfortable in performance settings?
First, I was nervous playing in front of other band
members. Then, the band played a series of one-nighters
and I was nervous playing in front of an audience. I
finally became completely comfortable playing on stage
when I was in my early twenties performing cover material
in Underground Atlanta. Underground Atlanta (at the
time) was a tourist attraction with three competing
rock clubs. The club owners only wanted bands to play
the most popular material because tourists would only
listen to a few songs before moving on. So basically,
bands played one set of material, forty-five minutes
in length, five times a night, six days a week. That
was my way of becoming completely comfortable playing
in front of an audience.
I've
explained the process without explaining the value.
There is nothing more valuable to the technical advancement
of your guitar playing than to embrace live performance.
Why is that? It will show you the flaws in your technical
skill in a way that sitting in your comfortable practice
room can't.
Here's
why. Let's say you have a flat tire on your way home
from work. You're lucky enough to pull into a tire service
center before it goes completely flat. How is it determined
where the leak is? The repair person fills the tire
with air pressure. The weak spots will leak because
of the increased pressure.
Record
yourself during a live performance. Listen to the recording.
The weak spots will be as obvious as a tire leaking
air. You will hear technical flaws that would never
appear in recordings of you playing in a comfortable
setting. This teaches you what to practice. Record your
next performance, find other flaws and eliminate them.
Repeat this procedure until you're absolutely amazing.
Michael
Angelo Batio - Feerless Guitar
We recently upgraded the original program of Speed Kills
to version 2.0 so I was studying the program for the
first time in years. I love Michael's story about learning
to play the double-guitar. He describes his first live
performance with the guitar in front of twenty-four
thousand people, "I was playing and it sounded
like all noise. I was so scared and my hands were jumping."
Still, he knew enough about performing to act like everything
was okay and the crowd went wild. It's amazing what
you can get away with in front of an audience if you
don't let on that you sound terrible. When he walked
off stage his singer said, "So dude, you going
to quit?" Michael replied, "What? Are you
crazy? I've just started."
If
you pay attention to that story you will learn more
about Michael's approach to mastery than if you spend
years endlessly practicing the exercises in Speed Kills.
When it comes to playing guitar Michael is absolutely
fearless. I don't know of anybody that performs live
more than Michael. He performs at guitar clinics more
than 70 days a year with an additional 40 other live
performances. For his clinic performances he doesn't
even depend on the comfort of playing "his guitar"
or "his amplifier." He pulls a guitar off
the wall, plugs in and plays.
When
you perform as much as Michael does you receive the
feedback that only playing under pressure allows. He
gets an opportunity to test his skills under pressure
more than any guitarist that I know. I'm convinced that's
a major reason that he is more technically proficient
than any guitarist that I know. He experiences technical
flaws under pressure and has the self-discipline to
correct them.
So
next time someone walks into your practice space, enjoy
the performance opportunity. Record the performance
and observe the flaws in your technique after the performance.
You'll learn to thrive on the pressure of performance
just like Michael does.
Here
are a few tips to become comfortable while playing live
performances:
-
Prepare for the performance and trust your preparation.
Have confidence and trust in your ability to perform
the piece without conscious effort.
-
When playing gigs, become familiar with the room before
the performance. Show up early and absorb the vibe.
Don't rush into the facility at the last minute. When
you show up early it allows the nervous energy to dissipate.
-
The first song should be something that isn't challenging.
You may gradually increase the level of difficulty during
the performance but be very careful to not play anything
that truly challenges your ability.
-
If you choose to play something challenging figure a
way to bail out if you start feeling uncomfortable.
For example, if you've memorized a difficult lead passage
with alternate picking be prepared to substitute a hammer-pull
section that you can perform in your sleep. Just having
a way to bail out can give you the confidence to pull
off the challenging section.
-
Turn off all analytical, critical thinking. You're a
performer, not a critic.
-
Stay in the moment. Don't focus on mistakes in the past
or difficult sections in the future. Just remember,
95% of the time the audience has no idea that you made
a mistake unless your reaction to the mistake is obvious.
Once a mistake is made it's in the past.
-
Breathe deep, long, and slow before and during the performance.
It will help you relax.
-
Perform for the audience. Don't try to understand what
individual audience members are experiencing. Chances
are, your observations will be incorrect. Observing
the audience too closely turns you into an observer,
not a performer.
-
Don't concentrate on technique because that activates
the critical part of the brain. It's okay to focus on
a single tendency like to play smooth, or breath comfortably
or slow down. Just allow one of these thoughts to influence
your overall performance.
-
Enjoy the music and your performance. Treat the performance
as a celebration of your hard work rather than as an
intimidating experience. Embrace this opportunity to
truly test your skills.
Copyright
2008 - Doug Marks for Metal Method Productions, Inc.
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