Do you get nervous before performing?

[Brian Krashpad]

Just prep/practice as much as you can, and then once you're up there have fun. Also, have a backup for most everything (strings, 9-volts, second guitar, etc.), because Krashpad's Guitarist's Corollary to Murphy's Law is "Whatever breaks or malfunctions will be the one thing you didn't bring a backup for."

If you're really concerned about blanking on the music, make cheats and lie them on the floor, and glance down if necessary.

 

[Fab4]

If you're really concerned about blanking on the music, make cheats and lie them on the floor, and glance down if necessary.

The last few times I've seen Sting perform, either live or on TV, he had a music stand in front of him...and a lot of artists use teleprompters that look like floor monitors (they do their audio monitoring through in-ears). My theory is, if Sting wants/needs/gets away with having cheats on a stand in front of him, so can I, especially if I'm doing casuals or one-offs where it doesn't pay to even TRY to memorize the stuff.

 

[Jimi75]

When I was younger I dealt with some lighter form of stage freight, nowadays I just jump on stage and play - the only occasion I recently became nervouse was on X-mas eve when a friend and I had to perform an acapella version of Amazing Grace in front of the community during the X-mas ministry. For "normal" gigs, I make sure everything is comfortable for me, which means my amph is warm (the tubes), batteries in my pedals are full, my back up guitar is on stage ready at hand, everything is positioned well, for e.g. the microphone, my personal Talisman is on stage. I need at least 30 minutes to warm up and I do it all on my own apart from the colleagues. Sending out a little prayer before important gigs can also be a great help to release pressure. I always try not to look the audience in the eye during the first two songs. Eye contact can be a killer in the beginning of a set! I concentrate on the songs and I make sure that I get into the groove. The groove depends on the entire band so it differs from gig to gig. After having earned the first two applauses it's time to get in contact with the audience, then I have get used to the situation and to the given circumstances of the location and I feel relaxed in playing and moving on stage and playing together with the band.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

The last few times I've seen Sting perform, either live or on TV, he had a music stand in front of him...and a lot of artists use teleprompters that look like floor monitors (they do their audio monitoring through in-ears). My theory is, if Sting wants/needs/gets away with having cheats on a stand in front of him, so can I, especially if I'm doing casuals or one-offs where it doesn't pay to even TRY to memorize the stuff.

I just have a terrible memory, period. I can forget lyrics to songs I've written. For my side bands where I'm just doing the occasional backing vocal, I have a book of lead sheets with chords, and will glance at it at the beginning of the song to refresh my memory, but rarely if ever need to actually use it during a song.

With my main band, it's the opposite, I know the music but may have probs with the lyrics. So that book is of lyrics rather than chords. I try to do the same as with the chord lead sheets, a glance before starting, but if I go up on a lyric I'll look down during the song.

I put the songs in the books so that 2 songs are visible (left and right pages) at once, so I only have to turn a page every 2 songs instead of every song.