You’re waiting to go onstage, your mind goes blank, you can’t even hear what you’re about to play in your head – all you can do is put your trust in your practice and know that everything will slot into place once you start playing.
So how do you prepare enough so that you can trust your practice?
It starts by learning to play the music, but that’s just the beginning…
Once you’ve learnt to play the song, there are more levels of learning that you need to achieve.
Working through the following steps will prepare you thoroughly for any performance, and knowing that you are well prepared will do an enormous amount to ease those nerves!
1. Play the song
Can you actually play the song?! If you haven’t learnt to play the song correctly yet, getting onstage isn’t going to help… For this reason it often pays to choose to perform something that is “easy” for you, rather than something that is right on the edge of your ability to play.
Sure, we may all want to get onstage and impress the audience with something flashy and complex, but the truth is that playing something well (whatever the perceived “level” of the piece of music) will always go across better than a sloppy rendition of something complex or hard.
2. Play with the original song
Can you play along with the original song at full speed? You may need to start slower and build up to tempo. Once you can do that, play it faster – up the song by 5-10% and work on playing along with it. This way, when you get onstage and play with the band, it’ll feel really easy – you’ll be able to relax and listen to the other musicians. It’ll be fun 🙂
3. Play without the song
Can you play the song along with a metronome, accurately and expressively? Can you play it in time without the metronome? Once you can do this, again try playing faster than the original tempo to make it easy for yourself onstage.
Playing without the song means that you’re no longer “leaning” on the original guitar part, and when you play with the full band everything comes together, and will be even more satisfying to play.
4. Play from memory
Can you pick up your guitar and play without the written music? Can you start from any point in the song and continue? (This is incredibly important – what happens if you lose your place onstage? You need to be able to find your way back in immediately). One way to practise playing from any point is simply to start the original song at any random point within the track and see how quickly you can find your place and join in (from memory).
5. Hear/sing it in your head and visualise yourself playing every note
Learn to play the whole song in detail in your mind – not just being able to hear and sing it, but really seeing where your fingers play on the fretboard. You can do this anywhere eg lying in bed before you sleep, walking down the street, on a plane (jazz guitarist Martin Taylor is one of many who do their practice like this when on tour).
Remember that your fingers are ultimately executing what your brain is asking them to do – so most of the practice can/should take place in your head!
6. Do #5 while being distracted by something else
Try playing the song in your head whilst someone is vacuuming around you, or people are playing other music, or you’re in a noisy environment of some other kind. Test your ability to focus in this way to the utmost and you’ll be able to cope with any of the many distractions which can be waiting for you onstage (everything from issues with equipment and not hearing yourself clearly enough to having one of your heroes sitting in front of you in the front row etc).
If you can do all this, then when you’re waiting to go on, you can trust in yourself and the work you’ve done. You’ll still feel nerves, like we all do, but can be confident that when you hit the stage, it’ll fall into place.
Parting thought: Performing is a privilege that few are fortunate enough to enjoy. Remember how lucky you are to be able to tell a story (on your guitar) and be listened to. Make the most of it, and enjoy it!