Warren wrote:
If I may offer a somewhat altered but similar perspective:
You need to practice exactly the thing that you want to do. I played plenty of live gigs with a band, and then froze up on a TJ's night because suddenly I was all alone and people were staring at me rather than at the bottom of their beer-glasses. ? So if solo-acoustic is your thing, do more of that. As much as you can. It's a different vibe from having 4 other people to back you up on a shitty night.
This is interesting. I find playing with a band far easier, because the burden is shared - I don't have to make everything happen myself.
Also audiences differ. I know people who are very experienced performers who get an extra dose of the jitters when they come to TJs
because the audience there listens. There's less pressure when everybody's drinking and chatting and you're just the background noise.
But one of those people (no names mentioned) has told me that what he does is take that nervous energy and channel it into rising to what he mentally turns into a challenge rather than a fear.
I should add that I think a degree of stagefright, a degree of feeling some pressure, is not uncommon. There are plenty of stories of pro darts players who can hit bulls eyes all night long when they're down the local playing for drinks but not when they're playing for a trophy with the TV cameras on, or of cricketers who can bowl 6 great balls an over consistently in the nets but find it harder when it's the last over of a one-day international.
So go easy on yourself. Getting anxious because you're experiencing a natural and understandable degree of anxiety just compounds the problem.
I think preparation can help by reducing the number of things you have to worry about. I always like to know that my picks are in this place and that my regular capo is THERE and my drop-D capo is THERE and that I've put everything in it's place and I know my guitar is in tune.
