Bigwan Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 My first gig with my new band is tonight. All covers - my first all covers band that's made it as far as gigging. The nerves are made worse by the fact that a lot of the punters will be people I know. I've always found it more nerve-racking to play in front of people I know than to play to total strangers. How do you handle gig nerves or do you eventually get over them the more you play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 [quote name='Bigwan' post='263098' date='Aug 15 2008, 02:23 PM']My first gig with my new band is tonight. All covers - my first all covers band that's made it as far as gigging. The nerves are made worse by the fact that a lot of the punters will be people I know. I've always found it more nerve-racking to play in front of people I know than to play to total strangers. How do you handle gig nerves or do you eventually get over them the more you play?[/quote] yeah..... eventually you'll just get on with it and not think about it too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 (edited) Had them on the first gig (1980) and never again. Its all in the preparation. There's a saying 'Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong'. Personally, and this is an instrument specific perspective, once you realise that noone would notice the bass player, visually or aurally, unless s/he actually caught fire, the edge is taken off it Edited August 15, 2008 by bilbo230763 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_bass Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Got less & less nervous as the gigs went by. Then when I was at college the nerves completely dissappeared. Now after a 3 year break the whole process has started again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 [quote name='Bigwan' post='263098' date='Aug 15 2008, 02:23 PM']How do you handle gig nerves or do you eventually get over them the more you play?[/quote] You eventually get over them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WILD FROG SHOT Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 My first gig was a regional BOTB heat, playing infront of about 200 people. Was definitely shitting it a bit for that gig. Never had any problems at all after that, and i'm not really an overly extroverted chap. Just enjoy it as much as possible. Oh, and I totally agree with the whole rehearse it until you can't possibly get it wrong idea mentioned above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguyhomer Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 (edited) I don't suffer with nerves at all and never have - probably because I don't give a toss what people think of me. The other members of my band are terrible and they're on edge before the gig, I'm always screaming at them "...FFS calm down it's only a f*cking pub in Chorley" but that never works. I do quite a bit of public speaking and somebody once gave me a tip that works for me. Make eye contact and smile at everyone in the front row / nearest the stage, exchange a few words with the audience before you begin. It's all about breaking the ice IME. Edited August 15, 2008 by niceguyhomer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilee Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 [quote name='bilbo230763' post='263104' date='Aug 15 2008, 02:29 PM']Personally, and this is an instrument specific perspective, once you realise that noone would notice the bass player, visually or aurally, unless s/he actually caught fire, the edge is taken off it [/quote] I snorted at that. Beautifully constructed sentence, with the joke right at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnylager Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 [quote name='Bigwan' post='263098' date='Aug 15 2008, 02:23 PM']How do you handle gig nerves or do you eventually get over them the more you play?[/quote] [quote name='bilbo230763' post='263104' date='Aug 15 2008, 02:29 PM']Its all in the preparation. There's a saying 'Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong'.[/quote] There you go Bigwan, it's the confidence of knowing you know it backwards. Best of British to you for tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Never understood this 'gig nerves' thing... In real life I'm painfully shy and have great difficulty joining in with 'normal' conversations and social settings with people I don't know very well. To me most of life is play which I've never seen the script to... However stick a guitar or bass round my neck and put me up on stage and as long as I have a vague idea of what's going on musically, I'm loving it. The more people in the audience the better, but I'll happily put on the same show for the sound man and the person behind the bar if that's all who've turned up (and it has happened). Playing live can't get enough of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike257 Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 +1 to everything BigRedX just said.... and good luck for tonight!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonshelley01 Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 As long as you know your material, you'll be fine. The most important thing is to enjoy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blamelouis Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 [quote name='bilbo230763' post='263104' date='Aug 15 2008, 02:29 PM']Had them on the first gig (1980) and never again. Its all in the preparation. There's a saying 'Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong'. Personally, and this is an instrument specific perspective, once you realise that noone would notice the bass player, visually or aurally, unless s/he actually caught fire, the edge is taken off it [/quote] Agree 100% Bilbo , and to prove that very point years ago i used to play in the next key to the song we were playing ! And guess what ? No-one noticed ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted August 16, 2008 Author Share Posted August 16, 2008 Eventful gig... First off the place was a terrible layout. 2 separate stages, both small, about 15 feet apart, separated by a walkway from the dancefloor to the restaurant. 1 stage for the drummer, another for the rest of us (2 guitarists and me). Literally if I'd stepped back I'd have been sitting on the PA desk. Whole PA crapped out 7 songs in (not my fault - I didn't step back!). After 10 minutes of fiddling with everything we could think of (and chewing the balls off the guitarist who didn't bring his spare powered desk like he was instructed to do) we muddled on by using our active monitors as the PA and turning guitar and bass amps up to 11. Funny thing was none of the punters noticed. They just thought we were having a break! Unfortunately it played with our heads a bit as I couldn't hear the drummer at all (I was standing right next to my bass amp and the guitar amp and he's not a heavy hitter). Ever tried to keep time with a drummer you can't hear? Interesting experience... Pity, since with the monitors on stage and the PA pumping we sounded better than we ever have! Positives: The manager of the place wants us back again. My bass rig is smaller than I thought I could ever get away with and sounds awesome! (Ashdown ABM 1x10 combo into an Aguilar GS112) My nerves should be fine from now on if we can get through a night like that! Drummer and guitarists singing was top notch (they take lead vocals in about half the songs overall) Negatives: The singer needs a total dressing down (called someone he knew in the croud a c*nt over the PA, got more drunk and generally unprofessional as the night wore on, couldn't sing for toffee, also progressively worse as the night wore on - although probably because he was straining his voice as he couldn't hear what was going on). Also disappeared when it was time to load-up the van... The whole PA experience has made me even more sure I want to go with in ear monitors... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Unless you lead vocalist wants to be in The Mac Lads or GG Allen, he needs to wind his neck in and lay off the sauce. If I were a punter, going to see a covers band and the singer called me a c***, I would be very upset. Sounds like YOU played a blinder and were very professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barneyg42 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Ah the old lashed up lead singer problem. Had one of those, used to rehearse with a flask of tea and sing like a bird. Come gig day down went the booze and he turned into a complete pratt and couldn't sing bugger all. That didn't last long. Just be careful that it's not a regular thing. But apart from that well done, especially for coping with the equipment problems and getting a call back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 Cheers guys. Was quite pleased with how things went, other than the PA and singer. I've spoken to our drummer since the gig (he's 'the boss') and he's of the same opinion as me. Singer needs a talking to. Also was very complimentary about my playing under the circumstances. I've talked to a few people who were there watching and they've given me a few pointers on songs that didn't suit us or didn't suit the voice of the person singing so there's a few things for us to work on. Funny how the pressure of the situation makes you panic though. Was just thinking this morning that since the mixer hadn't totally died (aux sends to the monitors still worked but the main mixer outputs didn't) that we should have run an aux out into the power amp and FOH and kept the monitors on stage. Oh well. I'll know for again! Every day's a school day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Glad it worked out! Apart from the singer, can any of the band sing a bit...? Just wonderin'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 (edited) [quote name='wateroftyne' post='264539' date='Aug 18 2008, 01:33 PM']Glad it worked out! Apart from the singer, can any of the band sing a bit...? Just wonderin'...[/quote] Cheers mate! Actually I'd say he's the weakest singer of us all. But I've never learned to sing and play at the same time (maybe time to start! Not great at harmonies either) and the other guys don't want to sing lead full time (fewer voices to harmonise then). The drummer's the best singer of us all. I'm not sure what the other guys are thinking about the whole situation, but I was aware long before the gig that the singer was weak, just didn't expect him to be pissed and abusive too... Edited August 18, 2008 by Bigwan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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