Hot answers tagged performing
55
You will always make mistakes, so the key is practicing in a way that eliminates mistakes.
"Practice makes perfect" is a Big Lie.
If you don't practice in a smart method you will never get that good -- so what is important is not just practice itself, but good practice technique.
When practicing a piece of music or song, there are really two modes I ...
38
There are formulas and sets of harmony formulas that musicians know of. ie. Chord Formation. I, IV, V7 sets of harmony; Chord Substitution; Fifth Motion, Dominant motion; Diatonic Cycles of Fifths, Chord Tone Substitutions, etc.
Each chords in each set have their own characteristics that you need to know what they represent. I can be indicative of what each ...
38
I recall seeing a show years ago. fIREHOSE was doing a "50 states in 50 days" tour, and this show was a triple bill with Madder Rose opening. Madder Rose's bassist popped his E string, and he just knocked the bassline up an octave, which really kicked the song into fifth gear. He then spent minutes trying to beg, borrow or steal a bass or bass string, which ...
23
I had a teacher who liked to say "The key to overcoming performance anxiety is through rigorous application of technique." This basically means: practice, practice, practice. Practice not until you get it right, but until you can't get it wrong. Practice until the technique you have to execute on the guitar is just as natural as clapping your hands.
There ...
18
There are three possibilities:
The musicians are "faking it" based on their knowledge of theory. This notion may be romantic but in my experience it is rather unlikely. There's simply too much that could go wrong. This isn't a jam session or a concert, it's a TV performance to showcase a singer. That said, in other situations they might be perfectly ...
18
Stage presence is a complicated thing, if only because it comes in so many varieties. If we were to compile a list of guitarists considered to have a great stage presence, we would probably find that no two are quite alike.
Let's start with the fundamentals - stage presence is the conveyance of feeling comfortable on stage and complementing your musical ...
17
Generally no. As long as they aren't bleeding it's just part of the process of building up callouses for playing. You may experience some swollen finger tips and the skin will get a bit harder. If pain persists for a long time after you stop playing, or if you're bleeding, you might have cause for concern.
There's some honour to be had among fellow players ...
16
Practice makes perfect.
Really, there is no magic to it. Just keep practicing so that you won't make that mistake again.
Practice or practise (see spelling differences) is the act of rehearsing a behavior over and over, or engaging in an activity again and again, for the purpose of improving or mastering it, as in the phrase "practice makes perfect".
...
15
This is common for mainly two reasons:
Most musicians are clueless about gain structures, electronics, and acoustics.
It is easier to turn one knob up than every other knob down.
The solution:
Wear ear plugs, use in ears, or just live with it. Chances are you can't change these people. If you feel you can then try to reason when them.
The situation ...
13
Guitarists especially are known for putting on fresh strings just before a performance. Orchestral strings generally do not, but they do make sure to follow good maintenance practices and change strings when they are due.
If the instrument is in an appropriate playable condition, you shouldn't have strings breaking totally at random. Perhaps in your case ...
12
My hands can shake just by thinking about performing to others.
I used to play at church, first few times I get really anxious and keep making mistakes. After few months of performing, I got used to it, and everything was quite fine. One time it get worse when I have to perform in another place (out of my comfort zone and normal audience). I was totally ...
12
Disregarding expensive hi-tech solutions
There are really only three answers, and you've covered them in your question; with some extra choices within each one:
No on-stage tuning; no help
The only way to achieve this is with a separate guitar for each tuning.
No on-stage tuning; a helper
While you're playing, the helper is preparing your guitar for the ...
12
Two main ways:
Record the song in-studio and "DJ" the recording in the club.
Bring your group to a club and play live using the synthesizers/samplers/drum machines you'd use in the studio.
Both are seen, but most club scenes use the first model overwhelmingly, and have done so long before house music was developed, for many reasons:
Electronic dance ...
11
Strings can break for several reasons:
Excessive force: Often times playing live results in playing harder. You may be digging your pick in more than normal and therefore applying more force than usual, resulting in breaks.
Improper string installation: Strings should be stretched during installation (just bringing them into tune doesn't stretch them ...
11
For me, the issue stems from the difference between practice and public performance. Most of us, I think, practice far more than we perform publicly. Since a primary goal of practice is improvement, and improvement requires self-assessment, a musician can get used to constant self-assessment when practicing.
Understanding that, I think the key is to "turn ...
11
Assuming they don't already know the specific song (it's quite likely they do), it's possible it's a contrafact: a song based on the chord progression of a jazz standard; e.g. 12-bar blues or rhythm changes. Or a pop song using a common progression with just 3 or 4 chords; e.g. I I IV V or I V IV V or I IV vi V or I iii IV V, etc
11
First off, relevant to your question, a tight throat is a sore throat. The number one most common mistake novice singers make is controlling their breath (and thus volume and phrasing) by constricting their throat. First, this clamps down on several key areas of resonance, reducing projection and increasing the nasal quality of your voice (which most people ...
10
I've broken strings quite a few times while playing guitar leads.
I think how you react to that depends on the material. In my case I'm playing original songs, and the lead parts are largely improvised anyway. So I just keep playing on the other strings - no big deal.
I think if I was playing a cover song, I would still try and improvise the lead. I don't ...
10
The key to overcoming this is simply to do it a lot, just like the key to getting better at playing is to practice. Kill two birds with one stone- practice in public. If you're constantly practicing where others can hear you, a performance ends up being the same as a practice and won't feel so psychologically nerve-racking. There's a spectrum of performance ...
10
In my experience, it is usually easier to play a grand piano. A grand piano responds better in many ways, for example:
The dynamic scale is bigger. I find it much easier to get a good relaxed fortissimo from a grand.
The notes just ring longer. This makes cantabile playing easier and it's also easier to play slowly.
Combining the previous two, it's easier ...
9
The best thing you can do is to know your stuff.
Practice it well beforehand, and know your material very well. This way you can get into the groove and stay there (and not be thinking about how sweaty your palms are, or how you're certain the folks in the back row can see your limbs trembling from fear) and then the next thing you know will be along the ...
9
TV-show bands research the music of guest artists beforehand, including the keys in which they work. They do this for a few reasons, not the least of which is the off chance that there is an improvized request for a tune. But on the whole everything is staged including what looks to be a spontaneous jam. The best perfomer in the world will sound bad with bad ...
9
The short answer is - because they can hear how the song goes, and they know how to translate those pitches into a chord progression on their instrument that quickly. Because they went to music school or because they have many years of experience or both.
It's not faked or rigged or a trick.
While it does look like magic, it is a surprisingly common skill ...
9
Is there a particular set of skills that you'd say is required before one considers joining a band?
Not really. Look for other players at about your own skill level. If you are taking classes, perhaps your teacher can advise you of others looking to play together. If you are reasonably comfortable playing in front of others, you should do reasonably ...
9
I don't think there's a silver bullet answer. Here are a few thoughts though.
Have you tried chamomile tea? It's easily available at practically any grocery around here.
There are practice techniques that help to improve your technique while nervous. For violin, there's the one-minute-bow practice, where you try to produce a tone for an entire minute on ...
9
Will approach this from the standpoint of drums, but the same advice applies to amps and other backline equipment.
Communication
The best way to handle this would be for the stage manager to get in touch with the owner of the drum kit and clear adjustments ahead of time. If you know who these people are ahead of time, some emails and phone calls can go a ...
9
As I'm sure you're aware, you can transpose any tune to whatever key you like.
One reason to choose a certain key, is simply that it sounds good.
It might be that you feel that notes of a certain pitch inherently sound pleasant on your chosen instrument. I happen to like the tone of my guitar with a capo on the 7th string, for example.
Or it might be ...
9
In my opinion, definitely not.
As a performer, there will always be aspects of a venue and the set-up that are unfamiliar or at least not ideal. Learning to adapt is an important skill.
Your mic might not work with their setup.
Swapping mics, adjusting volume and EQ, etc. is going to take some time. Will they accomodate you? I'd say it's just going to ...
9
Your drummer should be capable of playing along to a rhythm set by another instrument rather than leading the tempo all the time. Can he drum along to a metronome?
If the problem is that the keyboard isn't always sounding the beat (maybe you have a couple of bars without playing, or just holding a chord without rhythm?) then you need to add something for ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
