Look
at the audience. You've had plenty of time staring at
your instrument, don't do it now
After thousands of hours practicing your instrument,
you may be in the habit of staring at it while
playing. Bad idea. You can fool a lot of people into
thinking you're good if you make eye contact while
playing. Spread it around. Look at the other
musicians once in a while, maybe you'll learn
something. Maybe they will. Making eye contact
doesn't mean staring at them, just look at someone
consciously once in a while. If you're lucky enough
to play in front of more people than you can actually
see individually, use the actors' trick of looking
out over the crowd.
By
keeping your head up and looking out to the back of
the house, you'll appear as is you're involving the
whole crowd. This is more effective and important
than you'd possibly believe. A lot of amateur and
semi-pros never convince the audience there's
anything go on simply because there's no involvement.
People are sheep. If they can't tell visually you're
having a discussion with the other musicians, they
may not hear it, either. By looking into the
audience, you may be able to fool them into thinking
they're part of the act. And if they think they're
involved in what's happening on stage, they'll have a
harder time believing it's shit.
Settle
your contract before you go onstage. Know how long
and when you'll be playing, at least
After you've had enough problems with verbal
contracts, you may start insisting on paper. Make
sure you know the difference between arrival time and
the start. You may hear "We want you there at
8pm." But it could mean they expect you to start
playing at 8, or you can start setting up at 8. Big
difference. Lots of people seem to think a band can
walk in the door and start playing immediately. Make
sure the person who's going to pay you agrees to your
concept of set length and breaks. Three half-hour
sets isn't enough for playing a bar, but might be
ridiculously too much at a club as part of the show.
If you've worked up "the perfect set" only
to find the guy writing the cheque needs another
fifteen minutes, you could be out of luck if the only
thing left in your list is a polka version of
"Rawhide".
Don't
get welded before your show. You don't sound better,
honest
The audience isn't drunk before you start playing, so
you probably shouldn't be, either. If you're nervous
at the start, you're normal. Cope with it. Getting
pissed just before going on can throw off the whole
night. If things don't start out smoothly it can
escalate quickly while you fumble for solutions.
Every player I've worked with who says, "I play
better stoned/drunk/dosed," has been wrong. They
may think they sound better, but it usually just
leads to rambling pointless solos and playing too
loud. If the gig's running well and the audience is
getting toasted, you might have a bit of fun, but
don't get a head start on the whole thing. Also, it's
bad form in most shows to have the guitarist throw
up. Some bands, that's a highlight, but don't count
on it.
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