First time on the bandstand

Sweet, you got through it, that's the main thing... congratulations!

We ALL get nervous, even me, when we go up to play. It's very strong at first, as you have found, but as you do it more, you learn trigger words to calm yourself and your experience level will give you confidence over time.

Did you record yourself? If so, I bet if you were to listen to yourself right now you would hear it as better than you remember it. You're so hyper-aware of every tiny mistake when you're playing that you over-criticize yourself WHILE playing. That judgmental mind is valuable in the practice room, as Rick Estrin says, but not on the bandstand. Now being away from the "experience" of it, a second listen would have you up that 50% number.

It's a general rule that you'll have issues hearing yourself well on the bandstand (if it's a full band and they play at the level of most modern bands), you get used to it over time. Also, your mind was racing a mile a minute, so your mind was incapable of hearing everything... you probably even had rhythm issues because you were to self-focused to listen to them well.

So, to help, here are some tips...

1) Watch the Performance Training Series where I spend a lot of time on this subject

2) Make sure you're in front of your amp and it's raised from the floor (closer to your ears than your feet)

3) Tell the band. "We're going to bring it down a bit for this song." This will help tremendously in hearing yourself.

4) Have a speech you tell yourself to calm your nerves before you play your first note.

5) Have water with you.

6) If you get lost, or start to really mess up, look to the guitarist and have them solo. When they're done soloing, they'll look back at you at the turnaround and you can continue on in the next chorus of your song.

7) Every performance experience is a learning experience... take it as that, and each time you'll play better.

8) You're hyper-aware of what you're playing and the tiny mistakes you'll make, but nobody else is.

I would like to share some advice that worked on me when the moment to play in front to others came:

1) If you can, start to perform with your friends in a informal situation, in my case I started on the street with a couple of guitarists. This put you in a situation in the middle because the people walk and normally nobody really cares about how you are playing.

2) Don't try to play something you are learning in these days, play what you are confident about.

3) Don't think to have to compete with better musicians, everybody has his own level, you should try to play your level good, not the next level in that moment.

4) The biggest safety net you can build is the improvisation skill. Once you are able to improvise with some consistency you know you don't have to worry, your brain will always come out with some ideas in a natural way. After 3-4 times you go in the bandstand and you find yourself able to play with the others improvising your self confidence will grow enormously.