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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Anxious

Posted by: RageO May 6 2015, 07:47 AM

Ok Ive been playing for 25 years and im good.... in my house. Just got a call for studio work. Im sooo nervous I cannot describe it.
Recently Ive been talked onto stage several times and man i love it. Never prepared but I can rip scales so I can hang

http://www.reverbnation.com/rageo

Im no slouch some of my stuff. ESP is from here! Now Ive been called to a studio. I want it more than anything but shit I have not played with a live person in ages. Just looking for some tips to calm me on the inside as much as I look on the out side. Ive learned loads from this site hope you guys can give me some good advice!

Rage

Posted by: Ben Higgins May 6 2015, 09:25 AM

Hey man, that's great to get a call like that!

As for being nervous, just accept it. Instead of trying to swallow it down it's a lot better to acknowledge that you're feeling a bit anxious. In fact, it's going to be mixed in with some excitement as well, it just gets interpreted as nervousness. If you can just be like "I'm feeling the jitters but I'm still gonna go and nail it anyway" you'll be able to just move on and get things done instead of being paralysed by it.

It's easy for me to say, of course, because I'm not in the situation but I've been in a fair few anxious situations myself recently and I deal with it like that and by also caring a lot less about what happens. If you look at the worst case scenario and can say "Well if it doesn't work, who cares? Screw it" then you can be comfortable with the possible 'negative' outcomes, meaning you don't actually have anything to fear. What's left then is just a bit of natural excitement, adrenaline etc

You'll chill right out as soon as you get in there, sit down with a brew and start shooting the breeze

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 8 2015, 05:54 PM

I think this happens to a lot of people, probably even to studio pros who do it much more often.
My advice would be that you should trust your skills. You know that you can do it. You also know that you'll be slightly nervous at first. Good thing is that more you get into it and start playing, you'll naturally get less anxious. What I do in situations when I'm feeling like that is to try to quiet and calm my mind. Simple, I try to get focused on "nothing" and avoid having any specific thoughts flowing. I do it when driving a car to wherever I'm going and listening to loud rock n roll music smile.gif I just blast it and try to concentrate only on the road and music. No thinking about what to say, what to do/play, what will happen if this or that. This is generally what they call "being in the zone". You are only focused on one thing and not having tons of thoughts bursting through your mind. It boils down to the fact that you know that you can play guitar and your hands/mind know how to do it automatically. You don't really need to speak (in your mind) to yourself anything related to it such as "don't screw up now" ; "I can't do this fast run" etc. Such negative thoughts in most cases result in failure while if you try to blank your mind, you'll be in the zone and your fingers will just play even if you don't think much (which is the goal here). When it comes to studio work, usually playing less is usually appreciated than playing "more" or technically hard and complicated. Please let me know how the session goes?

Posted by: MisterM May 8 2015, 06:21 PM

I have no advices to give you, but you are a very good bluesman happy.gif

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 8 2015, 06:38 PM

Super congrats!! As they say "Fortune favors the prepared mind" so just make sure your prepped as you can be and have a backup for everything. Backup guitar, strings, etc. It's awful to get to a gig and have a string break and realize you forgot to bring your spare guitar etc.

Give em Hell!

Todd

QUOTE (RageO @ May 6 2015, 02:47 AM) *
Ok Ive been playing for 25 years and im good.... in my house. Just got a call for studio work. Im sooo nervous I cannot describe it.
Recently Ive been talked onto stage several times and man i love it. Never prepared but I can rip scales so I can hang

http://www.reverbnation.com/rageo

Im no slouch some of my stuff. ESP is from here! Now Ive been called to a studio. I want it more than anything but shit I have not played with a live person in ages. Just looking for some tips to calm me on the inside as much as I look on the out side. Ive learned loads from this site hope you guys can give me some good advice!

Rage


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