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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Musician Therapy

Posted by: Rusty Chops Mar 16 2011, 08:51 AM

I have been wondering for a few years about this. I am a musician with a bad case of performance anxiety. At home I can play along with a considerably difficult piece of music, but in certain situations my self doubt takes over. These things are normal according to therapists I have seen in the past, but it can be debilitating when your hand locks up during a great solo destroying performances, and for me is very hard to overcome. My question is, how do you mentally cope with this and make it less of a problem? Are there techniques you use when in doubt? Mantras you say to yourself? Ways to keep yourself from becoming to tense with anxiety to play with a relaxed feel? I have never found much on the subject of the psyche as it applies to performance arts and I think it is an interesting thing. Please contribute anything you think would be helpful as I'm sure a lot of people could benefit from an in depth discussion of this topic.

Posted by: MickeM Mar 16 2011, 09:43 AM

When I was on stage for the first time I was a bit nervous (even a couple of days before) but half way into the first song my focus had moved from the audience to my guitar playing.
Always start with an easy song, that way you get more confident and able to manage the rest as well. Try to not mind the audience, convince yourself that no one can make it better than you. They are there to watch and enjoy the show, nothing more.
After you have been on stage enough times it’ll be like a walk in the park. Something you’ll feel quite comfortable with. You enter your bubble, focus on having the gear in order and your guitar tuned. Know all songs by heart! Your worst enemy is yourself, if you start doubting how a song was arranged, which key the solo was in etc – simply put, if you start thinking you’re smoked. Know your role and perform by heart. Stick inside your bubble and don’t wander off, it could burst. …is that even graspable?
That’s at least how my experience is.

By the way, I perform sober since I think I owe it to the audience and my band mates.

Posted by: dark dude Mar 16 2011, 05:20 PM

I came across a website this week, and one of the articles that I read seems to add to this topic nicely: http://www.thewizardofshred.com/index/4-simple-ways-to-become-super-confident.

I know it looks super cheesy, especially with the suspect pictures on the right, but it's good stuff.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 17 2011, 01:31 AM

For me, I couldn't wait to try out my stage legs and start gigging and imagine my shock when my hands went to lock up at my first show. Made no sense to me. Could barely play. Awful. The good news is, like anything else, practice makes perfect. The more you gig, play out, play in front of people, the easier it seems to get. The hard part is keeping enough live gigs/shows going so that you don't lose your "stage legs" so to speak. I did notice that after a break from gigging, going back to it was fun but my hands went to almost lock up on me. Took every bit of focus I had to stop it from happening. It was during an early show with my old band GNOSTIC and the parts were crazy complex. Worked out though By the second show the finger lockup abated. Just try to get in front of people more. One person or 10 or 100, free show, demos, anything, just get in front of other folks and play.