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Become More Confident To Play In Public
Written by Daniel
For many people playing guitar in public is more than a terrible nightmare, it's one of those things that many beginner, intermediate and even advanced guitarists dread to do.
There's more comfort in playing for your bedroom walls and shoes rather than playing for other people. My shoes don't judge me and my walls admire my skills. But we know that to achieve your dream of playing in that boy-band or making connections you will need to play for more than just your bedroom. In this post I will talking about just that - how to play in public.
Practice
Practice playing in public. This is the foundation for playing in public. What I simply mean is start off by playing for a group of people who you are confident around. This could be your close family, social circle or even siblings. Start off with a smaller group and grow on from there. Pretty simple right?
Post videos of you playing on your social media accounts
Put yourself out there. Let people know that you actually play guitar. Post your videos online and watch out for positive criticism and meaningful feedback. Not only does the internet give you a bigger audience but it's a safe space to upload your videos because you're virtually in public in the sense that you can tailor your videos to what's comfortable for you and you don't have to necessarily worry about stage presence.
Understand that people care more about your sound than how you look
Of course you need to look presentable when playing in public so that you don't bring unnecessary attention to yourself. Remember the point of playing in public is to share the music, sell your skills and develop a specific gimmick that's specific to you. The fact is people are more concerned about your playing so that's what you must focus on. Delivery over Looks.
Prioritize stage presence
That being said please don't abandon the stage presence. All legendary musicians had amazing stage presence, think about Michael Jackson, Prince, Aretha Franklin etc. These musicians and artists captured audiences with their stage presence. Do you want to be a boring guitarist to watch or do you want to entrance your audience? It's all in the body language - are you showing that you're enjoying your music or do you look bored. Your audience needs you to guide their emotions and teach them how they're supposed to feel about your music. So show them what your music means by how it moves you.
Dynamics dynamics dynamics
One sure way to captivate your audience is by applying a few dynamics to your performance. Dynamics make your performance less predictable - you always surprise your audience and keep them on the edge. Here's a few dynamics that I use ever so often:
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Switching from rugged strumming to soft fingerpicking
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Switching between loud and soft playing
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Slowing it all down
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Adding a bit of subtle scaling between chord progressions
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Playing percussively - making beats using the guitar body while also playing the chords
Understand that you're in control here
Making this discovery will change your whole perspective about playing in public, here's why:
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You're in control and only you can determine what kind of performance you want to give, you can decide when to start, you can decide when to stop, you can decide to play anyhow - it's all up to you.
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No one else knows what you want to play so no one can tell you that's wrong or you're playing the wrong progression or using the wrong technique. You can switch it up however you like and no one can ridicule you for it - that's the power that comes with playing in public.
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Most of your audience won't be guitarists so they'll have no idea what you're doing - well as long as it sounds good and musically sound, then you have nothing to worry about.
Realize that you have people's attention and time
As much as you're in the spotlight with all eyes on you always respect people's time and attention.
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Avoid wasting time by taking too long to set up, or giving long speeches (you're a guitarist not a politician).
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Get straight to the point which is playing the music. Give the people what they came for as best as you can.
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Everyone appreciates an organized musician so be on time for performances no matter how small or young the audience may be. Also have all your gear with you, don't be one of those oops I don't have extra strings or oops do you have spare batteries - be organized. Honor the commitment okay fellow guitarist?
Keep your playing simple
There's nothing worse than a guitarist who's doing the most and making a mess of the strings. Honestly I've watched and played with musicians who were doing so much on the guitar that sometimes I just had to walk away. Never show off when you're playing for an audience - unless you're doing a specified solo. Remember that public performance is all about the audience: ask yourself does my music make sense to even the toddler in the audience? What does your music say about itself and you to the audience? Does it send a specific message or are there a bunch of mixed messages that make no sense?(nonsense)
Also one more tip; playing simply helps you to be more comfortable and you can remain calm, transition smoothly, think clearly, interact with the audience and move at your own pace.
Playing in public is one of the most rewarding and beautiful gifts that come with playing the guitar. The moment you stop focusing on yourself and being in the spotlight and start to give more attention to the people watching you, prioritizing them and being in their shoes then you will definitely begin to crave more of these musico-social interactions (yep I made up that word).
About Author
Daniel is the founder of Guitar Hands Academy and an all-the-time guitar junkie. I love music and I love the guitar!
Apart from that I'm an art afficionado: I'm crazy about all things art and expression including nature, travel, architecture and fashion. I love God, He's the ultimate Creative.
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