Post by creamburmese on May 26, 2015 21:23:08 GMT
Well I just wanted to comment that I think I have the worst stage fright ever (not) recorded - however I made it a plan to try and play for other people this summer - even in the smallest way. So I am fortunate that one of our guitar jam group coordinators set up a practice open mic for people who had not performed in public before (the audience consisted solely of participants). I surprised myself by actually playing a couple of pieces (with mistakes, but nothing disastrous) reasonably well - we all went for a second round and by the second time I had relaxed some and played better. Good, I thought, better than I could have hoped for! Then this weekend I went to a folk camp where we volunteered for a band - practiced with strangers for a couple of hours with a coach, then performed on stage for the combined audience in a big auditorium. My band was me, another guitar playing backup, 2 fiddles, a melodica and 2 ukuleles. Well I was tasked with playing the instrumental introduction which was the first part of the piece I had played at the OM before - the rest of the band just coming in for the odd chord, and about half way through I totally lost my place - got it back only in time to get to the next section where the band played together. I was totally bummed out (is that word allowed?) even though I did fine in the next section. I stewed over this the whole way home, until I realised that I couldn't hear myself play very well over the chords the other band members were playing and got distracted - and we really hadn't practiced it more than a couple of times because most of the time was spent on developing the second part. At least I think that's what happened. At the OM the speakers were behind us and there was only me playing so I could of course clearly hear what I was doing. Anyone have any tips for what to do if you can't hear yourself? Should I practice with the strings muted? Help!