Overcoming Stage Fright - GuitarLessons365

Sign up for my GL365 Academy to finally understand the guitar, develop a great ear for music, pro level technique and much more! Personalized support from me!

Does the thought of playing music in front of people keep you up at night with dread? Hopefully, the tips I give in this video will help you overcome the negative effects of performance anxiety.

First, as I mention in the video, a great book on this topic that also contains great advice on practicing and many other musician related topics is The Musician's Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness by Gerald Klickstein. Gerald taught me classical guitar briefly when I was a teenager at the N.C. School of the Arts. He had me do many of the same procedures found in this book and they did a lot for my stage confidence.

Your comfort level when performing has to do with many things including your own personality traits, your past performance experiences and more.

The key to dealing with and eventually overcoming the fear of performing for others is to set in motion a string of positive experiences from performing. There are many way to accomplish this, and in this video I will tell you my personal favorites.

I hope these tips will help you find a greater confidence while performing and help you reach greater musical heights. #overcomingstagefright #performanceanxiety #stagefright

Carl...

[thezestychunk]

I always remind myself that most of the people listening are not musicians and if I mess up that it doesn’t necessarily mean that they noticed or will harshly judge me for it. I know this is probably weird way to go about it but that’s how I think of it, thank you Carl for this awesome vid and stay zesty...

[RemyTrahant]

Great lesson, Carl! Even when I go to my guitar lesson and play with my teacher I get nervous and don't play as good. I really like the idea of your teacher having the students play something simple but in front of the class on a daily basis. I think that's the best way to overcome this anxiety.

[scottlenox]

I’ve done quite a few performances in musicals, to athletics to playing in a band for about 3yrs and now with my job I do a lot of public presentations. 1.) the more often you do it, the more comfortable you feel in the next one. Try to perform more regularly than having a lot of time in between. 2.) The crowd won’t notice a minor mess up. 3.) If there are lights, it may be difficult to see the crowd, just sing and look into the lights. 4.). It’s always easier after your first song / 2min of presenting. The nerves kind of fade away. 5.) Like he said, be kind to yourself in the end.

[Poco]

Great reminder of, as my high school football coach would say, doing the little things! Get those steps right then everything else falls into place. I 100% agree with you on positive performance situation. I remember working up to my first performance in my high school garage band. We slowly allow people to come to our rehearsals to get used to performing in front of more and more people before going to the live performance. Helped a ton! Also I would echo to practice the way you will perform, stand up with your instrument when you practice, wear the outfit you'll wear on stage, etc. Thanks again Carl for your insight!

[christianalexander]

A strategy I used, is mostly focus on the music and enjoy it, hearing the music I like really eases almost all the stress, also focusing on your bandmates boosts your confidence a little bit too

[BlackRaven]

I love this video! Such wise words! Your channel is incredible!

[kasnitch]

I practice until I can play the piece with my eyes closed . then I practice more and deliberately distract myself to improve recovery . eventually the anxiety lessens and you can enjoy the performance alone or not .

[arcticturd]

His voice sometimes reminds me of Kirk Hammett

[PotterFan]

Just your cat there 😂😂😂
I remember feeling horrible everytime I had a flute solo performance. I totally blew an audition over nerves!

[Riffman]

People are there to have fun and be entertained. So have fun and be entertaining. SMILE! If you want people to smile, smile at them. Make eye contact. When you get your audience on your side (and they WANT to be on your side) it makes performing easy.

[donnamanning]

I performed in front of a bunch of my residence the other day as many times as I’ve practice over and over I got some anxiety hands clammy I got so nervous but everybody still clapped and praised me I just didn’t like the feeling that I was getting and I want to try to work with it watching your video you’ve given me some ideas so I hope it gets better in the long run. I’ve been playing almost 3 years I’m 62 yes I’m a late bloomer but never too late to learn

[Zosojuan]

When I saw the queen movie I got stage freight when they showed the live aid parts 😂 I was so mesmerized I was picturing myself on the stage jamming with them lol

[roycobb]

Hey Carl, For your next video could you angle one of your cameras so that we can see your pick- up selector switch.
It would be helpful to know what pick-up you're using during the lesson. Thanks so much for the great lessons!

[ThrashRebel]

When I was a guitarist/singer in a thrash-metal band I just let my hair hang in my face.
😂
When I was the singer for a “Alice in Chains-type” band, I kept turning my back to the audiences. My band mates got on me about it & told me I needed to keep facing the audience because I was the singer, the one most people looked at.

To be honest, I just blocked out the audiences while singing. I cannot remember anyone’s face from those crowds. They were a “blur” to me.

[iloveheavymetalmetalrules]

Thankyou Carl so much your videos are great thankyou

[TheMightyPirateTm]

Great topic, this is something I struggle with. I'm super nervous even when I play for my friends, I can only imagine what it would feel like to be up on stage. Thanks for the tips, I will check out the book :)

[opprrer]

Thank you for this video!
I have played on stage infront of my town before, but I always get soo nervous!
This video should help! :)

[nacienlos]

Ohh.... I have had some bad moments on stage. Just surviving a whole show not enjoying one moment of It. And memories haunting me afterwards. If I still go on with it, it is because I love playing guitar, so eventually I will conquer this shit.

[PotterFan]

This is such a great way to look at it, thanks for your advice!

[briankeesler]

I am by no means at the level of performing on stage 😆 that said I love the guitar, I love to practice and I love learning however, Tbh I have such an anxiety about even recording myself that as a premium subscriber to Carl Browns academy I can hardly make a video to send him and what’s worse he’s such a nice guy a great teacher 🤦‍♂️ . It’s truly a uncomfortable feeling I recently just stopped playing for about a month because I was so upset with myself about this. My daughter ever supportive informed me a few days ago “dad, your learning your supposed to be bad, ” 😂 Maybe one day I’ll work through this soon I hope 🤞 need to make videos to get better right?