Tips for playing live

[jono_470]

last night, my band played 3 covers as part of a school rock band show. Didnt turn out too well. First two songs (which were significantly easier) turned out OK, but the 3rd song (the trooper by iron maiden) wasnt as good as it could have been. During the solo, we kind of fell apart (with my friend playing rhythm, and me playing lead), although we managed to get it back together again towards the end. Ive narrowed it down to the following factors:

1. lack of practise. we were given one week notice for this show, and only managed to find time for 1 practise session. we had never actually played the trooper before, and i hadnt had enough time to properly learn the solo, so it was just improvised bits for most of it. Im not that good at improvising; ive only been playing for 2 years so ive got a long way to go. The rhythm player, no offense, just kinda sucks, although hes a good friend of mine, hes not very musical.

2. Lack of stage monitors. We simply couldnt hear ourselves properly. we didnt do a soundcheck, since the idiots who played before us used the mesa dual caliber for clean and ran a pedal into it, so i had to muck about with the settings afterwards. Had to turn up the master 3 times during the performance. Still, i couldnt hear the rest of my band properly, let alone hear myself properly. (on a sidenote, the mesa gave up the ghost right after our performacne, so i was lucky!!)

3. Lack of live experience. wed only played live 2 times before this, and this was hte first time with our new drummer, so were still in the stage of learning.

4. Beer. The whole band, with the exception of the drummer had an average of one can each, and i had a little bit of baileys beforehand too. Not a good idea, even though we stopped drinking an hour before the show. (btw, were sort of underaged too ) well, what do you expect when your friend's parents are out leaving a good storage of beer in the fridge??

Just wondering, which of those factors had the biggest influence on our (not so good) performance? Or was it all of em??? I know for sure that im not drinkign beer next time!

[westhemann]

beer is bad news for some people's dexterity(including mine).i can be playing awesome and if i drink one beer i suck.to a smaller extent that goes for any cold drink.when i play in public i don't drink anything except maybe a cup of coffee.also you didn't mention this but i will. drugs will mess up your playing.one time i was at a party and i dropped some acid(i was about 18).my buddy was bragging to some of the other partygoers that we were pretty good so out of nowhere instruments were found and we were set up.worse night of my life!i had to leave the stage because i couldn't even tell where i was on the fretboard.still to this day(12 years later)i think of that night and cringe.don't let this happen to you!

the best thing i can say about playing live is you need practice and you must be warmed up.if you don't feel confidant in your playing you won't perform as well.but i'm sure you already found out that it's hard to get everyone together for band practice.we once had a drummer who spent 90%of his time painting his drum kit.you can imagine how much practice he got.

the best thing to do is to set up a stereo right by your amp and play along with the cd.that way you in effect are playing with a band that makes no mistakes.if everyone in your band does this then your group practice sessions will improve every time you get together.and don't give up.everyone has bad nights.

something else you mentioned is a lack of monitors.that has nothing to do with it in my opinion.what i found when i first started was that everyone in the band wanted to be able to hear themselves over everyone else.that's not necessary as you are a band not a one man show.while you are playing with your cd's make sure that you are not louder than the guitars on the stereo.this will train your ear to pick out your sound over theirs even though you are at the same volume.when i play with my cd's i only hear my guitar if i make a mistake.if your volume is good then you will blend so well that you will sound just like the cd and if you stop playing for a moment the cd will sound like something is missing.

and don't worry if you can't keep time at first.it all comes with practice.playing by yourself is great but if that's all you ever do your rythm will suffer and your band practice will be miserable.

when i was in school me and my buddy played together so much that even without drums we were so tight we sounded like one guitar.

one more thing about volume.if you have two guitars then when you play lead it's not going to stand out like on the cd.this is normal they boost the volume on leads for recording.i never did it but i think you can get around that it a live situation.reverb helps.if you have a reverb pedal with a volume control you can set it up to play just a little louder when your using it.

bottom line more important than anything else is practice.the more you practise the more everything else will fall in line.NEVER GIVE UP!

[john]

personally(as a bass player) , i find that beer can sometimes improve my dexterity, which is important when playing bass(i have really big hands too! ) . When performing live, beer would`nt be the best as it may tire you slightly. Drink a shot of something before you perform and you will be fine.

of course this is just my humble opinion #

[westhemann]

i have noticed that other musicians are different but my dexterity suffers greatly from drinking anything cold.i think hard liquor is different but you have to ask if you want to be at the top of your game or not.i save getting messed up for afterwards.i think of it like this,any athlete will tell you it's very important to have a sweat on before a game.it raises your energy level and improves the ability of your joints to move.it also gets you pysched up.anything that takes your "sweat" away is a hindrance.maybe this isn't necessary for some styles of music but for high energy rock or metal(like iron maiden since that is what he mentioned)you need all the edge you can get.but then again my buddy could play great even if we were playing in 30 degree weather.everyone is different.i always felt it was best to give it everything you got.that way all you have are good memories not ones that make you cringe.i play slayer alot and i have to say if i am not in the proper frame of mind and warmed up i will not be able to play war ensemble or angel of death.try downpicking master of puppets after a beer or two you will see what i mean.