You And Your Guitar On Stage

Generally, every person who learns how to play the guitar has aspirations of performing.

Some people only desire to perform in front of family and friends, while others desire to perform on stage in front of millions. In fact, two of the main reasons people learn to play the guitar are to showcase their talents and to share their love of music with the world.

Whether you are performing around a campfire with a handful of friends, performing in a small cafe in front of a hundred, or are on stage with hundreds of thousands of adoring fans screaming at the stage, the tips found herein will help you prepare for performing with your guitar. These tips are proven and have been effective for thousands of guitar players around the world.

Always Play For The Love Of Music!

When you play the guitar in front of an audience you should always be playing for the love of the music. If you don't have a passion for the music that you are playing it will show. If you are simply going through the motions everyone around you will be able to tell that you don't even care what you are performing.

However, if you have a passion and love for music it will truly shine through when you are playing the guitar. This is why it is vitally important that you actually enjoy what you are playing. The more love you have for the variety and style of music that you are playing the better that your music will sound and performance will be.

Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

Another important thing to keep in mind is to enjoy yourself. Relax at all costs! If you are nervous or scared to perform it will truly show. Worse still, if you are overly nervous your hands will shake and you will not perform at a high level. Therefore, you should do whatever is necessary to relax! Take a deep breath and don't put too much pressure on yourself!

Always remember why you learned how to play the guitar; you will see that most people started learning to play for the sheer fun of it! It is crucial that you maintain the fun element when you are playing the guitar! Always keep your roots intact and enjoy yourself when you are performing and playing. If you don't enjoy yourself and are nervous this will truly outshine your performance and will turn off and distract those you are performing for.

Additionally, you don't want to come off as being cocky. Even if you are the 'best guitar' player in the world you need to take a step back and never take yourself too seriously. Many 'great guitar' players have lost their status when their heads got too big for their necks. Common people are turned off by a person's cockiness more than anything else when it comes to music.

Never Stall Or Give the Crowd "Downtime"

The moment you stop playing, the crowd will lose interest increasingly with each passing second. So make sure to plan out your set list and transitions ahead of time to avoid this.

And on top of that, you must be prepared for the inevitable broken string, bad wire, etc. It's going to happen. So when it does, have some jokes, crowd-involving questions/activities or stories you can tell to "fill the gap".

Things like getting an audience member to sing their favorite song backwards for a prize or some other humorous and slightly time-consuming "contest" can work wonders while you, or your crew, fix whatever might have gone awry.

Keep Your Eyes Level With the Back of the Crowd

This is a basic rule-of-thumb so that you don't end up looking down out of nervousness. Also, feel free to make eye contact with different areas of the crowd throughout the performance.

Water, and lots of it

For some reason, a lot of musicians and singers forget this one. Always, always bring a bottle of easily accessible water with you on stage. You will need it - badly.

If you keep these guitar tips and thoughts herein in mind, you will begin to perform much better. These tips are followed by the majority of guitar players and have been proven very effective for them over the years.