How To Be A Good Live Musician

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Performing live isn’t easy. It takes guts to walk up there on stage. With experience, many people are able to overcome the stage fright. However, there’s more to good live music than confidence. Whether you’re about to play your first gig or whether you’re looking for pointers to improve, these are some essential tips to ensure that your performance wins over the crowd.

Buy the right equipment

Playing live requires having a bit of equipment. Whilst a venue may be able to supply some of this, it helps to have your own PA system just in case. If you’re playing on instruments also consider whether they’re suitable for a live setting. Sometimes extras can come in handy. For example, if you’re a guitarist, you may want a spare guitar with you that you can pull out in case the strings break – restringing your guitar in the middle of a set won’t be an option. This equipment can cost money to buy, although in some cases you may be able to hire it or even borrow it.

Rehearse your set

Practice is key to any live show. Don’t think you can get away on improv – even the most liberal jazz acts will rehearse up to a point so that there’s a clear sense of harmony and direction. Come up with a setlist and rehearse the whole thing. If performing live is something you find scary, you may benefit from rehearsing your show right down to the minute details such as what to say to the crowd in between songs or where to position yourself on the stage. Visiting the venue beforehand is always worthwhile so that you know how much space you’ve got to work with.

Develop a stage presence

All the best live acts have stage presence. This doesn’t have to involve running around the stage or a performing a huge choreographed dance. It’s all about matching the energy of the music – even folk singers will put thought into how they compose themselves. Filming yourself is a great way of seeing what you’re like on stage. This will allow you to see during which part you may be underdoing or overdoing it. Use your own self-criticism and the criticism of others to constructively build your stage presence.

Know your crowd

Every crowd is different. You may perform to a crowd that doesn’t want to get involved at all and the next night perform to a crowd that’s absolutely wild. It’s here where improv skills can come in use, although you can rehearse for different scenarios (plus, you may know from guests you’ve invited or from a certain venue how the crowd will react). You can test the waters and try some crowd participation, but if people are still persisting to be boring and not ignore you, you may want to avoid pressuring them further. If you’re a support act, try to get people on your side by showing support for the headliner act.