First Performance

So I have played guitar for about a year now and I started singing with my guitar playing 2 or 3 months ago. Well I started playing some music with some friends last weekend and I get informed Tuesday or Wednesday that we all were invited to play a friend's birthday party. Well there are three of them and they play alt-rock/metal and I play folk/punk (we are working on trying to get a folk-metal band together) and so they're going to play a set and I get to play a set alone. Well I am assuming there are going to be more than 5 or 6 people there, and 5 or 6 people is all I have ever played for all at once. I am crazy nervous. I sat down and played a song the other night and sang it and couldn't get it right, mind you I've done this song a hundred times or more. I am just nervous I am going to screw up and embarrass myself. Any suggestions?

 

Just try not to think about it. Occupy your mind right up until the moment that you need to start playing, the longer you spend sitting around being nervous the harder it'll be to get up and play. I don't play an instrument but I used to do quite a lot of acting. I found that when I treated my performances as rehersals it was a lot easier. I mean like, not over-thinking what you need to do and just taking it as it comes. If you can start off by showing your audience that you're confident they'll let you get away with more later on. Now don't go overboard on this but if you have a few beers before you go on stage it'll calm you down. Just make sure you can still play properly! :L Good luck dude!

 

It's natural to be nervous as well as being a good thing. Nerves make a performance much better if you ask me. I played drums in a brass band for about a year and I got nervous every time even though I wasn't even main stage. Heck, famous singers even get nervous.

The best thing you can do is just go with it, you'll get lost in the music and it'll be fine. I had to do a presentation to a panel of 10 people for a job interview the other day, I knew about it literally an hour before and so had about 40 minutes to prepare. I was almost shaking to be honest, but just thinking "these peoples' opinions of me don't really matter", honestly, you can't get rid of nerves so just keep practising and you'll do great.


It'll be alright on the night!

 

Like the guy above me said go for it, no one will be looking at you trying to judge you, they will try to enjoy the music and have fun. Believe me you don't have anything to worry about.