WHY IS LIVE PERFORMANCE THE BEST THING FOR YOUR IMPROVEMENT?
By Travis Osterloh
It’s one thing to learn and play music for yourself at home, but preforming the songs you’ve learned at home vs live seems to be a much bigger task.
Why is this such an issue for our progress? How is it we can play songs to perfection at home, but fail to produce the same result live or under pressure? Why do I feel uncomfortable playing somewhere new when I’m playing the same music I’ve played for years?
How do we overcome these challenges in our live performance?
The best method is exposure by adding a new set of challenges to your playing every practice. Learning to play in all sorts of environments, under different circumstances, and under the pressure of people watching and recorded performance.
I provided a list below of challenges to add to your practice routine. Add a different one to each practice unless you feel confident then add 2 constraints at a time.
1. Practice with your eyes closed or in the dark. Why would you do this?? Have you ever seen a live show or YouTube videos of live performances? If you haven’t seen any… I want you to go look some up by your favorite artist. The chances are if it’s not a daytime show there is a time in the show where they are unable to see. This means relying on muscle memory to preform live.
2. Record your playing, this allows you to see any mistakes you might not have noticed during your playing. I’ve This means you can go back and improve the spot you need to noticed there is an unseen pressure of playing during recorded play. It’s not as much pressure as a live performance, but it helps with the pressure to play it right the first time.
3. Play any live chance you get! I can’t stress this enough; this is the experience you need as musician. Learning how to interact with a crowd and under pressure of people watching you. I’ve learned a lot this way. One thing I’ve learned is if you make small mistakes you keep going most of the crowd won’t know in most cases.
4. Play with others as much as you can. This one crosses over with number 3 in a lot of ways. The best takes away from playing with others is you can’t replicate this at home. Learning how to build off each other, play in perfect time, harmonizing parts, dynamics of the band, mixing the sound, and soloing with a live backing track. I don’t need to say much more than find friends who are musicians and play together as much as possible.
5. Play in different climates: I don’t mean go play in the snow or in the desert even though it would be representation of it. Not every show will be perfect temperature of 70 degrees in air conditioning with the right amount of air flow. We need to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and practice playing in the heat or in the cold. This means if you need to play with 3 layers of clothing or the air conditioning on full blast… do it!
6. lastly stand up and move around during practice. Do you really want to sit down or stand stationary during a performance? I want you to take a second look at the live video from number 1. Do the musicians sit throughout the performance or do they move around the stage engaging the crowd? Who would you want to see live an engaging band or uncomfortable electrical posts?
Practice in these environments, perform live and with others as much as possible and you’ll grow leaps and bounds then at home alone. If you don’t have anyone currently to do so, meet people at music stores or live shows who play music and meet up. It’s all up to you and your goals.
If you’re looking to take the next step in your guitar playing send a message on my main page and we will talk about getting you to the next level of your guitar playing!
All the best,
Travis Osterloh