Hey, I just need some advice! i’m playing for my High School talent show and i’m playing some Solo Power funk slap bass tune. But I have stage fright…How to get rid of it? I would love to hear some advice on performing and your personal experiences! thanks!
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I have been in front of people since I was 5. And I’m 73 now, but I still get stomach butterflies before I go on.
The only thing I focus on is the first 30 seconds. I know what I’m doing. Once I get going, it’s all good. So, don’t try to get rid of it, just manage the first 30 seconds, and then have fun! That’s what it’s all about, anyway.
Pretend that you’re playing jazz and that there are no wrong notes. 
Remember that it is highly likely that you’ll be the only person who knows if you made a mistake, so don’t worry about it. Have fun!
Find a friendly face in the audience and play for just that person. A little eye contact goes a long way with connecting with the audience.
Lily Tomlin had a well-known case of stage fright, but worked through it. I saw her one-woman show in the mid-70s. She sat on a chair stage left turned sideways and looked straight to stage right for much of the show. But, damn, she was funny. She made it through!
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Butterfly and nerves are great that’s what push you to the new heights. If you are still in high school you’re probably practicing like crazy which is what you need. You’d need to practice that solo until it’s on autopilot.
We all want to be performing at this subconscious level. Here’s Nathan East at Naam he’s playing the solo while having a conversation with Stevie Wonder, talk about autopilot.
Another good lesson here is try if you can spot any miss notes.
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Look at the size of Stevie’s bodyguards!
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I love the NAMM Show. I attended it a few times for my magazine. The array of musical instruments is unparalleled in the world. But my favorite part of being there was witnessing Stevie Wonder and so many other great artists standing at booths gabbing, gawking and GASing just like everyone else. 
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My first show with my mega-slap-rock-bass-and-drum-duo was for my high school talent show.
Best way to prepare and deal with stage fright and nerves is to set up mini shows and performance scenarios.
You’ll get more comfortable the more you play.
Have a rehearsal where you invite people to watch.
If you survive that, invite more people.
If you survive that, you’re gold!
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I love this idea.
A cover video is also a good measure of readiness. I’m more nervous on camera than in front of audience.
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Ditto!!
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I can’t speak from experience of playing bass on stage (only just starting my journey), but I have a bunch of experience acting and singing on stage in front of an audience.
I can honestly say that over about 10 years I have never not had some stage fright. I think it’s a natural byproduct of caring about what you’re about to do. I’d be more worried if I didn’t have any stage fright before performing 
If you can get through the first few minutes then you can relax into the rest of it and enjoy the experience. The key to getting through the first bit is realising that nobody will notice any mistakes you think you’re making, as long as you just keep on playing through - if you look like you’re having a great time on stage, then the audience will have a great time too … a bit of “fake it ‘til you make it” maybe 
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I’ve thought about this one. It seems like in front of an audience should be worse, since there are more people, and they see it happening. But I think that video is worse because if you mess up (and don’t correct it) it lives forever. Playing live if you mess up, it’s over and only the people there have the possibility of knowing it. You put it on video, and anyone who watches the video at any point in the future might know.
This is similar for me. Playing multiple different instruments growing up, every time I had to play on stage - whether solo or in a band/orchestra - I had nerves. One thing I found helpful was coming up with a routine before the concert. It doesn’t help with the first few, but once you get that routine down, it at least gives you something else to do instead of worrying about the performance. You’ll find that a lot of professional musicians (and athletes) do this. From a certain point before the start of the show, you can practically set your watch by the things the band members do…right up to the moment they step on stage.
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Playing in front of a crowd … not as bad as cam like you said.
Group mentality is real… and mistake retention is LOW (especially in bars where the crowd is completely sauced by second set)… if a mistake is made… its generally forgotten about within the next few bars of the song. 
Yes I know this is a school we are talking about… but the same thing applies… mistakes are not as tragic to the crowd as you make them out to be to yourself.
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The best advice I have was given to us by a music teacher before our first live performance in preschool - so when you make a mistake, just keep playing like nothing happened. Don’t fight the fact that mistakes will happen, or fear them - just keep on going, without reacting to the mistake at all. It’s likely no one watching will notice anyway.
The corollary of this is never, ever react when someone else makes a mistake - that’s a major band faux pas.
And finally, remember that on bass, if you miss a note at any time, there’s a note that will sound just fine at most one fret away. Just slide up to it like you meant it
I actually kind of wonder how many “leading notes” were born that way
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It is on autopilot man. Its just that i’m just scared of what people think.
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Thanks!
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I do too, I attended 3 years in a row when I wasn’t playing if I did it’d have been chaos,
It was my tradition to go to Cheesecake Factory afterwards. 
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OP, the best advice I can give is from Moametal, who still gets nervous. She says she gets through it by “practice, practice, practice, so your muscles take over without you knowing it.”
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I’ll give you an example. My regular gig is a little private gathering of the entertainment people from local here and visiting artists from overseas. These are musicians and as you know us muzo are divas with serious insecurity issues, half my audience don’t care about what I’m playing and the other half who cares don’t know when I made mistakes, not even my band mates know that I made mistake. There’s are musicians. Your average audience have no chance of recognizing your mistakes.
I once played the first song with the E string tuned to C# because someone bumped it and I didn’t wear my IEMs, the signal went to front of the house and we had a about half a second latency. I was on autopilot and can’t tune my bass till the end of the song. I’m the only one sweating, everyone else had no clue.
Your statement just answered that perfectly.
It probably not helpful to you just yet, until you experience it yourself that, only 5 people in the crowd of hundreds have some clue that you may have squirt a note or two.
BTW, did you detect Nathan’s mistake? He made like 3 or 4 mistakes. I didn’t notice it until about the 20th time I rewatched it, and I play (learning) that song so I know both parts. Bass and solos. I didn’t catch it either. Dude’s so smooth we just missed it.
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So, is that a good thing or a bad thing? i’m getting mixed signals.
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It’s a good thing. Have you performed in front of people before?
Here’s a tip for stage fright… focus on your band. Smile… have fun with your crew… groove away with them and before you know it… your comfort with the band connects with the crowd and they’re rooting for you to succeed. There’s nothing that squashes stage fright like the first round of applause from the audience.
Just played my first concert performance in over 50 years. Forgot the rush that happens when people start clapping after the first song. The next hour was a glide. Focus on the music first. Your audience will take it from there.
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