Performance anxiety

billyshakes

@voutoreenie

Yeah man! I can't remember who you are or where you live? Chicago?

Nope, close enough tho - I'm in Milwaukee!

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Milly-wau-kay....it's Algonquin for "World Series Champions" 🤞

Buco

Oh yeah, talking about familiar/unfamiliar space, I just remembered something. A few years back, Alfonso Ponticelli was in the area to play at an outdoor festival. The guy ranks among the very best. And guess what, he brought his own chair all the way from Chicago! I asked him why? And he said something like "it's just comfortable, I know it". That, I thought, was an incredibly ingenious way to bring the familiarity of your own practice space everywhere with you.

voutoreenie

Milly-wau-kay....it's Algonquin for "World Series Champions" 🤞

LET'S GO! 😁

Buco

@paulmcevoy75 call it whatever you want but you perfectly describe the sensation of what happens. What matters is what I initially listed and others added are all potential remedies.

@voutoreenie and @JasonS you both hit the nail on the head. I'd add, when it comes to playing too hard and/or changing your technique (whether towards softer or harder) that should not happen under any condition. Whether you're in the acoustic jam or playing an amplified gig or people around you are playing rhythm too loud, it doesn't matter, your technique should stay the same. I've noticed that so many times at Django in June that the best players in the genre never change their game, ever, under any circumstances. That's what we need to aim for.

However, these are all matters of technique. And you can practice technique until your blue in the face but these things are extremely difficult to implement if you're not in the right headspace mentally. And that sort of brings you back to square one. At least that's how it was for me. Still is but getting there...

paulmcevoy75

There also is potentially the opposite issue, practice at home for the performance conditions vs expecting the performance conditions to look like home.

A for instance is that I mostly practice sitting down, electric guitar as well. When I go to a gig and stand up, everything feels significantly differently. I should dedicate at least some amount of time to practice standing up.

Switch out the chairs once in a while and don't get too attached to my cozy home situation.

I keep thinking but never do practice with earplugs in but I think that might be helpful as well. Just for making things feel weird. Heavy duty earplugs might be helpful in the sense that you have to focus on how things feel vs getting good aural feedback.