[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by ELK

I have started to play gigs on a fairly reguar basis and now I'm trying to focus on keeping a consistent quality tone. I tend to get tense, and when I do, both my playing and singing become too hard-edged. Do any of you have any tips on how to keep that "practicing at home" feeling - relaxed strumming and calm vocals, even on uptempo songs? I'm sure some of it is just spending more time infront of an audience, but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi ELK...
Two recommendations:

• Breathe
• Get lots of experience in front of people

I meet an amazing amount of players who I catch holding their breath when performing - especially when new at it. Then their body goes into survival mode, the heart rate accelerates and their playing goes erratic.

Even for instrumentalists slow steady breathing is a signal to the brain that we are relaxed.

Performing at coffee houses, open mics, jams etc gives you practice which is pretty low stress compared to concerts and high paying jobs and it is good for you to play in all sorts of places to get used to it.

It's a lot like just recording everything you do for a month. That way you get over the fear of recorders - well play in front of people regularly and you get over nervousness.