When it comes to playing live shows or even just playing in front of people you know, stage fright can hold a lot of musicians back in a variety of ways. By definition, stage fright is the nervous or anxious feelings that come along before or during a performance in front of an audience. Although many people, especially musicians, suffer from stage fright, there are some steps you can take in conquering stage fright in the world of music. This may take some time, but it will definitely be worth it as you continue on in your journey of being a musician.

MENTAL EXERCISES:

According to a variety of studies, one of the biggest fears amongst people everywhere is the fear of being in front of an audience. Luckily, there are some things you can do to ease your worries so you can focus on playing music and having a great time.

First, one important mental exercise to do to conquer stage fright before a gig is to not picture the things that could go wrong, but to picture the things that could go right. Too often, people are focusing on the negative when they should in fact be focusing on the positive. While this may seem like an impossible task, making a habit of focusing on the positives will really help with stage fright in the long run.

In addition, in order to conquer stage fright, sometimes it is healthy to just accept that you might make mistakes. In the world of music, people make mistakes all the time when playing in front of others, but what is important is that you learn from those mistakes. If you continue learning from your mistakes as time goes on, your stage fright will slowly start to not feel so overwhelming.

PERFORMANCE PREPARATION:

Another great way to conquer stage fright is to do some performance preparation. One great example of this in terms of overcoming stage fright is to videotape yourself as your practice for your live shows. This way, you can see yourself as the audience would see you, and make any changes that you feel are necessary for making yourself more comfortable while playing in front of people.

Overall, there are a number of ways to start conquering stage fright. This will lead you to be more open to playing live shows, as well as being able to be more confident while doing so.