How to start speaking?
The main problem of all performances has always been that on the stage it is very difficult to achieve comfortable conditions for the game. It suddenly turns out that your processor or combo, which sounded great at home and at rehearsal, instead of the fat sound that you liked so much, gives you some kind of disgusting itch. It turns out that guitar pickups, like a microphone, are disgustingly squeaking. That becomes completely inaudible to the bass player, and you get lost in the form of a song, etc. etc.
In many ways, problems arise from the fact that kombik, especially with one dynamic head, are a point source of sound, and at home or in any other small room their sound pressure is enough to get a comfortable, rich and high-quality sound.
On the stage, the volume is incomparably larger, so the amplifier has to be made louder, the speaker cannot cope with such a load, it starts to give out more mid frequencies and hence the same nasty itch that is familiar to many guitarists. It also adds the fact that the audio stream is narrowly focused, and the step to the left and right means a sharp drop in volume, and, as a result, the guitar becomes inaudible.
How to deal with all this? Remember when you watch a concert video of your favorite guitarists, how many speakers are behind each musician, and do not listen to those who say that they say this is “pont”, boasting – that’s how I’m rich, how much equipment I have. In fact, all these speakers and amplifiers are designed to do one thing: to create comfortable sound conditions on the stage, i.e. to make the guitar equally audible anywhere in the scene.
In our Soviet conditions, even the richest guitar player does not threaten to put on the stage such a lot of equipment, such as Yngwie Malmsteen or Megadeth, but still take a more powerful amplifier from your friends, arrange with the sound engineer to give your guitar a shot-out (acoustic systems on the sides of the stage) and in the floor monitors. Use external speaker Speaker outputs for connecting additional speakers. That is, all of the above can be summarized as follows: do everything possible so that your guitar can be heard from as many speakers as possible located in different parts of the scene! But always remember your fellow musicians; Do not abuse the volume, let the whole group feel comfortable on stage.
Applying effects in concert
Now a little about the effects. Concert sound is different from any other by increased noise. This is connected with the work of powerful portals, and with the reflected sound. Therefore, if there are many effects on the guitar sound (reverb, delay, chorus, etc.), it will simply become illegible, muddy. Try to do a minimum of lotions on stage, but agree with the sound engineer to give the treatment to the audience, and the audience will hear a beautiful, processed sound, and you will hear a dry, but clear and legible sound, which will help you to follow your sound extraction.
Rehearsal
It would not be superfluous if you and your group make some sort of scene from your rehearsal base, that is, arrange monitors, combos, drums as if you were on the stage. Not bad also from time to time to invite friends and girlfriends to rehearsals and play a concert program for them, closely watching their reaction.
Try to compose the songs in such a sequence to make the public as strong an impression as possible, that is, put the most winning numbers at the beginning and at the end of the program. This is due to the fact that the first impression on the listener is made by the first songs, and the group is remembered by the latter. The fact that you will perform on stage in the usual arrangement of tools and equipment will give you confidence.
Overcoming public fear
Now how to deal with fear. Well, of course, if you have achieved a good sound on the stage, half of the constraint will be removed as a hand, this fact is not checked by one generation of guitarists.
Maybe the next advice will seem somewhat inconsistent with the spirit of rock and roll, but this is the conclusion that most foreign and domestic musicians have come to – do not drink a lot of alcohol before going on stage, because alcohol takes as much skill as it adds to courage. The same, but only to a greater extent, can be said about drugs.
Do not let yourself get hung up on the idea that you are scared, that your hands are getting cold and sweat, etc. before the performance. Spend this time in communication with friends or doing physical exercises, well, in general, do everything to get distracted. The most recent thing is a few minutes before the release to start changing something, be it the order of the songs, the location of the musicians on the stage, the lyrics, etc. Do not be a hassle!
And the last thing – no tricks will replace the most important thing for a musician – experience. Therefore, act, speak, speak!