Question to Chris

[Carline]

Note to self: Don't play in Norway unless you know 4 hours worth of material.

Haha... I`m in a country/rock band so we need a lot of songs.. We play for 4-6 hours a night.. I simply love this music cause I love the way I must use my voice. We play in clubs, festivals and other stuff..
Other bands that play on bigscenes like rockefeller and so on play for about an hour or so..

 

[{D|aBo|uS}]

Has somebody talked about imagining you singing perfectly just before you sing? It is a well known method I think not to stress. When I was playing live (I am not anymore, but can't wait to restart with my new band), I was backstage imagining me playing perfectly my solos, my songs, everything. The crowd is all excited and they are just watching me and thinking I am so amazing!! hehe, it's all fake, but it's a bit like the "super hero" thing Aias mentionned. You just imagine yourself as a super mega star singing like a goddess hehe. It may look weird, but even if it doesn't work quite well, I find it quite cool imagining myself as a superstar such as Chris!!! hehe

 

[Lurch]

Wow, old thread, but while doing a search for 'effects' this one came up (nervousness effects people in very different amounts).

Just wanted to add that my wife is a psychologist and she says there are medications available for performance anxiety that are very mild (won't effect your performance in a negative way like alcohol) if you are severely plagued by nervousness.

I've found that confidence and preparation are the keys to overcoming nervousness. Preparation from knowing your material so well that you could play it in your sleep let's you focus your attention on dealing with other random things that WILL occur like equipment failures (broken strings, bad cables/unplugged, out of tune, no monitors, etc.). Confidence will follow with experience, and is an emotion that is self induced (just like fear). Fill yourself with confidence instead of fear and you won't have to picture the audience naked, because the girls will sense it and get naked for you by throwing thier clothes onstage! hehe.

If that fails, I will have 1 or 2 beers to relax myself right before going on. Don't overdo it.

 

[]=J=[]

Just wanted to add that my wife is a psychologist and she says there are medications available for performance anxiety that are very mild (won't effect your performance in a negative way like alcohol) if you are severely plagued by nervousness.

Beta blockers are very commonly used by classical musicians to reduce performance anxiety, but it should be noted that it is a drug, and like all drugs, beta blockers can be potentially dangerous. I asked my doctor about them before and right off the bat he refused to prescribe them to me because I am very mildly asthmatic, and he said they are potentially dangerous if you take them while having asthma symptoms. I wouldn't have known this, so luckily I asked my doctor first before trying to purchase them off the black market which many people do. (I was planning to use them to help calm me down before presentations in my University classes, during which I commonly shit a brick).

 

[Nebulous]

Things which helped me overcome performing infront of people were to either concentrate on the band members, rather than the audience, or to just focus on one person/ group in the audience. It helps ease you into getting enough confidence to look around eventually.

 

[PFBalazs]

Hello Chris!

I have a big problem, and i desperately need your help!

I have an Ibanez RG1527 7 string, loaded with EMG707-s, and an Edge Pro7 trem... now here is my problem: i use string gauges 10-13-17-26-36-46-64, and each time i try to lock the nut, it just sits in a pretty silly position! I mean that little piece, that locks the 6th and 7th strings. A guitar tech said that it's because of the big difference in the gauges between the 46 and 64... it's not parallel to the neck, and if i want it to lock the 46 too, a have to tighten the screw really hard, and the screw just dies EVERY time... i didn't have this problem with the original set, which was 9-54, but that's just too light for me and it made me feel unconfortable...

What gauges do you use as a 7th string? And what gauges does eff use on his Floyd-loaded Hellraisers (i saw in a video, that he uses one...)

Do you think that the gauges are the problem, or can it be something else?

Thank you! I saw you with Nevermore in August, and you kicked ass!