Controlling nerves while playing

[xTJBx]

So honest questions here. Sometime when I feel on fire I’ll get a lot of energy/adrenaline and sometimes I feel like I go into listening mode and stop focusing on my playing and I’ll get shaky in my hands really bad.

What other way can you manage this excitable feeling without having to sip on beers to keep nerves calm. haha. Because sometimes I shake so bad in my hands when I’m doing really well. And than i do really bad lol. I typically sip beers during practice sessions because of it.

Am i just a anxious person? haha. Only asking because it see it being a hurdle I need to cross. Some things are mental. Not about what you know, you know?. Thanks!

[Archie]

Hi Trevor

I think we all have some level of anxiety when we play. I certainly went through a spell where I would fall apart if I tried to play along with folks I knew or record something for the video exchange. A lot of folk on here have asked the same questions you are asking. This was how @BanjoBen responded a few years back. His personal experiences helped a lot of people gain confidence and overcome their anxieties. I hope you gain much from watching it.

[BanJoe]

Oddly enough, sometimes you have to let go of yourself in order to get control of yourself.
Stop thinking about “doing well.” There’s a weird flow you’ll get into where everything just works without much conscious thought.

When you think about it, playing music is no different from talking. You are moving certain muscles in a certain way to make a certain sound. When you think too much about what you’re going to say, that’s when you choke & stammer & you get flushed with nervousness. (Remember asking a girl out for a date the very first time?)

Right now you are learning how to move certain muscles a certain way to make a certain sound. Let the conversation with you & your banjo begin!

[Michael_Mark]

The best way that I’ve found is to somehow take the extra energy from adrenaline/nervousness and channel it into making yourself perform better.

Let me know how that’s done in case you ever figure it out.

[JA1]

Anxiety is one of those things that is hard to go away because the more you try and make it disappear, the more aware you become of it. Maybe try some things outside of the music if you haven’t already. Exercise always helps me. I always feel more relaxed after having done something vigorous provided its within my range of stamina. Then the lift I gain from that has a carry-over effect into other activities such as music. Other than that, I think it helps to get out there where you can be seen, to where you get used to playing around other people.

[JA1]

Another thing for me is, I feel the most anxiety when trying to copy what someone else has played without leaving myself open to deviating from the exact melody it is I am trying to play. Ben’s build a break lessons have helped me in that area, to where I seek to make a song my own, that way, the pressure of going by memory has lifted. It’s always been a struggle for me, especially in something lengthy to where I tend to mix up the different parts of a song. There again the improvisational skills taught by Banjo Ben has helped me in knowing how to resolve a passage or phrase in the event of a memory lapse.

Robert Earl Keene talked about this and how he was able to play his own stuff far better than playing other people’s music. Also, guitar extraordinaire Marty Friedman had talked about how there was less pressure playing his own music because, if he made a mistake, he could just act like he meant to play it that way since it was his own composition.

[Timmy]

My anxiety shows most, I feel, in my stage presence — or lack if it . I’ve done a decent amount of live playing, but people tell me I’m rarely smiling and always looking down at the fretboard. As you were saying @JA1, I trace a lot of that to my intense concentration on playing an arrangement note perfect — rather than making the tune my own (even if that means slowing it down and simplifying it where necessary). Livingston Taylor teaches a very popular class at Berklee on stage presence. You can find excerpts on YouTube. And Victor Wooten, the bassist, is inspirational when he talks about connecting to the emotion in music.

[JA1]

Something that Banjo Ben had talked about that helped me was, to shoot for a song that may be out of your skill range, the purpose being, it pushes you to become better. I would do that to where I could learn it to where it sounded pretty good. Then when I would play in a pressure situation, I would choose a song or songs I already knew well that weren’t as difficult. That way I would say to myself, I have already played much more difficult stuff, so this should be no problem. Then every time the nerves would start to creep in, I could tell myself, hey, you’ve played harder stuff, and just would have that to fall back on.

[Timmy]

This. Or … play that difficult tune in front of people, but swallow my pride and simplify the hard parts that make the tune difficult.

[Timmy]

Yes. Humility and perspective. Victor Wooten (whom none of us will ever approach as a player): “The world doesn’t need another great musician, What the world needs are more great people.”