Tips For Playing Guitar Fast & Clean While Performing For Others

It’s no secret.


Playing guitar fast and clean is harder while performing for others than it is sitting at home in your bedroom.


You want to make people’s jaws drop while you play with speed and accuracy don’t you?


Good.


Let’s get started.


Following these tips help you not only play guitar fast and clean, but perform much better in general in any situation where you are in front of others:
Performing Guitar

Tip #1: Overcome Nervousness By Treating Every Performance Like Practice To Get Better


Every time you perform guitar for someone it is a chance to get better.


This is NOT what most guitarists think (at least, it’s not how they treat performing). Most guitar players treat every performance like it’s their last chance to make an impression on the world.


Don’t make this same mistake!


Turn every performance into a practice session.


This doesn’t mean you don’t take it seriously – Rather you take note of your mistakes and use them as a valuable tool to help you improve for next time.

How does this help you feel less nervous?


Simple.


There is much less pressure to be “perfect” when you are just practicing to improve.


This shift in mindset removes the perfectionist in you and replaces it with the desire to get better and enjoy the moment.


Take note of your mistakes when you perform and (if possible) record yourself to get video/audio you can review later.


 

Tip #2: Practice At Home For Insane Consistency


Playing something for the first time rarely brings a perfect result. This is totally normal.


Playing something for the tenth time in front of an audience rarely brings a perfect result either!


However, playing something for the 100th or 500th time?


Now we’re talking!


The more you practice a fast guitar lick, complex technique or tricky song – the easier it becomes to play and the less likely you will become nervous about messing up while performing it for others.


Good news is, it doesn’t really take that long to practice a given guitar item hundreds of times.


Watch this video to see how to practice guitar for insane consistency to make anything much easier to perform:

Tip #3: Practice For Any Situation That Could Occur


Performing on stage and practicing in your room at home are totally different.


However, you can still practice at home to prepare yourself for better performance!


This is something many guitar players never think of, resulting in awkward or nervous performances that leave a bad taste in their mouth.


Practice these things at home to better prepare yourself for anything on stage:


·        *Make mistakes on purpose with a guitar lick to train yourself to respond better when it happens by accident

·         *Practice without opening your eyes to be prepared for any lighting situation

·         *Learn parts on different strings or in different positions in case a string breaks

*Practice a part with your amp in the other room so you cannot fully hear what you are playing

Tip #4: Increase The Challenge To Make Normal Playing Feel Easier


What makes any fast guitar lick feel easy?


Simple.


Play the same guitar lick 20 beats per minute faster!


By comparison, the original lick becomes much easier to play.


There are many ways to make a given guitar lick/exercise/pattern more challenging to (by extension) make the original feel easier.

Here are a few to get you started:


·         Pick every note twice

·         Use extra heavy picking power

·         Practice without distortion for a few minutes

·         Practice while moving around your room, waving your arms or making any other performative gestures


After reading the points in this article, you now have the information you need to be totally prepared for performing on guitar.


Set aside practice time to work on these things and soon you’ll find yourself performing for others as if it was your second nature.