Originally posted by Raskolnikov
I think anything that forces you to go out in front of people and do something, be it speak, play guitar, pick your nose, whatever. Anything that puts you on the spot will help. And the more you do it, the less nerves become an issue.

I totally agree with Rask in saying that being used to standing infront of a large crowd helps. I'm really shy when it comes to public speaking and all but my involvement with stage-acting infront of 2-300 people for the past three years has helped me incredibly for playing the guitar in public. And now rather than being scared, I get excited to get on the stage and perform cause I believe I've got something to tell the audience thru my performance.