Stage Personna

I've only played on stage once, and I hate to play for people when you feel like your "showing off". I am a very humble person when it comes to the guitar. But there is a thin red line on stage personna between showing off and impressing the crowd. YOu just have to be sure not to cross it. And the more and more you learn to reach out to your audience, then the more room you have between you and that red line.

Well, my question(s) is this/these: How does one grab the crowds attention with out people thinkng "What the hell is that guy doing up there?" How would somebody like myself go about being able to play solo, no drums or anything, and still impress people? It may only be at a dinner restarant with only a nylon stringed guitar. Seeing how most places dont like "solo" people? Not that I wouldnt mind a band... its just I cant find anybody that likes to be origional. I understand you have to have your cover songs, but there is always time to make your own songs.
Has anybody here had an experience playing for people with only you and your guitar? Other then family, freinds, school, ect. How did it go? Should I just keep looking for a band? Just some thoughts...

It strikes me you've reached the stage where you're thinking about the kind of guitarist you want to be, which is cool....it takes a lot of playing out to audiences before you feel completely comfortable with who you are and how you communicate. I still havent reached this feeling of self-awareness yet, but hell I'm only 19.

The last band I played in were very much set on being the audiences band....we talked about playing things the audience would like more than the music we listened to passionately. We wrote some of our own stuff, not very original or inspired but it worked, and the audience would dance around and have a good time. I still get a good feeling when my audience is enjoying themselves rather than just being impressed and standing still in awe. I would never want to play to a room full of musicians who only came to judge my playing from a musicians point of view.

Stage presence can be aquired many different ways. Goin' wild on stage is one way I've tried many times, as when I played to my friends they liked to see me bring out the excessive and wild part of my personality. I've jumped about with the guitar an played it behind my back not worrying about how good it sounds, I've worn Pokemon T-shirts on stage while playing, and cowboy hats and western shirts like SRV, I've emulated Slash a bit by smoking cigarettes during solos, and yes I've played drunk. All that seems kinda childish when I look back on it but people loved it when I made a fool of myself and I felt I had connected with my audience in a way.

Nowadays I'm more inclined to the kind of playing where there isnt so much 'goin' wild' as there is staying cool and calm and letting the guitar talk.....a stage-style I previously thought quite boring. As you grow up you will find your stage work will mature and change.

If I play fast I like it to be because I'm expressing myself and not just impressing the musicians, sometimes its hard to draw a line between showing off and communicating. You have to live and learn with that one.

Anyhow, thats my philosophy, hope it wasnt too long.

It's very true that you shouldn't aim to "impress" your audience. But people came where they are to see or hear you, maybe only to drink a beer, and they still want to enjoy themselves right? Well, I think a lot of things start with humor. Last night, I played a local pub where the band usually plays 'swingesque' music. So the band goes into that groove, and it sounded a lot like the 'James Bond' theme... Quite luckily, it was in E minor, so, I started playing the James Bond theme when it was my turn to solo... Well, heads turned around (expecially on the stage!!) After that, everytime it was my turn to play, people just payed more attention. I usually mix that kind of foolish tunes so that people recognize them, because a solo, except if you are a master, is quite boring to the non-guitarist.

very true! I just laughed when i heard that, just imagining that happen!

ha!

Maybe I should try playing jingle bells next time i get a solo.

ha ha ha

I never had many solos last time I was gigging, so how did I show off?
Played my guitar behind my back, I suggest you all try it. Its really cool, and its a crowd pleaser.

Oh, ya, and my cowboy hat was a big hit. People said I looked like Slash. (It was a cowboy hat, not a top hat. Never did figure that one out. I think I looked more like Stevie Ray Vaughn)

Ya if I tried to do that i would like drop my guitar into the audience and poke some1's eye in.

He he. Im seriouse, try it, you'll get it, just keep the neck pointed away from the audience. :D

I will when I get a new strap... how it broke is a very long and adult content filled story in which i choose not to share... actually I don't how it broke but it did. I mean how would you go about putting a guitar behind ur back and ahh... it all sounds dangerous. I don't think I could reach or something.

I would rather have people dance, laugh, and have a good time to my playing rather then awe. As a matter of fact, I love to do things that make the audience laugh. But I havent had the experience of having an audience dance to my music. I assume you have to have a complete band, and a danceable theme to your song? An up beat tempo? Im trying to get into gigs by myself, for now... and just get some experience. I figure, a classical music would work well at restarants if I was solo. But I dont know about other places, where bands play. I guess Im not sure how to go about getting gigs and what not. Dropping by and asking some people that work at the clubs maybe? For a spot?

Ya,
I was at a basketball tournament and I brought my guitar cuz I did. And some kids a few years younger than me asked me to play for them. I was like sure why not, so I played a improvised verios of teach your children becuz that's about all i knew back then. Ya and they started like hopping around in dancing... i don't know i found it disturibing it's just not something you dance to I guess.

can't play decently in front, so I guess in the back (it would give me an excuse though)

i wonder if there's anybody who's played behind his back his whole life, like a signature, you know, you'll never see this guy playing normally...that would be one nasty style.

That would be wicked. But then you could consider all the other positions you could play guitar and that would seem comparitively normal. Maybe I should try playing with my ankles behind my head!

ankles behind the head? thats sick man!

Well since I can't play behind my back? Why not boundaries are never a good thing, right?

im more concerned with which way your ankles are going to be going over your head! :D

Well if I took a few yoga classes it wouldn't really matter :D. I've always looked up to Sting... but i don't think i'll be trying the ankles behind my head anytime soon... I mean i don't want to have the same rep has courtney love or anything.