Your First Gig - Part 1



So you and your buddies have been practicing up a storm in your friend’s garage and ruining the neighbor’s peace for months now. You’ve got 10 or 15 songs learnt and you’ve finally got your big show.

You’ve got 45 minutes to show your stuff and you really don’t want to make a fool of yourself in front of all your friends. How do you make sure this doesn’t happen?

Well here are some tips to get you on the right track to kicking ass at your first live show.

The golden rule about live performances is: “It’s all about preparation”. Once you finally hit the stage it should all be down hill from there on in. If you mess up the show it’s because you weren’t prepared.

1. Learn the songs.

You must know all the songs inside out. You should be able to write down all the parts of the song and all the chords without picking up the guitar or playing the CD to check. Your other band members need to be able to do the same thing.

It’s a good idea to memorize things like how many times a certain part is repeated before you come in for example. Don’t leave things down to feel. Know how many repetitions are in a certain part of a song. For instance in the start of a certain song you should think: “Ok, this is the song XYZ and in this song I wait for four bars of drumming then I play an A chord”. Say this to yourself every time you practice it and you will hear it in your head when you see on the set list during your first show.

Don’t be afraid to offer constructive criticism to other band members. If you think the bass player is missing a note or has been playing a note wrong speak up. It’s important to be nice about it though. “Can we just run over this part again, it doesn’t sound quite right to me”, will go down a lot smoother than, “Hey you played that bit wrong, it goes like this!” Also, know when you are wrong and admit it gracefully instead of stubbornly refusing to back down when the 3 or 4 other guys are against you. Also be happy to listen when others want to check that your parts are right. Most of all never be too lazy to practice the hard parts over and over and over until you get them right. If they are hard and you can make them sound tight other musicians, other bands and most importantly the audience will be impressed!

Almost all songs have backing vocals. Make sure everyone has a microphone and starts to learn these parts. Some of you maybe quite good vocalists and can begin to sing harmony parts. Others will be not so good but can still belt out the chorus to add extra dynamics and punch to the song. A guitar player that can sing will get a lot more work than one who can’t.

2. Learn the show.

It’s also a good idea to write a set list ahead of time. A set list shows you all the songs you’re going to play in the order that you will play them in. As well as practicing the individual songs with the band you should practice the whole show from start to finish. Each member should know when it’s they that start the next song or if there will be a four count from the drummer. This will help to avoid everyone looking around after the first song to decide who’s starting the next. It will also avoid someone being left behind when the song begins.

Talk through the set list with the whole band. Decide where you are going to pause and talk to the audience. It doesn’t sound too cool saying: “Um… this next song is… um … blah…” before every song. Group the songs together and decide as a group to play these songs with a minimal pause between each. Then have a gap and the singer or front person can say something interesting. A good way to structure your set is to have minimal conversation with the audience in the first quarter and as they warm to your band introduce more crowd interaction. That way you give the impression of a tight unit to begin with but build a rapport with the audience members later in the set after that initial impression is made.

Make sure everyone knows if there is a point in the set where someone might need to pause. You might be changing from electric to acoustic and need a moment before you can begin again. This will look smooth if everyone else knows what’s happening and are relaxed and prepared to quietly wait while you get ready. It’s a good time for the others to take a sip of water or quietly tune up.
Practice this pause at rehearsal. Don’t stop and talk about last night’s game at this point. Keep practicing your show. Let that person change over and keep you instruments and yourselves quiet during the break. Do everything during practice as if you were in a live performance situation.

DON’T FIDGET WITH YOUR INSTRUMENTS IN BETWEEN SONGS!!! One of the worst signs of an un-professional band is when everyone is fiddling with their guitars or tapping their drums in between songs. It’s much more impressive when you just make no sound at all until the next song begins. Particularly, don’t noodle while someone else is playing an intro. In my book that is a hang-able offense. This applies to a practice session as well as a live show.

Learn the ends of songs. When a song ends with a sudden stop on the CD end it that way at your show. Sloppy endings are another sign of an un-professional band. If the song on the record fades out, agree on a tight way of ending and practice it that way. There are numerous ways to end a song and make it sound tight and professional. Listen to your favorite live albums for ideas. Even merge songs together so that you go from one song to another without stopping at all. Most of all, know how its going to end and do it the same every time you rehearse it and at your show.

Time your set so that you know how long you’re going to be playing for. If your show is scheduled for 45 minutes you don’t want to stop short at half an hour with all your practiced material used up. Visa versa you don’t want someone pulling the plug before you’ve played your best and last tune because you’re running well over an hour.

Plan your set in terms of what you think the audience will want to hear. If you are the first band, it might be an idea to start with something a little mellow to get them going. If you’re the last band you want to keep the vibe of the night going and start with something up-beat and popular that will be keep the attention of the crowd. Also if you have slow songs or ballads in the set place them apart from each other so that you don’t have too many together and people leave the dance floor or lose interest. Think about what order of songs is going to keep people interested throughout the set and maximize their excitement and enjoyment.

Decide on what your encore song will be if you get one. To begin with it may be best to not save your best tune for this. You don’t know if you will get an encore and it may not be because your band is no good, it may just be that its late and the audience is tired and ready to go home. When the time comes to do the encore make sure everyone exits the stage for a minute or so and see if the audience are really DEMANDING that you play longer. Make the decision together. Having one band member stay up on stage ‘encouraging’ the audience to give an encore can look a little desperate.