How to be like a professional on stage, practicing at home!

Jack Black in the movie Tenacious D: And The Pick Of Destiny performing in an gig simulator.

Do you know that famous scene from the Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny movie? That scene in which Kyle Gass let Jack Black practice with a gig simulator complete with a cardboard audience?

It may sound strange, but this is a great practice routine and I recommend all musicians to practice this one way or another.

When you normally practice your routines, you’re used to practice in an optimized environment. You’re relaxed, have a great stand, are comfortable, you’re enjoying a nice room temperature, and probably no attractions or annoying noises.

This is a great way to learn your routines, but at the same time a bad way to practice your performance abilities. This is because your comfy surrounding will never be a realistic simulator of a big stage.

Ok….and how am I supposed to practice this in my small bedroom which can’t even hold more than 2 persons?

There are a numbers of ways to simulate the stage in a small environment like a small bedroom.

First, create some material to perform. Important with this is that it’s something you can do every time again.
This means no scale routines, random chord changes or things like that. (That’s for practice time in your comfy room.) I’m talking about complete songs, long improvisations or complete sets. The longer, the better, (excellent way to train your stamina) and If you can record these performances, it’s even better. It should be something you can do the same way every time you practice your performances. Act like it's a live set from your favorite artist.
Try to simulate a stage as much as possible. If you got stroboscope lights use these or play in the dark. Let some lights shine at your face or let those 2 people you know fill up your room while you perform and let them talk through your set. Just like it will happen on a real stage. O and don’t forget playing standing up and entertain.
Act the act! When you’re on stage people want to see an entertaining show. Although it’s important that you play as good as possible your onstage sound is just 1 part of the equation. Look at bands and artists like Rammstein, The Who, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Motley Crue or Alice Cooper. Or what about dance acts like The Prodigy and Steve Aoki? Or how about pop artist like Pink and Lady Gaga? It doesn't really mather with genre you're in, you need to know how to make a show entertaining. These artist not only play their songs, they know how to entertain their audiences. Some use pyro technics, some stage props, some use complete acrobatic dance routines, some play their instruments behind their back or with their teeth. Whatever it takes to entertain your audience.
Although sometimes improvised, more often then not, it’s rehearsed and will the artist know exactly where things will happen. Practice this while performing in your room! (Be careful with the pyro though)

Rammsteins first practice location
Realize that you will never sound as good on stage as in your perfect environment. What you can practice is instead be consistent in the quality of your playing. A way to achieve this is to know your set. Learn your set from start to finish and map out certain key moments. Decide before where you will switch certain effects on or off, where in your set you tune your guitar and where you put songs where you need to change amp settings. Create an balance in your practice set at home, so it won’t surprise you on stage. This will minimize breaks in your performance and will make your show consistent, just by knowing when certain things will happen.
Not only visual training is important. Learn how to play your set as if you can’t hear your songs. Record this and look back if you can play your set without mistakes. When you’re on stage it can sometimes be hard to hear what you are doing. Prepare for this! Use ear plugs to drown out the sound and see how you keep up.
Practice your set on as much different places as possible. If possible practice your set on the beach, at the forest, at a corner on the street, at a rented practice space, a garage or in a empty pool. etc. This will make you familiar with different performance conditions. This is especially easy to do when you are a single artist with only an acoustic guitar for example.
Unless you have a great jam-track recorded of your band, practice in a complete band format when possible. Learn to work with the dynamics between the different members between the band. And it’s a great way to practice fake improvisations or playing with your band-mates. Know when someone does what and look at your mates. It’s not only more fun, it will also help you a lot when you are on stage and you know where your band-mates are located. Instead of a jumping mess, It will look professional and coordinated.

So I hope you got something from these tips and tricks to practice your stage performance, so it will give your audience and the people from your favorite record label a smashing first impression when they visit you performing your songs.

Love you all,

John from JVHteach

Everyone should be able to learn, anywhere!

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