Performance Tips for Beginner Guitar Players

today i’m sharing my best performance tips for beginner guitar players!

welcome to performance 101 for beginner guitar players/performers! i started performing with my guitar about 5 years ago when i started college and in this video, i’m going to be sharing what i’ve learned over the years about performing, singing/playing at the same time and how to prepare for your performance! 

**disclaimer

i am no expert in this field, i am just making this video to share my experience and what i learned about performing and singing while playing guitar. i am no vocal/singing expert by any means and i honestly don’t even know much about that stuff, and i, myself, still have a lot to learn about performing live, but i’m just here to share with all you beginner guitar players and/or new performers what has worked for me these past few years :)

my experience with performing/singing with my guitar

so my journey with performing has been somewhat recent since i have only been performing since my freshman year of college (about 5 years). in high school, i spent every night practicing guitar and singing in my bedroom. when i was just starting out, i learned songs best by singing the melody, and i could only get the rhythm if i knew the song already. when i finally started performing in college, i had many learning moments, and i am excited to share some of those tips with you :)

singing and playing at the same time

my first tip for this, is to use single strumming until you master your chords. basically you are just going to down strum once at the beginning of each measure so that you have time to think about the next chord. if you are a beginner guitar player and you want to perform, this is a good way to practice the timing of your strums while working on singing while playing. once you get better, you can add more strumming. knowing the timing of the song and when to start singing is very important when performing. you want to know if you sing on the down strum of a chord or after. so do you strum and then start singing or do you start singing as you strum, and this varies with each song, so be aware of that.

preparing for a performance

practice is everything! repetition leads to muscle memory and if you over-learn or over-practice a song, it becomes second nature and you can basically play the song on auto-pilot. as soon as you memorize the chords to your song without looking at a tab, you are golden. another thing i like to do is walk around with my guitar and sing around my house or my room. walking while singing/playing helps with multitasking and also could help breath control. it also gets your heart rate up a little, and that’s good because most likely if you’re performing, you might have an elevated heart rate and it’s good to be prepared for that haha.

song choice 

this is very important especially since it’s a live performance because, obviously some songs are easier to sing live than others and also, some songs are easier to play on guitar than others. so when i’m choosing a song to perform, for me, it needs to be a song that i know very well. i know the lyrics very well and i know the guitar chords by heart. it’s you almost want your hands to be on auto pilot because the nerves of being on stage will change your ability regardless of how many times you have performed. also, know your voice and which notes or keys work best with your voice. if i know i can’t sing low notes that i need to make some changes to the notes. changing certain notes can make the song sound better with your voice.

stage fright, nerves & how to deal with physical challenges

as an introvert, i am no stranger to stage fright. i have performed many many times now and for some reason my mouth ALWAYS gets so dry as soon as i start singing lol. so my tip is to know yourself, your reactions and how your body responds to stress and nerves. now i always have water, honey and cough drops to soothe my throat so that doesn’t happen. if you mess up, keep going! how you recover from your mistake is what people will remember :)

trust in yourself & your talent

trust yourself, your talent & your voice! you are performing for a reason, so just have that confidence in yourself. get on that stage and tell yourself you’re gonna frickin kill it ;)

xoxo

nena