The Value Of Preparation & Embracing Mistakes

While you can’t always account for everything that might happen when it comes to a live performance, there are many things you can do to ensure that you perform confidently and put on a great show. Being diligent about your preparation is a great start. Once the preparation is done, you do the best you can at the performance, rinse and repeat. If you trust in your preparation and process, you've done all you can to ensure a great performance. There are always going to be variables such as adrenaline, strings breaking, cables cutting out, or someone spilling beer on your pedalboard. These things are out of your control. All you can do is work on what you can control.
When it comes to nerves, you will grow more comfortable performing with time. However, I do think that for most people, adrenaline will always have at least some influence. This is part of the beauty of playing live. The spontaneity creates a sense of excitement.

I saw a video of one of Major League Baseball’s great hitters, J.D. Martinez, being interviewed after a game. He was asked about the expectations he puts on himself and the pressure he feels. He answered, "I know that I prepare, I know that I do everything I could possibly do to get ready for every at-bat, so if it works out, it's great. If it doesn't, there's nothing else I would change." I love this response because it highlights the importance of preparation and not attaching too strongly to the outcomes. If you prepare the best that you can, that’s all you can do, and you can sleep easily at night knowing you have nothing to regret.
Preparation, for me, varies based on the situation I’m in. When it comes to my original band Framework, preparation involves the following elements:

Photo by Robert Sabo for the NY Post

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• Running through all of the songs to solidify the arrangements
• Focusing on any specific parts that are difficult. This includes:
  • Fast right-hand picking parts that require maintenance to sustain the level of endurance required to play them
  • Difficult transitions such as switching from rhythm to lead or hitting a footswitch on my Helix to change sounds
• Performing the songs as if I’m on stage. This includes:
  • Imagining I’m playing to a crowd, moving around in the way I would on stage
  • As silly as it sounds, figuring out when to flip the hair out of my face so I can see the guitar for more complex passages
• Practicing improvising over solo sections
  • Although the solos in our music are primarily composed, I always practice improvising over the solo sections for situations where I may miss a note or something happens where I end up straying from the composed solo. The last thing I want is to be lost on stage.
• Day of Show
  • I rarely practice the day of a show. I’ve never seen many benefits to it and believe it just clutters my mind. If anything, I’ll mentally run through important moments of the show. At the very least, I envision the show going well and playing confidently on stage. I think this can help lessen the nerves when it comes time to play.

Effective performance is preceded by painstaking preparation."
–Brian Tracy

Ignore Your Mistakes While Performing
When playing live, it's crucial not to acknowledge your mistakes by reacting to them physically. Reacting only draws attention to something that would likely have gone unnoticed. Even if you do mess up, your audience will be none the wiser if you don't react. Sure, make a mental note of your errors and bring them into the woodshed later, but note them and move on quickly. In a live music environment, errors are common but will often go unnoticed in favor of the overall sound and performance. No one cares that you hit a B♭ instead of an A in the 31st measure of the tune. Most people are just there to have a good experience and enjoy the music.

Tip: Instead of making an error and then making a face or stopping playing, make it seem intentional! Turn that bum note into a pickslide or bend/slide the wrong note into the right one. Generally, the right note is only a half step away!

I’ve had, and continue to have, instances where I’ll make a mistake on stage. Mistakes are GOING to happen. When I was younger, if I made a mistake, it would haunt me for the rest of the set and beyond. People would come up to me and say, "Great set" or "You sounded awesome," and I would have some automatic response, or worse, I would refuse to take the compliment. DON’T BE THAT GUY. A compliment is not about you; it’s a way for the listener to demonstrate their gratitude. You gave them an experience that they enjoyed, and they want to share that feeling with you. Take the damn compliment.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up
Don't beat yourself up over mistakes. You can't go back and change them. The only thing you can do is note them and move on. The music isn't going to stop for you. When you prepare for the next performance, that is the time to scan through those mental notes and work out anything you need to. In fact, the mistakes you make should be considered opportunities for growth. There will always be refinements to make to your craft, so I recommend learning to enjoy this process.

All of these practices help me feel as confident as I can on stage so I can give the best performance possible and not get too hung up when things don’t go 100% perfectly.

I hope you find this helpful. It’s imperative that performing music live is fun. Things start to become fun quicker when you get good at them, so prepare well.

What are some of your experiences with making mistakes at gigs? Did they go unnoticed? How do you prepare yourself for these inevitable situations?