5 Things NOT to do on stage MUST KNOW live performance tips bands solo 

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I would add that 'You are there to entertain guests.' ... which means they will prob hang longer-- purchase food & drink. I experienced this first-hand a few weeks ago at a winery that was launching a new Friday night sunset dinner. This called for a very different vibe than the winery's Saturday crowd. So I asked myself what would I want to hear if I was having a relaxed dinner after a long week of work. Built the set list very carefully for my duo. Voila! Worked beautifully. I can honestly say that none of the 50 or so guests left. In fact... they made effort to get closer to the stage and interact with us. It felt like a super-comfy piano bar. The owner was ecstatic! Exactly what she had in mind. 😎👍🎸🎹

For my band, A good way to know that everyone is ready before starting a song is that if all musicians are facing the people that means ok, if someone is facing the stage or the drums means wait. And that works for us without looking at each other or asking are you ready ?..! 👍

Tuning: for a while I was lucky enough to play with this guy who has perfect pitch. One time while performing, I was playing the intro and he fixed a slight tuning error as I played. I'm sure it was fantastic to watch for those paying attn.

I’m opening up for Styx in my hometown tonight and I appreciate your words⚡️✌🏼🤟🏼

Timing your rehearsed set is also a must! Especially when playing small venues where you may not be the headliner and your stage time is pre-set to the minute.

If your band is just starting out then you probably WILL have significant gaps between songs. A good trick here is for band members to provide cover for any issue solving. Drums can be kicking out a modest beat (not too loud), with bass and whoever else (keyboards, or second guitar) providing some neutral support. Again, not too loud. Keep it like background music. In this way the audience will be more tolerant of issue solving between songs such as, finding the lyrics, fixing broken string or tuning.

Great points in this video. On a different note; something that might be helpful to bands starting out, or even more so , to musicians just starting to play and get together, would be a list of 10, 25, or even 50 or more songs that everyone should know. This would be a great time-saver for musicians getting together for the first time instead of spending a half hour asking each other "Do you know this one?"

Even as a opening act for 10minutes: make a SETLIST thats longer because if the main band fails or comes to late you can make it to your show.

It never fails to amaze me how many; "musicians" that have; "played in bands for years" (or decades) "all over the place" DON`T KNOW THESE THINGS! ...drummers who can`t even pre stage their kit off stage, but instead take forever back n forth fiddling to get set up! You`d think at some point they`d figure it out? ...or trade it for a bass boat? So, good on you!

This isn't an "on stage" thing, but going along with the advice not to point out mistakes, I had a drummer who I found talking to a new fan who loved our music, but instead of thanking them for being there and enjoying it, perhaps getting them to follow us, the drummer only talked about how bad the supplied drumkit was and that it sucked as a gig. I talked to the drummer privately and explained why that was the wrong way to talk with a fan, but didn't work with that drummer for long anyways. Pity because he is a great drummer - just didn't have a good attitude.

I had a gig yesterday, where one of our guitarists couldn’t hear himself at all, so instead of asking the sound guy for more volume on his guitar in our sound check before the concert, he walks around the crowd while we were playing. Because he was trying to get in contact with the sound guy mid concert, ppl looked all confused. And i was so embarrassed that day.

Have a short memory for small mistakes. It happens just keep going. Always have a guitar tuner on your headstock and tune silently! Know your material! Practice! This brings confidence! No frowning on stage! Keep it upbeat! Keep it moving! No long pauses between songs! Keep the vibe alive! You are entertainers and also there to help the bar make money! The more you do it the better you will get!!!

Really enjoyed this have my first 2hr show today

Sadly a lot of guys, especially younger fellas, won't blink at this. However, for the people that killed their ego for the sake of progression...this hits home! I've watched many "dead performers" and "stage freakouts". It boggles me brother. If you put all that time in outside of the "time to shine" and you waste it all in that 30-60 minute span... what are you even doing? Is it truly fun for you? Exciting? Ask yourself those things if you have these problems mentioned in the video! I'm a freak live haha! And they love it. Because I LOVE IT and am having a BLAST with it. I'm not concerned about if they'll like the music, or me for that matter. I'm just having fun and letting those that made it possible know I'm grateful to advertise my hard work at their venue!

Thank you so much! As a solo performer I can use all the help I can get to tighten up my show!

Everything mentioned here makes perfect sense. Great advice, explained directly. I am forwarding this video to my bands. New subscriber here. Cheers!

Great job David! Thank you for all the sound advice on stage presentation and etiquette. I have a solo act I am continuing to work on, and your excellent advice should be required watching for all performers. There truly is no substitute for experience… I’ll keep on tuning in to your excellent channel! - E 🤩👍

To 8:40: We once had a band that was 3/4 covers and some own songs. We played something like Judas Priest, ACDC, ZZTop, Black Sabbath and such more. This style. We played successfully in some bikers clubs and at biker summer parties. And bikers are very correct people and payed well. (as long as you treat bikers well and respect their "respect") So someday we played at the summer party of the biggest biker club here in Thuringia (Germany). Of course not as headliner, but so around 5 pm at late afternoon. Of course there is no big party, noone wants to dance or, we got applause but it was afternoon and they wanted to sit down there and drink beer. And what die our singer say when trying to animate the audience? "You fucking lame bikers". (in German of course) What happend? More than 20 people talked at this evening to me, including the president, and they said all the same "Hey, youe music and performance was great but your singer sucks, throw him out". We never played any biker venue again! This made the round. The band dissolves than anyway not only because of this.

Good to see you again David. You are one of my 1st guitarist teacher after got my 1st (SX brand) guitar back then around 16 years ago from the cd i got with it. Not becoming any artist though but enjoyed some music performing till now. Hope youre doing good

Going for our first real venue, lyrically I’m stressed. We’ve got the material down, and I’m ready to rock out. A 3 hour set is gonna suck for us. I’ll make sure to let them know about those drink specials!

Great tips my brother ! ! These tips have all been marked by painful experiences. Good vibe too man ! !

"If you have songs in various tunings" Keyboard players: "Various what?"

Never say "This is our last song"...You are putting the audience into a position where if they clap that means they want it over, and if they BOOOO that means they love you.

One time I was switching guitars b/c the set list said the next number had the funky tuning. But the band leader decided to skip that one at the last minute and hit the sample introducing the tune that followed. So I had to grab my regular-tuned guitar, get the chord in, and had it half strapped when I was supposed to start playing chords. So I started playing, with this half-strapped guitar, kinda holding it steady with my hip and elbow. This is a song where the chords never play a rest note so I was going to have to figure something out. Soon my body started sliding to the floor of the stage because the guitar wanted to slide down my hip and I needed more leg to keep it from falling. Eventually, I was laying on the ground and finished the song that way.

Addendum to the this - related to noodling, I hate telegraphing the next song. Been in bands where guys will play the main riff of the next song when no one else is ready or with them. Oof. I sometimes would play through the set on my own not plugged in with tracks playing so I know what to play and am undeterred even if monitoring is messed up. Then, if it's really good, you can soar. Also the guy who wants to pretend he's playing MSG with his playing/volume. Had that with another guitarist and also a drummer. Tough to overcome pleasantly in a small venue.

Great advice. National acts don't noodle and they don't waste time between songs. That's not a budget issue, that's just a matter of rehearsal. Sound is also key. What's the point of playing great if it sounds bad? It's good to invest time in the soundcheck.

the only concert i ever walked out on was The Outlaws (i love their music). and it was because of the constant feedback. painful, ongoing feedback that was present in every single song. i was a bar band roadie/stagehand at this time (late 70s), and all i could think was, 'well there's a sound guy who just became unemployed'.

Not sure having a rigid set-list is a good idea for local pubs. There are different audiences at a given location so choice is better at the time. Also, there are often a lot of requests for music not on a set-list ... this just means we have to be up-to-speed on our entire spread of music.

Our band began doing batches of 6 songs with a brief moment to address the crowd, then on to the next 6 before our break. We put songs together that were all capo'd songs, or a couple together with drop D tuning and make sure we do instrument changes at the small break halfway. As for sound issues, a soundcheck 15-20 minutes before the first set is a must to make sure everything works. Nothing worse than starting late with everyone watching you. Leave the mixing board alone once you have your mix! We also start a bit quieter if the room is half full and turn up gradually as it gets busier. That works for the older crowd, anyways.

Excellent wisdom here. Take it to the bank.

I saw the dead air thing with my band, brought on by one in particular, who always asked " what are we playing? What key is it?"...even though the set list was written down! She ALWAYS wanted to do dirges...slow songs that just plodded along...nooooo!! I'm so happy that I've gone solo!

Make sure you mic your toms, last show we played recently " oh naw, said the sound guy, you dont need to mic all your drums, just the kick and snare is all we do in here" 🙄 in all the videos that night my kick stands out more than ANYTHING. Mic your kit, you can always turn down if needed. And yep rule # 1 in this video was the first one i was looking for lol

Thank You!

When you do rehearsals, don’t rehearse only the songs. Rehearse what you’re going to tell the audience between the songs.

Sorry I’m late : ) Great tips. And the comments from everyone else with their insight really rounded it out. I haven’t played out yet, still in the prep stage, but very happy I found this video.

Good info...thanks rockon 🎉🎉🎉i learned a lot

Thanks for the video!

In 2023 ❤ Valuable ADVICE ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Great vid kid👍

I thought your tips were spot on. I play in a duo at small venues.

If you play a wrong note once it's a mistake. Play it twice and it's jazz. ;-) Yeah, you're there to play music for people while they BUY drinks. You're not a stand-up comedian. The only line you have in common with stand-up is, "Don't forget to tip your waitstaff." Great advice about performing. I've been forced into doing some 'acting' (theme events) and the best bit I learned was about improv. Always affirm, never negate. When someone says something to you, respond, "Yes, and..." That keeps it going and building. Just gotta keep that positive thing in front of the audience.

Listening in from the Bahamas.

This was a big issue for my band recently - a guitarist that messes around for 2-3 minutes between songs at times. He doesn't seem to understand that's a problem.

Do you have any tips on rehearsal or practice?

The best you can do, if your art can pull it off, is start your set and play it all straight through. Zero extra mic spewage ZERO. I and many I new, would walk out from it, regardless of the music.

100% agree with everything you said but most of them bands won’t and don’t get it and never will they are the ones who think they are rock stars because they’re have 5 friends in the bar telling them they are great and won’t try to improve their performance how they get gigs is beyond me 😮

Perfect!

Good common sense advice. I think the worst is turning up too loud for the size of the club.

As a solo acoustic artist, I use 2 drum machines and I have to stop to find my next preset. That means stooping down and making my adjustment or leaning to my right and looking for the next drum pattern. What do you recommend for that eternity of dead silence until I’m ready to play my next song? TIA and thanks for the video!

This guy is spot on

I subscribed!

Great tips man liked subbd and got the ebook

Video stars at 1:43

Great advice....were you talking about me?!¿🤔🙄😜. Ughh....live & learn!! Dig your vids and of course, Mind Cell!!🤘🏻🎶🤘🏻

Never glare at a band member when you or they mess up, or share those with the people that came to watch you. Just laugh about it out loud; if an audience member noticed, they'll see that you did too, and if they bring it up after the gig, you've already laughed it off in your head, so you won't be defensive about it. Save it for rehearsal or talking about the show with the band later or the next day.

GREAT VIDEO...EXCELLENT...GREAT CHANNEL !!!!

What if many of the songs are in different tunings by the main rhythm guitar who has to tune due to not having 5 different guitars? What do you do as a band in the silence while the guitarist is tuning?

Incredible...all the time while you were describing everything about the stage, i was thinking about Sonny Sandoval and POD ...and then finding out you are from San Diego too! Ahah! Great! And i loved the tips, so useful really! Thank you! @rockongoodpeople

Hey David. Keith just subscribed and smashed that bell. On my way to practice now... I willing have my son check out your channel. He plays guitar.. Pantera old Metallica Nirvana maiden and Soundgarden. I guess it's my fault influence wise. I play drums since 10. Now 51. In my blood..ttyl 👍👍

Hi dirk nowintskis Texan cousin . Love ur vids

good info

Skip to 1:45 to get to the first point. (which is highly ironic considering the first point is to not take so long to start playing)

I don’t mind a live tuning whilst performer chats. Much prefer the obvious being real and obvious if done with grace.

Right?

Helloo Sir 👦💖

Good luck to those who watch this because they have a coming gig or live performance

I guess I’m an anomaly playing Indy and punk rock clubs … no one wants to hear a cover song …and if you play a cover it better be a strange version of it … in Athens and Atlanta we just never play covers we also only play for an hour as there are usually 2-3 bands playing every night… to me the Ramones did it correctly finish a song count 1234 and start the next one …I wish all live bands were as good as the Ramones..I guess I need to start a channel for punk rock bands … cause we do the opposite of everything you just said … but good advice for a cover band

Number 5 Unless you are Zach wild and you hate limb biscuit

Always bring 2 guitars of each kind in case a string breaks. 😂

don't wear a hat indoors if you do, not a baseball cap if you do, not on backwards🙄

Do you want to play at the venue for a second time. Play what the people want to hear, not what the band likes. If you want to play only what you like , that is fine , but dont expect to play lots of shows. If the people want chocolate ice cream and you only want to searve strawberry you wont be in business for very long. If you want to play shows give them what they want. Take it from somebody that plays over 150 shows a year. ....Mr OLD SCHOOL

Don't be texting when onstage. Please don't. It doesn't look good.

Know one knows you screwed up but you.

Good tips. But when it comes to politics, lots of the best bands like The Clash, U2, RATM have political songs.

Never play 2 songs in the same key back to back, especially if they sound similar, space those two songs out.

Political, religious and overly "politically correct" comments from the stage are inappropriate, since you probably have not interviewed every member of the audience and if you espouse a particular political, religious or "politically correct" comment from the stage you run the risk of turning off perhaps half of the audience, thereby alienating the people that hired the band as well. Pushing people to drink alcohol is questionable and might be better if you also mention to the audience to drink responsibly as we want all of you to arrive home safely and to come to our next performance. If the owners are cool then they will probably appreciate this because there have been law suits against bars when they kept supplying drinks to patrons already obviously drunk who then went out and injured or killed someone because they were behind the wheel intoxicated. Do NOT drink alcohol yourself - you are working!

And don't take your Pants off.

I just had a listen to your band, and unfortunately it's not my kind of music..

Yep , if you think it's ok to talk politics on stage , then you obviously missed the whole Dixie Chicks demise ... L O L ...

Repetition legitimizes.

Dude, why telling someone about PERFORMING and ENTERTAINING while sitting against greenscreen edited background with no entertaining montage and with no performance whatsoever? come on.. maybe your guitar videos are awesome but this is boring af.. no big gaps between songs -> first tip starting at 1:45 ))) like, you did the opposite of what you're trying to teach in this video. anyway, good luck in the future

5 minutes of content, 7 minutes of bullshit. Hitting the thumbs down forsure.

It’s not a wrong note if you hit twice.😂

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ko4n_3Mc0HA.html @rockongoodpeople Hey man, I forgot that I wrote a comment six months ago and I want to let you know I used all your tips and advice and my shows went great! That video is a link where I had a sold-out show of about 150 people. At the end of Simply the Best, it's zoomed out and you can see the whole crowd , it was the best moment of my entire life! This St Patrick's Day we're going to be doing one of the biggest bar stages in all of Calgary called the blind beggar big rock stage. We are the opening act. Thanks again for all your help and tips because it really did go a long way to the success of our Band! Keep On Rockin good people

Quick addendum for the “don’t attract attention to mistakes” thing. Under most circumstances, that’s true. If you clam a note or miss a change, just keep it rolling…no one cares. But a couple of the pro bands I play with will actually take it in the *complete opposite* direction sometimes. If someone has a mental block, starts a tune in the wrong key or misses a cue, it’ll become a THING. Everyone turns around and points, the singer goes “weeeee” into the microphone, the offender drops to his knees…stuff like that. If you do that once or twice over the course of a three hour gig, it kind of endears you to the audience, adds an additional level of entertainment, etc. It also has a way of robbing mistakes of their “gravitas”. They become part of the performance as opposed to something that’s disruptive or embarrassing. The worst I ever got it, myself, was when I completely jacked a melody line in front of a thousand people or so. I mean, got distracted by something shiny and missed *every* note…with Britney Spears’ MD watching from the audience. It was a COLOSSAL failure. But the band launched into a fit of scream laughter and it ended up being the funniest moment of the night. TLDR: ignore small mistakes but don’t be afraid to have fun with the obvious ones here and there.

I always instruct the musicians I hire that if someone compliments the band during the night, even though we know things weren't going that well, NEVER say anything about the problems we may be having with sound or wrong notes, etc. Just politely thank them for their compliment and move on. Pointing out to someone that their compliment is misplaced due to a band off-night insults their intelligence and causes them to not want to see the band again. I learned that lesson the hard way long ago.

#1 Play a wrong note once, it‘s a mistake. Play the same wrong note twice, it‘s Jazz. #2 Never troubleshoot your gear during a gig. Never. Any interruption beyond, say, restarting the current song is guaranteed to kill any vibe in the audience dead. Bring a second guitar and a cheap, small modelling pedal as a backup rig, and hook the latter up to PA, then mute it. If the soundguy isn‘t fast asleep, you can switch to your „oh crap“ backup thingy, mute your normal rig and mix in the failsafe. Practice switching rigs mid song, and chances are you won‘t even have to restart the song. I use an ancient Digitech RP series pedal that sounds almost bearable, i.e. it’s just north of „horrible“. Small, cheap, does clean and dirt with a bit of delay and reverb okay. Saved my ass three times, cost 20 quid used off of eBay.

First of all, as someone said in a previous comment David is indeed a fantastic teacher. He helped me break out of the pentatonic rut, got me playing in the modes and really opened up a whole new world of options for soloing. It was funny, I had the technique and could cop songs from videos but didn't know what to really do with it and how to apply it to improvising. David helped me learn how and why things work the way they do. Anyway, great stuff! The points in this video are pure gold if you're in a band. I've been playing in bands for decades... and I've seen every one of these issues in bands I've played in. Everything from dead space between songs (uh... no, contrary to what an "experienced" bassist I played with said once, you can't take 2 minutes between songs!) to the dirty looks when mistakes are made. No, just don't do it! I've also seen an "established" tribute band here in town cussing out the sound man over the mic/PA. Poor form, made everyone uncomfortable and pretty much destroyed whatever enthusiasm the crowd had for that member of the band. Keep up the great work David!

your tips are spot on - I'd only add "have fun". Good, fun energy is infectious - and sometimes needs to be forced. But even forced energy will transform into real exuberance after a while.

thanks! im a guitarist in a rockband, im only 13 years old, but have played guitar for 6 years now. were going to be big!

Want to hear something we do? We all wear headsets.. We can communicate at all times. And we don't have a set list.. we play according to the crowd. The third set we say what do you guys want to hear? Let them pick a couple songs. Keep them involved... it's pretty cool doing that because they know we are giving 100%. We've messed up a couple times on songs the audience called out.but could tell we were having fun too.. Win win

Great tips. When Elvis was asked which way he voted, he refused to say stating, “Why should I alienate half my fans?” Great advice.

I've been following you guys for nearly 10 years! The growth both the channel and the subs fans are notable. Thanks a lot NextLevelGuitar! Keep doing this amazing work and inspiring new musicians!

Do NOT accept free drinks untill after the show

Wow this guy pads it out and self promotes

Love this video! I’ve played in bands for crowds ranging from one to several thousand people at a time… Your list is so spot on. My brief additions: First, don’t be wasted. Seems self evident, but bears mentioning. Second, have a leader and follow that person (or click track, or Something). So you are One. You have to be One before you can be more than the sum of your parts, and being more than the sum of your parts is the whole reason to be in a band right?

Me: “mom can we have the edge?” Mom: “no we have the edge at home.” The edge at home:

You know what has always stood out to me, and it's been twenty years since I've seen it, but Cat Stevens did a show for I think the BBC in like 1971, and if I remember correctly it was Moonshadow he stopped and restarted like 3 times. Thing is, I can't hear why he was stopping. Whatever it was he was doing to mess up so badly he had to restart the song, at least twice, was only audible to him. That really stands out to me, even now. I have a reputation for never playing a wrong note on guitar and bass, but on the piano whenever I've messed up during a show I actually tend to HIDE the fact, a small smile at most, because chances are even those who heard it will see your confident bluster and decide you meant to. *edit: also, hello to the person who goes to my channel every day and looks up my last few comments and gives them thumbs up. Hi, comment stalker. Hi.

Golden tips for performing. Songlist is vital. Even if you're playing solo. Time your tunes and performance. A little banter with the crowd is ok, but keep it short unless you're witty, or a comedian. They are there to be entertained. Tune silently and quickly. If you can talk to the crowd while you're tuning it? Even better. If someone in the band is tuning, someone should be talking to the crowd. Dead air time kills the vibe. If people are dancing, keep playing into the next tune. " The last chord...into next tune " is profesional. Don't have new strings on the guitar that haven't been broken in. Have an extra guitar in case you break a string ( although it's more to look after ) and have it tuned pre performance to save time. Learn your equipment , sound, and have your knobs on amps or board pre-set, ESPECIALLY if you're solo. Thank you for posting. Have fun and smile!