What Are Some Great Ways To Develop Confidence To Sing In Front Of People?

[CarlosR03]

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope all is well. I wonder if you can help me out. I'm a lead singer and guitarist for a band that I started about a month ago.

 

It's my first time performing in a band as the lead singer. I write all my own music, guitar, melodies, lyrics, song structures. You name it. Now my last hurdle is singing in front of people.

 

I've had about 5 rehearsals with my band where we have gone through all the songs. Music only. So now we have 7 songs. The finishing touches are now for me to add the vocals so we can finalize the songs and start performing.

 

So I'm kind of shy about singing in front of people. I can sing. I'm really good. I've just never sang live in front of anyone.

I have recorded acoustic versions my songs and the guys in the band all like them and are looking forward to start playing them live.

 

So any way I can quickly build some confidence? As many tips as you can give me would be apprecited.

 

Thanks and Rock n Roll!!

Carlos R.

[john]

What I did was... Sing everywhere I went. If I took the notion out shopping, or in work I sang. Sometime easy sing talkng volume, other times full concert belt it out volume. I just decided that I needed to get over myself and if people didn't want me to sing they would say. Sometimes I would get strange looks but mostly I hot a good reaction.

It's all about confidence, and much of that is getting used to people looking at you. So my solution was a baptism of fire. Get used to as many people as possible looking at you singing, and you will get over it pretty quickly. Avoid too long a period between you being seen singing. By that I mean even 20mins is quite long.

Additionally, take every opportunity you can to perform your songs, in front of family, friends, the band. Don't be timid, make your mistakes loud and proud. The more you do it, the more confident you will get, the more relaxed you will get and that will allow you to focus more and more on performance.

As a frontman get used to singing with your eyes open. Pick a few specific people to sing to, and sing to them! It makes for a more convincing performance.

Practice over and over and over. Get so familiar wit the songs you can do them in a hurricane without losing focus.

[CarlosR03]

Cool, those are all great ideas. I like the sing anywhere anytime thing. I'm going to try this out.

 

Thanks!

[louielouwhy]

   

[tomcollins]

instead of looking out and seeing them naked , just get up a do it naked, every show after that is a breeze !!

rock on !!

[louielouwhy]

     But then nobody is going to listen, they'll only be watching 

[MazingMaryRocks]

Beer.

Haha, I was actually considering that for my first performance ever this saturday. But, I'm not sure what it will do to my voice

//MMR

[louielouwhy]

Over all. it may be beneficial.  The medical media claims that a half a beer a day is healthy for a woman, not so much for a man, but healthy for the woman.  Additionally, is also helpful and beneficial for nursing mothers.  

A little red wine is supposed to be beneficial for the man more so less for the women.  

A couple of sips of brew may be just the primer to start you off correctly, or get you rolling into the necessary groove.  I can't put a guarantee on that though.  You're in charge. 

I wouldn't say anything if I didn't think that you had a good enough voice, Mary.

With the right sound behind the type of voice that you have, can take it to the top!!

All the best!  Most of all I hope you enjoy yourself and the audience does too.  

But you'll never get me up there.  There will be a hundred of these in the audience   , a thousand of these  , two hundred of these    a few of these    a lot of these  ,  and at least one of these  .   And.  I'll be     out a town.

Edited June 25, 2014 by louielouwhy

[MazingMaryRocks]

Thanks Louielouwhy for the kind words! I loved your explanation on why we'll never see you on stage

 

//MMR

[Evangelist4boga]

Personally, I agree with the "sing anywhere and everywhere" suggestion. The only way to get over stage-fright is to get on stage as often as you can and eventually you will get used to it. Another thing, the first time you get on stage, don't think about what everyone thinks of your singing. You are getting on stage because you love music. That is what you should focus on. (I would skip the beer. Alcohol, caffeine, and dairy are known to be bad for the vocal cords especially on the day of a performance. Stick with water.)

PS- the dairy thing is just temporary but the alcohol and caffeine can have permanent effects.

[EJB]

Do you have any recordings we can near (or did I miss it) if so that would be a

good way to get feedback before hitting an audience.

 

Once you do it, I think you'll find out how amazing it is and will never look back.

You will wonder what all the fret was about.

 

EJB

 

P S the Beer thing does work (as long as you don't get Sh^# faced and fall off the Stage)

Edited July 6, 2014 by EJB

[louielouwhy]

I can see it now > everyone knows somebody has a terrible singing voice > the audience watches as the performer enters the stage and proceeds to open his/her guitar case > then someone yells > "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!  HE'S GOT A GUITAR!!"                                                                                                eVERYONE rUNNING>                          

Edited July 6, 2014 by louielouwhy

[sarahmiller]

The best way to build confidence is to sing in front of a group of 5-6 people. Select the 5-6 people to be friends or family who like your songs. Ask one of them to record your practices and then watch them later. You will be able to find your own glitches there. Work on them! Try increasing the number of audiences and gradually you will get better! I have done this. 

 

In the process of getting those songs recorded I figured out some of them that were really good. We uploaded some videos to youtube and we could also send entries one of the online music portals. You could try doing it too. You might just get some gigs to perform!

[MoeJo110]

The best way to build confidence is to sing in front of a group of 5-6 people. Select the 5-6 people to be friends or family who like your songs. Ask one of them to record your practices and then watch them later. You will be able to find your own glitches there. Work on them! Try increasing the number of audiences and gradually you will get better! I have done this. 

 

In the process of getting those songs recorded I figured out some of them that were really good. We uploaded some videos to youtube and we could also send entries one of the online music portals. You could try doing it too. You might just get some gigs to perform!

I haven't really performed too much, but performing in front of over 30 people is easier than 4 for me because it's less intimate and because more people have other distractions like each other. I'm awkward though (probably because I was shy as a child but now I'm a social butterfly a lot of the time) and not in a cute way, more like what the hell is wrong with you way! So it could be different for me. You can also start out with videos on youtube and such to get people's opinion (and maybe others advice) before you perform.

Also, just not caring about what others think and concentrate on yourself works very well in all kinds of situations, at least for me, if you can do it. Just wait till you get senioritis and it will be much easier after that!