My first gig...and a little advice on nervousness

Hi All!

(if you want to skip my over-excited rambling and get to the ADVICE for anyone who feels nervous, its a couple of paragraphs down!)

Don't know if you remember but about a month or two ago, after fiddling about with the guitar for a couple of years, I picked up bass for my friend who was forming a band.  We're really good friends and I was really enthusiastic to be in a band, so he gave me a go....
Well, after about 4 rehearsals with our other band mates (who are also a couple of great guys!) we had our first gig on Tuesday!!!!  
I fluffed the first song for a split second (due to the flashing lights being off for just slightly too long, so that I couldn't see where to put my fingers  ;)) but managed to complete my bass solo in one of the other songs pretty much perfectly!   ;D  Everyone congratulated us on a great show afterwards, and they weren't just being nice, I honestly do think we did really well....so well that we have another gig next Tuesday!  If anyone wants to check us out (and some photos from our debut gig! - thats me on bass) then we can be found at http://www.chinmusicrocks.co.uk

Anyway, I just had a note to say on anyone who feels nervous about gigs.  This is my first time playing in a band, and hence my first ever live performance with a band.  I felt a bit nervous in the weeks prior to the gig, but I'll tell you the way I dealt with it in the last couple of days before.  Basically, I decided the day before AND the day of the gig, that whenever anyone asked me if I was nervous, I'd say no and generally adopt an air of intrepidation rather than nervousness.  By doing this all day before the gig, by the evening I was raring to go, cheerful and not nervous at all!  I guess by acting confident, I'd convinced myself that I was confident!  I just didn't let nervousness in....... I'd advise anyone to try this, it really worked for me and people were amazed how relaxed I was, considering I'd only been playing bass for a month or so, and that it was my first gig.  I even managed to speak into the mic in between songs!  I thought the most nervewracking part of the whole experience was actually the sound check, where I had to play alone and sing, while all the venue lights were on and people were generally slouched about watching us!  But even then, I didn't find it that bad and just got on with it.
So the moral is, ACT confident even if you feel a little nervous inside and sooner or later that confidence will overwhelm inner jitters and you'll perform all the better for it!

Stella
xxx