How do you not mess up?

[J_Clark]

Repeititon, Repeititon, Repeititon.

You must also realize that not everybody is perfect. There will be mess ups. Artists do it all the time. Some might be minute, but a mess up doesnt throw them off for the whole song. They get over it and recover. Its all about the recovery that matters.

probably one of the best tips here. everyone messes up but dont make it noticable. i have played with people that mess up on a song and make a weird face or get mad and just start the part over again. then they ask me how i dont mess up as much even though i've only been playing about a year. its just becuase when i mess up i dont make it obvious, i just recover and act like it was nothing.

if it is a song you wrote and you dont make a face they will think it was supposed to sound like that.

[a1075dd63aa12]

play the hell out of the songs until your hands just do their thing, and you dont even have to think about it

[wAvy]

Thanks guys, lots of good info in here. I guess I was just rushing my learning. I'll try to work on my recoveries and parts that I seem to choke on.

My guitar is quite large, I feel that may also be the culprit of why my shoulder stays tense. I try to rest it on the top of the guitar, but it doesn't seem to work. If I lean into the guitar it helps a little.

[aj1pso]

http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=28812

[MusicSim8]

Dave I think also makes a mistake that you can listen for on Listener Supported. You can hear him start the beginning riff early at one point... can't think exactly where but if you listen through you should be able to catch it. He just keeps on going though and never misses a step.

[pjdk28]

the number one rule, never for anything, ever apologize on stage, ever, for anything, what-so-ever! I don’t care what happens, you never say I’m sorry, it’s like sex, never say "I’m sorry" ...the minute you tell someone “I’m sorry, I’m not having a very good night,” you’ve lost them like that. They don’t care. They’re there cause they want you to be superhuman and take them to a place they can’t get to on their own, and
the minute you go “I’m sorry guys – um, my voice is kind of giving me trouble,” they probably didn’t
even know your voice was giving you trouble, and there’s no place for “I’m sorry” on stage

-John Mayer berklee transcript