I have to play at my sister's wedding in two weeks..!

[Willin]

I have to play in the church at my sister's wedding on the 30th of June. I've never performed in front of more than a few people although I have been playing for 10 years. The toughest crowd I've ever faced was in high school when I had to perform in front of my class for a report I did on guitars.

I'm playing "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" by Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame. If you've never heard it before and you're curious just search for "Stookey Wedding Song" on Youtube and you'll see him performing a live version. My mother has arranged for a professional to sing and i'm playing the guitar. There are 200 people and change that are attending the wedding.

I'm kind of hoping that I play as people are coming down the aisle before "Here Comes The Bride" comes on. This way everyone's attention will be diverted. I took an acting course in college so I hope that helps me get in front of a crowd without feeling embarassed and not seizing up.

I'm waiting on getting paid tomorrow to buy strings for my guitar because one broke before I start practicing hardcore. Anyway, tips appreciated. I'll see if I can get a recording.

[markTR]

Biggest thing is to just relax and play. People arent there looking for you to mess up, and honestly, even if you do, 98% of the people there won't even notice you did. Enjoy it, playing in front of a lot of people is an awesome feeling, especially at the end when you get the applause

[ut4ever8]

Sounds pretty cool. I think thats a pretty good way to ease into playing live actually. You'll get the effect of playing in front of a ton of people, but since its a wedding you won't exactly be the center of attention, so if you screw up, people really wont notice. Good Luck though.

[taparoo]

Just try to relax and have fun doing it. And don't worry about playing the tune perfectly, I'm sure you could play crap and they'd be impressed (that's in my experience at least)

and good luck man

[Cor]

Biggest thing is to just relax and play. People arent there looking for you to mess up, and honestly, even if you do, 98% of the people there won't even notice you did. Enjoy it, playing in front of a lot of people is an awesome feeling, especially at the end when you get the applause

It's true. I tend to be highly critical of my performances, but a lot of people won't even notice if I mess up/play a poor solo/wrong chord/whatever.

Just go out there and have fun, dude.

[EnFuego]

Biggest thing is to just relax and play. People arent there looking for you to mess up, and honestly, even if you do, 98% of the people there won't even notice you did. Enjoy it, playing in front of a lot of people is an awesome feeling, especially at the end when you get the applause

I doubt there will be a lot of applause for a song at a wedding while the processional is going on.

Either way, I've got no advice, but from you've posted before you've got talent, so I'm sure you'll do fine.

[Brian M.D.]

confidence+preparation=sounding good+getting laid shortly after you finish your set.
what you have to do when you're performing is realize that there is a reason that everybody is listening to and watching YOU.

[Appfro]

no fucking kidding! i have to play that damn song in august for a wedding. do you have a good tab?

[Willin]

Thanks for the support, guys - There's a tab on powertabs.net which is pretty decent from what I can tell. You need to download the powertab program from that website in order to use it.

tab:
(http://www.powertabs.net/tablature.php?id=4942)

I got the basic outline from there and once I get my guitar set up i'm going to flesh out the rest by ear. You have to tune your guitar down real far though.

I was thinking about ripping back a shot or two before to help ease the nerves but... it's not like i'm playing in a bar so it might be inappropriate to do that before my sisters wedding procession in the church.. haha.

[Appfro]

i'm definitely going to throw a couple shots before i play. i did at the last wedding i played at too. and i don't know how to use powertabs at all. oh well.

[Willin]

you should definetly download powertabs. It's not hard to use at all. Just find the download for the application at powertabs.net. Install that. Download any tab you want and not only does it display the tab, but it plays it in midi format for you as well. It is a huge help when trying to learn new songs. You can also change the tempo to make it as slow or as fast as you want..

[EnFuego]

I'm a fan of powertabs also. I've used it in the past for learning James Taylor stuff because like Willin said, you can slow it down.

[Cor]

My suggestion is to not drink before playing, It just seems like a "crutch" so to speak. You won't be able to drink before most gigs, but if you really feel you need it, go for it.

Once I got high before a gig. I'll never do that again, I had to focus so hard and I still messed up a few times. Luckily, it was kind of a last-minute not-too-important gig, so it wasn't a big deal.

[SRVDMB]

Dude you'll be fine. If you go up there and get into it you'll be fine. Think about your sister getting married and your singing for her and before you know it the song will be over and you nailed it. Make sure you go to the bathroom before you play too. I learned that one the hard way haha



Good Luck!
Jack

[Kahn]

just drink a lot