Skills You Want To Master, If You Want To Be A Badass Live Guitar Player

So, you have learned a couple of songs, or maybe even started a band, and now you want to go out and play for other people. You now may be wondering how to go about that, where to start and how you can make the best performance. Is learning the song really all there is to it?

Unfortunately: no. But that’s also good news for you, if you really want to stand out from the crowd of other musicians. Since you are reading this article, you are obviously trying to improve your live performance. And knowing that there are more things you can do about it, other than just endlessly repeat the songs you already know, it might just give you the hope you need.

Have you ever been to a concert of a young starting band and even though they played well, there was something missing? Maybe the sound wasn’t too tight, maybe the energy wasn’t there. Who knows? It’s usually very hard to pinpoint what aspect of their performance could be improved, but to the average ears, it’s usually like this: “they have the potential, but you just don’t feel them yet”.

We are not going into specific details about what bands can do to improve their live performances, but we are going to focus on what YOU as a guitar player can specifically do to make the best out of it.

While learning the songs and practicing playing them together is crucial, there are other skills you want to master by yourself, if you want to be a badass live guitar player.

Mastering the song inside out

“But what do you mean mastering the song inside out, I already know how to play it …”

Yes, but can you play it tight, in tune and in tempo all by yourself, without hearing the vocals, drums, bass or anything else?

Playing the song with the band actually gives us a lot of room for covering up any mistakes we might make. If you are playing with a drummer, there is a lot of noise everywhere, and it’s hard to hear if you’re tight. That plus, usually, nobody is paying attention to these things, because everyone is busy playing their stuff correctly. You can focus on these things in much greater detail on your own.

You also might lose track of where you are in the song, how many repetitions of the part you need to make, or what’s the next part. Hearing other instruments can help you orient yourself and compensate for any lack of knowledge of the song.

Can you imagine what happens in a live situation, when you don’t hear any other instruments properly? You may get lost so badly you’ll have a very hard time getting back in the groove and have a complete train wreck.

What you can do to overcome this is: spend some time practicing by yourself to a metronome. No other instruments, no backing tracks, just you and the metronome. And make it sound good on its own.

Not hearing yourself

Not hearing yourself is a very common problem when playing live, and you want to be able to handle it. You can practice this by lowering your volume at band rehearsals on purpose and practicing at home to a backing track unplugged.

For bonus points, you can record your performance on a computer (DI), while disabling the monitoring, so you can’t hear what you play. You can then review this recording and work on parts that need the most improvement.

Muting the unwanted noise on the strings

Part of playing tight also means “playing only what and when you are supposed to”. So, if your guitar riff is only played on one string, you need to make sure as hell that no other strings are heard at that time.

You can do this by muting the higher in pitch strings with your fretting hand fingers, and lower in pitch strings with the thumb of your picking hand. Some guitar players also use the wrists of their picking hand.

The best way is to combine both hands, so you have kind of a double safety mechanism protecting you from any unwanted string noise.

Looking at the fretboard sideways

Most people lean forward to look at their fretboard from the front. While this is okay for a beginner, doing it all the time will cause problems in the future, especially for playing live. Here are some thoughts:

1. You are not engaging with the audience, if you are looking at the fretboard all the time.
2. For singers: it’s impossible to sing into a microphone, if your head is lowered.
3. If your back and neck aren’t straight, you will look less confident, and you will feel that way as well.
4. It might cause you back problems in the long run.
5. It just looks stupid. :)

What you can do is practice looking at the fretboard from above, where you are still able to see the frets, but are able to keep your head as straight as possible. This will require you to ‘feel’ on which string you are, but that is very easy to get the hang of once you actually start to practice that way.

The final level of this suggestion is not looking at the fretboard at all. I know it’s hard from the beginning, but if you always keep looking, you’ll never be able to play without it. So, start practicing looking away today. Don’t worry about the mistakes at first, you’ll handle them eventually.

Standing straight and feeling confident

Standing straight makes you feel more confident. Feeling confident makes you play better. Both result in a much better performance. Once you have implemented the previous step (not looking at the fretboard), stand in front of the mirror and practice your repertoire while keeping yourself as straight and confident as you can.

That doesn’t mean standing perfectly still (which will absolutely kill your performance). You still need to be relaxed and move around, while keeping your head up.

Mastering the sound control

There is a lot more things going on while playing live than just playing your songs from start to finish. And if you are using pedals, volume potentiometer and pickup selector, controlling them has to be a part of your personal practice as well.

Don’t think you can just move your fingers at home and then be able to do a ton of things more live.

One advice I can give you is to try and switch things around in rhythm. For example, you can switch your pedal on the first beat of the new part, or half a beat before. It can also be more – it depends on the song’s tempo. Try different things and see what works best. The bigger the sound difference the faster the transition will have to occur.

If you are playing with dynamics, mastering the volume potentiometer is very important. This mostly applies to playing with a clean or slightly overdriven sound. There are no specific rules for using the volume pot, besides being able to play guitar while controlling it. You should definitely devote some practice to using the volume and tone knobs.

If you are a metal player with a full-on distorted sound, you should use the volume pot to mute your guitar when you are not playing. This will get rid of the annoying sounds coming out of your guitar between the songs on your gigs. Simply train your pinky finger to be able to open or close your volume on command at a moment’s notice.

Handling the pickup selector is a whole new theme for another day, but it’s definitely important to know how to use it for every guitarist. Simply practice playing different parts of your songs or improvise while switching between pickups. It’s very similar to switching your pedals, except for the fact that you are using your hands. That’s why you might need to change your technique for a moment when the pickup is changed (use more legato).

In conclusion

There are a lot of things going on when you’re playing guitar live. And you should try to simulate as many of them as you can before stepping on the stage. I hope you got some new ideas for what to improve in your guitar playing, and I’m sure you have some more ideas yourself. Now go on and keep becoming the badass live guitar player you were born to be.

© Janez Janezic, 2022

About the author

Janez Janezic is a guitarist, live performer and guitar teacher from Slovenia. He teaches his students to become the badass guitar players they have always dreamed to become. If you are looking for local guitar lessons around Krško and Novo mesto, be sure to consider joining his forces.