You’ve put in the time practicing your music and now feel it has become a natural extension of you. It’s a huge step to take your music out of the comfort and into a public concert for others to hear. No matter your venue, here are six tips to help you take the exciting steps toward playing that first live show.
1. Do multiple dress rehearsals beforehand
Public performance can be understandably nerve-wracking, especially for those playing out for the very first time.
Everyone is different when it comes to dealing with anxiety and nerves. For some, the worry isn’t necessarily about playing the music but rather the public speaking aspect and making “small talk” in between your songs. For others it could be performing in front of familiar faces — or conversely, total strangers — that can lead us to be nervous. However, the more you have your set “down,” the less anxious you’re going to be.
Perform several complete dress rehearsals of your set. First, play your entire set alone in front of a mirror. If you’re not comfortable improvising your talks with the audience, write out a little script beforehand of what you want to say and place it nearby. Pretend you’re talking to the audience and try out your lines in various places throughout your dress rehearsal. It also never hurts to practice taking deep calming breaths to help settle yourself between songs.
Once you feel like you have a pretty good handle on your set, find time to play it again to one or more of your friends and family members and ask for feedback. It might not always be fun to hear constructive criticism, especially when it comes to your music, but understanding where you can improve from an audience perspective can only make your live show that much better!
2. Research the venues
When you find a venue in your area that hosts live music, stop by several times to get the feel of the atmosphere. Talk to the employees who coordinate the live music to find out how things are run and the process of booking performances.
Don’t forget to take a moment to look beyond the “standard” live music establishments. Many community centers, collaborative spaces for creatives, places of worship, and other retail stores (boutiques and art galleries for example) run some sort of performance music series or would be open to the idea of hosting musicians.
Then, you should find time to come back and listen to other musicians. See what genres of music are being played and how the audience and band interact. The character of certain venues may change completely when the live music starts, with everyone focusing their attention and energy completely on the performer(s). Other venues will remain more casual, maintaining business as usual with the musical performance blending more into the background.
It’s important to know how the atmosphere changes once the music starts, so you can be prepared when it’s your turn at the mic.
3. Choose the right day of the week
For typical live performance venues, a quick rule of thumb is that Monday is the lightest day, and it ramps up as you move toward the weekend. Friday and Saturday evenings are reserved for musical acts that can guarantee the biggest crowds, since the traditional “Monday-Friday, 9-5” workforce can stay out late and cut loose for the weekend.
For venue owners, bigger crowds mean a higher cover charge for entry plus more sales of food and beverage. Sundays usually cool off, with applicable venues preferring to go with an afternoon matinee schedule. Larger cities with bigger music scenes tend to have much busier weeknights and Sundays but will still follow this schedule pattern, albeit on a much larger scale.
That being said, every type of venue is different. A coffee shop has bigger crowds at different times on different days than say, a restaurant, bar, or specialized music venue.
For live-show beginners, it might be a good idea to try and book one of the slower days. You can build your chops on smaller crowds until you’re ready to take on that Saturday night headliner gig.
4. Look into compensation


For many musicians who want to start gigging, getting paid isn’t usually a top priority. However, the ever-diminishing pay for live music is a hot-button topic, and a “play for exposure” policy is unfortunately becoming more and more common. Just make sure that you know what you’re getting into before booking a show.
Stay informed and do your due diligence by asking a few simple questions:
- Are there tip jars being passed around to the customers?
- Is there a going pay rate for all live musicians?
- Does the pay change depending on the day and time of the performance?
- Can you sell CDs/merch?
At the end of the day, if venues are paying out and you’re offering your services as a performer for a designated amount of time, you should be compensated regardless of your experience. It’s okay to walk away from a gig if you don’t feel the pay is worth the time. Exposure is nice (and sometimes a worthwhile payment), but you worked hard to get where you are and deserve to be compensated!
5. Always have a backup
It’s always important to plan for unexpected circumstances before they happen. Make a backup copy of your music and/or lyrics, in case you forget your primary copy.
Guitar and bass players should have plenty of picks, an extra 1/4” instrument cable, and an extra set of strings in their case. If you have an active pickup on a guitar (especially acoustic guitars), a collection of effects pedals, or an electronic tuner, make sure you have a pack of spare batteries. There’s nothing more embarrassing than going radio silent mid-set. And speaking of power, pack a gear bag with a power conditioner (power strip), extension cords, and all of your necessary power supplies and adapters.
Oh, and if you’re using a phone or an iPad for lyrics, backing tracks, or a set list, you should definitely look into picking up a portable power bank battery pack and extra proper charging cables. Having one has saved me more than once when a power outlet wasn’t available.
As you approach your performance date, double-check with the venue to see if they have any backup equipment on site for performers, such as music stands, amplifiers or PA speakers. It might save you a trip to the car.
6. Your first show doesn’t have to be in-person


In today’s modern production world, putting on a live performance isn’t limited to only playing front and center at a music venue. You can stream a show online from the comfort of your practice room or home studio!
Getting started with live streaming is straightforward:
- You’ll need to create a channel on your preferred video platform of choice (YouTube, Twitch, etc.).
- Connect your instruments and gear to your computer using an audio interface or digital mixer. For example, if you’re a singer-songwriter with a guitar, you can plug a vocal microphone and your instrument directly into the inputs of a portable interface. The interface syncs with your computer through USB and then can partner with the video platform and streaming software (like OBS Studio).
- Go into the menus of these software titles and make sure that you selected your interface as the audio source. Set the levels of each channel on your interface and look to see that your overall signal has enough presence without overdriving and clipping. As a rule of thumb, you should stay below -10 dBFS on the digital gain meter. Connect a pair of headphones to monitor yourself and your playing.
- Explore similar settings with video, choosing either your computer’s built-in webcam or an external camera paired with HDMI cable and a video capture card. Position your video source so that you’re framed in the shot cleanly.
If you’re nervous about your first show (as we all are), your performance doesn’t necessarily need to be a fully public one. You can choose to do an invite-only stream to a select group of friends!
If you’re playing in a band with more vocals, instruments, and devices, a mixer with more inputs and routing will allow you to set a balanced mix and send it to your stream (either through the mixer’s USB, if it has one, or as a separate stereo output into an interface).
As you look to do more and more advanced performances, streaming can get pretty in-depth with lots of extra steps. You can see a more detailed guide of streaming audio and video right here.
Congrats on taking the first steps on your performance journey!
Performing live is an exciting experience. And each time you play, you’ll come across something new to consider for the next time. Even the most seasoned veterans are still learning new things at their gigs.
So basically to sum up, you got this!!!
Hopefully you feel a bit better about your first gig. Have a great show and be sure to congratulate yourself for tackling this new endeavor! And of course, have fun. As always, you can always reach out to the American Musical Supply gear experts at 800-456-4076 with questions about music gear to make your shows go more smoothly. Rock on!
Ready to take your skills to the stage? Check out these five expert-vetted tips to help you prepare for your very first live show.

