# Warming up before gigs



## Acatalepsy (Jul 9, 2010)

I'm playing a gig tomorrow and I was reflecting on one of the things that irritates me about live playing: how difficult it is to be at the best of your abilities when you hit the stage. Does anyone have any useful tips for warming up before a show? 

cheers


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## McKay (Jul 11, 2010)

Acatalepsy said:


> I'm playing a gig tomorrow and I was reflecting on one of the things that irritates me about live playing: how difficult it is to be at the best of your abilities when you hit the stage. Does anyone have any useful tips for warming up before a show?
> 
> cheers



Eat a banana each and play through all the songs together backstage a few times before you hit the stage.


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## død (Jul 11, 2010)

Put some tiger balm on your hands/arms before you go on stage. Tried it once, for the lulz, and it actually worked. Just remember to take the mandatory pre-gig shit/piss BEFORE you put that shit on your hands...


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## slayerrulesyo (Jul 13, 2010)

Stretch! Helps with the movement, duh. And if you're doing vocals..... don't drink anything cold, it'll close up your throat. And don't smoke....cotton mouth+vocals+movement= incredibly thirsty and tired xDDD


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## theperfectcell6 (Jul 13, 2010)

I always have to make sure I'm not cold, especially my fingers. Cold fingers is not fun.


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## meisterjager (Jul 13, 2010)

I completely suck at warming up. I normally hit the stage with extremely cold, clammy hands, which just sucks. By the end of the first song I'm normally in good shape.


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## AcousticMinja (Jul 13, 2010)

Water, deep breaths, play songs through on guitar a bit before the show, if they give you a sound check, use that as a warm up, as well.


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## Demeyes (Jul 13, 2010)

I normally take my guitar out and tune it up and play through some stuff while the band before is on. I usually just play through some scales and do some of the harder riffs to get my fingers moving. Also if you are going to be playing metal and moving around a lot it's a really good idea to stretch out before hand. Especially your neck and back.


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## jymellis (Jul 13, 2010)

bigfathogleg


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## Acatalepsy (Jul 13, 2010)

Lots of great suggestions guys. Btw, the gig went pretty good. I warmed up playing through amplitube on my laptop while the other bands were soundchecking- it worked a charm.


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## Ricky_Gallows (Jul 13, 2010)

Before packing up we run through the set as well as stage arrangement's, almost puke, fart A LOT, 30 min before show i run my regiments and some of the guys have like 2 or three beers to loosen up i just meditate.


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## bearstate (Jul 15, 2010)

i'm in a hardcore band, and we try to play super energetic shows with a lot of moving around by all the members in the band - we stretch, jump up and down, pace, move around a lot, or practice silently on instruments, warm up the hands alot if your a guitar player, our vocalist warms up on the drive to the venue, go to the bathroom, listen to motivating music that will get you pumped up. 

it seems to me at least if your pumped up and excited, and energetic when the curtain goes up and you walk from backstage to the front of the stage and start playing after what we do, you feel way better, play better, and are more energetic (and therefore more entertaining for the crowd) - that's just what we do. hope this helps in some way =)


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## TMM (Jul 15, 2010)

Demeyes said:


> I normally take my guitar out and tune it up and play through some stuff while the band before is on. I usually just play through some scales and do some of the harder riffs to get my fingers moving.



+1 same here. For the times when I've had a POD or something with a headphone out in my rig for the show, I also bring along my headphones, so I can just concentrate on my playing, rather than having to listen to whatever else is going on while I'm warming up.


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## Captain Axx (Jul 17, 2010)

TMM said:


> +1 same here. For the times when I've had a POD or something with a headphone out in my rig for the show, I also bring along my headphones, so I can just concentrate on my playing, rather than having to listen to whatever else is going on while I'm warming up.


 

+2 i done some school concerts and usually there would one or 2 rock acts, a blues guy and a prog-death-metal-lover (me) playing and the other 1 and a half hours would be girls singing leona lewis crap.

so when the crap turns on, my headphones and pocket pod go on. i just run over a few tracks, scales, (particulary blues scales and diminished scales) and stretch and then go out onto the stage


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## PeteyG (Jul 17, 2010)

The main thing I try and do at some point about an hour before I play a show is to submerge my hands in quite warm or hot water, and to some exercises that focus on flexibility and dexterity for about 10 minutes to half an hour. I find it really loosens up the joints in a natural way and a very gentle way too and I don't get quite so much aching and muscle fatigue after playing.


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## ZXIIIT (Jul 17, 2010)

I practice a lot before a show and outside the venue. Before we go on, I limber up and stretch for about 25 minutes (hands, arms, shoulders, neck, back, legs and back) then I drink a ton of water/tea/honey, as I can't during our set (yet)


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## Daken1134 (Jul 18, 2010)

do the petrucci stretches, you know pull the fingers back, the turn your hand over and bend toward your wrist, hold em for 10 seconds, kinda like stretching before a run, also if you move alot stretch your neck but otherwise, id do straight chromatic stuff, ive always got a metronome in my case so ill practice chromatics straight up (4 per string) then do it moving up 2 frets per string then back 1 then i do the same as the first one but string skipping, up two back one up two back one, then up 3 back 2 (on my 8), and just make sure you stay ontime with your metronome


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## SargeantVomit (Jul 18, 2010)

Usually mashin' to the opening bands is warm up enough.


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## DaveCarter (Jul 18, 2010)

PeteyG said:


> The main thing I try and do at some point about an hour before I play a show is to submerge my hands in quite warm or hot water, and to some exercises that focus on flexibility and dexterity for about 10 minutes to half an hour. I find it really loosens up the joints in a natural way and a very gentle way too and I don't get quite so much aching and muscle fatigue after playing.



^this. Ive been doing the same for a few years, my circulation is shocking so this helps a lot! Warm water if possible, then chromatic scales, then random sweepy stuff to loosen up and get my dexterity on


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## noob_pwn (Jul 19, 2010)

i just run some basic scales and exercises for about 10 minutes, stretch and then do some more difficult stuff. I don't play the hardest stuff but move ALOT so i always make sure my back and neck are nice and loose, especially if I've spent the day in a van/bus. I also find when on tour i don't really need to warm up as much as opposed to a one off show on a weekend or something.


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## ittoa666 (Jul 19, 2010)

I have one suggestion......play hourglass by LoG. 







....or you could just play your bands hardest song.


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## jakeofthumbs (Jul 23, 2010)

Speed. Regardless of how much I warm up and stretch, I start cramping in my hands/hamstrings half way through the first song. Speed fixes it. Or it doesn't and I just don't notice.


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## scottro202 (Jul 23, 2010)

I usually play through all my scales/modes as fast as I can, to the beat of the acts before me, to their tempo. I can't hear my guitar, anyways in that situation, so I can do it to their tempo. Extremely accessible metronome!


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## myampslouder (Jul 31, 2010)

I usually try to carry a pod or something with me and some headphones. with my old band i always warmed up to hourglass and laid to rest bu lamb of god and it worked suprisingly well for me. Now with a sevenstring I usually warm up to old fear factory like zero signal or self bias resistor


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## shredfreak (Jul 31, 2010)

I have my guitar setup as plug & play at this point so i have quite some time to warm up. A lot of times i see guys that need to unpack all their shit leading to 20-30 minute setups while mine takes 5 minutes tops (leaving me with around 10 mins of warmup).


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## Goatfork (Sep 26, 2010)

bump


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