These comments/observations/hints are all based on experience of booked acts and floor spots who have performed for BOSS PROMOTIONS.  While much of it is obvious, some of it is less so particularly to the performer.

• Dress to impress!  Think Madonna (if you're a woman!).  How far would she have got dressed in combats, baggy tee-shirt and a thick fleece?. . . . . . . and grunge is fine if you're as rich and successful as the Gallaghers, but not necessarily otherwise.

• Chart songs are all about 3 minutes long.  If your songs all stretch to 6 or more minutes, tighten them up.  There’s probably no real need to sing the last chorus 19 times!

• Perform what you consider to be your best material, or something you consider worthy of serious performance.  Never try out something you wrote on the bus on the way to the gig.  With the best will in the world, however good it is, it’s going to require some polishing.

• Don’t be self-indulgent.  The only people whose enjoyment matters at the gig is the audience.  If they are having a good time while you play, the chances are you will too.  Try to imagine yourself among them.  Would you be enjoying this?

• Don’t keep re-tuning your guitar to make it easier for you to play.  The audience are there to hear you perform, not tune your instrument.  I’ve never known any serious professional stand for a few seconds on stage re-tuning between numbers (unless a string has gone off-tune).  If you have to re-tune to enable you to play properly, choose material that is in the same key and can be performed without doing so.

• Similarly, if you’ve got six beautifully looked-after and highly polished guitars, we’re very happy for you, but leave them at home.  The audience is not interested in watching you change guitars before every song, and they won’t even notice, far less care, that it doesn’t sound exactly the same as when Clapton played it on the original.  I know a professional who play a vast range of covers with one guitar and he gets what appears to be a perfect sound every time.  If you need to change guitars to make each song sound good, there’s something not right. 

• Don’t be negative about yourself.  The audience can work out for themselves if they’re not having a good time.  They don’t need you to tell them.  Self-criticism is commendable but if you’re not happy with your performance, keep it to yourself and practise more for next time. The chances are the audience will never notice.

• Likewise, don’t be negative about the audience.  They’ve taken the trouble to come along, so don’t mention the fact that there are only 6 of them – it’s not their fault.  They should leave thinking they’ve had a rare opportunity to see something really special, not wishing they had gone to their local like they normally do.  And it’s not their fault if they’re not showing appreciation as much as you’d like.  Think about that one

• Engage the audience!  Perform – don’t just play!  Look at them!  Make eye contact!  Smile at them.  Look as if you’re enjoying yourself.  Choose someone to perform to.  That makes it easier if you are a bit nervous.

• If you sit down while playing guitar, unless there’s some reason why you can’t, think about standing up.  Audiences are more attentive to artists who are on their feet.  It’s too easy, when seated, to withdraw into yourself, and pretend the audience isn’t there.  If you do that, they won’t be – they’ll be chatting to their friends instead.

• If you can, partner up with other performers.  The world is full of talented singer-songwriters.  Make yourself stand out by harmonising either your instruments or your voices or both.  If you both/all write your own material, choose the best from what is available sources to perform.

• Mix your material.  Don’t play a number of songs that all sound the same and only the words are different.  Play songs with different tempos and/or emotions.  

• If you’re told you’re on next, get your instrument and anything else you need ready (and tuned) so that you hit the stage running.  Don’t shamble onto the stage with your guitar in its case and a carrier bag overflowing with leads, pedals and the other paraphernalia of performance, and then spend five minutes preparing for a six minute set.  In the same way as the audience don’t want to listen to you tuning up, they don’t want to watch you unpack your gear either.  Look professional at all times.

• If you play in a band, set your volume appropriately for the size of the venue.  If it’s a small pub, don’t play at a level that would fill the Albert Hall.  If there’s a good PA and a sound engineer, just use the amp to get the sound you want and set the volume high enough so you can hear what you’re playing.  Let the engineer mic. up the amp to mix it with the rest of the band so he can control the overall volume in a balanced way.  After all, he can hear what it sounds like when you’re playing.

• Websites are for information, not entertainment.  Time and time again I have to pick my way through some monstrously self-indulgent site looking for something useful for advertising a performer on my website, only to find that either there is nothing useful, or if there is, it can’t be cut and pasted and I have to ask the performer to Email me a photo.