Guitarhacker
 
 
I wonder if when BB King and Eric Clapton walk on stage together to do a show if they are both not thinking that very same thing....  "What the heck am I doing on stage with this guitar god?"...  wanna bet that doesn't cross their minds?
 

 
Not any more though..

Maybe I live in a delusional bubble of my own creation, but I have never suffered from stagefright. Not during my very first performance in Kindergarten, nor doing a live radio broadcast, not on large stages in front of thousands. Not even after months or years off the stage.
 
I can, however, relate to the sensation of being a fraud who's in constant danger of being found out. That's pretty normal, I think, and has no relationship to one's talent, accomplishments or even self-confidence. You know your own limitations intimately and wonder how many in the audience can spot them.
 
Ironically, if you don't feel this way then you probably are a fraud with an inflated sense of your own brilliance.
 
My own self-medication, which I employ only in extreme situations, is coffee. Whether it's going into the studio to lay down a part for someone else or performing live, caffeine speeds up my brain and my fingers to the point where I find myself looking down at my own hands and being surprised by what they're doing. This only works because I am normally not a big caffeine consumer, so all it takes is one Starbucks Iced Coffee to wind me up. 
 
A less-dangerous technique is simply warming up before a gig. I sit down at the keyboard with headphones and start doing finger exercises, scales and a self-jam around some simple chord progression. It takes a good half-hour for the effect to kick in, but when it does it's even more effective than a double-espresso.

Something Dave just said reminded me that I definitely perform better once I stop thinking about it.  Whenever something distracts me (which isn't all that difficult - LOL!), I find that my "auto-pilot" works much better than when I'm focusing on the task too much.  I guess that's what they call "the flow."

KenB-
 
Propranolol (Inderal) is by prescription. I think there are very few side effects, and it's commonly prescribed for steadying heart rate.
 
I doubt that it deals with stage fright directly. But I find that if my fingers are steady, my main problem is solved and I have more confidence.
 
I'm guessing that if you can bring some evidence of all the classical musicians who use it, your doctor might let you have a try.

I was just pondering whether drummers should get pace-makers... 

bitflipper
 
A less-dangerous technique is simply warming up before a gig. I sit down at the keyboard with headphones and start doing finger exercises, scales and a self-jam around some simple chord progression. It takes a good half-hour for the effect to kick in, but when it does it's even more effective than a double-espresso.

I forgot to mention that I practice a lot, leading up to the week that I take the stage.  I will run through the songs once every day, most often twice on Saturdays, before playing live on Sunday.  I know that no one else in the band practices this much before hand, but it helps me a bunch to feel really confident about what I am playing.  
 
I am also much more at ease with public speaking, when I really know the material well.  

I spent a great deal of time on stages both big ( 50,000) and small (we once played to a bartender and one waitress) in my youth all the way through my late thirties. And I am at my most comfortable when I'm on stage and entertaining...hopefully...an audience. On stage I am a total extrovert. But off stage I am borderline agoraphobic. I hate crowds, parties, clubs, events, etc...and mostly never leave my house once I'm home from work. I love the solitude of working alone in my music studio. But I do miss being on stage. Very much. But I bet the stage does not miss me:-)

yorolpal
I spent a great deal of time on stages both big ( 50,000) and small (we once played to a bartender and one waitress) in my youth all the way through my late thirties. And I am at my most comfortable when I'm on stage and entertaining...hopefully...an audience. On stage I am a total extrovert. But off stage I am borderline agoraphobic. I hate crowds, parties, clubs, events, etc...and mostly never leave my house once I'm home from work. I love the solitude of working alone in my music studio. But I do miss being on stage. Very much. But I bet the stage does not miss me:-)

 
We who suffer the stage fright thing tend to be highly self critical and perfectionistic. So no matter how much we practice we never feel that we can stick a fork in it and say it's done.  In my own case, what's ironic is that I'm not nearly as critical of other's performances.  I don't understand why i can't just sit back and enjoy my own performances the way I do others'.  I'm really not fair to myself at all.

eph221

yorolpal
I spent a great deal of time on stages both big ( 50,000) and small (we once played to a bartender and one waitress) in my youth all the way through my late thirties. And I am at my most comfortable when I'm on stage and entertaining...hopefully...an audience. On stage I am a total extrovert. But off stage I am borderline agoraphobic. I hate crowds, parties, clubs, events, etc...and mostly never leave my house once I'm home from work. I love the solitude of working alone in my music studio. But I do miss being on stage. Very much. But I bet the stage does not miss me:-)

 
We who suffer the stage fright thing tend to be highly self critical and perfectionistic. So no matter how much we practice we never feel that we can stick a fork in it and say it's done.  In my own case, what's ironic is that I'm not nearly as critical of other's performances.  I don't understand why i can't just sit back and enjoy my own performances the way I do others'.  I'm really not fair to myself at all.

And yet you're more than fairy enough, ya? 
 
(Sorry, [insert low-hanging fruit comment here]. Whatcha' gonna do? )

Yup...I'm more (as you should be able to tell from my bucolic visage at the upper left) of a, here's what I'm fixin to do...ifn ya like it, super great...ifn ya don't, tough titty...but either way stand back cause here it comes.


And then it's Katie Bar The Door!!