Although I've spent much of my life gigging, for the past few years my main musical involvement has been with the recording studio. In the studio, you tend to forget what a safe environment you're working in. It's only recently when withdrawal symptoms forced me back into gigging that I realised just how different the two environments are. In the studio, if you make a mistake, you just roll the tape again; if you can't hear the foldback properly, you simply turn up the headphone level; if your voice gives out, you take a break. Nobody cares if you sit down to play, or if you stare at your left hand all the way through the guitar solo, but in live performance, all these things take on a major significance.

A successful live act depends on many factors. Failure to attend to any one of these can mean the difference between an act that has the audience on its side and one that goes down like a lead brick in a lift shaft. Very early on I learned that it's not necessarily the best players who win out — audiences want to be entertained, not educated. If you play something relatively simple, and play it with conviction and confidence, you'll almost certainly be better received than the potential virtuoso who always tries to play just beyond his capabilities and spends the whole evening with a look of worried concentration on his face, or with his back to the audience.

Here at Sound On Stage, we realise that underpinning every good act is the right equipment, the right techniques (both musical and technical), good material, and an entertaining delivery. We can't do a great deal about your material, and we can't practise your instrument for you, but as well as regular equipment features, we will cover the key aspects of performance and presentation. Live music is a sales pitch, and no matter how good the merchandise, you won't find it easy to sell unless you have the required sales skills!