So I ' m late to this party but there ' s still one suggestion I haven ' t seen so I wanted to throw it in here Get a repertoire . Have a little handful of riffs and chords and bits that you can do , and really nail them . Stuff that ' s not just some songs you learned , but just some little exercises to let you see how some stuff sounds . A 4 chord progression , a little E minor pentatonic run , some power chords , and a bit with parallel thirds , and then work on that set of licks until you feel really comfortable with it . This is your Guitar TestOut Package , and having it in your back pocket I think will really go a long way toward helping you feel more comfortable in front of people . It ' s your little set list . At least , it made me a lot less nervous once I had it down .