How Much Should A Band Practise?

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 25 Nov 2003 8:09 pm

Some bands gig and never practice, some bands practice and never gig, and many are in between, more or less. What do you think? How much is enough?

[This message was edited by James Morehead on 25 November 2003 at 08:11 PM.]

Andy Greatrix · Post by **Andy Greatrix** » 25 Nov 2003 8:24 pm

It depends whether you're in it
for the music or the money.
If you're in it just for what you like,
you'll be a rec room band.
If it's both, you rehearse tunes
you and the audience like.
If you're only in it for
the money and the booze,
and don't rehearse,
it will sound like it.
There are exceptions.

Randy Wade · Post by **Randy Wade** » 25 Nov 2003 8:29 pm

It all depends, but if chord charts are made up ahead of time(Nashville number system if your band members are familiar with it) for each new song, it will make the practice time much more productive, and save lots of time and trouble.
Randy Wade

Wayne Baker · Post by **Wayne Baker** » 25 Nov 2003 11:04 pm

I play with an awesome band that never practices. Our members live as far apart as Orlando and Atlanta. This group is by far the best group "musician & pay wise" I have ever played with.

Thanks,
Wayne Baker

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 26 Nov 2003 2:49 am

There's another "X" that needs to be added to the equation..

How much do the individual band members practice when not in the company of their bandmates ?

My take is that we as musicians ,if we have any desire what-so-ever to improve should practice regulary..as a part of daily habit..

Playing in a band and going to rehearsal or practice is not an alternative to individual practice. Although..I think some folks that I know and play music with never touch their Instruments unless we are all together at a practice. This is not a good thing..and it shows..At some point it will be a problem for me..as I am playing new things , perhaps more complicated than my bandmates are capable of attempting.It's not that they couldn't it's that they are not well rehearsed musicians.

Bands that are local I think should get together and practice for 2 reasons..1 being the music and 2 being the social end.

I prescribe to what Wayne states above..although it is always nice to get together and work out kinks and add a few arrangements ..polished musicians do not need to get together as a "BAND" so to say to rehearse. Ok..I'm gonna add a line here..Polished musicians are generally smarter musicians and thats why they can get together and play a gig cold.

T[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 26 November 2003 at 02:52 AM.]

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 26 Nov 2003 5:01 am

When a new band is forming, I always liked to practice twice a week until things started coming together and we had enough songs our to do a 4 hour dance. After that, then I like to go to once a week. I like to have two songs to "rehearse" that we have recently learned, but feel that we need to go over them again. And two songs to "practice" that are new songs that we haven't learned as a band. The new songs that we "practice" one week become the songs that we "rehearse" the next week. It is essential that band practice is "band" practice, not time for some idiot to try to sit with a CD listening over and over trying to learn a guitar part. I actually played with a guy like this once. His comment was "I thought that is what practice is for. I don't see the difference in me learning my guitar part at practice and some singer learning a harmony part." Idiot...here's your sign.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 26 Nov 2003 5:31 am

Yes George..what you are saying is all too familiar..

T

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 26 Nov 2003 10:33 am

Some years ago, I played with a group that got top billing and bucks. They insisted on band practice every week. Most were wanna-be's at best.......yet, the put their hearts into it and it went over good with their public.
What got me, was the band practices were complete stage setups with ALL THE EQUIPMENT
including 5,000watts of output in just a small basement room.
But the killer was, practicing "PRETTY WOMAND" for four solid hours straight, over and over, when they'd already been playing the song for a dozen years and nothing new or inovative was ever mixed into the forumula.
Other groups with whom I'd worked were capable of working out a dozen twin guitar or 3-part arrangements in half that time.
Practice sessions are what you make out of them.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 26 Nov 2003 10:44 am

Like Wayne, I played for about a year in a terrific blues rock band that never rehearsed. Everything was spontanious, and 99% of the time it was wonderful, but occasionally we'd get into a train wreck.

The problem was that as strong as we were, we were still confined by the limitations of the weakest memeber.

If this bad had rehearsed, it would have been awesome.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 26 Nov 2003 11:34 am

Ray. I know the band of whom you speak. I was at one of their rehearsals, It might have been in an earlier time by a couple months while they were looking for another piece. I dunno. 83 I think it was.

It was sometime in the middle of Elvira that I realised that the Bass player had arrested me on a "failure to appear" in Clackamas Cty about ten years earlier.

On the second run through of "Good Old Boys" I excused myself, and never got back to them.

I think that there are many times, in fact most of the time when there needs to be a working out of vocal harmonies in a rehearsal. I can see it.

Sometimes if the band has a bad habit of fighting onstage, band rehearsals are good places to hash things over.

I ask mostly for a CD of stuff, and if they want it close to the record, it means that any capable lead player can take it, show up and do it. If at the job, they find that I'm not capable of doing it well, then they find somebody that can. Hasn't happened that I remember.

I can't remember the last formal rehearsal I've been to. I tend to shy away from them if they're not paid, or the job money isn't worth it. If on an "away gig" the early sound check is a great time to run through things. Grabbing some guitars on break in the nack room is usually as good as any as long as somebody's not too drunk..

I don't rehearse hauling trac hoes either. Some of them are a durn sight more challenging.

SSM

EJL [This message was edited by Eric West on 26 November 2003 at 11:41 AM.]

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 26 Nov 2003 11:51 am

Tony Prior and George, I'm with you. There is NO substitute for personal practice, and I agree that if the musicians are good enough, you COULD show up and play it right the first time without a group practice. But this is vey, rare. I've seen it done in Nashville a number of times. For us week enders its different. Too many wannabes think that they can show up without personal practice and wing arrangements off. It doesn't happen. You've got to practice as a group. I practice two hours a day myself. Modern top 40 country songs are far more arranged than the older three chord shuffles. This has weeded out most of the hack players in my area for country bands. The only ones left are the ones that are at least trying to replicate what goes down on the recording. Its what people want to hear today. They aren't going to pay for five out of tune, over weight, hack players who are up there to make $50.00. Young people don't want to hear it. You've got to have your game on if you want to make money.

Ward Wilsey · Post by **Ward Wilsey** » 26 Nov 2003 12:45 pm

Kevin,

I agree with what you said about personal practice and contemporary country. I'll add this. I think a lot of bands would do good by starting out with more simple I-IV-V type songs, then working in the hard ones after the band starts to mesh. This new band I play in started out trying to dive right into some pretty tough arrangements (Dixieland Delight, Real Good Man). Those type of songs will kill a weekend band if all the members don't have their parts down pat. I love when I join a new band and they tell me "We're playing Crazy Arms, Workin Man Blues, Cowboy Rides Away, etc...cause I know this gives the band a good shot of having some success right away. Once we've got a little success as a unit, then its time to get some of the harder numbers on the setlist. I find this policy of picking songs that reflect the cohesion of the band you're in make practice much more productive and enjoyable. Ward

Rich Young · Post by **Rich Young** » 26 Nov 2003 12:55 pm

I think the definitive answer is - it depends.

I've gotten calls where I show up and meet the people ( some or all) during set up. If it is pretty standard stuff, keep as close to the record as you can (unless they are not) and watch the leader/singer. In a country band, if the bass player knows it, the guitar(which was my main insrument for years) does too. It can sound pretty good. A rehersal with those players, it would have sounded better, of course.

If you are doing originals, then at least once a week, and a seperate vocal rehersal with just an acoustic guitar. The more you do, the sooner you will be ready.

I was in a cover band in CA doing 50's/60's type stuff. We would rehearse once a week, learn new stuff, clean up things, work on harmonies. 9 years I was in that band, some of those guys were in it even it longer. I thought we were kind of slacking though, I think we could have done better. At the time I was probably play 4-5 nights a week and practicing on my own proabaly a minimum of 4-5 hours a day.

You get out of it what you put into it.

By the way, looked up rehersal in the dictionary the other day, it has the same latin root word as hearse.

Doug Seymour · Post by **Doug Seymour** » 26 Nov 2003 3:05 pm

I joined a band in July of 1947 right after graduation. We practiced 2 or 3 hours 5 days a week, we were trying to be full time musicians. We had "stock" patterns for all the tunes....who did back-up & when as well as leads. We got into 2 & 3 part harmony & it took time to work out all this stuff. Most of the guys didn't read & we had to get it right, so it took longer by ear than it would have to read it. Higher level, more experienced musicians would do it much quicker of course. It was the best organized
band I have ever worked with, not the best musicians, but we always knew who was going to play what & when....no free for all stuff
like some bands sound like to me!

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 26 Nov 2003 3:34 pm

As others have mentioned, the best bands I've ever played with practiced the least and sounded the best. The musical abilities of the individual members is a key factor, but the ability to interact musically is more important than being able to play a blue streak.

One band I play with often typically plays 50% original tunes. The only time we ever rehearse is when someone has written new tunes to learn and, often, we could pull them off pretty easily the first time on stage with no rehearsal. Most good bands don't really rehearse tunes they've already learned before, assuming they play once or more each week. When we play less often, we sometimes WISH we'd rehearsed.

------------------
Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 26 November 2003 at 03:38 PM.]

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 26 Nov 2003 7:09 pm

This isn't really a 'Pedal Steel' topic, so I've moved it to the 'Music' section of the Forum.