Bands and rehearsals

hotpickups

Just wanted to sound something out with you guys. I'm a hobbyist musician and so are half my band mates. However, there are a couple in it who actually do it for a job. It came up at the last rehearsal that the professional side of the band suggested we just do our homework at home and only get together for the gigs. I don't know about you guys but I'd hate that idea. A, because I don't do this as a day job as mentioned, B, I like getting together for a rehearsal and C I need the consistency of rehearsals as it focuses me. We don't gig much so I believe it will be no point in being a band and will lose momentum.

Hence I fear once again it's gonna cause a divide and possibly split the band up for a while. What would your thoughts be?

fastonebaz

Pisses me right off when my band mates don't do their homework and learn the songs at home.   Band rehearsal should simply be for checking everything is brought together nicely and agreeing starts/ends.  Total waste of rehearsal time if someone turns up without having learnt things. 

My band has fairly frequent gigs so we don't rehearse much these days although we're do when we add a new song in just to do the above steps.

hotpickups

fastonebaz said:

Pisses me right off when my band mates don't do their homework and learn the songs at home.   Band rehearsal should simply be for checking everything is brought together nicely and agreeing starts/ends.  Total waste of rehearsal time if someone turns up without having learnt things. 

My band has fairly frequent gigs so we don't rehearse much these days although we're do when we add a new song in just to do the above steps.

Not saying we don't do our homework and do as you say @fastonebaz ;. However, I like getting together for rehearsals to discuss stuff and plans etc as we don't meet up out oh hours as it were

Musicwolf

Regardless as to whether you are professional, part-time, amateur, experienced or novice - everyone needs to do their homework, at home.  Band rehearsals should be for fine tuning.  If the full-timers in your band are turning up more prepared than the part-timers then there will be friction.

if you want people to give up their time in order attend rehearsals then you need to ensure that they are seeing a benefit.  Rehearsals should be taking you to the next level (and the higher earnings to go with it).  They don’t want to turn up to watch the rest of you run through material that you haven’t touched since the previous get together.

hotpickups

Musicwolf said:

Regardless as to whether you are professional, part-time, amateur, experienced or novice - everyone needs to do their homework, at home.  Band rehearsals should be for fine tuning.  If the full-timers in your band are turning up more prepared than the part-timers then there will be friction.

if you want people to give up their time in order attend rehearsals then you need to ensure that they are seeing a benefit.  Rehearsals should be taking you to the next level (and the higher earnings to go with it).  They don’t want to turn up to watch the rest of you run through material that you haven’t touched since the previous get together.

I think you guys are misunderstanding me. We know the set, we do our homework etc. But who actually likes to go to a rehearsal and enjoys the time etc. I agree though it's my pet hate too when one has to teach the song to another band member at a rehearsal etc

Musicwolf

Our posts crossed.  Is the discussion / planning productive (i.e. makes the band more commercially viable) or is it social?

hotpickups

Musicwolf said:

Our posts crossed.  Is the discussion / planning productive (i.e. makes the band more commercially viable) or is it social?

I'd love it to be more social than it is but we're all too busy for that to happen etc. So everything imo has to happen at a rehearsal which is a lot to cram in. So in this band's case scenario I'm thinking it's essential?

stratman3142

fastonebaz said:

... Band rehearsal should simply be for checking everything is brought together nicely and agreeing starts/ends.  Total waste of rehearsal time if someone turns up without having learnt things...

Completely agree.

We're a covers band and have a private group set up on Facebook. We agree the songs we're going to do, send out links to Youtube for example. We also discuss the keys, endings and structures on Facebook.

 We rarely have rehearsals but might quickly run through a new song during soundcheck if there's the opportunity.

hotpickups

stratman3142 said:

fastonebaz said:

... Band rehearsal should simply be for checking everything is brought together nicely and agreeing starts/ends.  Total waste of rehearsal time if someone turns up without having learnt things...

Completely agree.

We're a covers band and have a private group set up on Facebook. We agree the songs we're going to do, send out links to Youtube for example. We also discuss the keys, endings and structures on Facebook.

 We rarely have rehearsals but might quickly run through a new song during soundcheck if there's the opportunity.

Ah yes that is what we do now i.e. Facebook chat instead of frequent rehearsals we currently do i.e. 2 weekly roughly. I guess it's just me who likes getting together then 

EricTheWeary

When I was last in a band although the idea of a rehearsal as a get together to blow the dust off and make a noise wasn't an anathema to us in reality those weren't productive outings.
Always seems much better when there is a reason/ focus for rehearsals IMHO. I'm not sure there is anything necessarily 'pro' about gigging without rehearsals. I remember reading about Status Quo booking out a soundstage for a week before a tour to rehearse, check the light show, run through new material and they must know their songs in their sleep. 

Lestratcaster

I've played in a few bands where the only time we saw each other was ether at rehearsals or a gig. We didn't live close to one another so it made the social side very difficult. Half were hobbyists, half took it seriously (I was one of them).

Nothing more annoying than members who show up late, don't learn their parts or see rehearsal as a chance to mess around and waste time talking about their weekend. Save that for the pub or somewhere else. This is paid for studio time.

In the last band I was in we didn't rehearse much, and the only reason why we would (towards the end) was cos we had a gig. We would normally have 2 go throughs of the set us to stay tight and that was it. Only the drummer was a bit iffy on certain parts as our music was based on a lot of stops/pushes/syncopation. Aside from playing it was just non-band-related-chat. This really annoyed me as we could be working on new songs etc. But we didn't songwrite very well anyway, with so many issues.

Ideally rehearsal should be what the guys have already said, members knowing parts and then fine-tuning it as a band. Then during any breaks discussions about anything band-related. 

The band I'm playing in now we play often enough we don't need to rehearse every week as its been the same set for a while. We're all good friends and always meet up outside of gig/practices anyway. Writing is done at the guitarist's house so its nice and chilled. It works really well. We actually see each other alot more socially than we rehearse, and it creates a good unity amongst us.

hotpickups

Lestratcaster said:

I've played in a few bands where the only time we saw each other was ether at rehearsals or a gig. We didn't live close to one another so it made the social side very difficult. Half were hobbyists, half took it seriously (I was one of them).

Nothing more annoying than members who show up late, don't learn their parts or see rehearsal as a chance to mess around and waste time talking about their weekend. Save that for the pub or somewhere else. This is paid for studio time.

In the last band I was in we didn't rehearse much, and the only reason why we would (towards the end) was cos we had a gig. We would normally have 2 go throughs of the set us to stay tight and that was it. Only the drummer was a bit iffy on certain parts as our music was based on a lot of stops/pushes/syncopation. Aside from playing it was just non-band-related-chat. This really annoyed me as we could be working on new songs etc. But we didn't songwrite very well anyway, with so many issues.

Ideally rehearsal should be what the guys have already said, members knowing parts and then fine-tuning it as a band. Then during any breaks discussions about anything band-related. 

The band I'm playing in now we play often enough we don't need to rehearse every week as its been the same set for a while. We're all good friends and always meet up outside of gig/practices anyway. Writing is done at the guitarist's house so its nice and chilled. It works really well. We actually see each other alot more socially than we rehearse, and it creates a good unity amongst us.

What prompted me to start this thread was recently we had a bad rehearsals. It'd been a month at least until we last met up at a gig and those weeks following some, including myself, forgot a couple of songs. Soon got them back though but had to be reminded. Our next gig is 2 months away and I fear that more will be forgotten if we don't meet up for a couple of rehearsals in between. I do my homework at home though like I always have but sometimes life gets in the way doesn't it

Lestratcaster

hotpickups said:

Lestratcaster said:

I've played in a few bands where the only time we saw each other was ether at rehearsals or a gig. We didn't live close to one another so it made the social side very difficult. Half were hobbyists, half took it seriously (I was one of them).

Nothing more annoying than members who show up late, don't learn their parts or see rehearsal as a chance to mess around and waste time talking about their weekend. Save that for the pub or somewhere else. This is paid for studio time.

In the last band I was in we didn't rehearse much, and the only reason why we would (towards the end) was cos we had a gig. We would normally have 2 go throughs of the set us to stay tight and that was it. Only the drummer was a bit iffy on certain parts as our music was based on a lot of stops/pushes/syncopation. Aside from playing it was just non-band-related-chat. This really annoyed me as we could be working on new songs etc. But we didn't songwrite very well anyway, with so many issues.

Ideally rehearsal should be what the guys have already said, members knowing parts and then fine-tuning it as a band. Then during any breaks discussions about anything band-related. 

The band I'm playing in now we play often enough we don't need to rehearse every week as its been the same set for a while. We're all good friends and always meet up outside of gig/practices anyway. Writing is done at the guitarist's house so its nice and chilled. It works really well. We actually see each other alot more socially than we rehearse, and it creates a good unity amongst us.

What prompted me to start this thread was recently we had a bad rehearsals. It'd been a month at least until we last met up at a gig and those weeks following some, including myself, forgot a couple of songs. Soon got them back though but had to be reminded. Our next gig is 2 months away and I fear that more will be forgotten if we don't meet up for a couple of rehearsals in between. I do my homework at home though like I always have but sometimes life gets in the way doesn't it

Reminds me of why I left that band I was talking about. We must have rehearsed less than 10 times in a calendar year, and when we did they were a total waste of time. Band members late (room was booked from 6-9pm) and we never started rehearsing til about 7.15pm. First hour was spent waiting for late arrivals (I was usually always the first one there). Too much chit-chat on weekend plans and other rubbish. Then as members had to get up early for work the next day people would be leaving around 8pm so we never really got any quality rehearsing time in. Probably didn't help the majority of members were coming from work driving between 5-6pm on the M25 which makes it near impossible to get to places on time.

We never met up outside of rehearsal time and even gigs we didn't travel together or hang out much, for one or two members it was a case of just show up (right before playing) play the set and bugger off.

If the next show is a while away why not work on a few new tunes? That was it stops it becoming repetitive and you can use the last segment of rehearsal to run the set. It'd give you something to look forward to each week whilst maintaining consistency.

stratman3142

hotpickups said:

What prompted me to start this thread was recently we had a bad rehearsals. It'd been a month at least until we last met up at a gig and those weeks following some, including myself, forgot a couple of songs. Soon got them back though but had to be reminded. Our next gig is 2 months away and I fear that more will be forgotten if we don't meet up for a couple of rehearsals in between. I do my homework at home though like I always have but sometimes life gets in the way doesn't it

My memory isn't great.

I create charts in Musescore, which I can refer to between gigs to remind myself.

Also, I've got mp3s of all of the songs we do. Some from live gigs and some from the original artist. The ones from the original artist are transposed if necessary (in Reaper) to the key we play them in. Also, if we do a slightly different structure (which we try to avoid), I cut and splice the mp3 in Reaper and create re-rendered versions.

Between long gaps in gigs, I play along to mp3s I have of the set. And only refer to my charts if I've forgotten anything.

hotpickups

Lestratcaster said:

hotpickups said:

Lestratcaster said:

I've played in a few bands where the only time we saw each other was ether at rehearsals or a gig. We didn't live close to one another so it made the social side very difficult. Half were hobbyists, half took it seriously (I was one of them).

Nothing more annoying than members who show up late, don't learn their parts or see rehearsal as a chance to mess around and waste time talking about their weekend. Save that for the pub or somewhere else. This is paid for studio time.

In the last band I was in we didn't rehearse much, and the only reason why we would (towards the end) was cos we had a gig. We would normally have 2 go throughs of the set us to stay tight and that was it. Only the drummer was a bit iffy on certain parts as our music was based on a lot of stops/pushes/syncopation. Aside from playing it was just non-band-related-chat. This really annoyed me as we could be working on new songs etc. But we didn't songwrite very well anyway, with so many issues.

Ideally rehearsal should be what the guys have already said, members knowing parts and then fine-tuning it as a band. Then during any breaks discussions about anything band-related. 

The band I'm playing in now we play often enough we don't need to rehearse every week as its been the same set for a while. We're all good friends and always meet up outside of gig/practices anyway. Writing is done at the guitarist's house so its nice and chilled. It works really well. We actually see each other alot more socially than we rehearse, and it creates a good unity amongst us.

What prompted me to start this thread was recently we had a bad rehearsals. It'd been a month at least until we last met up at a gig and those weeks following some, including myself, forgot a couple of songs. Soon got them back though but had to be reminded. Our next gig is 2 months away and I fear that more will be forgotten if we don't meet up for a couple of rehearsals in between. I do my homework at home though like I always have but sometimes life gets in the way doesn't it

Reminds me of why I left that band I was talking about. We must have rehearsed less than 10 times in a calendar year, and when we did they were a total waste of time. Band members late (room was booked from 6-9pm) and we never started rehearsing til about 7.15pm. First hour was spent waiting for late arrivals (I was usually always the first one there). Too much chit-chat on weekend plans and other rubbish. Then as members had to get up early for work the next day people would be leaving around 8pm so we never really got any quality rehearsing time in. Probably didn't help the majority of members were coming from work driving between 5-6pm on the M25 which makes it near impossible to get to places on time.

We never met up outside of rehearsal time and even gigs we didn't travel together or hang out much, for one or two members it was a case of just show up (right before playing) play the set and bugger off.

If the next show is a while away why not work on a few new tunes? That was it stops it becoming repetitive and you can use the last segment of rehearsal to run the set. It'd give you something to look forward to each week whilst maintaining consistency.

Well it’s a bigger story in this case which I can’t really talk through here tbh but it’s a very similar scenario for me too. Feel like chucking it all in tbh 

Musicwolf

stratman3142 said

Also, I've got mp3s of all of the songs we do. Some from live gigs and some from the original artist. The ones from the original artist are transposed if necessary (in Reaper) to the key we play them in. Also, if we do a slightly different structure (which we try to avoid), I cut and splice the mp3 in Reaper and create re-rendered versions.

Between long gaps in gigs, I play along to mp3s I have of the set. And only refer to my charts if I've forgotten anything.

I start by creating songs in Cubase (I download midi files for bass and drums if I can find them but create my own if I can’t).  Then I record rehearsal using my Zoom LiveTrak and distribute versions missing the relevant instrument (i.e. without bass for the bass player).  I have the songs all set up in one Cubase project, in the correct order, and I make sure that I play through the whole set at least once per week.

Lestratcaster

hotpickups said:

Lestratcaster said:

hotpickups said:

Lestratcaster said:

I've played in a few bands where the only time we saw each other was ether at rehearsals or a gig. We didn't live close to one another so it made the social side very difficult. Half were hobbyists, half took it seriously (I was one of them).

Nothing more annoying than members who show up late, don't learn their parts or see rehearsal as a chance to mess around and waste time talking about their weekend. Save that for the pub or somewhere else. This is paid for studio time.

In the last band I was in we didn't rehearse much, and the only reason why we would (towards the end) was cos we had a gig. We would normally have 2 go throughs of the set us to stay tight and that was it. Only the drummer was a bit iffy on certain parts as our music was based on a lot of stops/pushes/syncopation. Aside from playing it was just non-band-related-chat. This really annoyed me as we could be working on new songs etc. But we didn't songwrite very well anyway, with so many issues.

Ideally rehearsal should be what the guys have already said, members knowing parts and then fine-tuning it as a band. Then during any breaks discussions about anything band-related. 

The band I'm playing in now we play often enough we don't need to rehearse every week as its been the same set for a while. We're all good friends and always meet up outside of gig/practices anyway. Writing is done at the guitarist's house so its nice and chilled. It works really well. We actually see each other alot more socially than we rehearse, and it creates a good unity amongst us.

What prompted me to start this thread was recently we had a bad rehearsals. It'd been a month at least until we last met up at a gig and those weeks following some, including myself, forgot a couple of songs. Soon got them back though but had to be reminded. Our next gig is 2 months away and I fear that more will be forgotten if we don't meet up for a couple of rehearsals in between. I do my homework at home though like I always have but sometimes life gets in the way doesn't it

Reminds me of why I left that band I was talking about. We must have rehearsed less than 10 times in a calendar year, and when we did they were a total waste of time. Band members late (room was booked from 6-9pm) and we never started rehearsing til about 7.15pm. First hour was spent waiting for late arrivals (I was usually always the first one there). Too much chit-chat on weekend plans and other rubbish. Then as members had to get up early for work the next day people would be leaving around 8pm so we never really got any quality rehearsing time in. Probably didn't help the majority of members were coming from work driving between 5-6pm on the M25 which makes it near impossible to get to places on time.

We never met up outside of rehearsal time and even gigs we didn't travel together or hang out much, for one or two members it was a case of just show up (right before playing) play the set and bugger off.

If the next show is a while away why not work on a few new tunes? That was it stops it becoming repetitive and you can use the last segment of rehearsal to run the set. It'd give you something to look forward to each week whilst maintaining consistency.

Well it’s a bigger story in this case which I can’t really talk through here tbh but it’s a very similar scenario for me too. Feel like chucking it all in tbh 

There were other issues and reasons why I left too but I don't regret it. I just knew it was time to leave after the last show we did. Something just didn't feel right on the night and I remember driving back home late at night just knowing I had to leave.

The band lacked any momentum and progress over a long period and I just couldn't go on drifting along any longer.

horse

hotpickups said:

Lestratcaster said:

I've played in a few bands where the only time we saw each other was ether at rehearsals or a gig. We didn't live close to one another so it made the social side very difficult. Half were hobbyists, half took it seriously (I was one of them).

Nothing more annoying than members who show up late, don't learn their parts or see rehearsal as a chance to mess around and waste time talking about their weekend. Save that for the pub or somewhere else. This is paid for studio time.

In the last band I was in we didn't rehearse much, and the only reason why we would (towards the end) was cos we had a gig. We would normally have 2 go throughs of the set us to stay tight and that was it. Only the drummer was a bit iffy on certain parts as our music was based on a lot of stops/pushes/syncopation. Aside from playing it was just non-band-related-chat. This really annoyed me as we could be working on new songs etc. But we didn't songwrite very well anyway, with so many issues.

Ideally rehearsal should be what the guys have already said, members knowing parts and then fine-tuning it as a band. Then during any breaks discussions about anything band-related. 

The band I'm playing in now we play often enough we don't need to rehearse every week as its been the same set for a while. We're all good friends and always meet up outside of gig/practices anyway. Writing is done at the guitarist's house so its nice and chilled. It works really well. We actually see each other alot more socially than we rehearse, and it creates a good unity amongst us.

What prompted me to start this thread was recently we had a bad rehearsals. It'd been a month at least until we last met up at a gig and those weeks following some, including myself, forgot a couple of songs. Soon got them back though but had to be reminded. Our next gig is 2 months away and I fear that more will be forgotten if we don't meet up for a couple of rehearsals in between. I do my homework at home though like I always have but sometimes life gets in the way doesn't it

The thing with this is that although you hadn't got together for a month before the bad rehearsal, in the time you would have liked to have fitted in an extra rehearsal or two anybody who needed to could have run through things at home to make sure they still knew their stuff - for free. If the guys who didnt forget any songs also want to minimise their rehearsal time / costs then they will likely find that frustrating.

I'm involved in a few different things, but one band where we have a 2 hour set down I've said I only want to rehearse once a month to keep things ticking over when we are not actively gigging - so we don't slip too far. I just don't want to spend more time and money on rehearsals than is needed. Different thing if the rehearsals are a creative process / experience.

hotpickups

horse said:

hotpickups said:

Lestratcaster said:

I've played in a few bands where the only time we saw each other was ether at rehearsals or a gig. We didn't live close to one another so it made the social side very difficult. Half were hobbyists, half took it seriously (I was one of them).

Nothing more annoying than members who show up late, don't learn their parts or see rehearsal as a chance to mess around and waste time talking about their weekend. Save that for the pub or somewhere else. This is paid for studio time.

In the last band I was in we didn't rehearse much, and the only reason why we would (towards the end) was cos we had a gig. We would normally have 2 go throughs of the set us to stay tight and that was it. Only the drummer was a bit iffy on certain parts as our music was based on a lot of stops/pushes/syncopation. Aside from playing it was just non-band-related-chat. This really annoyed me as we could be working on new songs etc. But we didn't songwrite very well anyway, with so many issues.

Ideally rehearsal should be what the guys have already said, members knowing parts and then fine-tuning it as a band. Then during any breaks discussions about anything band-related. 

The band I'm playing in now we play often enough we don't need to rehearse every week as its been the same set for a while. We're all good friends and always meet up outside of gig/practices anyway. Writing is done at the guitarist's house so its nice and chilled. It works really well. We actually see each other alot more socially than we rehearse, and it creates a good unity amongst us.

What prompted me to start this thread was recently we had a bad rehearsals. It'd been a month at least until we last met up at a gig and those weeks following some, including myself, forgot a couple of songs. Soon got them back though but had to be reminded. Our next gig is 2 months away and I fear that more will be forgotten if we don't meet up for a couple of rehearsals in between. I do my homework at home though like I always have but sometimes life gets in the way doesn't it

The thing with this is that although you hadn't got together for a month before the bad rehearsal, in the time you would have liked to have fitted in an extra rehearsal or two anybody who needed to could have run through things at home to make sure they still knew their stuff - for free. If the guys who didnt forget any songs also want to minimise their rehearsal time / costs then they will likely find that frustrating.

I'm involved in a few different things, but one band where we have a 2 hour set down I've said I only want to rehearse once a month to keep things ticking over when we are not actively gigging - so we don't slip too far. I just don't want to spend more time and money on rehearsals than is needed. Different thing if the rehearsals are a creative process / experience.

Yeah that’s basically how we do it. It was just this one rehearsal that made me think about it etc. 

skay

I guess it's a little different if you're in an originals band versus a covers band. For years and years I was the main songwriter in an originals band, and as we rehearsed every Sunday afternoon, I would try to come up with a new riff or improvement on a song we were working on, so it would always be fresh and fun to play.

  I really enjoyed the 'jamming out ideas' stages, and we would sometimes have massively long jams that went many different places, and we'd try to remember the bits we liked and turn those into songs. The band was made of old school mates who had known each other for well over 20 years, and had learnt to play guitar together, so the mind-reading part of knowing where they are going next with a riff was off the scale!

 Later I joined a covers band, who only rehearsed when learning new songs, or when we had a gig coming up, and that lost much of the fun feeling of simply playing music together. I love playing with other musicians, and that regular outlet of turning your amp up and blasting out riffs never gets old for me, so being 'professional' and efficient with your rehearsals in a business kind of way just sucks all the fun out of it for me.

Roland

Doing homework is essential, but rehearsals can be more than checking that homework.

We’re a covers band, but we don’t always play songs like the original. For starters, which is the original version of Tainted Love? Sometimes the band doesn’t have the instrumentation to play it like the original. So we use rehearsals to work out our own arrangements. 

A band that plays together regularly sounds tighter than one that doesn’t. Our individual weekend commitments mean that we only do one or two gigs a month. So rehearsals are a way of keeping things tight in between gigs. Anyway, we like playing