General Music Chat

My cover band Aint Yo Mama had a practice last night. We have a gig coming up in two weeks, and we havent played together in a couple of monthes so it was great to get the cobwebs off.

We sounded really good and pretty tight considering our layoff. We are getting together next thursday night again. Its really great with my guys cause I read all the issues people have with band members on here and my group just seems to have no musical issues at all. We even pulled a few songs out of the hat that I dont think weve played in years and they sounded good.

I took my POD PRO and lined into our bassists recording board, I also took my pedal board and put it in front of the POD, they always want to do Killing In The Name and I have to have the whammy pedal for that, and it sounded killer by the way. We havent played All Along The Watchtower in years but weve got friends coming to our next gig that have already requested it so we played it and it simple rocked, plus they gave me a big long section to do delay and whammy effects that just really tripped the song out. Our singer was complimenting me on what I did and I havent even thought about or run thru that song in years.

We mic up the drums and play thru the board and listen on headphones. For all the guys having volume problems practicing this solves that issue, plus playing in headphones you really really hear yourself. At volume live you can kinda slur thru sections, but with the headphones I think you can tighten up way better and get a really good overall mix to listen to. If you are in a band practicing and have the means to do this I highly recomend it. I think you and your band will sound better in the end for it.

A bummer note our singer thinks he has hernia, so Im hopeful we can get thru our gig in two weeks. But that kinda quelched the idea of lining up a few summer shows. But thats just part of the aging process I guess, things dont quite work like they used too. LOL

Let's hope it isn't a hernia, or that if it is, it isn't too serious, JW.

I'd love to be able to come to one of your shows, man. I bet it'd be killer!

Cooooll.... We ALWAYS have an awesome rehearsal as every rehearsal we add 2 more new tunes... This Saturday is gonna be:

Indestructible~ DISTURBED and

High Speed Dirt ~ MAGADEATH

Once we've got over 3 sets down cold, we start booking by ourselves in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan where we don't need a following, an opening act, etc.. One nice set salary and great sound systems... We are looking into purchasing a van so we all go to these gigs together.... this sh¡t is getting intense now!

This from yet another guy whose band I'd love to go & see in action...

Yea I wish we could get Mugsy and Aint Yo Mama together on a bill, that would be so cool. Of course we claim all the women and Crip can have all the cool guitar riffs, cause I am such a hack! LOL

Headphone practicing is great. But if you REALLY want to hear what your band sounds like record some of those practice songs. Every screwup stands out like a 500 watt flood lamp in dark closet.

When you're listening through phones, the bad moments go past so fast they are often overlooked. When it is recorded, the rough parts literally scream out at you.

It is a very unpleasant experience to those who haven't tried it. Rather like hearing your own vocals for the very first time. Almost everyone thinks Ugggg I sound like that? At least that is what most singers have told me.

The same with recording on video when you work up a song. You see every stupid guitar face, every awkward gesture, funny noises between lyrics and most other things that make you cringe. We all do stuff unconsciously that we wish we didn't do.
I have recorded musicians that performed for years in bands and they never had a clue that they were doing things they didn't like. And they improved upon their live performance skills after seeing the stuff they didn't like.
It may be because I am a novice, but I see a lot of stuff in every take that I need to improve. It just ain't nice.

JW.... Here's a thought.. Maybe our bands could meet halfway?? Think of a state that's halfway between NY and TN!

Crip that would be what KY? LOL!

These days I cant seem to get my guys to travel very far. We stay in a 4 county area, but who knows it would be cool to do something like that.

Im needing some guitar lessons and I know you can show me some stuff. Maybe I can show you some facial gestures. Im pretty good at making expressions and carrying beer bottles on my head when I play! LOL

Slacker I agree recording yourself is always better, and at our bassist house if we are in the mood we can just record our practices. The cover tunes on my player were done that way.

But still if you practice with folks in a room you tend to get too loud and really cant hear whats going on, whereas with the headphones everything seems to slow down to me and i can hear every nuance of my pick attack. I think if I had been practicing this way years ago I would probably be a bettter player than I am today.

Hernias aren't a big deal. Tell him to get it taken care of ASAP, he's most likely in and out of the hospital in about six hours, and within three days he's almost back to normal.. I've had two of them. The first day after the operation is a bit painful. Don't crack a joke around him. Laughing and coughing are particularly painful that first day. The sooner he gets it operated on the better.

A bummer note our singer thinks he has hernia, so Im hopeful we can get thru our gig in two weeks. But that kinda quelched the idea of lining up a few summer shows. But thats just part of the aging process I guess, things dont quite work like they used too. LOL

ack. nothing a little duct tape can't fix.
put me on the list of "wanna see you live" recruits. One day, I may just take a road trip accross america to meet people I know, but don't know, you know?

Chris

JW123,

"Slacker I agree recording yourself is always better, and at our bassist house if we are in the mood we can just record our practices. The cover tunes on my player were done that way."

That's great. We only jam a few times a year. I would cringe listening to an unmixed live recording of our jam sessions, even though all are really good musicians. I think of all the things I could have played instead to make it better. The other guys would like it, but I'm never happy with my playing even when the conditions are ideal.

Any time a band sounds good in a live recording, you know they have it down pat. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with that. You guys put a lot of effort into it and it shows. I know how much work that takes.

Slacker, Ive listened to jam tapes from ou practices thru the years and I can say without apology that my group of guys f**k sound better than most bands practiced material.

I am very fortunate to play with the guys I play with. ive done sitin gigs the last few years and the comparison is night and day. Before getting back with my guys I played weekely with a group of pretty good musicians and when we did a gig a lot of things just fell apart. Was it me? I cant say. Did I not do my part knowing the material? I thought I covered my bases.

With my band I have confidence in the other members to cover thier parts, even when they dont particulary like the song we are playing, and believe me there are 20-30 songs we do that I would rather never do again, but other members want to play them and the audience we play for request them so I just put myself musically 100% behind playing these songs.

I think this goes to the other thread I started about being confident in yourself but that also extends to the people you play with. You need confidence in them to do thier parts also. And this is not genre specific, it applies to any genre one wants to play in.

Cooooll.... We ALWAYS have an awesome rehearsal as every rehearsal we add 2 more new tunes... This Saturday is gonna be:

Indestructible~ DISTURBED and

High Speed Dirt ~ MAGADEATH

Once we've got over 3 sets down cold, we start booking by ourselves in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan where we don't need a following, an opening act, etc.. One nice set salary and great sound systems... We are looking into purchasing a van so we all go to these gigs together.... this sh¡t is getting intense now!

Who's Magadeath?

I just saw where Megadeath played in Memphis this past weekend.