General Music Chat

The most successful local cover bands I know pretty much don't rehearse. They get together once in a great while to learn new songs, but there's no real, regular rehearsals.

Contrast this with all the bands I've been in with weekly or even bi-weekly rehearsals. We'd rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and things actually seemed to get worse. This would go on until at least one musician would leave in disgust. Yes, alright, sometimes it was me, but not always.

So, how often do you rehearse?

Because, there's this drummer buddy of mine, we get together after not having played together for a year or more and we can play a bunch of songs nearly flawlessly. But I've been in bands that rehearsed so often that it was a problem for work, etc. that couldn't play any of their songs that well.

I was in one band that where I recorded rehearsal pretty regularly. After two weeks of rehearsing some of the songs we played them better than what I heard on the recordings of us playing them after a year of rehearsing them.

So, when is it too much?

Are my buddy and I the only ones capable of remembering a song like this? I don't believe it. I won't believe it.

Clearly, you'll get rusty on songs you don't play for a while, but it doesn't seem like it should take a year of weekly rehearsals to whip them into shape. For a lot of the songs I've played in the past it would be three rehearsals, tops. For new songs I generally get them into playable shape within five or six rehearsals.

This seems like it should be common with any competent musician.

Yet I still see bands advertising for musicians where they want regular, weekly rehearsals and have no prospects for gigs.

Why would any competent, self-respecting musician want to subject themselves to this kind of self-flagellation?

CAVEAT: All of the above rant assumes that the bands in question actually do play gigs. If you're playing gigs, you're playing the songs.

I enjoy the rehearsing as much as the gigs. Creating music is what I'm in this for. Gigging is great in that you'll get validation if your rehearsals are going well (or not). I definitely think you can over-rehearse. When you play a song over and over and over again it can get stale. That's especially true if you play the same song gig after gig after gig. Rehearsals are for adding new material. I played with bands that never rehearsed, that gets old and bands that over-rehearsed. I believe in a balance of the two. My two cents...later...

It's an interesting question. Personally, my last few band experiences have consisted of 1-2 times a week rehearsing. Unfortunately, in those situations, they consisted many times of re-teaching material to various members. I even played with one guy for about a year, and I remember beginning a song and having him give me the "deer in the headlight look".
After all of those times playing, he had no idea how to play it. My point is that I would think it to be a matter of talent level, dedication and basic recall skills. More experienced musicians are likely to need less "practice time"-and repeating any song over and over is just going to beat it to death. It's also possible that enthusiasm for the material or just the joy of playing makes more rehearsals less necessary-i.e., the more you like it, the less you need to play it. I'll stop rambling now...

Bob and Joseph, some good points there.

Like Bob, I like rehearsing. I like playing music period, and hearing it come together as each member adds their parts. Nothing beats performing for a crowd, but hell, I just enjoy playing music.

Since I am in an originals band, we have to rehearse alot, because we are creating our parts, rather than just copying parts. In a cover band, I suppose that you could effectively practice to someone's CD, if you are playing in the same key as the original, and just come together to polish.

As far as playing till you are sick of the song, to me that is when the song gets airtight. It doesn't matter if you are sick of it in rehearsal, when you play it in front of a crowd, and it is tight as hell, because of all the work that went into it, well, when you hear that crowd going nuts over it, cause every stop and every accent is dead-on, the song becomes new all over again.

Suddenly you won't be sick of it anymore.

Hey Gang,

Most road bands Ive been in would rehearse every day...Usually at 2pm which has ALWAYS been the worst time a day for me.. ..Here recently, (last 15 yrs), on a local level , once a week seems to suffice...With GAS so expensive nowdays, rehearsing can be done at home with CDs and MP3s...Yeah , vocal practice for phrasing seems to be the most critical...Ya bout have to do that in person becuase its visual as well as audio...Heck, Im still rehearsing tunes like" Carry on Wayward Son", Renegade,and other heavy arr. harmony tunes becuase each band will have a little different take on the arr...Its funny to see oldtimers like us get togehter to "Rehearse " tunes we've done for 25 yrs.. ...Ive played with Cats ,who have alotta theory on the ball who have to go over and over parts of a tune , then there are those who get it and retain it the first time they hear it, and dont know F# from Bb...I think its a six sense to be able to play with players and read them and have everything gel right from the start...Playin in situations where alot of genres' are covered I believe are the making for this kind of musician...
Personally ,I rehearse every day...


John

I practice up to 5 hours a day and the band rehearses once a week for about 3-4 hours on a Friday or Saturday night. Once we start gigging weekly, we'll prolly get together maybe on a Sunday once in a while to go over new tunes.... Oh, yup, it's a cover band. Honestly feel if I could get myself into an original act, we'd be rehearsing at least twice a week!

I set up a nice rehearsal studio in my basement and supply the PA so it's real easy for me

Maybe this is part of the problem.

I enjoy playing the music as well. Really, I wouldn't do it if I didn't.

The bands that I know never rehearse really are successful in that they gig a lot. Pretty much three weekends out of every month, both Friday and Saturday and sometimes Sunday afternoon.

If rehearsals were about just playing the music, I'd have no problem with them.

But, too often, rehearsal is the only time people practice the songs. Or practice at all.

To be honest, I rarely practice songs. I practice scales and time and other basics. The songs take care of themselves as long as I do this. I do *learn* the songs before rehearsal, though, so I pretty much know what to play by the time I get there.

I feel like a band that isn't gigging regularly and frequently needs to rehearse. But I also feel like rehearsal should be about playing the songs through, not nitpicking silly little bits of trivial detail. As a musician, I spend a lot of time on details on my own and I expect other musicians to do the same. I don't have much patience with these details in rehearsal.

I also don't feel like the songs really get tight until you play them for an audience. There is a certain level of "I Care" that musicians just never achieve until someone is judging their performance. At least, this is true of every musician I've met, even some who are pretty picky in rehearsal and you'd expect them to be perfect by the time they hit the stage. I think it's a matter of focus in the latter case. A case of focusing on the right or wrong things.

People who don't practice on their own time between band practices, - they drive me up the wall!
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You show them something, and next week, they don't remember it. You show them again, and next time, it seems brand new to them. You show them again . . .
What the hell?! They played it last week, why not now?
If someone dosn't remember a song, then they didn't practice it at home.
If you don't know something, then you HAVE to practice it, on your own, until you do.
I hate working with people who don't practice on their own. They never learn, and you spend more time teaching them than you do actually playing!
They come to band practice, and expect you to do their practice FOR them, or something.
My solution: dump them. Pass them on to another band; they are holding you back.
Think of a highway. Traffic only moves as fast as the slowest car.
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Don't get 'stuck in traffic,' musically. Pass them.
My advice, for what it is worth is: Never work with someone who is holding you back, unless they agree to PAY you for your time spent teaching.
Pass them on . . .

EDIT / DELETED post.
(oops - sorry. got an error message, & so I posted it again. Come to find out that the error message was an error, itself.)

Most of the successful cover bands I play in don’t rehearse after we get the material down. To do this all the players have to be good and know their stuff and have half brain and memory. So this is how we generally go about it.

Everyone learns the music on their own
We rehearse 4 days a week for 4 hrs (weds / thru + sat / sunday)
The first 4 rehearsals we work on song structure, groove, dynamics and starts and stops.
For the next 10 or so rehearsals we rehearse “SETS” not songs, just like you would performing, if a small mistake is made we power though it, just like we would on stage.

If there are big mistakes we will make a quick note and come back to it after we finish the set. Then play the end of the song before and the beginning on the song after, then move on to the next set and so on.

We find doing this we tend to remember the songs better and we also get rid of the dead air between songs and NO noodling between songs. This makes for tight songs & sets when performing

Once we have this done we never rehearse unless we are bring in new material. Have said this I have to agree with RhythmMan … you have to have the right musicians to “Get’er done” if not dump them.

I like playing music as well and if we are getting together to work on originals or just mess around getting so new ideas, it’s in a different setting, more relaxed

Most of the successful cover bands I play in don’t rehearse after we get the material down. To do this all the players have to be good and know their stuff and have half brain and memory. So this is how we generally go about it.

Everyone learns the music on their own

This is the way I want to do it!

We rehearse 4 days a week for 4 hrs (weds / thru + sat / sunday)
The first 4 rehearsals we work on song structure, groove, dynamics and starts and stops.
For the next 10 or so rehearsals we rehearse “SETS” not songs, just like you would performing, if a small mistake is made we power though it, just like we would on stage.

I'm stealing this idea from you. Lock, stock and barrel. With absolutely no remorse.

Once we have this done we never rehearse unless we are bring in new material. Have said this I have to agree with RhythmMan … you have to have the right musicians to “Get’er done” if not dump them.

I'm starting to think I've just been too nice a guy in the past. Maybe I need to get in touch with my inner ***hole.

I like playing music as well and if we are getting together to work on originals or just mess around getting so new ideas, it’s in a different setting, more relaxed

Getting together to jam and suh is very different from rehearsal. There is value in doing so, IME, but even then it's possible to do too much. For that matter, there is value in band barbecues. Always have a few instruments around for such social things. More than once I've been just drinking with bandmates and someone came up with a Really Good idea.

Now, if I can just find people who will do this and learn the songs...

Anyone else?

When I'm working on a project I reherse pretty much every day until it's done. The last band I was in twice a week but at my energy level I rehersed an additional 2-3 more times a week. When it comes to music I can't stop.

man now I want to get a band together....sheesh

Playing a song to "airtight" status drums the spirit right out of the work, as far as I am concerned.

I prefer to perform by the old Celtic axiom: Never play the same song exactly the same way twice.

We generally practice together once a week, We will take time off to allow each of us breathing room for family and other outlets. we end each session with an agreement of next time date and content. ie do we run through everthing. Practice a set for an upcomming show. or do we do all new stuff or play covers to break up the feel of the practice sessions.