General Music Chat

Jeff, quick note cos i gotta run..thanks your note above and going the way to explain where you're coming from.

i didn't think for a moment it was about dissing me or jook. and if i came off like i was you or anyone....my apologies.

my clumsy efforts at explaining above were only meant as an attempt to clear up what i wasn't sure you got....buuut, i think it DOES make for one hell of an interesting topic for conversation that i hope we can follow up on....our own views on our own personal needs to be "prepared".

I have just happened to be writing about some musical experiences that add my additional 2 cents.
Note that I say, "...tight enough to improvise." Which is one of several ways to look at improvisation.

Talbot
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....Our stuff was all original songs and we all knew our parts. We were always well rehearsed and tight enough to improvise.
Like the night we (a folk rock sort of band) were booked in a biker bar near Philly where they were expecting much different than what we usually delivered. Our singer Earl French went to the mic and told them flat out there had been a booking error but never the less, “…by God we are here and we’re gonna give you the best we’ve got!”
It was a great audience and we all had a blast.
After the first set some pretty rough looking but very amiable guys asked us to play “Born to be Wild.” We told them we’d never rehearsed it since we only played original music. They gave us a chemical incentive and darned if we didn’t rock it and everybody had a good time that night.

Let me put this into context where you can understand- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_4iQDYDVNo

Peace out-
Jook

Not sure what your point was on this James Gang song?

Maybe to say "if it isn't working, 'walk away'"?

New band had 2-hour rehearsal last night. This is only my 2nd rehearsal with them, first one was 2 Saturdays ago for about 2-1/2 hours. (Before that it was the 1 hour audition/try-out).
We tried 4 new songs last night, doing each one twice. We're up to 19 songs now. Some of them we've got them down completely - arrangements, harmonies, endings. Others need tightening and there's a couple of leads I'm playing that I have never done before, so trying to copy the originals as well as I can (I'm not a copycat lead player and translating electric parts to acoustic can be a challenge at times). I'm also playing bass on a bunch of songs I've never played bass on before.
As I'm busy with the upcoming Beatles benefit show and vacation time through the end of June, we've only planned a couple of rehearsals coming up, but I expect us to have 3 hours of songs done well by August. The other guys hadn't done anything together for 1-1/2 years, so they're relearning some of the songs, too, and the next 20 songs on their list are ones I'm not familiar with at all - "newer' stuff from 90s to present. Many clubs and restaurants around here are already booking gigs in the fall and winter.
Some of you may think that's a pathetically dragged out schedule - but I've heard too many sloppy bands out there to want to rush things.

Practice.

Some are agin it, some are fer it.

You should get enough of it by simply learning songs and learning them well enough not to make any mistakes.

Good musicians "click" and have little trouble finding a groove.

Yod ... I am with you on this. Practice makes Perfect. Rehearsal is coordination and the icing upon the cake. Even "Classical" musos who are excellent sight readers with memories much better than the goldfish require rehearsal and practice upon their own constantly.

Regarding those here on BM, they are a very diverse lot and encompass pretty much the entire basket of musos on the scenes ... professional, semi-professional, amateur, semi-amateur, expert and Master. Each an "Individual" and playing a variety of types of music, composing, improvising and looking for their "grooves" ... just plain having a good time or putting everything they have to present their Creations upon the highest levels they can ... pushing themselves whilst dealing with the challenges of this Life ... serious Artists.

The commonality is MUSIC and their Love of it. After that it is their abilities of Artistic Creation and striving for what they each percieve to be perfection. I enjoy this Thread very much because it blows past all the petty argument and touches each in their hearts and minds revealing their True characters in a way that goes directly to their "Source". In my opinion all that is missing is some alcohol and a good fire. Ta everyone !

In my opinion all that is missing is some alcohol and a good fire. Ta everyone !

They're never missing at my place. Well, this fire is kinda small, it was a summer day!

Very well put Vamp. I play with musicians that I know don't share the same musical or political views as I. I never discuss politics with musicians. The musicians also know to refrain as well. This is part of the give and take (flexibility) it takes to play music with people.
Mike is showing off his little piece of heaven in the photo. I could sit there with you and discuss music over a beer for sure!

No, I understand where you're coming from on this, and hope you understand the other side of it too - what Jeff, Yod and I have been saying.
It most definitely does matter what type of music you are playing and where you are playing it. I can play behind/with someone on a song I'm familiar with, with no practice, and end at the right time based on their cue, but to truly mesh well, we need to work on the arrangement cues what does one person do HERE when the other person (or band) is doing THIS? End after 4 bars of THIS and 4 bars of THAT - no need for a visual 'lift your guitar neck up and down' cue.
(edited to add) Oh, and the guys who have played together so long, they can do 'any song' without rehearsing it - that's because the time they have played together counts the same - it's the playing together part that counts, whether its rehearsals or gigs.

Tomorrow night I'll be playing guitar for a female singer - I do this about once a month. We'll do a song I've never played before (I learned it a couple of days ago - very simple 4 chords) with just a single quick run-through ahead of time. Every song we've done together was this way, sometimes with 2 quick run-throughs, but after we've done a song together 5 or 10 times it sounds a lot better than the first time we did it.
And that's the point of rehearsals - it'll sound better.

Mike is showing off his little piece of heaven in the photo. I could sit there with you and discuss music over a beer for sure!

Better yet, a couple of beers, a couple of guitars and some playing.
Anyone here is welcome to visit if you're in the greater Boston area. Let's just stay away from the political discussions!
BTW, the firepit gets covered up around November when winter hits!

Haley ... I thank you and agree wholeheartedly with what you have stated in regards to this Thread. Your attitude is one to be admired in my opinion.

Mike ... that looks excellent. The fire is large enough and the environment looks quite comfortable and inviting. Very very civilized, my compliments. Your kind Invitation I hope will be accepted by someone ... possibly Yod as he boggies all over the place. Thank you for posting that.

Jook ... your response struck me as very sincere and actually so much so that if someone just saw it and did not know what the subject being discussed was, then it sounds to me like you speak of "Love". I mean this in no bad way. It is quite revealing and made me realize that for the musos it is every bit as much Love as any personal relationship. Of course I knew this in a way but have never seen it expressed in such an effective manner before ... Thank you. Imagine us all discussing our personal relationships with one another in the same way as this thread ... WOW. Finding out more about everyone as they speak in such ways is most interesting to me and "very deep". The Human Aspect, the Human Condition.

There in nothing "synthetic" about those discussing here and i find it heartwarming. It all has to do with the power of music to touch, to penetrate and to motivate ... a unique kind of Love which at least for me creates a "Bridge" between the physical Love of a woman and the creative Love of Art. Sensitivities of the mind and the Soul being transferred through the fingers and lips and focused upon creating, expressing and Loving. Hmm I guess I had better stop before I get to carried away.

Again, genre does not matter. ....And when I say 'I don't rehearse', I am saying I don't need to rehearse, ... when I record I don't rehearse those songs, they are improvised. When I play w/ the pianist, I don't rehearse because it is all reading. In both cases, rehearsal is not necessary.

No one's throwing stones, Jook.

You're not playing/recording commercial/classic rock/as-heard-on-radio songs - again, totally different genre.