Advice Needed: First REAL band and Tips/Help would well...help!

[tastybasslines]

So the story goes...I'm a decent player, I can play most songs decent after an hour or 2 and pretty good after a while. I'm not awesomely musically creative, but OK. I have been playing for about 13 years, on and off some. Since the birth of my daughter, I haven't played at all but getting back into it. 2 work guys play guitar and drums and the band is getting serious and forming. I have had the guitarist over to my house to play a few tunes like Sweet Home Alabama and Paranoid and the like, classic rock songs. I can play these songs well.

I jammed for a couple months with a blues band and did ok but we never gigged. Now, if we get our act together, we already have 2 places to play, and I am ultra excited. It sounds cheesy, but this is what I have always dreamed of. I never really cared about making it on my own music. Just to get on stage and that's it. What can I do to get this going well? Practice schedules? How and what to practice? With the drummer each time? What?

I want to do this efficiently. The guitar player is good enough, but behind me. I am behind the drummer.

Anyone have some practical advice to make this a reality and not fizzle?

Thanks in advance,

Greg

[erik281]

Set a consistent practice schedule with everyone
Get a decent set list (covers or own music)
Record your practices.
Practice at home
Practice at home

When you get more comfortable with the music and some cohesion is going maybe let a couple people listen to it or if it's okay with the band bring a friend or two to practice for some outside opinions.

My band practices once mostly or maybe twice a week. We have our set list in conrete. We record our practices to see what we need to improve on, which has helped immensely. It has taken us a few months to get 100% ready for a show and play our set flawlessly. But it has happened and shows are coming our way and it's awesome.

[COBRARI]

Have practice at least once a week. 4 hours minimum.
Bring a new song in once a week. Have the lyrics with the chords over them. Make copies for all musicians in the band.
We don't record the entire practice. Record the new stuff, pick it apart and improve on it.
It will all come together and don't be too hard on yourself.

[standupright]

Good advice so far. I would also add that in order to be productive -

Insist that rehearsal is not the time to learn new tunes. Learning new tunes should be done on your own practice time.

At the end of rehearsals, agree on what the next tunes to run through will be, and show up to the rehearsal ready to play them through.

As you complete each set of tunes, in order to maximize time, when you re-rehearse the previous tunes, only do beginnings and endings, and if there are any strange or weird breaks in the middle of the tunes, work on those too. There is no reason to have to play every tune in it's entirety complete with guitar solos. You will most likely get resistance to this, but you have to try and push this. This is one of the biggest time savers.