Band practice

[Mattbass97]

how long do your band practice for at each session and how many sessions a week?

my band practice 3 hours on a saturday

[Venom of God]

Three to five hours (though not playing constantly) a few times a week.

[HeadyVan Halen]

When we get through our practice schedule.
Sometimes 3 hours, sometimes 45 minutes, depending on what needs to be done.

We have a clear understanding of:
1.) Practice --what is done at home, usually by yourself. Just learning your parts.

2.) Rehearsal -- what happens after #1..when everybody knows their part and NOT feelin' their way through.

3.) Jam/Writing Session -- Usually alcohol, and BBQ is involved..and someone will say "Man we HAVE to remember this for later.." and, no one ever remembers said lick,riff or groove.

[SteveHeissner]

We rehearse new songs, starts, and stops at sound check. Otherwise, everyone practices on their own using mp3 files and/or CDs of the songs/tracks. I practice about an hour a day. We rarely get togther to rehearse. If everyone does their homework it is not necessary. This works well for some, but is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. And I totally agree with HeadyVan Halen's points above. Well stated.

[tdub0199]

on average about 3-4 hours twice a week....

[tdub0199]

Originally Posted by HeadyVan Halen

When we get through our practice schedule.
Sometimes 3 hours, sometimes 45 minutes, depending on what needs to be done.

We have a clear understanding of:
1.) Practice --what is done at home, usually by yourself. Just learning your parts.

2.) Rehearsal -- what happens after #1..when everybody knows their part and NOT feelin' their way through.

3.) Jam/Writing Session -- Usually alcohol, and BBQ is involved..and someone will say "Man we HAVE to remember this for later.." and, no one ever remembers said lick,riff or groove.

^This is why we use a Zoom H1 for writing/jamming sessions, it's a cheap but great tool.....

[rmkesler]

Originally Posted by tdub0199

^This is why we use a Zoom H1 for writing/jamming sessions, it's a cheap but great tool.....

+1 on the Zoom.

I'm in two bands at the moment. Three hours once a week with each.

[HeadyVan Halen]

Here's a sample of an old practice schedule and what needed work..once we get through that, it's time to go fishin'


Rehearsal 4-1-11

1. *When you get back*—Harmony parts, bridge

2. 5 Long Years—Dynamics

3. Tyrone—Bridge

4. Simon’s Song—Bridge

5. Her mind is Gone—New

6. Happy Feelings’—Harmony parts,backing vocals,break

7. 12 year old Boy--New

8. Sexual Healing/Distant Lover—New

[Phalex]

Lately getting my band together in one place at the same time for practice has been a lot like trying to herd cats.

[fourstringdrums]

Originally Posted by Phalex

Lately getting my band together in one place at the same time for practice has been a lot like trying to herd cats.

Us too. Lately either it's someone's job (late meetings etc..) or illness that has been stopping us from rehearsing consistently. Though I'd rather it be that than lack of dedication.

Usually we can only manage 2 hours a week.

[behndy]

there's only 3 of us and we live within 10 minutes of each other. but we just do 2 days a week normally, one to go through the set one to work on writing. or a combination of the two.

but 2 days of 2 hours is plenty.

[zachoff]

2 or 3 hours on Tuesdays. Usually start by jamming for a bit, then either work on new songs if there are any in the hopper, run through the set, or try to write new songs. No real structure to what comes first & if we do it at all. Kind of just go with the flow.

Sometimes the initial jam will spark a new song or add/change a part to the song we're working on at the time. Sometimes not. Other times (esp if there's a gig soon) we'll run through the set twice and not work on new material. Just depends.

[scat1234]

Three hours 1x a week. This does not include a couple of hours of going over session recordings at home (we record practice on a Tascam with a 4 gb flash card).

[Oren Hudson]

Two and a half hours Tuesday night and Thursday night in general. Less when gigging.

[Floyd Eye]

At least once, usually twice a week. 4-5 hours at a time.

[Bassdirty]

Originally Posted by HeadyVan Halen

Here's a sample of an old practice schedule and what needed work..once we get through that, it's time to go fishin'
......
6. Happy Feelings’—Harmony parts,backing vocals,break

7. 12 year old Boy--New

8. Sexual Healing/Distant Lover—New

Maybe it's just me, but I'd try to seperate items 7 and 8..maybe even 6 thru 8 ...


Okay, I'm just teasing, but when I browsed that list quickly, it didn't look right.

[duff beer]

It's hard getting our band together, and to top it off, 1 person can't get there until later due to work and another has to leave early. So we only rehearse about 2 times per month for 1.5 - 2 hours...

We have 4 full sets of music, so our rehearsal consists of playing 1 set to keep it fresh, and spending the other hour or so working on new tunes. Luckily the band members are talented and do their homework or nothing would get done. Over one winter and 12-14 rehearsals, we managed to learn 40 new songs.