How far do you drive for practice?

Rocks · #1 11-12-2010, 10:04 AM

I had to ask this as I keep getting bands wanting me to audition that are 30-60 minute drives (one way) to practice. I'm talking 30-60 minutes of highway driving. I have right in my ads where I live and even mention that I'm not looking to drive too far for practice since winter is coming and I live in an area that easily gets buried in snow.

The funny thing is even though they read my ad, they still get pissy when I say they are too far of a drive. Of course I'm sure some didn't bother to read my ad and just replied. Am I asking too much that I want a band that is under 30 minutes of driving each way?

Yerf Dog · #2 11-12-2010, 10:07 AM

3 minutes to the drummers house. Sometimes 4 if there's traffic. If I'm playing at the guitarist's house, I just walk across the street.

treekiller · #3 11-12-2010, 10:08 AM

It depends where you live. In my part of the world, an hour isn't that far. I drive 35 miles one way and by the time I stop for gas, etc. I usually take an hour. Our drummer has another band that is 2 hours away.......

drewfunk · #4 11-12-2010, 10:09 AM

About 15 minutes for me. The rest of the band lives within 5 minutes of eachother.

pastvertical · #5 11-12-2010, 10:11 AM

I am 3 hours from my band. It is such a great group of guys and I have played with the guitarist for nearly 20 years. We gig one Saturday a month.......but for practice I Skype with them. Works awesome.....my computer is hooked up to my PA...it is like they are rocking in the same room with me!

lomo · #6 11-12-2010, 10:15 AM

I walk down a flight of stairs-we practice in my basement.

ahbassman · #7 11-12-2010, 10:15 AM

30 minutes for me. Our furthest driver goes about 45. It sucks but we dont pay for our current practice space so its worth it.

Hoover · #8 11-12-2010, 10:21 AM

I haven't driven to a band practice in ten years. Ever since I moved to NYC every rehearsal space I've used was easily accessible via public transportation and had it's own bass amp.

This also explains why I never audition for Long Island based bands

Youngspanion · #9 11-12-2010, 10:25 AM

I travel from Staten Island to Manhattan. Usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Once a week. We also play gigs mostly in manhattan and occasionally in Staten Island.

Rocks · #10 11-12-2010, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pastvertical

I am 3 hours from my band. It is such a great group of guys and I have played with the guitarist for nearly 20 years. We gig one Saturday a month.......but for practice I Skype with them. Works awesome.....my computer is hooked up to my PA...it is like they are rocking in the same room with me!

Skype works for this with no latency? I saw something interesting on a commercial (think it is for car insurance) where there are four musicians playing together each at their own locations and using computers to see and hear everyone, any idea what software that might be?

neurotictim · #11 11-12-2010, 10:39 AM

45-60 minutes one way, if there's no traffic. 60-90 minutes if there is. Twice a week, usually. I drive straight from work to beat the traffic there, and it's another 45 minutes home, but at 8pm I don't really have much of a problem with traffic on the return.

I knew what I was getting into when I joined the band, though - I put almost 22K miles on my car last year, between the commute to work and to practice.

What aggravates me is when we audition new musicians, and they're okay with the drive for a week or two, then flake out.

Twocan · #12 11-12-2010, 10:42 AM

My tolerance for this gets less and less as I get older, have more kids, longer hours at work, etc. I've capped it at 30 mins home.

My current band practiced an hour away. I told them my limitations before I auditioned and they changed practice location to make the band work.

alembicguy · #13 11-12-2010, 10:43 AM

30 to 35 minutes one way. If music is something you do you have to make certain concessions. Guitar player drives 1 hour one way.

Waterpilot · #14 11-12-2010, 10:44 AM

About 35 minutes one way. Some guys I jammed with for a little while were about 60 minutes away and I was fine with it.

bigntasty · #15 11-12-2010, 10:44 AM

For several years, I drove about 60 minutes each way to practice (about 3/4 of that on 75 mph Interstate Highway), sometimes in rough conditions. Never regretted it.

JayB · #16 11-12-2010, 10:51 AM

Usually my subway ride to a rehearsal is about 30-45 minutes each way during days and over an hour late night. I was in a band for a while that required two (long) practices a week and over an hour train ride in each direction, which was probably the primary reason for me leaving. I ALWAYS think about the commute before commuting to ANYTHING at this point....

doctorpunch · #17 11-12-2010, 10:52 AM

It's a 10 minute drive from my house. 5 if I drive like a madman. I'm lucky though, the drummer is about 20 minutes away, and both guitar players are a solid half hour away. The studio is centrally located, I'm just fortunate to be in the middle too.

tdub0199 · #18 11-12-2010, 10:52 AM

about a 3-4 second walk to my basement....

**crustychef** · #19 11-12-2010, 10:59 AM

5 minutes

Rocks · #20 11-12-2010, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alembicguy

30 to 35 minutes one way. If music is something you do you have to make certain concessions. Guitar player drives 1 hour one way.

Music is something I love and I really love to play out. The problems are very simple, my car has about 200,000 miles on it and needs work done before I am comfortable driving it very far. Also I live in an area where it can be clear one minute, you look out another minute and snow is coming down so much that you can't see more than 20 feet in front of you. It's not uncommon to get over a foot of snow dropped in less than an hour around here.

I also have a bad back and driving for much more than 20 minutes really takes a lot out of me.