How Long Does it take your Band to Learn New Songs?

[98dvl]

Just out of curiousity... How long does it take your band to learn new songs? I'm sure the times will vary, but I'm looking for how long is "normal" for a band to cover modern rock songs (as that's mostly what our band does).

We're having some issues with our drummer, and with our band progressing. Myself and our guitar player would like to bring 3 or 4 new songs to each rehearsal (we get together once a week) and play through those songs as much as we can during our rehearsal time, and go home and practice the parts that still need work, and have it ready the next time we get together.

Our drummer on the other hand feels that we should only bring one song a week to rehearsal, work on it all the way through, and work out all the issues that we have during our rehearsal until we get them all right, before we even think of adding new songs.

His "system" is painfully slow, and he wants to spend our time playing things at a really slow tempo so we can work out rhythms and whatever else. It wastes our singers time as he can't practice singing slow, so he ends up standing around and watching.

We really want to get out and start playing gigs, but as a group, we only know about 17 songs (we've been together since last August). At this rate, it's going to be a year before we have enough songs to play. That seems like a lifetime for 4 guys to learn 30-40 cover songs! But, maybe that's just me?

I really feel that our drummer is slowing us down because he wants everything to be perfect (don't get me wrong, we all want to sound good, but playing in his basement every week isn't very fulfilling). He doesn't want to start playing anywhere until he feels comfortable with everything. We tried to set a goal date for our first show, but he thinks that's a stupid idea because we may not sound good enough by then.

Ughhhh... the more I think about this as I type it, the more I realize I think we need to find a new drummer, he's holding us back.

Anyway, back to my original question... how long does your band take to learn a new song. I realize there are different "phases" of learning... 1) Just getting the song structure right, 2) Getting all the rhythms and changes and other stuff correct 3) Getting it "perfect" (or good enough!)... How long does it take you to get to step 3?

[jackcregg]

about one practice to get the basics down, and then just polishing it up

[98dvl]

Originally Posted by jackcregg

about one practice to get the basics down, and then just polishing it up

Do you practice multiple songs during your rehearsals? If so, about how many?

[KeithPas]

The short asnswer is that it depends on the tune. The last band I was in did some pretty ambitious material (Steely Dan, Kansas, Rush). We would each get a Cd with the new material on it and learn the material on our own time at home. It would then take one rehearsal to play through the tune and one more to iron out the rough spots and get down any multi-vocal parts.

[Magman]

Sounds like your drummer has perfectionist tendencies. I do myself...but I've learnt a lot later than many that getting out in front of an audience is very important and you never feel totally ready...but theres a whole set of other factors that come into play, and as long as you play with conviction, minor fluffs go unnoticed. In fact, we did a show with malfunctioning leslie, hammond and collapsing drum kit that still went over very well....but with more improvisational non-cover music perhaps there is more leeway for semi-trainwrecks.

Perhaps the drummer just needs an extra rehersal with one other player, say guitar, to go through his stuff. I agree...a full band rehearsal that ends up just waiting for one player to 'catch up' in inefficient. In a non pro band its hard to demand too much commitment, but I tell new player in my band that they need to be able to do at least an hours homework a week.

Also, 17 songs sounds like a lot to me! If a band cannot get a 30 minute set together in 6 months I'd def be thinking there were issues needing fixing. Covers band maybe this is different.

Originally Posted by 98dvl

Just out of curiousity... How long does it take your band to learn new songs? I'm sure the times will vary, but I'm looking for how long is "normal" for a band to cover modern rock songs (as that's mostly what our band does).

We're having some issues with our drummer, and with our band progressing. Myself and our guitar player would like to bring 3 or 4 new songs to each rehearsal (we get together once a week) and play through those songs as much as we can during our rehearsal time, and go home and practice the parts that still need work, and have it ready the next time we get together.

Our drummer on the other hand feels that we should only bring one song a week to rehearsal, work on it all the way through, and work out all the issues that we have during our rehearsal until we get them all right, before we even think of adding new songs.

His "system" is painfully slow, and he wants to spend our time playing things at a really slow tempo so we can work out rhythms and whatever else. It wastes our singers time as he can't practice singing slow, so he ends up standing around and watching.

We really want to get out and start playing gigs, but as a group, we only know about 17 songs (we've been together since last August). At this rate, it's going to be a year before we have enough songs to play. That seems like a lifetime for 4 guys to learn 30-40 cover songs! But, maybe that's just me?

I really feel that our drummer is slowing us down because he wants everything to be perfect (don't get me wrong, we all want to sound good, but playing in his basement every week isn't very fulfilling). He doesn't want to start playing anywhere until he feels comfortable with everything. We tried to set a goal date for our first show, but he thinks that's a stupid idea because we may not sound good enough by then.

Ughhhh... the more I think about this as I type it, the more I realize I think we need to find a new drummer, he's holding us back.

Anyway, back to my original question... how long does your band take to learn a new song. I realize there are different "phases" of learning... 1) Just getting the song structure right, 2) Getting all the rhythms and changes and other stuff correct 3) Getting it "perfect" (or good enough!)... How long does it take you to get to step 3?

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by 98dvl

Anyway, back to my original question... how long does your band take to learn a new song. I realize there are different "phases" of learning... 1) Just getting the song structure right, 2) Getting all the rhythms and changes and other stuff correct 3) Getting it "perfect" (or good enough!)... How long does it take you to get to step 3?

I don't do rock covers any more, but when I did it was always 6 weeks from first rehearsal to first full gig (40 songs ready to go). Usually that meant 2 rehearsals a week during that period.

These days I come in to charts, and the others already know the tunes. We expect to gig most new tunes after 1-2 rehearsals, but occasionally I learn 'em at the gig.

[rakirksey]

Personally I've done the polish it until it's perfect method as well as the learn the structure etc. polish at home.

Personally, the method where you go over a song millions of times until it's perfect is somewhat self-defeating.

1. It takes a really long time
2. You don't necessarily get more excited each time the song is played you actually tire down
3. As you tire out the quality gets worse

The one question is ... does the drummer practice at home or is this his only practice?

[need4mospd]

We never get it "perfect", but we'll learn a song in an hour if someone brings the chord charts and a recording. Some songs are good to go after a couple times through it as long as one person knows it well enough to sing and lead into the chorus/verse/bridge. Our musical experience might allow us to do things a little faster than some, slower than others. It will vary from group to group, genre to genre, song to song, etc...

As for getting structure right, that should be done before practice. Print off the lyrics for each member, write Verse/Chorus/Bridge over each section with a x2 or x4 where applicable. Note any breaks between singing with their duration in whatever unit of measurement everyone is comfortable with. Done.

"Perfect" comes well after we've played it the 100th time. I doubt anyone plays anything perfect, and I doubt anyone expects to hear it perfect. It's not like you have the exact bass that each bass player has, and I doubt the drummer switches drums for every different band. If everyone else in the band feels the same way you do, have a talk with that drummer.

[Manndreas]

Everybody in the band learns their part and the song structure at home, so that we can use rehearsals to get the songs tight instead of arguing about how it supposed to be.

Example:
We find four songs. We go home and practice, and one week later we meet up, play through the four songs to see what needs to improve, and then concentrate on one song until it sounds right.
If everyone learns their part at home, you shouldn't have any major problems getting the song right at the rehearsal.

Also keep in mind that unless you're a tribute band and doing the whole dressing-up-as-the-real-band thing like all those Kiss tribute bands, I see no reason to try and nail the song note for note. For me it's more fun doing my interpretation of the song. Like me and the drummer doing our fills instead, or playing the song in the key that feels best for the vocalist.

[Phalex]

It was a running gag in an old band I was in that we never had to run through a tune more than five times to play it out. We mostly did 60's 70's and bluesy stuff, and that seemed to be about right.

These days I too have the perfectionist drummer, and we'll add three to five songs a month. Sometimes they aren't perfect, but there comes a time when you just gotta play em.


One of my all time favorite drummer quotes: "There is a big difference between playing all the notes in a song, and playing the song." He's right about that, so we tend to indulge his megalomania.

[Jonyak]

I was in a cover band and we all just learned the songs at home and played them maybe once together before playing them out in a show. sometimes we even broke out tunes that we had not played together at the show itself, usualy at the request of the audience.

I know most bands don't have the confidence to do this but most probably could.

[tmw]

Originally Posted by Manndreas

Everybody in the band learns their part and the song structure at home, so that we can use rehearsals to get the songs tight instead of arguing about how it supposed to be.

Example:
We find four songs. We go home and practice, and one week later we meet up, play through the four songs to see what needs to improve, and then concentrate on one song until it sounds right.
If everyone learns their part at home, you shouldn't have any major problems getting the song right at the rehearsal.

Also keep in mind that unless you're a tribute band and doing the whole dressing-up-as-the-real-band thing like all those Kiss tribute bands, I see no reason to try and nail the song note for note. For me it's more fun doing my interpretation of the song. Like me and the drummer doing our fills instead, or playing the song in the key that feels best for the vocalist.

+1. Two weeks ago we were assigned 2 songs. We worked them this past rehersal. This week the assignment was four songs. I haven't started them yet, but the idea is to have them playable by Saturday. We'll go over the the four new ones, the previous two and anything else we had trouble with prior to that. This all happens in the span of 2 hours 30 minutes. I cannot honestly say any were ever perfect, but our excitement about playing them stays high and we concentrate on learning and fixing, rather than perfection.

Have a chat with the drummer, maybe he has trouble learning the songs on his own. Good luck with that...

[Bhuti]

Depends on how they are presented. Usually if someone makes a chart, it takes seconds. If someone loosely interprets the song, then it'll be longer.

Charts are awesome. You run it through once, then you run it through and improvise, then go home and memorize the changes. Come back next practice for one more runthrough, and it's a gig ready song.

[Blueszilla]

Originally Posted by 98dvl

He doesn't want to start playing anywhere until he feels comfortable with everything. We tried to set a goal date for our first show, but he thinks that's a stupid idea because we may not sound good enough by then.

So it's all about him, eh? You can't do anything until he's comfortable? Get him a pillow to sit on! Comfortable isn't what you should be striving for. Uncomfortable gives you an edge, and a focus you don't get any other way. You should set a date, preferably one where you have a gig booked. Put up a calendar with the date circled in red, and that will motivate everyone to practice and learn the tunes (Gotta be ready, guys we have a gig). Some good advice given already, but trying to be perfect on a cover tune is arguably unrealistic. Certainly you need to get the changes/lyrics/breaks, etc.. down correctly, but you''ll be rehearsing for a very long time to get 'perfect'. Tunes, even covers, evolve over time, hopefully for the better, so getting something perfect would leave you nowhere to go (worse?). Everyone has to make some concessions within a band (sorta like marriage). In working band, having the luxury of being 'uncomfortable' with a tune isn't something that lasts too long. I hate rehearsals where we play the tune all the way through over and over. Everyone needs to have learned it before we get together. When I run it, I'll work the intro, verses, chorus, bridge, solos, any breaks and the ending. No noodling and the solos go short, no wanking. When that's done, we'll run it through once, twice if necessary, and on to the next one. The session is recorded for anyone needing more shedding on their own. I got a list of 14 tunes on Sunday night that are new to me with this band, and we need them ready, harmonies and all, for a party gig on 12/8. This is with only 2 rehearsals scheduled. Now some of the tunes I've played before, so it's not such a big deal as it could be, but I know I won't play these tunes as well as a few more months down the road when we've played them a bunch. To answer the original question, 2 rehearsals should be enough to be able to play the tune live, but what Charlie E. says happens a lot too. I've learned tunes at the gig with the GP or pianist telling me the changes as we go along, or using a chart, especially with standards. At this point I'm lucky enough that most of the cats I play with are better than me, so I don't have to deal with any of that mess, I just have to keep up. Good luck with ur drummist....

[Jonyak]

you reminded me of the time I showed up to a gig, and there was supposed to be a cover band going on before us. anyways this guy who was there singer comes up to us and says his band has bailed because they didn;t think they were ready enough for the gig.

So we ask him what tunes they were playing. sure enough our band knew most of them. So we put together a band for him on the spot playing dylan and stones tunes and slapped together a set and played it that night, never haveing played together before. it was great and he was an awesome singer! He asked us to be his new backup band as he was leaving the old. we played a couple of other shows with him to fill in over the next 2 weeks and then he found himself some new guys to play with.

We literal got up and were like "ok so what are the chords to this song?" it worked out great and everyone loved it. I even have video of it.

[seanm]

It depends a lot on the band. For cover bands I have done the gamut from 1 to 2 songs per week to showing up at a gig having never played with the band before and not knowing what songs we would play.

But even the 1 or 2 songs per week bands started off with a dozen or twenty songs for the first week.

Doing one song per week would take way too long. They are covers. You can listen to the original and play along. It's not like you are learning it from scratch.

Originally Posted by Passinwind

These days I come in to charts, and the others already know the tunes. We expect to gig most new tunes after 1-2 rehearsals, but occasionally I learn 'em at the gig.

Cool. Charts would be great. I have never seen a chart, unless you count lyrics with chords. The main purpose of practice, for me, is it to learn how the band deviates from the original. With the one jam band (old style jam band not jam band as a genre) knowing the song can actually be a detriment.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by seanm

Cool. Charts would be great. I have never seen a chart, unless you count lyrics with chords. The main purpose of practice, for me, is it to learn how the band deviates from the original. With the one jam band (old style jam band not jam band as a genre) knowing the song can actually be a detriment.

I'm doing mostly jazz standards using our keyboard player's own arrangements. Charts are pretty much mandatory, since the band uses sub bass players when I'm not available, and none of them have time for more than maybe one rehearsal. I sometimes write charts myself using Band In A Box when I expect to do repeating sub gigs for other bands.

I learned around 20 tunes in an hour one time for a fairly high profile sub gig. We ran through the changes once, or until they were satisfied with my feel, they showed me a few tricky unison parts and endings, and off to the next one. But if I actually had to memorize all the tunes it'd be a different story -- I have 5 books of different bands' material and my main band's book is well over 200 tunes. And I'm basically a hack, really. Like Blueszilla says, playing with better players than you is the ticket whenever possible.

I've played in lots of jam bands, in both senses of the word. I know exactly what you mean!

Anyhow, I think 3-4 songs per rehearsal is quite a reasonable target for modern rock covers. And I'd expect them to be ready to go public with in 2-3 weeks at the max.

[SteveC]

We usually get an email saying learn these 5-10 tunes for next rehearsal. We get together and run them and that's usually it until we perform them on a gig.

Other times, we'll pull songs out of our a%$ at a gig and just play it. I don't like this way, but it happens.

[Blueszilla]

Charlie, is that your real beard? Way cool!

[Smallmouth_Bass]

We go through periods of learning tunes and then polishing tunes. Generally, 3 to 4 tunes a week at most when we are adding songs. I think we could do more, but that seems to be the pace.