Negotiating rehearsals

Devils Advocate · #1 04-03-2010, 08:47 AM

Repost to a post I deleted last week. I forgot what I originally posted though.

I'll jump off of moses' response however... I think there's a another thread around right now regarding the same thing, rehearsing. I have lots and lots and lots of experience rehearsing. Literally thousands of hours. I don't need to rehearse for most situations and bands that I've been auditioning for. A lot of the bands however DO need to rehearse. I've been walking away from lots of gigs because of that. What I basically want to know is how others deal with this while maintaining the possibility of holding onto the gig. One band in particular I auditioned for last week. It was a promising and unique, fun, cover situation. I learned a dozen songs, absolutely nailed them, and played them with a drummer who's in the same place as me. We could have gigged the songs on the spot, the rest of the band however needed some rehearsal. If they rehearsed and got their stuff together it would clearly benefit them to then just call me and use me, but I'm not sure how to tactifully tell them so. They offered me the gig. I wound up telling them I didn't realize the project was in such early stages, and couldn't commit to their rehearsal schedule. If they were stuck in the future however, to please call. In hindsight, I think they may have though I was just politely blowing them off.

I guess I'd like to know if others find themselves in this situation and if they just pass up gigs, or have some insight that would be helpful. I'd also like to hear others thoughts on the rehearsal thing. I agree somewhat with moses (the post below this one), in so much as a band becomes a family and there's a lot more that goes into it than learning the notes, BUT I disagree in regard to the fact that I know that I and others can nail a set and play it perfectly with one (or even 0) rehearsal so long as a band is playing stuf the way it's sent to me. I'm not opposed to rehearsing for high stake gigs, for song writing purposes, or to work out a kink here and there. I am opposed to standing there when the rest of the band has to tighten their own stuff up though. I won't do it.

M0ses · #2 04-03-2010, 08:59 AM

Honestly, I think there's much more to being in a band than knowing what notes to play when. And if you don't put in that time, then IMO you will never be more than a hired gun. If that's what you want, ok. But a band that has a bass player who might as well be a sub EVERY gig is a band I probably wouldn't enjoy.

sedan_dad · #3 04-05-2010, 07:43 PM

We have an odd situation. Our name sake hates practice. He calls it the P word. He says "he know the songs.If you think you need to practice, well maybe you do".
If you think about it he's right. There's enough of his materail thats recorded that we can all practice on our own.
It keeps the shows interesting. If you can't improvise , this isn't the band for you. He like everyones spin on his songs. It keeps it fresh for him too.

elgecko · #4 04-05-2010, 07:45 PM

Baba Booey!

bassplayer8953 · #5 04-05-2010, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sedan_dad

We have an odd situation. Our name sake hates practice. He calls it the P word. He says "he know the songs.If you think you need to practice, well maybe you do".
If you think about it he's right. There's enough of his materail thats recorded that we can all practice on our own.
It keeps the shows interesting. If you can't improvise , this isn't the band for you. He like everyones spin on his songs. It keeps it fresh for him too.

JMO, but that doesn't sound like a band. More like a jam night, featuring X guys, who intend to do whatever they feel like doing. Not something I'd go to see...or want to be a part of.

Practice is to make your music tight. If you call yourself a band, you should be tight (again IMO). Know starts, stops, change ups. I couldn't imagine going up on stage without knowing what my band mates were at least supposed to be doing.

Devils Advocate · #6 04-07-2010, 12:39 PM

Wow. Responses to an empty post.

I'll restate my OP (if I can remember it, and still edit it) and fill in the blank.

**jmattbassplaya** · #7 04-07-2010, 01:08 PM

There`s pros and cons to rehearsing. For some bands and musicians they simply need to run through things a few times just to get the changes, then a few more to get the dynamics, and then even a few more times after that just to perfect it. That said, I`m like the OP and can usually get a song down after only hearing it a few times and then running through it once or twice on my own. Any practice after that is usually useless for me unless we are planning on adding our own changes to the song.

But with that in mind and even assuming that`s the case 100% of the time, I don`t think you can negotiate your way out of rehearsals. If the other players can`t learn as quickly then they need you to be there so that they can learn to play the songs off of you. It`s just one of those things. Either join a band where everyone can just practice on their own and show up at a gig 100% ready to go, or everyone rehearses together until things are 100% smooth - no matter how long it takes.

::::BASSIST:::: · #8 04-07-2010, 01:16 PM

Even though I learn the songs on my own, I do prefer to rehearse them with the band beforehand. Its likely the performance of the song wont be exactly the same as the original.... drummer increases/decreases tempo, extra solo etc. If you're at a level of playing where you do not need to rehearse you should still be a team player and show up at rehearsal to support your band. IMO of course.

billhilly66 · #9 04-07-2010, 01:20 PM

Charging $100 for rehearsals usually stops that kind of thing.

elgecko · #10 04-07-2010, 08:29 PM

Why did you delete your post the first time?

Anyways, it sounds the like the bands you're talking about are below your level. Keep in mind though that it's their ship...their rules. Sure, gigs are good but if they insist on tons of rehearsals, imagine how frustrated you'll be. There are few things more annoying than rehearsing 100 hours for a 4-hour gig. There are 100 others things I'd rather do than that!

M0ses · #11 04-07-2010, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassplayer8953

...what the op's describing is a jobber: show up, play, collect $$$, go home. not a band member... ...band members help each other past the rough parts, work together to make a song right: IMO, the best part of playing. Playing gigs is a natural progression from that, but so many other things come into play when playing out.

Exactly. There is no substitute for playing with people. You come to know them, they're playing style. You know what they're going to do before they do it, sometimes before they do, even when you're improvising. They know what you're going to do before you do it. Not because they've heard it all before, but because they are that familiar with the group. The band has to be doing it's best to become a single person.

Sometimes my band plays Freebird (read, when some loser yells it, we do our best to get him up on stage and sing it.) Well, during the solo, which our guitarist is allowed to make as long as he wants, the keyboardist and I have to look at each other to decide when to switch backgrounds, based on what the solo is doing. But sometimes, I don't know what it is, but without looking, without planning anything out, keys, drums, and I all magically decide to change fills at the exact same time. It just seems like the perfect time to do it, and we all know it. Those nights are the best.

That kind of tightness is something you can't get without lots of playing. And that magic is the best part about the whole thing. We have regular practices, but we all know the songs like the back of our hands, and we don't add new ones at a high rate. But we jam a lot. One of us will have an idea for a new song, and everyone else can pick it by ear, and all of the sudden we're all playing new things, bouncing ideas off of each other mid-song, and beautiful things happen. We record a lot of our practices. I don't mean to brag, but well, we're super tight. I may not be a great bass player, but I make my guitarist sound 100 times better. He's pretty darn good, but honestly without us he'd be playing the same country/grunge riffs over and over again.

So what I'm saying is, if you want to be a part of the band, you've gotta be a part of the band. If you want to be a paid employee, that's fine by me, but don't expect anything but a pay check out of it.

jive1 · #12 04-07-2010, 10:26 PM

Rehearsing too much is a turn-off for me. I'm not saying it's not important, because it is.

For a cover band situation, once a week is plenty and once you're gigging regularly, once a month is fine. I agree with many others that the amount you rehearse is inverse to the amount you gig.

Now if you just enjoy each-others company and love to jam, that's one thing. But as a necessity, that's another thing. If you're experienced enough, you should be able to learn a bunch of songs on your own and have them ready for the next rehearsal. Play them once or twice, and be ready to go.

If you've been around the block enough, you get acquainted with the stand hand signals, looks, etc. And just because you're a jobber doesn't mean you can't lock into a player or band. You know what to listen for and go from there.

With my most recent project, I came up with what I call a zero effort list. It's a list of songs that we are comfortable playing as a band without rehearsing at all. Zero effort should go into them because they are easy, and every cover band musician knows them. I don't see the value in rehearsing Mustang Sally for the xxxxxxxxth number of time. If anything, it's a waste of time that could be used towards something else like more difficult tunes, or promotion.

I believe band rehearsals are important, but they should be efficient and not overdone.

Herbie 80's · #13 04-07-2010, 10:30 PM

Sometimes I don't like being in a band from the start, sometimes I do. Depends whether it is a 'solo' act with a backing band, or a band created with a group's intention.

cassanova · #14 04-09-2010, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jive1

Rehearsing too much is a turn-off for me. I'm not saying it's not important, because it is.

For a cover band situation, once a week is plenty and once you're gigging regularly, once a month is fine. I agree with many others that the amount you rehearse is inverse to the amount you gig.

Now if you just enjoy each-others company and love to jam, that's one thing. But as a necessity, that's another thing. If you're experienced enough, you should be able to learn a bunch of songs on your own and have them ready for the next rehearsal. Play them once or twice, and be ready to go.

If you've been around the block enough, you get acquainted with the stand hand signals, looks, etc. And just because you're a jobber doesn't mean you can't lock into a player or band. You know what to listen for and go from there.

I believe band rehearsals are important, but they should be efficient and not overdone.

You and I have very similar mind sets when it comes to rehearsals. When I was young, stupid, and didn't know any better I'd gladly rehearse 3 times a week. Now that I'm older and wiser I decline any band that says they rehearse more than 1 or maybe 2x (if its a near working situation)per week because I've learned that competent musicians don't need to do that.

I put in a minimum of 10 hour days at my day gig, so for me, excessive rehearsing, especially with regular gigs on the books, leads to a faster burnout rate because it seems that's all I'm doing is working.