Cover bands: How much time do you spend rehearsing?

[Joe Nerve]

Slight rant warning. I'm posting this to air out my own schtuff....

I had the experience of a lifetime last week. Something I've waited for a long time. Jumped in with a cover band to sub for a Saturday gig. We had a quick rehearsal (audition) the Thursday before, then played the gig and it went swimmingly. More than half of what we played on Saturday we didn't have a chance to go over beforehand, and we were playing some interesting stuff. Red Barchetta, A lot of Zep, some Deep Purple, Boys are Back in Town, China Grove (which I never played before and is pretty frikken fun and cool)... Anyhow, after the show they offered me the gig full time because they've been having tons of issues with their bass player. They only gig around once a month, so I said sure. They sent me a list of about 15 other songs to learn, and told me to do it at my own pace. Next gig is Feb. 21.

Last week I get a call from the BL, and he starts beating around the bush a bit saying something along the lines of, "Joe, I uhh... talked with the guys regarding rehearsals for the next gig on the 21st, and, while we'll leave this totally up to you.... if it's not cool, no big deal....", and as I'm waiting for the punch he says, "We feel we can just do the gig on the 21st and, well... skip the rehearsal. Only if you're ok with that though?"

OK WITH THAT? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT FOR YEARS!!!! Which brings me to this post.

IMO, unless a cover band is made of musicians who are still new at the game of covers and gigging in general (average 1-5 years), there are very few legitimate reasons to have to rehearse weekly, or more than once or twice before gigging. I'll note what I consider exceptions to that in the end.

If people are mature, experienced, AND DO THEIR FRIKKEN HOMEWORK, there is no need to waste time and money in the studio. One rehearsal is more than enough to workout any faded recording endings or song transitions, and most people who've been at this for a while can figure endings out on the spot anyhow. Sure, you can work for hours on that perfect well written ending, but in the end (pun intended), it ain't worth the studio time put into it. People aren't coming back to your gigs because you had had the tightest most creative ending they ever heard to Freebird, they're coming back because you played the songs they liked, or because they had a good chance of getting laid at your gig.

The bands I've played in that need to rehearse for months, almost always have one player who NEEDS the rehearsal time. And that player usually NEEDS the time because he/she doesn't do their homework and would rather use my time and money in the studio for their "practice" time. Drummers I'll cut a little slack, but I'm actually at a point where I don't want to play with any drummers that still need practice time for covers, or don't have their own space.

I could go on for a long time about this, so I'll cut it now and chime in later. Exceptions to the rule are cover bands that are not typical, ie. the dread zeppelin type. Another exception is if people have all the time in the world to rehearse, and enjoy doing it. While I enjoy playing covers, I do it to make extra money. 4 paid for rehearsals per 1 gig doesn't fly with me anymore.

I'm very happy to fall in with these new guys. Not sure why there aren't more of them around.

How much do you rehearse? And why?

 

[Jeff Roller]

Just my experience:

Bands I've been in who don't gig rehearse once or twice a week.

My gigging bands never rehearse. We agree to learn new material and play it next show.

We are also fearless when it comes to song requests. As long as the singer/guitarist halfway knows it, away we go. Never had a trainwreck yet.

 

[hrodbert696]

Depends, in a lot of ways. How long the people have been playing, how familiar the songs are, how often they gig together. The group I'm in that gigs more, we had two times to run through songs before I started gigging with them (the other two have been together for 10 years). There were definitely rough spots - sometimes there still are, almost a year later. But we were largely able to pick it up as we went. We do try to rehearse to add new material, but can certainly play a good gig without it. We'll go a few weeks with no rehearsing, then try to do a string of weekly ones. It's more to avoid getting stale. That group gigs 3-4 times a month and we're pretty used to playing together.

The other group I'm in only gigs once a month, and rehearses religiously every week. It's a startup and I rehearsed with them for six weeks or so before the first gig. For all that it rehearses more, it's actually less tight than the group that gigs regularly. I think that there are a lot of variables and distractions in a live performance, and the only way to get used to playing through them is to do it regularly - basement practice can get you as tight as possible on the music itself, but doesn't prepare you for those distractions.

 

[BazzTard]

we always did originals with covers, so we 'rehearsed' once a week, but it was usually learning one or two new originals our writer came up with that week, prolific writer he was.

 

[RustyAxe]

I've been with my classic country band for nearly five years. I joined the band after a year or two of subbing for their bass player, a friend of mine, needed to be gone for long periods to take care of family business in another state. The guys in the band each have decades of experience and serious chops. We play 40-50 gigs a year. We have never rehearsed. Sometimes we'll share a Youtube video during the week if we want to introduce something new.

Another project, with a regionally well-known songwriter, required some rehearsal up front, but once we "clicked" we added new songs to the duo list without much rehearsal. Often just a recording of him doing his song so I could create a bass line and maybe harmony vocals. I'll dub the parts, and send to him for comment/approval ... he's never rejected anything I offered ... and the next gig we play it live. We have 70 of his originals down pat, and a large number of covers, too.

Life is too short to spend my time bringing lazy or inept band members along. They either have it from day one or they don't. Nor am I going to spend time teaching anyone their parts ... the band is not a music school.

 

[bassbully]

In a good cover and unless you are adding songs,have lazy bandmates or unskilled ones there is no need to practice all the time if at all. A band is like a team and if ther are lazy or poor players they need to be removed anyhow.

The best cover bands I knew rarely practiced together but did communicate. Every one in a great while they would get together to practice just to stay sharp if the gigs fell off.
It's all about the players , their level of playing and dedication.

Even in an originals band after the main setlist is learned and all the arrangements are done practice can be backed off but it takes a greater amount of time.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I think that there are a lot of variables and distractions in a live performance, and the only way to get used to playing through them is to do it regularly - basement practice can get you as tight as possible on the music itself, but doesn't prepare you for those distractions.

The first 'real' band I was ever in at 17 yrs old, the BL used to say all the time that 1 gig was worth 10 rehearsals. I'll up that to 15 or 20 given all members are responsible and care about the performance and future of the band.

 

[jad]

I'm with you on this one, but everyone doing their homework is a huge caveat. My band puts a pretty big focus on evolving the set so we usually have something new to go over, but we are all very willing to skip rehersal if there is nothing new going on. Lately we've been working on mashups (formerly known as medleys) trying to be something beyond a jukebox of old songs, so that does require getting together a bit.

I probably wouldn't join a band that cost me money for rehersals. I'll pay $10 to play hockey, but not to play Sweet Child O Mine again. I think I've played that more times than Duff!

 

[lfmn16]

I'm very happy to fall in with these new guys. Not sure why there aren't more of them around.

How much do you rehearse? And why?

If everyone had the exact same goals, there would only be one way to do things.

My band is half cover, half original. We rehearse very week learning new covers or writing new material. The week before a gig we go over everything in the exact order we are going to play it at the gig, working intros, ending and transitions. No train wrecks, no noticeable mistakes, and the tightest band I've ever been in.

I've been in bands that never rehearsed and played plenty of gigs with no rehearsals. Most likely the band is the only one that noticed the mistakes.

I'm in a different place now. We actually get satisfaction out of seeing how tight we can get. Every time we think it can't get any tighter, it gets a little better. People notice; we get a lot of people who tell us we are the tightest band they've ever seen.

Nothing wrong with either IMHO. I like to play; I could never understand people complaining about having to rehearse.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I probably wouldn't join a band that cost me money for rehersals.

I think this post was a rant for me, because of my own stupidity. And I'll fess up on that. I somehow get duped into rehearing bands, against my will... and I'm not even sure how it happens. Just walked away from a failed project that's been about 5 months in the (not)making. The original plan was to get a list of 35 songs we all knew, see if it vibed, then book a gig. Opinions, song choices, cancellations, lack of communication, 7 rehearsals and about to go on our 3rd drummer and I bailed.

Something else I learned from the above experience... as soon as I hear the word "vision" from anyone regarding a cover band, I'm out. It's my experience that as soon as anyone in the band has a "vision" for that band (if it ain't his/or her original thing that they're paying me to play in), vision means nothing more than drama and BS. And lots of it.

 

[Joe Nerve]

We actually get satisfaction out of seeing how tight we can get. Every time we think it can't get any tighter, it gets a little better. People notice; we get a lot of people who tell us we are the tightest band they've ever seen.

Nothing wrong with either IMHO. I like to play; I could never understand people complaining about having to rehearse.

The tightest bands I've ever been in have been the bands that have rehearsed the least. When I toured with Bumblefoot we rehearsed 2 or 3 times before going overseas (2 1/2 hrs worth of pretty intense and crazy original material), and we were locked in with each other like nobody's business. Tightness has nothing to do with how often a band rehearses. It has to do with the experience of the players, and the commitment they have to doing the work they need to do on their own.

A few years before the BBft gig, I toured with a pretty well known local dude here who traded in the music business for a very successful career as a TV producer. I recently listened to some of the live recordings we did and was dumbfounded by how tight it was. We only rehearsed once or twice before hitting the road. You would think the recordings we did were studio recordings. If I have time later and I can find that CD again, I may post a song or 2.

Also, if all members of a band want to rehearse 2 times a week - awesome. I have no complaints. My only complaint here is that I still sometimes wind up in those projects somehow. Well... not 2 times a week, but I get a lot of negativity when I bring up the idea of not rehearsing.

 

[INTP]

Congrats on finding a great group to play with.

I totally agree with your rant. Perpetual rehearsals are a huge waste of time, particularly when you're just playing covers that everyone can work out on their own.

 

[lfmn16]

Tightness has nothing to do with how often a band rehearses. It has to do with the experience of the players, and the commitment they have to doing the work they need to do on their own.

Of course there are more factors than how often you rehearse, but if you think that how often you rehearse has no bearing on how tight a band is, you are fooling yourself. If you are playing a couple times a week, or on tour playing every night, that's a different story.

If you think you can pick up every nuance of every member of the band in a rehearsal or two, then either you are the most phenomenal player in history or you and I have very different definitions of what constitutes 'tight.' I vote for the latter.

I just don't get why people ask for opinions and then start arguing when they don't get the opinions they want.

 

[Joe Nerve]

If you think you can pick up every nuance of every member of the band in a rehearsal or two, then either you are the most phenomenal player in history or you and I have very different definitions of what constitutes 'tight.' I vote for the latter.

Definitely not the most phenomenal player here... but again, I do my homework, and I listen closely when playing with others. If people are playing what they're supposed to be playing, there isn't a whole lot of nuance we need to be keyed into. And if people change it up a bit, it doesn't take a whole lot for me to feel what they're doing and go along with it. I don't know. Maybe I don't give myself enough credit. I have been at this for a while, so maybe that just comes easier to me than it does to some others.

I also feel that if the musicians are responsible, they'll be working even harder on stage than they will at rehearsals. They'll be more on their toes, so to speak.

I don't think our definitions of tight are different. Here's a guy I'm hired to do shows with from time to time... this particular gig I just met the drummer that night. And actually just got that new Bongo hours before ... iz my first time playing it. The drummer did his homework. If he had any nuances I needed to be aware of, I'm pretty sure I was on top of them enough to pull it off. Same with him towards me. PS, this wasn't my most exciting performance of all time, but I'm posting it as an example and to be sure our definitions are the same .



Same band with a different drummer. Doing our own take on ticket to ride. If we rehearsed, we only rehearsed once. I enjoy this guy's old school guitar playing at around 2:08.

 

[DWBass]

I'm definitely with that! I'm currently bandless but most of the bands I have been in rehearsed at least once a week which is ok but I don't like long drawn out rehearsals due to folks not knowing the material so it becomes a 'learning' rehearsal. Me no likey. I sub for a couple of bands around here and I have had no rehearsals with them. One band I have been following and pretty much knew and memorized their show and already knew the tunes. The other band, while I know the majority of the songs they do, there are some I have never played and I asked about rehearsing at least once and the BL said it was not possible. So I felt ok, if they're cool with no rehearsal then if I screw up a little they won't be bothered about it. That gig went ok. I wasn't truly comfortable but got through it. BL was happy and I'm the first call sub for both bands. Trying to get on the list of a few others in an effort to get more gigs.

 

[AMp'D.2play]

Joe, you won't get an argument from me! Our full band rehearses once in a blue moon. Most of the other guys (me being the exception) all live fairly close to each other. If they want to get together on a week night to go over some things, or mostly just to "hang", knock yourselves out.

As for me, tell me the song, what key, and, if it's been done by multiple artists, whose version. If we want to do, say, "I Shot The Sheriff", are we going for the Clapton vibe or the Marley vibe? Other than that, see you at the gig. Oh, and please let me know if the band throws in an extra verse progression right before the bridge so the LG can do a solo over it. I learned to ask that question from my experiences with a previous band.

I generally work until 8-9 at night, so I usually can't make regular weekly rehearsals, anyway. And once the weather warms up, my weekend mornings/early afternoons are either spent on my road bike/mountain bike or the golf course. Not gonna spend 3 hrs cooped up in a studio going over some 3 or 4 chord classic rock tune(s) when it's 80 degrees & sunny outside! Some of our best gigs have been when we haven't even seen each other since the last gig.

 

[Masterbassist30]

I've done gigs with long, moderate, and no rehearsal. I don't think there should be a hard and fast rule, just do whatever works for you and your group at that time.

*Edit- OP, I am listening to Red Barchetta as I am posting this.

 

[jmverdugo]

We only rehearse for new songs or if we have not played in a while, we usually play a couple of times a month. So far so good.

 

[lfmn16]

I don't think our definitions of tight are different.

I think they are. You posted asking a question, sorry if you don't like my answer.

I've been playing for over 40 years and I studied at Peabody Conservatory and North Carolina School of the Arts, if you can believe an anonymous voice on the internet. I know what I'm talking about.

However, if you are happy with what you are doing, it's not my place to criticize or offer suggestions, just as I'm not interested in criticism or suggestions from people of unknown qualifications.

Look, I'm not trying to be a dick here, but you posted a question, "How much do you rehearse? And why?" I answered it and now you're arguing with me. You have your standards and I have mine.

Good luck, I hope you have a great career and are able to avoid projects that rehearse more than you want to.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Really? I kinda thought your post before the last one entered that dickish category. I was just trying to clear things up a bit. But I agree with you. Do whatever makes you happy. I'd rather gig then rehearse.