How do you run 'rehearsals'?

[BayStateBass]

Every band has to come up with it's own way to rehearse. I've posted up some of the things I do in the past, some liked it, some thought it was very restrictive and wouldn't want to play in the environment I establish(ed). Everything I did was written down, including times, much like an itinerary, and each member was given the itinerary ahead of time.

Since you are asking these questions I have to assume this is a relatively new band or you guys are just now starting to get serious, either way it's great that you want to do something well and have some organization.

First of all, practice is done at home. Rehearsal is where you put the pieces together and make it gel. I cannot stress this enough!!!! If people are taking the band rehearsal time to familiarize themselves with the songs or learn them, it will be a long, frustrating road to getting things straight. Sure, you'll need to work out an ending, intro, bridge, etc...., but for the most part everyone should at least have a good clue about what they are doing in each song.

As far as who runs practice, in my band it's me. Everyone gets to have input and make suggestions about what they want to go over, but ultimately I always have a written plan/order of stuff as a framework if nobody has anything specific they want to go over. I am also the one who runs the practice, watches the time, calls the breaks, etc. The first thing to do is compile a "master list" of songs that the band will be doing. Make sure each person has a copy of it. Then go through the list and prioritize the songs in the order that you'd like to go through them or work on them, with input from everyone. Prior to practice, be sure to tell the others which songs will be played that night/day, so that they can be prepared with things they might need like music sheets, etc.., or maybe just so they can go through the songs again ahead of time.

Have a set time you rehearse, one that works for everyone.

When rehearsal starts, it's always a good thing to have a couple warm up songs. Pick two or three songs that your band does well and the group enjoys, it puts everyone in a good frame of mind and starts things off on a happy note, so to speak. Don't start practice with a tough song or one the group needs a lot of work on. Save it for later. Never warm up with a new song that the group hasn't played before. Use the first song to set volume level, ideally you should only have to do this at the start of each practice, and even if that, and I try to stress people keep the volume under control.

After you have a sufficient warm up, my idea and experience was to always run through your set list, in the order that you would perform it. This will tell you what works, what doesn't, and if songs need to be moved around.

Opinions vary on this, but I've never been one to enjoy stopping a song to work out a detail the first time through. Play through it at least once. After you do that, then it might be good to identify the problem areas so each person can work on it (hopefully at home). Some people don't like to do it this way, but I find that if you're constantly stopping and starting for minor details, it takes a lot longer to put a finished song together. Trust me, most people know when they screw up and they'll figure out what to do if they are serious about wanting to play. This is much easier for cover bands if you shoot to play the song the way it was originally recorded. You can listen to the recording and compare it to what you're doing. If you're in a "make it your own" cover band.....eh....it's much harder because you have no point of reference without the others playing. An originals band is even harder yet; for the most part you HAVE to do the work as a group unless the music is written and each person learns from it.

Figure in break times. Try to shoot for a target time. As it stands now, we rehearse about 2 1/2 hours once a week. We play for about an hour, break for 15 minutes, play for another hour, then take the last 15 minutes to discuss how things went, where we can improve, how everyone feels about the songs we did, maybe discuss new songs that we want to play, or sometimes we just do some jamming and fun stuff or just talk and wind down. But we save it until the end so we can keep on track with our "work".

IME, some of the biggest "rehearsal killers";

-People who are constantly late
-Players who "noodle around" a lot between songs
-Players who have no concept of volume
-The ever escalating VOLUME WARS
-People who don't learn their parts (or at least most of them) at home
-People who are always trying to branch off to "new songs" (Hey guys...maybe we should play this.....and then they're off and running)
-A band that shows up with no idea about what they are doing that night/day

Now with all that is above, the key is to keep it fun. If nobody's having fun nobody will show up (unless it pays really, really good). And that is the challenge when you are an MD. How to keep it organized enough to get the work done, but make it fun in the process. I find the easiest way to make it fun is to have people have a say on what songs are going to be played. Let's face it, if you're playing a song you like, and it sounds decent, it's FUN.

But every group is different. Some like strict organization. Some like organized chaos. Some just like chaos. But in my mind, there has to be some form of structure to rehearsal. When you are looking at a group of people, there has to be some direction. If there isn't they'll find their own and often times everyone's off and running in a different direction.

Good luck! Remember, MAKE IT FUN! And get some work done.

 

[Stumbo]

Practice is what each person does on their own, to learn the material, sharpen their chops, etc.

Rehearsal is where the group comes together, to assemble what they've learned on their own, work out details such as intros, outros, transitions, etc.

The most important part of the deal is what songs to play. Consider your market, do some research by visiting venues where you want to gig. If want to play weddings/corp. parties, that a whole other deal as far as being versatile and playing/learning lots of tunes.

The cover bands I've been in, everyone came to rehearsal prepared and up to speed on tunes. There was no "learning the tune at rehearsal".

Check out my Being in a Band links for lots of good TB info on being in a band.

 

[maxiegrant]

I rehearse my band just like I was rehearsed when I was in various school bands. We get material the week before, we show up, and everyone is expected to have worked on it.

I usually distribute new material via Soundcloud, and I put a Google doc with tablature and lyrics. I keep a running spreadsheet, also shared via Google, of what we're working on. Typically I want to get new stuff in first, then work on older material, and polish anything we feel is particularly ragged. We try not to deal with more than 6-8 songs at a time.

Approaching a gig date, we will typically turn over to "dress rehearsals" where we go through the set in order.

I have been trying to get my current group to a critical mass of about 30 songs . . . just had to do some personnel changes because someone wasn't really "with" that program. Once we reach that, I plan on making rehearsals into two distinct parts: #1, record and or learn new stuff, #2, practice just playing together.

 

[klokker]

We have our set lists already put together. We'll rehearse usually once before a gig, sometimes not if we're playing a lot.

We usually have a few new songs to try on for size, an email is sent out with a list and a version to cover. No charts, just a youtube version or something like that. We'll start out runing through those and see if they work. If they don't come together in a couple of takes, they get tossed. If they go good we'll iron out a few details and it's on the list.

Then we play through the stuff we think might need some work as we have time. When it's 10:00 p.m. we go home, if some songs aren't quite ready, too bad. We do them anyway and 95% of the time it's all good.

It's pretty laid back.

 

[Octaves]

Thanks everyone, there is some great advice that i am going to take on board

Thank goodness everyone learns their parts at home first. I need to work on my assertiveness skills with regards to organising a 5 min meeting at the start of every rehearsal and going over weak spots. I'd like to create a democratic culture (am trying to) where everyone feels comfortable enough to "speak up".

 

[mellowinman]

A vital concept, that I'm surprised hasn't been posted in this thread yet, is:

Practice is what each person does on their own, to learn the material, sharpen their chops, etc.

Rehearsal is where the group comes together, to assemble what they've learned on their own, work out details such as intros, outros, transitions, etc.

I do not agree with this narrow definition of rehearsal.

You are doing more than just intros, outros, transitions, etc.

You are rehearsing FEEL. How I play wiht a track is not how I play with another human player. You have to put in your time to make a band tight, and you have to learn to communicate with each other, musically speaking.

I have taped every single show we have ever played. I am amazed how frequently it's an "easy" song, that the band decided "we didn't need to work on," because "we have it down" ends up being the glaring bad spot of the night.

A lot of players, at all levels, tend to speed up tempos overall, when they are excited. They get pumped up to do a live show, and the rush everything. I'm not saying all players do this, but please don't tell me seasoned pros never do, because I've experienced it first hand, both as a player, and an audience member.

If you rehearse the song to death, you end up with a death GRIP on the material, and you can get to that point where you CAN'T play it wrong. Nobody comes to hear two guitars, a singer, a bass player, a keyboard and some drums play their parts right.

They come to hear a BAND.

 

[AaronVonRock]

Nobody comes to hear two guitars, a singer, a bass player, a keyboard and some drums play their parts right.

They come to hear a BAND.

You are spot on. I think a lot of serious muscians forget this concept.

 

[BayStateBass]

I do not agree with this narrow definition of rehearsal.

You are doing more than just intros, outros, transitions, etc.

You are rehearsing FEEL. How I play wiht a track is not how I play with another human player. You have to put in your time to make a band tight, and you have to learn to communicate with each other, musically speaking.

I have taped every single show we have ever played. I am amazed how frequently it's an "easy" song, that the band decided "we didn't need to work on," because "we have it down" ends up being the glaring bad spot of the night.

A lot of players, at all levels, tend to speed up tempos overall, when they are excited. They get pumped up to do a live show, and the rush everything. I'm not saying all players do this, but please don't tell me seasoned pros never do, because I've experienced it first hand, both as a player, and an audience member.

If you rehearse the song to death, you end up with a death GRIP on the material, and you can get to that point where you CAN'T play it wrong. Nobody comes to hear two guitars, a singer, a bass player, a keyboard and some drums play their parts right.

They come to hear a BAND.

Excellent post, as usual Mellowinman.

Good points.

 

[two fingers]

Three rehearsals for any band before I gig. One for each set. Maybe a meeting to determine the set list, but preferably just a few phone calls emails. If we get into a song at rehearsal and it doesn't go well, we drop it until the end. If there are a lot of issues with a lot of songs, we stop and bitch at whomever didn't do his homework and call it a night. We come back when everybody is ready. Watching someone learn a song in rehearsal is a total waste of time.

If the music is really complicated I will allow for a fourth rehearsal to run everything once. But after that it's gig time or I'm in the wrong band. If you have to run songs over and over again (covers anyway) to get them tight, you either can't play or you have chosen the wrong songs (or both).

Of course, all this being said, I do a ton of fill-in gigs. I play all the time with people I have never met until an hour before showtime. Usually they are pros and everything goes fine.

 

[fdeck]

In the band, we do two rehearsals for each gig. A gig will include some new tunes, some tunes recycled from the previous gig, and some old favorites. We try not to play the same tune more than twice. All of the players are fluent sight-readers. We look through the tunes and find the places that need rehearsing. We're expected to learn our parts at home.

Tune selection is democratic, with one member being responsible for keeping track of what we've already played, and for the chart library. Typically, if one member is interested in a tune, everybody else will go along. If we know that a particular tune is going to be a train wreck for any reason (such as too many subs on the gig), then we shelve it for a month. If a sub has a favorite tune featuring their instrument, we'll play it.

My sideman work is typically unrehearsed. When bands call rehearsals, it's often a sort of informal audition to make sure that I can handle the material before the gig. Such a thing would be reasonable if a band has particularly difficult material, or has a very high profile gig. Rehearsals are seldom "full band full gear," but are just acoustic instruments in somebody's living room.

 

[skwee]

We work out our overall plan for the project, then preplan the week: since some songs are more difficult than others, you need to wrap that into the overall schedule.

At work we use a producer system, where everyone is assigned a few pieces (splits up the responsibility, which improves buy-in), and each person leads rehearsal on each song.

Basically, all the charts or sheet music is distributed a few weeks before the first rehearsal--people have time then to prepare for rehearsal and work out what they need to on their own time. We have a read-thru of everything to make sure everyone is on the same page, and if there are things to work out technically we do that first, then get into the interpretive side of things once the tune is under everyone's belt. Everyone is free to give suggestions or discuss issues at that stage, and together we come up with an interpretation. Woodshedding is kept to a minimum, because not everyone is comfortable with that kind of flexibility (if you have a roomful of players comfortable with that looseness you are lucky indeed). Though, some arrangements (like an a cappella folk tune, or spiritual, are created in rehearsal).

Once the technical and interpretive work are done, then runs of multiple songs in a row can happen. At this stage, you can work on your memory.

 

[papa_ian]

My punk band has a poster board with all of our songs we have on it, we run through 15 of those first to warm up, then show any new stuff we might have.

My black metal band just runs through our set and then jams for a bit to see what kind of riffs/parts we can come up with. This seems to work really well for us and we tend to write a new song every practice (we also practice for about 4-8 hours at a time).

 

[Stumbo]

My punk band has a poster board with all of our songs we have...

Sometimes a dry erase board is handy as well.

Maybe list the songs you're working on, Songs with weak parts, Songs that are "done", new songs. Something like that

 

[BayStateBass]

Sometimes a dry erase board is handy as well.

Maybe list the songs you're working on, Songs with weak parts, Songs that are "done", new songs. Something like that

I actually do something similar, although I do an Excel spreadsheet. As we progress it's updated. Completed "club ready" songs are in blue, what we are working on is in red, and untouched songs are in black.

As it gets updated, I e-mail it to the others.

 

[Caeros]

If it's close to a gig day, we'll assemble and run through a setlist with segues and breaks pre-planned. If not, we go through our new material, tighten up individual sections and then move onto songs that aren't finished yet. We're gearing up to record soon so we've been in a writing frenzy, discarding ideas that don't work and fine-tuning the ones that do. Our practices usually last 2-3 hours, sometimes more or sometimes less depending on what night it is. We try not to ramble on for too long in order to keep things fresh and prevent us from getting bored.

 

[experimental bassist]

5 piece Blues band:

First few minutes: tune, small talk, warm up jam of some sort.

Next 15-30 minutes: Work on newest songs (usually one or two songs that were "homework" from previous week).

Next run through most current set list, or at least large chunk of it.

Conclude practice by a "round robin" - go in circle, each member calls out a song. This can be an old song, one in our current rotation, or even one we've never played- this keeps practice fun, keeps us on our toes, and let's everyone have a say in what gets played.

Practice concludes usually by running through newest songs from beginning of practice, or reviewing whatever song or pieces of song may need tweeking. Then small talk, confirm next weeks practice day/time.


I'm sure most bands have their own system, I'd say just find a way to keep it structured and focused enough to be productive and respectful of everyone's time, but also keep it fun.

 

[iriegnome]

My band is a 7 piece jam band. Our practices are more of a weekly get together than anything else. We write new tunes, learn them, practice parts of tunes that we made mistakes on at the last gig and play a couple of familiar old tunes that we are wanting to bring out at the next gig. We have over 400 tunes to pick from so brushing up on some of our older material is pretty normal. Please also keep in mind that we have been together for 10 years so, we have no organization what so ever for practice. Hell, sometime we head to the bar

 

[dannylectro]

I'm in two bands: a cover band where all players are equals, and an original band where the principal singers/songwriters are essentially the leaders (with feedback/input from all members)
The cover band has three rehearsal modes: a) practice for a specific show; b) general brush-up of repertoire; and c) learn new tunes. So... we either circulate a) a specific set list; b) buy beer and call out tunes on the fly, or c) agree via email, etc. about a list of new tunes, circulate mp3's, and have at it at rehearsal.
The original band is basically the same except c) is a writing night, where the songwriters introduce new tunes and we all woodshed.
The cover band has been together with original members for six years, and the original band, with an evolving cast, for over four years.
Good times!

 

[Lemoore-on]

We are an established cover band (5 years in our current lineup) We don't do entire set lists at rehearsal anymore. In most cases we just played most of the songs last weekend. The 3 of us (guitar/Bass/drums) get there an hour before the singer shows up because of work schedules. We normally jam a little first, then start putting new songs together & work out details. We do our own home work before hand. Singer shows up, we bang out new songs, determine if they are gig ready or need more work. Discuss our last gig and go over any rough spots/songs & talk about how the set list flowed. Talk about potential new songs. The whole thing usually goes around 3 hours or so.

It has become routine now & no one person "conducts" or "runs" the rehearsal. In the beginning (with past members) it sometimes became a free for all jam until we started gigging regularly and embarrassed ourselves a couple of times. Then we started getting it together & making the best of our rehearsal time.

 

[JohnMCA72]

I do not agree with this narrow definition of rehearsal.

You are doing more than just intros, outros, transitions, etc.

You are rehearsing FEEL. How I play wiht a track is not how I play with another human player. You have to put in your time to make a band tight, and you have to learn to communicate with each other, musically speaking.

I have taped every single show we have ever played. I am amazed how frequently it's an "easy" song, that the band decided "we didn't need to work on," because "we have it down" ends up being the glaring bad spot of the night.

A lot of players, at all levels, tend to speed up tempos overall, when they are excited. They get pumped up to do a live show, and the rush everything. I'm not saying all players do this, but please don't tell me seasoned pros never do, because I've experienced it first hand, both as a player, and an audience member.

If you rehearse the song to death, you end up with a death GRIP on the material, and you can get to that point where you CAN'T play it wrong. Nobody comes to hear two guitars, a singer, a bass player, a keyboard and some drums play their parts right.

They come to hear a BAND.

Sorry, that wasn't intended to be a narrow definition, just some examples. I wanted to stress the difference between the ideas of "practice" (individual) & "rehearse" (group).

I think trying to include all the details of what gets rehearsed might be a tangent to how a rehearsal should be managed, which was the OP's original question. I'd go even further & suggest rehearsing movements, looks, visual effects & more. That's a decent topic for a whole new thread, though.