How long does your band rehearse for?

[Calaverasgrande]

I have been in a few bands over the years. Some bands seem like they cant make it past 1 hour of practice. Other groups we jam for 4 or 5 hours at a time. What do you folks do?
How many times a week is sufficient?

 

[pharmakon]

We were doing 3-4 once a week (with a few coke and smoke breaks.. that's coke the drink!) but now we're doing 2x a week for 2-3 hours. I like the second arrangement best!

 

[Phalex]

We usually go 3 or 4 hours at a time. Or at least until the beer runs out.

 

[CapnSev]

If its the standard weekly rehearsal, I refuse to go more than 2 hours. If we miss a week, I'll do 3, maybe 4.

 

[etoncrow]

One band two hours once a week with no break; another band four hours once a week with one break

 

[Nashrakh]

We rehearse once a week, for 3 hours. Including breaks of course, we take it easy generally.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I guess I like to play until my fingers actually give out. which is around 4 hours give or take. Especially since I used to play hardcore punk which was more demanding physically (and much sweatier). My current band is kind of hard-rock stoner metal. So it may be kind of complex sometimes, but we all have a pretty easy time playing it. I wish we practiced longer so the songs would
A) be tighter
B) people wouldn't forget their parts as easily!
C) I think when you play a song several times in a row the problems with it become more apparent by the time you come around the third or fourth time. Only once or twice and it keeps getting swept under the rug.

Maybe I will order pizza next practice so folks will stick around for one more hour?

 

[TBird1958]

Currently the whole band get together once a week for at least 3 hours, we're working in a new drummer - I'm rediscovering "the pocket"

 

[groooooove]

my funk/jam band tends to rehearse for about an hour and a half, but very frequently. my jazz trio usually books 3 hours in a rehearsal room, so assume a half hour or so of setting up and breaking down, thats 2.5 hours..

i've done things where you meet (for the first time) and rehearse for 4 hours on friday then have a gig on sat. if you manage to be focused, it actually works rather nicely.

 

[TBrett]

We're a brand new original rock band, still in development, and we get together once a week in a practice studio for 3 - 4 hours on weekends. This works well, especially when all members take some time between practices to go over their parts. If we got together more frequently, we probably wouldn't need such a long session on the weekend, but we all have family/spousal/work commitments. There isn't a whole lot of pressure right now because we've got a ways to go before we'll be gig ready. When we're closer to gigging, I'm thinking that adding a shorter practice on a weeknight will help us to quickly tighten up the set. As it stands now, we're all sorry to have to knock off after 4 hours because the music and chemistry is really great.

 

[Joeykun]

Twice a week. 3 hours each night.

 

[stratovani]

I'm in a Contemporary Christian band that's been together in its present form since last April. We've been rehearsing every Tuesday night for 3 hours since then , and a smaller 2-hour rehearsal for our rhythm giutarist/singer, drummer, and myself on Friday mornings. We just had our first show this past Saturday afternoon at our local church fair. A one-hour set consisting of eight original songs. We sounded real tight, and the compliments were numerous. We're taking a break this week, then it's back to rehearsals next Tuesday night.

 

[somegeezer]

I generally make the most of practising. It takes me an hour and half just to get to one practise... About 2 hours to get to the other. So The first can last between 3 and 5 hours, the other is about 8 hours over 2 days. I stay over the night.

 

[Haysoochreesto]

We do a four hour practice once a week and we're really focused during that time. We have a whiteboard and everything! Just a small amount of organization makes a big difference.

 

[waynobass]

Only two hours, unfortunately. I'd rather play for 3 or 4!

 

[JohnMCA72]

It varies. Sometimes, we just have to cut it short for some reason or another. Generally, though, I like to rehearse (not practice; that's another animal entirely) for a good 4 hours if possible. The point is, if we can't go that long in rehearsal, what makes anybody think we could play a 4-hour bar gig? Rehearsal should always be a lot harder than the show! The show should be a piece of cake compared to rehearsals.

 

[champbassist]

Around 5 hours but not more than twice a week Before gigs, though, it goes up to four times a week.

 

[SMILEYSIXX]

Usually once a week... it's divided amongst my friends hanging out at my house for about 10 hours... probably 5 or 6 hours of solid playing each time.

 

[WhiteKnuckles]

Twice a week for 4 hours is our regular schedule, though we may have a third rehearsal if we're prepping a new way to run our set or about to do some studio work.

 

[Fliptrique]

3-6 times a week for 3-5 hours - it varies.