How often do you rehearse? (Vote! )

[birminghambass]

For those who gig regularly, how often does your band rehearse? My current band plays out 1x a month and wants to rehearse every week. This is a deal breaker for me. I don't get paid to rehearse and I do my homework so this seems unnecessary. IMO a full gig schedule for pros or semi-pros means rehearsal isn't necessary at all unless you're adding new material constantly. I was in a very successful cover band for 7 years and we didn't have a single rehearsal. You did the work in your own time or you'd be replaced. My church gig was the same way, show up knowing your part. Am I out of line with my expectations? How much does your band rehearse and what is your opinion about it?

 

[Johnny Crab]

Not out of line at all, voted "Rarely". People need to learn their parts at home.

It's a 190 miles round trip for me as they're in Houston and I'm in the boonies.
Last time we rehearsed it was to run through a number of Toby Keith songs as we were doing a charity event he would be involved in. As you put it, everyone shows up KNOWING their parts and we ran through them with a buddy of Toby's who can sing just like him and knows all of his songs. At the event, Toby ended up doing the infamous "Red Solo Cup" with us, fun times.

PS: "I Should've Been a Cowboy" is fun to play on bass, guitarist showed up at rehearsal with his Variax guitar and switched the Variax from normal to baritone guitar during the song for the solo.

 

[fdeck]

My main band, a 19 piece jazz ensemble, rehearses twice a month, for our monthly gig. We used to play all new sets every month, now we recycle about 50% of the previous month's tunes, so we can be a bit tighter and play more challenging material.

The only way that this works is if everybody practices. We don't even rehearse all of the tunes in their entirety, for instance we skip past solo sections and repeats, and only work on stuff that isn't a matter of one or two players shedding their parts.

My other band is about twice a month, depending on availability. We're an experimental jazz combo, playing a lot of originals.

All other gigs, with whoever calls me, are unrehearsed.

 

[EdO.]

Unless everyone is REALLY good, dependent on the type of music performed, true tightness is only achieved by rehearsing together AND playing together AS A GROUP over time. I've heard plenty of groups that while being pretty decent were obviously under rehearsed. I guess it all depends on how much it means to you.

 

[JimmyThunder]

After all these years together, does my band HAVE to rehearse every monday night in order to do a tight show (with a 200+ song repertoire)? No.
Do I genuinely look forward to a regular night of time with my friends doing the thing I love most, playing bass? Absolutely.

Not every "band" is entirely about "the gig". We play out once or twice a month but I'd still want to gather weekly even with no gigs on the horizon. I didn't put all this effort towards learning my instrument just to jam along with MP3s in my bedroom.

 

[duff beer]

3 bands, 2 gig semi-regularly. Rehearsals range from once a week to once a month or so. One of the bands is good and doesn't "need" to rehearse, but we do anyway because we love playing. Gigs are a bonus but it's not the sole reason why we play.

 

[sean_on_bass]

Depends on the band. I chose what seems to be the average(and my most preferred) at 1-2 times a month.

I'm discovering that for me, a weekly rehearsal band is one that i am going to eventually quit after a year or so. It just starts to feel forced, and i am learning that i am a person that needs a lot of free time to not be stressed(introverted person).

One exception to that is a big band that has weekly rehearsals. But that band is mainly to keep up folks chops and i use it to improve my sight reading and just generally have fun. No pay involved. But they do take the whole summer off, so there's that.

 

[RustyAxe]

One band, never. Trio, about twice a month on an irregular schedule. Two duos, whenever we add new material. Solo, daily.

 

[Bodeanly]

One of my bands rehearses once a week and gigs 2-3 times a month.
Another rehearses once before each gig and gigs 2-3 times a year.

I've been in bands that practiced once or twice a week and it never left the basement. I've been in bands where we rehearse once and are suddenly gig ready. For me, when considering rehearsal frequency, it depends greatly on the style of music, whether or not everyone is competent, and whether or not everyone is cool enough to hang out with on a regular basis. My weekly rehearsals also double as a chance for all of our kids to get together.

 

[birminghambass]

I guess style of music could dictate rehearsal schedule. For the cover cheese we do any rehearsal is just unpaid time away from my family.

 

[JGbassman]

I play in a band that gigs once or twice a month. We usually have a practice sometime during the week prior to the gig to hash out any changes and to freshen us up. We are all pros that know are parts, but it's nice to get a practice in before the show. We play loose regarding the format and will extend or modulate in songs on occasion. It's not a locked cover band as we do about 50% original material during an evening if we are dong covers.

A typical cover band playing small clubs would want to be closer to the music so I'd say at least twice a month at the minimum

 

[Muttleybass]

Once a week, but in three bands. Twice a week with one band as we're auditioning guitarists. Might squeeze in an extra practice when a gig is coming up.

 

[btmpancake]

I voted rarely because I'm a subber. I only practice if they send me new material just in case.

 

[Jimmy4string]

I don't know if we "gig regularly" but we would sure like too!
Twice a week for us. Mainly because we all love to just play i think. I look forward to Saturday morning practice after having a good coconut latte and meeting the guys and rockin out! Also keeps me out of bars on Friday night

 

[Josh Kneisel]

For those who gig regularly, how often does your band rehearse? My current band plays out 1x a month and wants to practice every week. This is a deal breaker for me. I don't get paid to practice and I do my homework so this seems unnecessary. IMO a full gig schedule for pros or semi-pros means rehearsal isn't necessary at all unless you're adding new material constantly. I was in a very successful cover band for 7 years and we didn't have a single rehearsal. You did the work in your own time or you'd be replaced. My church gig was the same way, show up knowing your part. Am I out of line with my expectations? How much does your band rehearse and what is your opinion about it?

We practice once or twice and play 2-4 gigs a week so rehearsal is for new stuff/hard stuff

 

[Systolic]

Once a week when we are adding new songs, and we've been adding two tunes a week lately. Otherwise once or twice a month is what we'd do.

 

[Jamesmidders]

Once or twice a week for me. Originals band; it wouldn't be worth it if we weren't writing and refining the songs. I agree for covers there's far less of a need for rehearsals.

 

[Nev375]

When the talking carrot says so.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I've been with the band I'm in now for just over 1 year. We had 4 rehearsals before I played the first gig with them. I replaced a bass player, the other two had been together 4 years.
We rehearse for two reasons, work up new material and work in a sub drummer.
The material is simple and we are all seasoned "pros".

 

[two fingers]

After all these years together, does my band HAVE to rehearse every monday night in order to do a tight show (with a 200+ song repertoire)? No.
Do I genuinely look forward to a regular night of time with my friends doing the thing I love most, playing bass? Absolutely.

Not every "band" is entirely about "the gig". We play out once or twice a month but I'd still want to gather weekly even with no gigs on the horizon. I didn't put all this effort towards learning my instrument just to jam along with MP3s in my bedroom.

This.

I don't rehearse weekly (never did) because I love playing out live. Bass guitar as "card night" usually doesn't get it done for me. Maybe I haven't found the right bunch of guys. Also, I'm in the process of building a hangout in my back yard that will double as a jam room. Maybe my feelings will change when all I have to do is walk out back to a set up bass rig.

If you love playing with the gang so much that you love jamming every week, that's awesome. If you HAVE to, or NEED to, rehearse every week, you either have some awful players or you have musically bitten off more than you can chew.

So there should be two different conversations in my view. If you want to jam to get out of your house and have a few beers, you need other players who want the same thing. If the band is more business like, and rehearsal is just for sharpening the ax, then do it when it is needed. If it is needed weekly, you guys need to quit or set the bar a little lower.

@birminghambass it seems as though your band mates want to get out of the house and hang with buddies once a week (and, again, that's fine if that's what they want from the band). Surely, if they are gigging at least once a month, they don't "need" that much rehearsal time, do they?