How often do you rehearse? (Vote! )

[brianrost]

While it's possible to get a tight band with no rehearsal, I've found that fine tuning the arrangements usually requires some work. The bands I've been in that did rehearse were tighter. I have only been in one band where I was paid to rehearse, basically to cover my 90 minute drive (the rest of the band lived in the same town).

 

[hrodbert696]

Getting a new cover band launched, once a week. But what I voted was "only when we don't have a gig," because a gig week would not normally also have a rehearsal. The band I was in that gigged most often, we had two rehearsals and then I picked up the rest on the fly. That group was out five or six nights a month so we only had a brush up rehearsal now and then.

 

[lfmn16]

Two bands. Both rehearse weekly. My main band rehearses weekly because we work on originals and new tunes and we only play about once every 4 - 6 weeks. The second band is in learning mode trying to build a set list and not everyone is comfortable winging it; we play about 2X a month.

These are the types of issues that should be worked out BEFORE you join a band. I've played in plenty of bands that never practices, I've also played in plenty that practiced regularly. It depends on what everyone is comfortable with and what was agreed to at the time you joined the band.

 

[Steve]

I practice probably an hour a day on average more or less. I honestly can not remember the last time I did a rehearsal. Things just evolve on stage over time. A basic version of Devil went to Georgia evolved into about a 12 minute version of controlled anarchy over the course of about two years. Folsom Prison Blues that starts out funky, moves through Train Train into Orange Blossom Special and ends with the outro to Baba O'riely? Got one of them too that never got rehearsed

 

[AndyII]

Right now, 3 x per week: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. Mainly because we have our first gig in less than 60 days, and of the five, only two have ever performed live before. Should be interesting!

 

[birminghambass]

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?

Agreed with all of this. Rehearsal is not "hang out" time or even "fun jam" time for me. And I can't imagine a band NEEDING to rehearse 1x a week unless they are newly formed.

 

[AshInAmsterdam]

Every Saturday night.

Everyone is expected to (and does) practice plenty at home. Rehearsals are used to tighten the unit and enjoy some volume and the fantastic feeling of working with some talented folks. And me.

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

one band does once a week, always, cause we are writing new material, getting ready for a show, working on a recording, or something.
Other band rarely practices, but gigs a lot. We rehearse when we are adding new material to the list or if we have an important gig coming up...like next week...

 

[Roxbororob]

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.

This is key...we still need to rehearse once a week (except gig week).
I practice everyday and come prepared. Id like to be where some of you are, gigging much more that practicing. Two bands, often two rehearsals a week, is getting to be too much.

BTW (off topic plug) Im really happy with my brand new HPF-3!

 

[40Hz]

Most of what I've done is with originals groups. With those it was weekly to maintain focus and because the material was constantly evolving.

I don't really have an opinion on most cover groups I've heard, or the very few I've been involved with iver the years. So for those I'd say rehearse as much as you feel you need to.

FWIW, most cover groups I've heard could use a little more rehearsal time than they usually see fit give it. But for bar cover bands, that's probably harder for some of them to justify since the crowd most bars get in aren't there to listen to the band anyway.

I don't completely agree with that attitude btw. But that's each musician's own personal call. I neither endorse nor criticize it. Everybody's situation is different. And I'm good with that.

 

[Engle]

Agreed with all of this. Rehearsal is not "hang out" time or even "fun jam" time for me. And I can't imagine a band NEEDING to rehearse 1x a week unless they are newly formed.

^Interesting - my experience is different. I guess it depends on what you play and who you're playing with.
We rehearse once a week and I have fun doing it! We play a range, from some pretty challenging material (at least to me Spain by Chick Corea is challenging), to R&B/soul/funk/classic rock stuff that is easy.
We gig 1-2 times a month on average.
If we're not brushing up tunes for a gig, we're pushing ourselves to play material that 3 years ago I wouldn't have thought I could ever pull off. I guess if we only played easy stuff, we wouldn't really need to rehearse much.

 

[StraffordMike]

I voted twice a week, but, in all honesty, I'll jam, rehearse, play with other musicians as often as possible. My main gig is usually once a week but I'm always game for more.

 

[RichardW]

I don't get paid to practice

Except that you do get paid--when you gig and have a successful band.

My band rehearses once a week. We actually enjoy it a lot--we have fun taking songs apart and putting them back together, work hard on vocals and harmonies, and enjoy one another's company. Honestly, if I didn't have family obligations, I'd rehearse even more than that.

I've got mad respect for any band that can gig without rehearsing. But I just don't see the fun in that.

 

[Roxbororob]

^Interesting - my experience is different. I guess it depends on what you play and who you're playing with.
We rehearse once a week and I have fun doing it! We play a range, from some pretty challenging material (at least to me Spain by Chick Corea is challenging), to R&B/soul/funk/classic rock stuff that is easy.
We gig 1-2 times a month on average.
If we're not brushing up tunes for a gig, we're pushing ourselves to play material that 3 years ago I wouldn't have thought I could ever pull off. I guess if we only played easy stuff, we wouldn't really need to rehearse much.

Except that you do get paid--when you gig and have a successful band.

My band rehearses once a week. We actually enjoy it a lot--we have fun taking songs apart and putting them back together, work hard on vocals and harmonies, and enjoy one another's company. Honestly, if I didn't have family obligations, I'd rehearse even more than that.

I've got mad respect for any band that can gig without rehearsing. But I just don't see the fun in that.

Heh, you both make very good points. Im forgetting that. Id probably miss playing once a week if I didnt have to. Its just been a burden lately with the fellas.

 

[birminghambass]

Except that you do get paid--when you gig and have a successful band.

I've got mad respect for any band that can gig without rehearsing. But I just don't see the fun in that.

Agreed, I get paid by being in a successful band. The work is put in at home. I've been doing this as a full time musician, sub, or semi-pro for 20 years.
As to your other point, I ABSOLUTELY see the fun in showing up at a gig and nailing 3 new songs in front of a packed house. How is rehearsal more fun than that?

 

[birminghambass]

To the people who practice multiple times a week, do you have families/kids and full-time careers? Do you live in bigger cities or small towns?
Maybe my free time is more important or scarce to me that some of you. I run a business, have a wife and 2.3 kids, and live in a mid-sized city. My commute from work to rehearsal is 35-45 depending on traffic. A practice night for me means getting home after 9pm and not seeing my kids at all that day.

 

[AshInAmsterdam]

To the people who practice multiple times a week, do you have families/kids and full-time careers? Do you live in bigger cities or small towns?
Maybe my free time is more important or scarce to me that some of you. I run a business, have a wife and 2.3 kids, and live in a mid-sized city. My commute from work to rehearsal is 35-45 depending on traffic. A practice night for me means getting home after 9pm and not seeing my kids at all that day.

My life changed when our boy came along. In my late teens and through my twenties I had no further responsibility than paying my rent, could go to work on 2 hours sleep at least twice a week, and spent every possible moment playing my guitars either alone or (preferably) with a band.

Now I live in central Amsterdam (instead of suburban London) and have a great band coming together, and honestly, whilst my spare time is far more sacred today, I don't think I'd be nearly as good at playing with the band as I am if I hadn't had those years of playing every minute.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

When the cover band I play in started, we rehearsed once a week. When we started gigging 4-5 times a month, we went to once every other week, to add new material. We usually spend about 20 minutes talking band business--whether or not we want to take on a new club, drop an old one, which items in the set list are filling the dance floor, which aren't. Who needs a night off, etc.

The country band I play in has turned out to be more of a rehearsal band; we rehearse maybe once a month, a little more often when one of the half-dozen gigs we have booked is drawing near. The cover band I enjoy, but if the money wasn't there, I'd do something else. The country band I do for love. The BL is one of those guys who has been everywhere and done everything, and the guitarist's main gig is as a symphony bassist (quite intimidating at first, but we get along fine these days). Just being in the room with these guys is a learning experience, so I hang in there.

 

[Bullitt5135]

Weekend warrior cover band...we try to rehearse every other week. Inevitably, somebody is sent out of town for work, has the flu, or has some other conflict. Drummer's availability is not flexible, so rescheduling usually means "maybe next week." In reality we probably rehearse 2x every 6 weeks, which is not enough IMO. We waste too much time shaking the rust off instead of using the time to tighten up our act or prep new material. I'm trying to be more proactive about having the song list prepared well in advance of rehearsal. If I fail to do that, we end up wasting time overplaying the same familiar songs every time. I am also pushing hard to rehearse with a click -- we replay a lot of songs at rehearsal because the tempo didn't "feel" right the first time through. We also need to spend more time on rehearsing the transitions between songs instead of noodling. We are pretty good musically, but ignoring these issues in rehearsal is glaringly obvious to me come gig time.

I have the freedom and flexibility to practice once a week. Even with few gigs on the calendar, I would prefer to rehearse weekly just for the enjoyment of playing music.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

I bet if we split this poll into two separate polls, one for originals bands, and one for cover bands, you'd see two very different results.

I can see why a cover band shouldn't really need to rehearse much. If you've got your parts down, and everyone else does too, everything really should come together with minimal preparation.

I play mainly originals, and I like to "rehearse" once a week. But rehearsal means something a lot different in an originals band. It's not so much a case of trying to master the material as it is to refine it. Record, listen, repeat. It's a process, and it's one I love. Sometimes I think I only gig to justify the rehearsing.