With all due respect, in your situation, your rehearsals are essentially unpaid gigs with no audience.
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Rehearsals +Cover Bands (not equal) Success?
- Thread starter KillerQuebec
- Start date
With all due respect, in your situation, your rehearsals are essentially unpaid gigs with no audience.
It depends on the goals of the band. A working band that is gigging 1-2 times per week, every week, probably doesn't need practices at all. The exception would be to learn new songs. If all the musicians are competent, this probably only requires 1-2 sessions to "fine tune" the new material.
If the band only wants to gig 1-2 times per month, then they likely need some rehearsals to stay sharp. This isn't always the case, though.
If the band only wants to gig 1-2 times per month, then they likely need some rehearsals to stay sharp. This isn't always the case, though.
This applies to all bands, if you ask me. I should know, I learned the hard way. 3 practices a week and nothing to show for it. 2 practices and a paying gig with the new band. I've read it a couple times but specifically I read this about the Silversun Pickups, once they were a band and had a handful of songs they gigged more then they practiced. That's how you become a successful band.
im in a band, but i do alot of side gigs, like this sat. my band is being asked to assist this singer who we have never played for before.we are gonna run over some songs and go straight to the gig. i think rehersal are becoming less and less nesessary, i think band s look for members who can grasp the song once and and be ready to perform.
My band has practiced every Monday and Thursday since 2008, and thats probably why we're one of the fastest rising bands in the wedding company we're contracted in after only a year of being hired, and why we have 2-3 gigs every weekend until December, along with weddings already booked for next year. We learn 3-4 songs every week, and our repetoire is gigantic.
Why would people not want to practice? Its time with your band, and its fun as hell. Along with gigs we're playing 4-5 times a week. I'd figure musicians would LOVE this. Maybe my band mates and I are alone in this thought?
Why would people not want to practice? Its time with your band, and its fun as hell. Along with gigs we're playing 4-5 times a week. I'd figure musicians would LOVE this. Maybe my band mates and I are alone in this thought?
Exact same thing happens to me. And I quit one of those steady-rehearsing/non-gigging bands, and am well on my way to quitting the other one too. Meanwhile, the band that NEVER practices just played two well-paying gigs last week. I like to rehearse, but I also like to rehearse for a purpose. Like an upcoming gig kind of purpose.
Music is still one of the most important things in my life, but I have become much more selective about my involvement with it. I prefer to work smarter and be smarter about my involvement. I have a life beyond music which could easily and at any point push music and the time for it out of my life. But I also recognize there are some people that for better and worse do only music. And I guess if that's ALL you do, then fine. Different strokes for different folks.
And people are saying how less experienced players need more practice. Sure they do, thats how you become better. But for us, this isnt the case at all. Ive been playing for 8 years, and my mates have been active almost all of thier lives. My keyboard player has degrees in music playing, composition, and theory. We do it every week because its our PASSION. I forgot to mention above, that yes, we are paid, and VERY well. We see practices as "going to work", because our gigs can pay the bills.
Chalk me up as another one who does not rehearse all that much. I played perhaps 100 gigs last season, and there were only 5 rehearsals. 3 of those were for a tribute project that had to be note for note. If you play with solid people, then you can simply exchange playlist.com url's and learn from playlists, so that, if you need 1 rehearsal to pull together, it already sounds gig-good.
It really boils down to this... If you gig regularly thats rehearsal in itself. You are playing the material on a regular basis so naturally you play it well. If you have decent musicians it's not hard to learn a new song in one or two takes or even on the fly. If you are NOT gigging then you have nothing else to do but rehearse. There isn't any magic or science behind this. I have been in both situations and it really is that simple.
Because at a certain point "practice" doesn't even make you a better musician, and doesn't get your band further. You could say it could hinder the band at some point. Spend all your time practicing, taking no time to get gigs, and you'll have no gigs. So yes, at a certain point, practicing WILL hurt you. Just one example of a few I could mention.
I see the points made here for and against, but there are variables that do need to be taken in to consideration. I can learn songs from a CD no problem, and I can pretty much nail it (plus there's all sorts of notation sites on the interweb). However, if there's a guitar player (for example) who has 'learned' the song according to his ears and plays it a little differently (e.g. plays a Dm where it should be a Dm7, or even plays a DMaj where it should be a Dm7 etc.) there's going to be dissonance at the gig if you don't get that cleaned up.
Also, I played a set where on one song the guitard was signaling me to play an E, when I knew full well that it was an Eb. Sounded weird, and that's what you get for not having a little time together.
The other thing is that even if everyone nails every note, the singing has to be rehearsed if there's any harmonies or backing.
My criteria is: Would I pay to watch this band and be happy staying?
If the answer is 'no' you need to re-evaluate your position, or rehearse a bit.
Also, I played a set where on one song the guitard was signaling me to play an E, when I knew full well that it was an Eb. Sounded weird, and that's what you get for not having a little time together.
The other thing is that even if everyone nails every note, the singing has to be rehearsed if there's any harmonies or backing.
My criteria is: Would I pay to watch this band and be happy staying?
If the answer is 'no' you need to re-evaluate your position, or rehearse a bit.
At first I thought this thread was crazy. Of COURSE a band that practices more will be a better band. But with my band right now, I'm starting to wonder... We first got together as a power trio last February, added a singer/rhythm guitarist a couple months later, and a female second singer about a month ago. Everyone is agreed we should build up to a list of about 40 songs to be ready to put ourselves out on the circuit for gigs.
At the present moment, there is a hypothetical list of 32 songs out there; things we've taken a shot at or that people nominated to play. But the drummer (most experienced band member) insists that we should get things "tight" before they go in front of an audience. So the last couple of rehearsals, we've gone back to "focus on the basics" which means about ten songs, five of which are the ones the trio first started doing together back in February.
I for one am getting sick or practicing and practicing and practicing again songs I learned six months ago. At this rate it's going to be two years before we're "tight" enough to play a full set to an audience. Is it OK to say we've got the older tunes down pretty well and push on to sketch through the new songs?
At the present moment, there is a hypothetical list of 32 songs out there; things we've taken a shot at or that people nominated to play. But the drummer (most experienced band member) insists that we should get things "tight" before they go in front of an audience. So the last couple of rehearsals, we've gone back to "focus on the basics" which means about ten songs, five of which are the ones the trio first started doing together back in February.
I for one am getting sick or practicing and practicing and practicing again songs I learned six months ago. At this rate it's going to be two years before we're "tight" enough to play a full set to an audience. Is it OK to say we've got the older tunes down pretty well and push on to sketch through the new songs?
When I put together my latest fun band, we had 35 songs in 3 months. There was only maybe 5 rehearsals in that time period. One thing that made it go quick was if we tried a tune and after 2-3 times going through it it wasn't sounding right it was dropped.
There are thousands of songs to choose from to cover. It makes no sense wasting time beating a song to death that might not sound right in the long run. Have a large list, have everyone practice their parts at home, drop the ones that don't go together quickly. The at home part is important, you practice at home and rehearse with the band.
Now we know what songs will work for us and there is less dropping of bad choices. We mostly pick new songs, email them around and play them for the first time at the gig. I think that puts more pressure on everyone to really learn their parts for no one wants to be the one that messes up in front of an audience.
There are thousands of songs to choose from to cover. It makes no sense wasting time beating a song to death that might not sound right in the long run. Have a large list, have everyone practice their parts at home, drop the ones that don't go together quickly. The at home part is important, you practice at home and rehearse with the band.
Now we know what songs will work for us and there is less dropping of bad choices. We mostly pick new songs, email them around and play them for the first time at the gig. I think that puts more pressure on everyone to really learn their parts for no one wants to be the one that messes up in front of an audience.
This is really important, and smart action on your part. Every cover band, no matter how good the players, will be able to "cop" certain songs well and will fail at others. For example, I was in a band years ago that did "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors and "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz, and nailed both of them note- and feel-perfect. Fast-forward 10 years, another band with different but equally good players, we tried both of those songs in practice and they absolutely sucked and came off the list PDQ.
If you've got one guy that demands you must do a particular song, even when everyone knows your rendition blows, you waste a lot of time and it brings down the morale of the band. Assuming everyone in the band is competent musicians who have learned their parts ahead of time, it should be clear pretty early in the game whether a particular song is going to "work" for you. If the answer is no, swallow your pride, cut your losses and move on.
Just to refocus everyone here . . .
This is not about whether or not rehearsals or practicing is good or bad. I think it's good.
This is about an almost rock solid correlation between cover bands that make money and those that do not.
All I can say is that I have never made any money with any band I ever had to practice more that twice with. And I'm talking all the way back to my very first band when I was 16, had been paying for about a week and completely clueless that rehearsed once and then went and played a paid gig.
And I still whole heartedly believe in live auditions. I've made the mistake of hiring someone I've seen play in another band that they've been in for years and sound fantastic. And then you throw a few simple new songs at them and it's a trainwreck. But once you get past the audition and then one session to familiarize yourself with the material, that's it. Game On!!
I guess I just wanted to pass this on so some of you guys who want to work don't end up wasting time and money with situations that will never amount to anything. I know I can't afford to rehearse 5 or 6 times in this economy only to find out two weeks and a few hundred out of pocket later that this is never going to happen. And I've been fooled by guys who said they had gigs and everything and then still never ended up playing.
Maybe we can turn this thread into all the horror stories of endless practicing that never went anywhere. Or better, ended at some gig in a complete meltdown. I'd actually like to hear from some "superstars" how long it takes them to put an act together and take it out on the road, and if and how often you practice on the road. Maybe if it takes (insert great band name here) two weeks to put together a tour, maybe those guys who want to jam forever are just looking for boyfriends. IIRC, the MJ tour was only doing a few practices at staples and they were hitting it
This is not about whether or not rehearsals or practicing is good or bad. I think it's good.
This is about an almost rock solid correlation between cover bands that make money and those that do not.
All I can say is that I have never made any money with any band I ever had to practice more that twice with. And I'm talking all the way back to my very first band when I was 16, had been paying for about a week and completely clueless that rehearsed once and then went and played a paid gig.
And I still whole heartedly believe in live auditions. I've made the mistake of hiring someone I've seen play in another band that they've been in for years and sound fantastic. And then you throw a few simple new songs at them and it's a trainwreck. But once you get past the audition and then one session to familiarize yourself with the material, that's it. Game On!!
I guess I just wanted to pass this on so some of you guys who want to work don't end up wasting time and money with situations that will never amount to anything. I know I can't afford to rehearse 5 or 6 times in this economy only to find out two weeks and a few hundred out of pocket later that this is never going to happen. And I've been fooled by guys who said they had gigs and everything and then still never ended up playing.
Maybe we can turn this thread into all the horror stories of endless practicing that never went anywhere. Or better, ended at some gig in a complete meltdown. I'd actually like to hear from some "superstars" how long it takes them to put an act together and take it out on the road, and if and how often you practice on the road. Maybe if it takes (insert great band name here) two weeks to put together a tour, maybe those guys who want to jam forever are just looking for boyfriends. IIRC, the MJ tour was only doing a few practices at staples and they were hitting it
Our band needs to rehearse or we'd never make it. I guess we're just not good enough musicians to just do it on a take or two. There is always a few things we need to work out, especially with backup vocals.
Having said that, without any gigs, the band seems to start to head into an inevitable, unavoidable decline.
Having said that, without any gigs, the band seems to start to head into an inevitable, unavoidable decline.
I hear you. I'd be out of that band, pronto, though, and joining a gigging band that needed a bass player.
I wonder if those who are making the determination of "tight" have a fair benchmark of what tight is? Aside from sounding (and I do mean EXACTLY) exactly like the record, are those individuals recognizing demonstrated ability, proper preparation, and execellent execution for what it is, and when it is present? I wonder if some of these individuals have in their minds some sonic goal, bar or gold standard in a recording which will never be achieved in even the most capable musicians, simply as it's a live context. Do they have any pragmatic sensibilities?
I was in a band that rehearsed for more than six months, solid. Never played a gig. That was 1995. I have not repeated that scenario.
I would say that while rehearsals are important, I would say choosing of the songs is also very important. To do everything else right, and to have an awesome Electric Light Orchestra tribute band that had all the music and sonic goods, but no meaningful audience is perhaps a good idea, but as a viable, giggable unit, possibly dead in the water even in the conceptualization stages.
Yup some bands rehearse themselves into destruction! My current band has been together for 5 years. We are all in our 40s with families etc so we gig once or twice a month. Our normal schedule is to rehearse on tuesdays but if we miss a week no biggie. Took us maybe 2 months to get solid sets together and start gigging. We work on new stuff at rehearsal and try to make sure to get together to go over new stuff/review some stuff on the set list that hasn't been played in a while the tuesday before a gig. We try to mix up the set list to keep it fresh. We definately can go without though since we have been together so long. I have had people/musicians come up to me during/after a gig and tell me that we are one of the tightest bands they've seen. Makes me feel good. We get paid a solid amount too but we probably could gig more and ask for more pay if we wanted.
Jeff
Jeff
Typically, there is a reason why a band that isn't playing is rehearsing so much... experience is the key here... All the bands I have played in over the last 10 years or more have never practiced, they just give me the song list, I work on them at home if I don't know them, then we play live, and even for new tunes, same thing.
There is also a lot to be said about how you perform when thrusted under the spotlight on stage. Rehearsals can get too comfortable, and creates a safe zone for a lot of musicians, and they become accustomed to that. In my opinion, whether you know the songs well or only half assed, being on stage forces you to tighten up and work on your musicianship and performance at the same time. It also gives you that extra "oomph" (for lack of a better phrase) to perform better, think faster, and understand the stage scene which you don't get in a rehearsal.....
There is also a lot to be said about how you perform when thrusted under the spotlight on stage. Rehearsals can get too comfortable, and creates a safe zone for a lot of musicians, and they become accustomed to that. In my opinion, whether you know the songs well or only half assed, being on stage forces you to tighten up and work on your musicianship and performance at the same time. It also gives you that extra "oomph" (for lack of a better phrase) to perform better, think faster, and understand the stage scene which you don't get in a rehearsal.....
