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"We really don't need to practice unless we have a gig coming up."

#21
Actually, all but 1 of the projects I'm involved with roll this way. They are all covers / jazz standards bands made up of people who at any given time are all involved in 3 or 4 bands... so regular rehearsals for any given band are out of the question cause the time just isn't there. Unless there's a big gig coming up for one of the bands, then all the members make it a priority to get a brush-up session or two in. And we do just fine. If you're talking an originals band OTOH it's a completely different thing. IMHO.

The only band I'm in that rehearses regularly is my church's worship band.
 
#24
From what your band sound's like and you admit you guys are not tight you should be practicing weekly not just before a gig. I dont understand bands who feel they dont need to practice but have issues in the music. It will show in a gig..trust me we all know..It will show! I was in a band like this once. I left cuz they thought they could do the practice right before a gig. These goons couldnt get thru a practice without stopping songs we had worked months on.

As I have grown as a player I do practice with bands less. My current band doesnt practice allot. We did when we formed but we all know the music well and perform it enough to stay sharp. When we are apart between gigs we will set up practices to go over material and add a song or two. I am blessed to play with good musicains who come into a gig prepared.
If you have this you can cut practice down, if not practice. If you have a band that wont practice and needs to cut it short and move on.
 
#26
CapnSev said:
+1

I'm doing covers as well, and I have no desire to rehearse unless something is on the docket soon. I don't want to rehearse just to "jam" on some cover tunes.
Click to expand...

+1

As a college student I have time to learn stuff at home in between classes and and at night once all my homework is done. This usually takes about an hour for about 5-10 songs (depending on difficulty). What I don't have time for is getting together as a band two or three times a week for 3-4 hours just to practice songs that I already know - and what the other members should already know as well.

Not all bands can do the "no practice unless we have a gig coming up" approach. I know I can, and I expect whatever band I'm in can as well. If not, hasta la vista - You're not worth my time. I know it makes me sound like an ***, but I don't care. School comes first.
 
#27
The amount of rehearsal needed for a band I believe is proportional to the amount of experience of the players, plus what the band is looking to do. If it's an original band that wants to put out a bunch of new songs, then obviously the more time that's put into it, the quicker it's going to get done. If however it's a cover band with all experienced players, or an original band playing pretty much the same 20 songs, then one rehearsal before a show is enough. Often times no rehearsal is enough.

I think I can safely say that the most succesful bands I've been in rehearsed the least, the least succesful rehearsed the most. I wondered about this and realized there are a lot of reasons for that. I think the main reason is the less rehearsed band is more psyched to play then the ones that are beat to death. could be also that there's a lot less time spent "working things out" and getting sick of each other than just being out there playing, moving forward, and having fun. Provided everyone in the band does their homework I think less rehearsal also adds to the excitement of the gigs. Everyone has to be just a little bit more on their toes and in my experience that makes a difference. My worst gigs seem to have come after the most awesome rehearsals where we knew (thought) we were smoking.

And finally... I play in a lot of bands and have taken some crap for saying, "I don't need to rehearse." Sounds like an ego thing, but it's not. It's an experience thing. I've paid lots of dues. From age 15 to about 19 I rehearsed 3 times a week. I've since done the same with a couple of other bands over the years. I've easily played over 1500 gigs, with almost an equal amount of musicians. Do I need to spend 2 days a week in the studio so the drummer can get his parts right? No. The drummer might have to, and if it's worth the investment I'll sometimes do it for the band, but truth is I don't have to. If I did, I'd think I had some sort of problem.

There are exceptions to the above rule (complicated material, super high stake gigs, excellent paying situations where someone in the band needs or wants the extra rehearsal time), but the majority of the time I'm with the rest of the guys in your band. If everyone does their homework and knows their sheeiit, rehearsal time could be put into much more productive stuff. Wrting, recording, booking, promoting, etc. Sleeping and relaxing too.
 
#28
T-MOST said:
I would still rather rehearse once a week whether there is a gig coming up or not. I'm sure there is something the band could play better or maybe expand the set list. Truth be told a band that doesn't rehearse unless they have a gig coming probably isn't as tight "as they think they are".
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I strongly disagree. My band has played almost every weekend this year except for a couple in late May,and we are tighter than ever. Good musicians that work together dont need weekly band practice to stay tight. We rehearse only when we are learning new material.
 
#30
pstyle said:
If everyone is up to speed with the whole set-list, practices before gigs to brush up on old stuff and rehearse new stuff is pretty sufficient (assuming all band members spend time at home practicing songs). I work a full time office job, and spend weekends gigging, so I appreciate if I don't have to spend unnecessary time practicing.
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This is where we are at. We've gone months without a rehearsal. We got together on time for about an hour, banged out 10 new tunes and played a 5 hour private party with 3 breaks that weekend. We figured we did about 70 tunes - maybe 6 of which we just did that night as we ran out of tunes. We're a cover band and all of us are fairly proficient on our instruments and have pretty good ears and knowledge of a lot of tunes.

LiquidMidnight said:
I'd be leaving the band - not because of a lack of rehearsals but because of a lack of gigs.
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Agreed.
 
#33
duff beer said:
You may not need regular practices to stay tight, but regular practices WILL make you better. No band is so good that practice can't help them improve...
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+ infinity...

Plus, it's a logical extension to say to yourself you don't need to practice because you already know all the songs...

There's so much more to playing music than just playing a bunch of memorized songs...
 
#34
dvh said:
+ infinity...

Plus, it's a logical extension to say to yourself you don't need to practice because you already know all the songs...

There's so much more to playing music than just playing a bunch of memorized songs...
Click to expand...

Says you. While I play for myself as a creative extention, I currently only play in bands as a source of income. As it stands, rehearsing once a week is more then adequate. Could we be better? Sure. But the time and effort needed to do it is not worth it since our pay won't increase any, and it's not worth the risk of my grades.
 
#36
Joe Nerve said:
The amount of rehearsal needed for a band I believe is proportional to the amount of experience of the players, plus what the band is looking to do. If it's an original band that wants to put out a bunch of new songs, then obviously the more time that's put into it, the quicker it's going to get done. If however it's a cover band with all experienced players, or an original band playing pretty much the same 20 songs, then one rehearsal before a show is enough. Often times no rehearsal is enough.

I think I can safely say that the most succesful bands I've been in rehearsed the least, the least succesful rehearsed the most. I wondered about this and realized there are a lot of reasons for that. I think the main reason is the less rehearsed band is more psyched to play then the ones that are beat to death. could be also that there's a lot less time spent "working things out" and getting sick of each other than just being out there playing, moving forward, and having fun. Provided everyone in the band does their homework I think less rehearsal also adds to the excitement of the gigs. Everyone has to be just a little bit more on their toes and in my experience that makes a difference. My worst gigs seem to have come after the most awesome rehearsals where we knew (thought) we were smoking.

And finally... I play in a lot of bands and have taken some crap for saying, "I don't need to rehearse." Sounds like an ego thing, but it's not. It's an experience thing. I've paid lots of dues. From age 15 to about 19 I rehearsed 3 times a week. I've since done the same with a couple of other bands over the years. I've easily played over 1500 gigs, with almost an equal amount of musicians. Do I need to spend 2 days a week in the studio so the drummer can get his parts right? No. The drummer might have to, and if it's worth the investment I'll sometimes do it for the band, but truth is I don't have to. If I did, I'd think I had some sort of problem.

There are exceptions to the above rule (complicated material, super high stake gigs, excellent paying situations where someone in the band needs or wants the extra rehearsal time), but the majority of the time I'm with the rest of the guys in your band. If everyone does their homework and knows their sheeiit, rehearsal time could be put into much more productive stuff. Wrting, recording, booking, promoting, etc. Sleeping and relaxing too.
Click to expand...

Uhhh, yeah, what he said! I was looking for just a line or two to snip from that post to give it the ever popular TB "+1" but I agree with every sentence of that post. But I guess if I was forced to pick out one line I would pick this one:


Joe Nerve said:
I think I can safely say that the most succesful bands I've been in rehearsed the least, the least succesful rehearsed the most.
Click to expand...

That has been the absolute truth in my case as well. In my experience, the bands I've been in that rehearsed the most were also much less likely to get out of the rehearsal studio and on to a stage somewhere.
 
#38
If I have the choice of spending an evening in rehearsal with one band or playing a paying gig that same night with another band, the gig is going to trump the rehearsal every single time.

And virtually every musician I play with rolls the same way. Not only do they not really need a lot of rehearsal, but they're usually busy playing somewhere for pay.
 
#40
My band practice once a week, but because we like to, not because we need it.

We're an Improv band, all of our songs are made up Live, so we don't have material to rehearse. However, what we do accomplish at 'practice' is learning each others form and style. Not just by playing music, but by hanging out, talking, sharing ideas. There are occasions when someone can't make it and we'll either flat out cancel it, or we'll meet up anyway minues whomever can't be there.

We decided last night to turn our weekly rehearsal into a weekly podcast. Our rehearsal format won't change, it'll still be hanging out, jamming, chatting, etc. just all recorded and presented online.
 

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