TimR

The 80s. Anyone who lived through them doesn't want to go back. I’ve managed to avoid a bunch of 50th birthday parties this year although there’s one in November I have to go to. Kill me now.

“The Beatles could have made another album” - well, I suppose there’s nothing really stopping them doing one now... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49991164

Well yes. But the process is different. Ideally the singer/songwriter would come to practices with a song arranged ready just to add bass and drums to having already sent out recordings. 😉

I’d never expect a song to work at first play through by default. Which is why I’d still say some practice happens as a band. You’re only rehearsing once you’ve set the arrangements. That’s the point when you’re setting the song to memory and to some extent everyone will be making minor adjustments to their part of the arrangement so that it fits with what everyone else is playing. I’d block out a part at home with rough bass parts and refine it during the first few play throughs with the band then take it home and learn the song properly once we know it’s going to work. Most songs are very simple and just work though. That’s for cover bands. Originals are a bit more complicated.

Of course we are. And you’ll probably find that within any band each member looks at it from a different perspective. Certainly in my band we do. One is a busy director who works most nights well past 8pm, one works 7-4 5 days a week, one is a self employed mum with 4 kids, then there’s me who has many other hobbies and odd work times. Pleasing all 4 is pretty difficult and it’s important that good communication happens, or in my experience, one or all will get very frustrated.

That’s not exactly what I said. Practice is practice and rehearsal is rehearsal. They’re entirely different activities. You only rehearse once the songs have been practiced. Continually rehearsing songs that have mistakes in them is pointless. You need to identify where the problems are are practice those bits. So the question is; what’s not gig ready? Are the band still making mistakes? In which case they either need to practice those parts or individual members need to go away and practice their parts. If the band can play a song from top to bottom with no mistakes a few times then it’s gig ready. Too many bands I’ve been in have no agenda set at the beginning of the practice/rehearsal. So in answer to the OP, once every two weeks won’t solve the problem. It’ll make it worse as I doubt anyone is picking up their instrument between practice/rehearsals.

I just see socialising as something to do in spare time. If the guy has a family and teaches, then his spare time is at a premium. Setting aside a whole evening a week for ‘socialising’ is fine if you don’t have young kids and other evening work. The social element of a rehearsal is one element of being in the band. Unfortunately people will put that as their only reason and that’s when you head into difficulties. If members of the band just see band practice as a reason to socialise and aren’t interested in gigging then the band is heading nowhere. The fact that they’re still not gig ready speaks volumes.

It’s more fun if everyone is being productive by producing good music and feels they’re working towards a common goal. As Dave’s mate is finding out, the fun gets sucked out really quickly if you’re just continually rehearsing the same mistakes, or one band member is being anal over the quality of the tunes. You can socialise down the pub for a fraction of the cost.

What do people do in a 3 hour rehearsal? Probably time to remind everyone what a practice is and what a rehearsal is. Practice takes two forms. Learning the material at home, or going over tricky bits together. Rehearsal is playing songs from beginning to end to make sure you can all play them. Normally just before a gig. If songs aren’t gig ready and assuming you have practiced the arrangements and they work, then the people who can’t play the tunes need to practice their parts at home. No amount of rehearsing the whole band together is going to fix people who haven’t practiced their parts. Band practice should be limited to targeting only the parts of the songs that need practicing. Tell him to record a rehearsal on his phone, take it home and listen to them, identify where the problems are and make a hit-list for the next practice.

My brother was in a band like that. He asked me to pop down and record a few tunes for a demo. After 2 hours we had recorded 2 songs, each with three different versions and the songwriter still wanted to change some bits.

I’d be wary of getting hung up on one person’s view. Take a wider opinion from close friends to identify whether it’s true and which members are guilty. (It’ll always be the guitarist 😉) One of the band members didn’t understand the difference between having a style and having a uniform. It was either all wearing polo shoes with the band logo on or all wearing the same colour shirts with black trousers and shoes. I’m all for having a homogenous style tailored by each individual, but uniforms are just completely cheesy.

Lots of bands suffer from mission creep. There are also musicians who make the right noises but don’t come up with the goods. I now have no issue looking for another band to play in if my current band are showing a lack of commitment. Even if it’s just for a few gigs.

The endless discussions about what to wear at gigs. But not actually having any gigs. The endless discussions about what new tunes to learn to play at gigs. But not actually having any gigs. Essentially too much inaction. In the end after one practice where no one had bothered even listening to the new tunes, lest alone practicing them, I expressed my dissatisfaction. The next morning an email went round from the drummer to the rest of the band basically a complete character assassination. Obviously he didn’t realise he’d sent it to ‘the band’ instead of everyone in the band apart from me*. I replied immediately to all with my resignation. Best thing I ever did. Stepped straight into 3 bands with gigs lined up and no discussions about what to wear. 😂 *or maybe he did?

You beat me to it. I joined a band that had some Bob Marley in the setlist. I found some MP3s to download and set about learning them. Reggae is one of the hardest genres to learn. All those swung 8th/ triplet feel fills and syncopation. Thought I had nailed the tunes quite well, until I turned up ready to play them only to find the rest of the band couldn’t get the feel at all.

Mainly into off topic... 😂

Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4. Jamiraquai - Black Devil Car. Cake - Short Skirt, Long Jacket

Thought it sounded familiar. 😂

I thought they were created by a guitar with a volume pedal.

Paul Weller doesn’t do them live. I’d create a sample and trigger it from a midi foot switch. We play it in our drums/bass/guitar band setup. We leave it out. Considering he has keys and a second guitar it’s still a pretty strong song without all the padding.

Sounds like a plan. Doesn’t sound a lot more than I take although I take lights and smoke machine rather than any PA gear. I used to be in a band where I owned all the PA, that was a lot of carrying and setting up. And all I generally got was certain members of the band wanting to sound like <insert music hero>. Getting to bed at 3am knowing that the singer had already been home asleep for two hours got old fairly quickly. Find a hobby away from music and work that you can do that takes your mind off all those things.

Wonder why he’s only using one of them? Unless he’s got them all slaved through the FX loops?

What else do you do apart from play bass and work? Can you off-load the associated activities; lemon rock, Facebook, posters and emails? What are you unloading after a gig that’s such a chore?

Photographic backdrop stand. Ours is lightweight. Also google ‘backdrop stand’. Plenty around quite cheaply.

I assumed novelty records were automatically included/excluded from the list. 😂