How does your band rehearse?

[mrtcat]

How often, how structured and how do you go about adding new songs?

We have two pros in the band (we do weddings / general functions) and three non pros (including me). The pro guys prefer not to get together to rehearse too often and prefer to run new stuff in sound check and talk through structures. The other two non pros would rather rehearse week in week out and polish everything to perfection before playing it at gigs. I sit very much in the middle and can happily run simpler new stuff at sound check but rely on rehearsal sessions for more tricky stuff.

I'm interested to know how others work.

[icastle]

We rehearse a couple of times a month and generally agree new material via e-Mail and get it learned before meeting up.

We can add between 6 and 8 new songs per rehearsal that way.

[stingrayPete1977]

Im in the middle, weeks of going over the same stuff that someone (99% of the time the drummer) still hasnt learnt is painful, on the other hand im not good enough to blag it 100% so I like at least one run through before a dep gig or a few rehearsals if its a song for our own band. I know ebs freak's band dont rehearse at all, the email is sent, the song is learnt or perfectly sight read on the gig, if you cant stand the heat and all that! they can have many songs in a week to learn yet they are super tight, thats why they are booked up years in advance!

[FuNkShUi]

We practice once a week.
That's not set in stone though.
Probably end up having 3 a month.
In a watts app group we agree on two or three songs in the week.
Then come the weekend we just put it all together and arrange them how we want.
Usually warm up with a few of the usual set too just to keep things sharp.
Practice isn't a chore for us though as we are all mates before the band formed.
So that may make us different to a few bands

Edited September 2, 2014 by FuNkShUi

[RockfordStone]

we are an originals band, we used to practice every week, but now every other as we know the songs inside out after 2 years... we tend to run through the set first, then we jam and or work on songs we are working on already, then sometimes run through the set again or some of the songs in no order in particular to finish. never have more than 3 hours a session now

we tend to throw covers in for fun, but we throw those ideas about over facebook etc

Edited September 2, 2014 by RockfordStone

[JTUK]

We find more value in a song choosing session and from that we may well have a few instruments
there to run through some chords. This might determine whether the song has legs for us.

When we have a body of work, we may decide a rehearsal is in order but we will need to have
budgeted for it as we will incur exes for the studio and petrol, so have to keep them to a minimum
and maximise the returns.

But apart from 5 originals which we've just recorded, we need about another 5-10 songs to totally refresh the set.

Although we have kept a few numbers going from the start, it will be good if we totally revamp the set so
we are like a new band in terms of songs.
There is nothing worse than regular 'fans' being able to predict what number you will do next ..and basically guess the set, IMO.

[thisnameistaken]

We try to get together once a week. I record all the rehearsals using a little Zoom H2, then I listen through the track and slice out any interesting bits and share them as mp3s on Google Drive. Me and the guitarist usually take those little nuggets and flesh them out a bit at home, then we've got song-like things to work on at the next practise.

We don't always manage to get together every week, but at least that way we've got stuff we all agree is worth working on, and we can do that outside of the studio.

[Cat Burrito]

My originals band never rehearse (well, OK maybe 3 or 4 times a year) where as the other lot (muck about band) try to get together every week. I like to get together to play personally,, be it gig, rehearsal or recording but I guess it depends on the band as to how often.

[SpaceChick]

We get together about once every 10 days.

We agree in advance what we will focus on.

I also record all the rehearsals on a zoom so we can see where we need to work.

[bonzodog]

We gig every 2 weeks so dont really rehearse the songs we know unless we cock one up big time. Rehearsals are just to learn new songs. Me and guitarist meet at his house one night to go through song structure (we share vox). We then meet drummer to do new song(s) properly. So on average Id say we rehearse as a full 3 piece in studio about once a month

[geoham]

How we have agreed to rehearse is to learn say 5 new songs ahead of a rehearsal, then get it tight when we are together.
When everyone bothers to do it, it works well.

What actually happens more often than not is:[list]
[*]The guitarist will give them a quick play through an hour before the rehearsal and apologise because he didn't have time to learn them properly (amazingly, he finds time to watch every football game that's been on!). Inevitably he'll insist we drop one he doesn't like...
[*]The drummer will have a listen to them in the car on the way to rehearsal.
[*]The vocalist will either sing it fabulously or need us to change the key. Apparently she can't tell if key is okay until she tries singing with the band - can never know when singing along with the record!
[/list]

Frustrates the life out of me.....

[color=#808080][size=3][i](Edited to fix some phone driven formatting madness!)[/i][/size][/color]

Edited September 3, 2014 by geoham

[Number6]

About once a fortnight, maybe twice before a gig depending if we have added any new songs to the set. Ideas and new material are discussed using WhatsApp.

We only rehearse for 3 hours at a time as any more an we all start complaining about our many middle aged ailments 😂

Edited September 3, 2014 by Number6

[gary mac]

These days, now that we gig regularly, we only hire a rehearsal room when it's time to add new material to the set.

We will have all learnt the songs at home.

It works well for us and usually means that with a rehearsal or sometimes two, we can get up to eight new songs in to the set.

[Muzz]

In the originals band (which hasn't got together for over a year now, due to illness on the part of the guitarist) we used to rehearse once a month to work on new songs, but share stuff in between over the Net, but the function band doesn't rehearse at all - we'll get a setlist during the week prior to a weekend gig, if there's anything new we'll learn it (the specific version will be decided and shared as Youtube link or MP3) and turn up and play it. There's a degree of blagging involved, but we're pretty good at it now...

[Wooks79]

We get together once possibly twice a week, it's the getting together and playing together that I enjoy, so the more the better, and you can never be too tight!

I'd hate to just learn stuff at home on my own, it's not for me.

[ubit]

[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1409726814' post='2542575']
How we have agreed to rehearse is to learn say 5 new songs ahead of a rehearsal, then get it tight when we are together.
When everyone bothers to do it, it works
well.

What actually happens more often than not is:

- The guitarist will give them a quick play through an hour before the rehearsal and apologise because he didn't have time to learn them properly (amazingly, he finds time to watch every football game that's been on!). Inevitably he'll insist we drop one he doesn't like...

- The drummer will have a listen to them in the car on the way to rehearsal.



- The vocalist will either sing it fabulously or need us to change the key. Apparently she can't tell if key is okay until she tries singing with the band - can never know when singing along with the record!

Frustrates the life out of me.....
[/quote]

That sounds exactly like us apart from the fact that I do the singing!

[mikebass84]

My band have a shared lock up and we try and practice at least once a week for as many hours as we can (usually 3). Most of it is spent just running thru our current set of songs and then we'll either jam and hopefully start a new song or we'll work on something that we've yet to finish.

[Dave_the_bass]

Originals band with a developing set:

As a band we hit a rehearsal room once a week to get the songs as tight as possible.

Me and the guitarist, occasionally with the singer, meet at someone's house once a week to craft new ideas in to the bare bones of a new tune.

[Guest MoJo]

Once a fortnight, to get out of the house and away from the kids really

[Leslie77s]

Our wedding band rehearse all new songs to a very high degree, over and over until exact. We don't wing anything and although this is time consuming, repetitive and at times frustrating it can give an edge over other covers groups at wedding shows etc. It's a decision for each band to make individually but in my experience it rules out a "noodling ego" guitarist or incorrect and obvious structures. There are hundreds of samey sounding covers acts that only nearly get things right, we have all endured a few of them on occasion. Don't get me wrong once new tunes are nailed we rely on personal practice and our actual gigs to maintain a standard only putting the long practices in for new material.
Each to their own but this has made us very busy and well paid.
I hope you fine the right balance!

[Lozz196]

Originals band, rehearse once a week. Any new ideas gone through at rehearsal, no prior warning. The singer/guitarist will come up with the main idea and then the drummer and I will add our parts, just doing what feels right. Later on we might add in a bridge, or change bits but mainly that first time round is usually the way the song will stay. Quite often I`ll go away and think about basslines, then when adding them in ask the others what they think is best, what I was originally doing, or the new more thought out stuff. Invariably, the original lines win.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I used to like rehearsing , when things were 'proper' .
This would mean that ; the rehearsal room was adequate , not tiny . Your ears would not be ringing for the rest of the day/night .
The other band members always knew when to look after the kids , and not have them brought along bored for 3 hours . Never got the weeks mixed up. Songs were learnt by all for the next rehearsal . No bitchy comments if there were difficult parts of a song that had to be ironed out.

This was rare, hence me not being in a band for. 4 years ..

[CHW]

Covers Band. We rehearse once a fortnight.

My preferred method would be for everyone to have learnt the structures, chords, riffs and licks beforehand. Thus making the practice about putting all of that together. Unfortunately it tends to be the 2 guitar players sorting out the above together (usually one has learnt it, the other hasn't.) while the drummer and I twiddle our thumbs. The singer downloads the lyrics and works his way through them, usually not getting the phrasing right.

I, point blank, refuse to learn the full arrangements of songs, as I either end up teaching others it, or even worse- it gets changed around and my time was wasted. The only reason I get away with this is because I am pretty quick at picking things up on the fly. The drummer claims he doesn't look at songs before rehearsals, but I suspect he does, either that or he has a great memory of stuff he's heard once or twice on the radio.

[KevB]

Infrequently and inefficiently. Mostly songs are learned independently as individuals once we've decided on a key/version to work with (covers band) then we give it a go at the next gig. Ive done 4 rehearsals in 16 months (gigging on average 3 times per month) of which 2 were to bring ex members up to speed who came back to cover regulars who were away and one other was to try out a potential new dep but he wasn't up to the job so it was good we gave him a try out in advance rather than just chuck him into a gig. We finally got a proper rehearsal of 'regulars' together to try a few new songs a few weeks back. Drummer went to wrong rehearsal room so was late and the singer hadn't sorted any of the lyrics, spent half the night trying to get a signal on his phone to access them via the web on the fly. And he wonders why I maintain I'm still open to offers from other bands if something better comes along

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Drummer at wrong rehearsal room not the wrong gig. ?