How does your band rehearse?

[Dr.Dave]

we 'rehearse' whenever we have a gap of more than 2 or 3 weeks without gig - which usually means January time , though not every ear. It's more of a social to be honest , though we use the time well , repairing niggles in the set , changing arrangements and doing a couple of new songs which we'll have discussed before hand. We'll maybe have 2 x 2 hr sessions either end of a week - once a year. When it comes to adding new material we'll usually find something we want , talk about it at a gig , then play it at the following gig 'ready or not'. If it sounds anything like at all we need 2 or 3 gigs for it to sort itself out , otherwise we bin it. Usually whoever suggests it , sings it - though that often changes because we always let the other guys have a go and see who sings it best. We only do covers but our golden rule is never to listen to the original again. We just do it our way - total freedom to play it a we want. I had a crack at Tainted Love last week on a whim and that'll stay in. We played it like QOTSH might with Noddy Holder singing !

[martin8708]

We try to get together once a week , but the expression " herding cats " comes to mind .

We are a covers band , we all suggest songs , but few seem to go home home and learn them . This is no biggie as we're not really a heavily gigging band and we enjoy the social side of just getting out the house .

Between learning new songs and going over old songs , we discuss the best Supermarket deals , comment on the drummers dress sense , the best way to strip a carburettor of a motorbike , and generally chat about work and home life .

I really enjoy my Wednesday night out .

[scalpy]

I arrange the songs, which I then I try to teach it to the other 7 in between acres of bad taste jokes and gallows humour courtesy of the medical professionals and traffic policeman drummer. Have to be hard of hearing and strong of stomach to be in our band!

[blue]

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1409689700' post='2542344']
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.
[/quote]

I like the way the 2 pros approach rehearsing. However, it depends on the level of musicianship of all the band members. It wouldn't work with my band.

We gig 5-6 times a month. We only rehearse if we are learning new material. Unless there is a musical agenda rehearsals get shot down. As a band we don't really socialize with each other.

Blue

Edited September 5, 2014 by blue

[Old_Ben]

we practise once a week if there is nothing major happening to get new songs / ideas going, when we tour or go into the studio we kick up to 2 a week to iron out any bits that need work. We always find if we havent practised together for a couple of weeks we are sloppy as hell!

Edited September 5, 2014 by Old_Ben

[BassTractor]

It's complicated, but to try and give you an idea:

On Wednesdays, everyone tries to practise their own parts of all the different songs, and there's little talk. Tickets are mostly state funded, so are only £45, and the band call themselves The Iannis Xenakis Music Ensemble that night.

Thursdays, the atmosphere gets to be a little more relaxed. People to some degree know their parts, and we now try to play together. Tickets are largely beer revenue, cigarettes revenue and silly French hats revenue funded, and are £30. This night, we call ourselves The Jazz Messin' Jars.

Fridays, we normally play well enough together, kinda, and sell £5 tickets at our local Duck&Dog as Ducks and Covers.

Saturdays, everything should normally be perfect, and we set up for the possible slight finishing touches long before the happy couple arrive, and we will that night perform for a fixed £800 as Groomed and Bridled.
That's £100 a piece! Brill!

[lojo]

Ideally this every time ...

Songs agreed (by clients or new choices by band etc)
Everyone does homework on parts and structures, singers work out harmonies etc in someones house
Bass and Drums get added in a run through (not a chord and structure figure out session)

Anything else I don't have time for

Edited September 5, 2014 by lojo

[blue]

[quote name='Old_Ben' timestamp='1409901415' post='2544377']
we practise once a week if there is nothing major happening to get new songs / ideas going, when we tour or go into the studio we kick up to 2 a week to iron out any bits that need work. We always find if we havent practised together for a couple of weeks we are sloppy as hell!
[/quote]

I thought that was just my band.

Blue

[gafbass02]

I try to rehearse weekly, just to keep the interest and because it's fun. I also like a tight ship!
We rehearse at my place in headphones using a jamhub. The basement is a rehearsal space, which is just so much better than driving to a studio, setting up, getting levels, volume wars then taking it all down.
With the jamhub We each have our own private, preferred mix and volume level, the sound quality is fantastic, it's all right there in your ear, no more 'what are you playing?' Moments. It's all set up, walk in, pick up guitar/bass/sticks and play

[stoo]

We get together weekly - (mostly) originals punk kinda stuff

If last week was anything to go by -

Turn up to find the drum kit in the studio has been replaced by a massive pile of booze. Briefly consider allowing this discovery to reshape my plans for the evening, but chicken out and go on a hunt for the drum kit. There had been a mini festival on the farm where the studio is over the weekend, and they'd managed to bring in all the surplus booze stock, but not the drum kit they'd borrowed. Ah well - it was all still there so no biggie.

The drummer and I then get the kit and PA back to the studio and set up. The guitarist and singer eventually wander back over. Guitar amp gets cranked up to cringeworthy, vocals get cranked up to relentless feedback and then we have 20 minutes of me trying to convince them that the best way forward is to turn down while the atmosphere gradually sours.

Common sense eventually wins over and then we get cracking on with trying to get through our set so far. Yet again we try and delicately suggest to the singer that it might be worth arranging her lyrics notes in some sort of order so we don't end up with intros as long as the rest of the song while she finds them.

Usually after we get through the set once we then either have a go at writing something new or have a bit of a random jam to see if it throws up any ideas - but this week the guitarist & singer decide to add another cover to the set. Guitarist then tries to work out how to play the song from memory, seemingly never having tried this one before. Then a phone appears and is held up to the mic, and we're subjected to a playback so poor in quality I can just about make out drums and little else. They have another go at trying to work out how to play the song, completely ignoring the drummer's and my bored expressions all the while.

By this point I've clicked on the tuner mute and laid my bass back in its case. The drummer's got his bass drum apart and playing with different amounts of deadening in there. I'm seriously considering finishing packing up and walking out to see if they notice, but the PA uses my bass head as a power amp.

Still not entirely sure how I got out of there without calling it a day there and then.... There's always next week, I suppose!

[ubit]

The PA uses your bass head as a power amp? I'd look at changing that if I was you

[Kirky]

Here a post that Pere Ubu put on facebook today about their rehearsal yesterday...

"Nine hours spent yesterday recomposing the underscore for the French version of 'Carnival of Souls' and breaking in a new technology. During the one fifteen minute break the goals and objects of the current 10 year plan were outlined and the role of the 'Orange Period' summarized. Members present were forbidden to talk to the Americans in the group about it. The hegemony of bass and drums must be smashed for the good of mankind and the abomination that results from bass playe...rs and drummers obsessed with the notion that they must play together or that there is in fact any special relationship at all between bass, drums and the rhythm of a song. As discussed in the chapter 'Drums & The Modern Man' in the book 'Chinese Whispers,' even the term 'rhythm section' is a deception. The Singer and the Time Space continuum of the Song is the only rhythm section. Drastic measures may be required - first step may be to prevent the bass and drums from hearing each other. We'll see. Fortunately, Steve and Michele can handle anything thrown at them and excel."

[stoo]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1410073647' post='2545768']
The PA uses your bass head as a power amp? I'd look at changing that if I was you
[/quote]

Why's that? We're running both my bass and the vocal mic into a small mixing desk, and that feeds into the effects return of my GK MB500, which is driving BFM Omni10s - which are designed to double as Bass/PA cabs.