How was Your rehearsal last morning or night ?

[martthebass]

Don't do many rehearsals with my band (70s Glam Rock) as we are normally gigging plenty and only really need to get together to pull in a new choon or pre-test new PA etc.  However our autumnal break left me with 2 weekends free and a local band with a bassist deficit (due to illness) asked if I'd step in on 3 gigs booked on these 2 weekends.  So cue frantic learning of 37 rock n roll standards and a rehearsal last night with 3 musicians I hadn't played with before.  Bit of a challenge as RnR isn't really my forte and I refuse to use a music stand with chord charts.......glutton for punishment.  as they say in Yorkshire, 'It'll be reeet'.

[Jackroadkill]

On 24/10/2023 at 17:31, EssexBuccaneer said:

one of our newbies (Stiltskin - inside) is ready for Friday’s set.

 

I absolutely love playing that song, and I'm hoping that Father Christmas might help me out with a chorus pedal for it.

[martthebass]

Well unfortunately after all the learning the vocalist suffered an injury and had to cancel all gigs until the new year. Still, as they say no practice is ever wasted 

[Rayman]

Not going to lie……

 

We kicked donkey last night. It’s our 40yr anniversary, and a bunch of gigs are coming. 
 

I’ve been through a bunch of basses during this reunion, but it’s all about the Thunderbird and the Ashdown ABM 500. 
Such an amazing tone. 
 

Anyone into original heavy rock….. not being funny….. we’re still ace for a bunch of old men. 😆

[Fishfacefour]

Second rehearsal with a new ska band. Quite a few weeks after our initial jam due to work getting in the way, but it it started to gel. Felt like we were starting to make some music. Lots of good listening and some good interplay between drummer and me. 

Hopefully we can pick up some momentum from here. Feeling good! 

[msb]

Our Mexican band is back in rehearsal mode , rehearsal last night , here’s a Facebook link to our stab at Marty Stewart’s Mojave. Our first go at it.

https://www.facebook.com/thespurshfx/videos/1726356674458167

[DCS222]

Nice one msb 

[MacDaddy]

Not a rehearsal but another audition.

 

Musically it's originals, semi-acoustic and would fit in with, without being defined by,  alt country, Americana, blues. The band line up is vox, guitar, drums, and backing vocalists. Just bass wanted.

 

I met just the vocalist and guitarist in a room above a pub and we had a play. I used my Rob Allen Mouse and it worked quite well. It was like having a jam with some mates, we seemed to get on right away, and they asked me to join after we ran through the songs.

 

The fact I'd actually learnt the songs was a big plus in my favour. Apparently others who auditioned hadn't! 😳

🤣

 

Next step is learning more songs and a rehearsal with the drummer. The backing vocalists don't get involved until the dress rehearsal.

 

 

 

[MacDaddy]

First rehearsal with the covers band last night. The guitarist has his own rehearsal room at the end of his exceedingly long garden, which is convenient.

At times we sounded great, other times not so much, but we're still looking for a  second guitarist, which is desperately needed for some of the songs we're doing. 

[Leonard Smalls]

Finally had a basses only (no drums or vox) rehearsal to make sure our arrangements worked. Turned out we were playing all sorts of bits that clashed either rhythmically or note-wise. They were just hidden by guitar or drums previously.

Hopefully our collective bottom end will be tight as two gnats'!

[BillyBass]

On 24/11/2023 at 15:50, MacDaddy said:

Not a rehearsal but another audition.

 

Musically it's originals, semi-acoustic and would fit in with, without being defined by,  alt country, Americana, blues. The band line up is vox, guitar, drums, and backing vocalists. Just bass wanted.

 

I met just the vocalist and guitarist in a room above a pub and we had a play. I used my Rob Allen Mouse and it worked quite well. It was like having a jam with some mates, we seemed to get on right away, and they asked me to join after we ran through the songs.

 

The fact I'd actually learnt the songs was a big plus in my favour. Apparently others who auditioned hadn't! 😳

🤣

 

Next step is learning more songs and a rehearsal with the drummer. The backing vocalists don't get involved until the dress rehearsal.

 

 

 

Congrats mate!

[MacDaddy]

Not last night, the night before.

First rehearsal with the Americana band in a rehearsal studio, and first time meeting the drummer. He's been on at the other guys about needing a bassist so he was happy I was there 😆

The guitarist was using an early 70s Les Paul, he's a finger picker and sounded sublime. I used my Mouse which is fretless, and although it sounded great I felt my playing initially wasn't quite up to scratch for some reason. Also I came to the realisation that I'm far too reliant on the Mouse's fret markers. More practicing at home by ear needed. 

Anyhow, by the end we were sounding pretty good. Looks like this one is going to be a lot of fun 😎

 

[Rosie C]

Tonight, and it was good. I began the process of handing over the bass 'seat' in our community big band to a teenager who's just starting out. He plays a left handed bass, which is kind of cool to demonstrate as our basses were mirror images of each other. 

 

[Jackroadkill]

We had our first proper rehearsal with our new drummer last night.  It's coming together but we're still not at the point of being relaxed and riding the groove yet, although this will come.  One thing that was really enjoyable was that without our old drummer, who had a very.... robust approach to backing vocals, there was space for myself and one of the guitarists to actually put together some far more enjoyable arrangements together, BV-wise, and they sounded really good.

 

I'm pumped about the band and really enjoying it again.  The groove thing will come with familiarity.

[EssexBuccaneer]

Good rehearsal tonight, we’re adding Kenny Loggins ‘Danger Zone’ to our set because we’re playing The Vulcan Restoration Trust beer festival next year (in a hanger, with the Vulcan bomber as centrepiece 😎) and we wanted something suitable for the gig….

 

First runthroughs with a backing track sounded alright. Decided to try to without, and preferred it - so that’s how we’ll do it. The backing track was fine but it didn’t sound like ‘us’.

[Lozz196]

Good rehearsal this afternoon. Our lead singer/rhythm guitarist has just come out of hospital after having another op on what’s left of his right leg (which was amputated from just below the knee last year). With this in mind he decided - and we all agreed - to get another guitarist and he just does stand up vocals. So first rehearsal with new line up today, or would have been but new guitarist (who was in the band some years ago) got COVID on Thursday.

 

So as we had to pay for it anyway we rehearsed with just one guitar for today and it sounded great, singer able to concentrate much more on his vox which were just amazing. Some of the older songs sounded a bit empty on solos but very encouraging was that all of the songs we’ve just recorded for our new album didn’t suffer the lack of the second guitar at all, they sounded really punchy & powerful. This good in case we have to gig with just the one guitar - apparently the new/old guitarist more than capable of doing it on his own as well, we’ve now just got 2 guitarists, no longer a lead & rhythm. 
 

I can’t wait for the first rehearsal with the new line up now given how good this afternoon went. Oh, and we added in Motorheads No Class, I’ve never played it before but after a couple of goes round it sounded really tight & powerful. 

[msb]

Big gig in our favourite old dive coming up right after Christmas. We managed a quick band photo, and then a great rehearsal. Things are sounding great. I’m the geezer.  From the left … drummer , bass , two trumpet players , and two guitar players.

Edited December 16, 2023 by msb

[markbunney]

Useful rehearsal last night ahead of our NYE gig, it was the first one we’d had for a few months and we brushed up on some songs we hadn’t played for ages and also added in a couple of new ones.

 

I realised that my strap had worn out, and my bass almost fell off. Luckily I realised and I have a spare. Annoying as it was a Mono one and really expensive, but the material that goes around the strap button has just disintegrated.

[neepheid]

Great - played my new bass at war volume for the first time, and made some good progress on a new song we're writing/finessing.

 

[MacDaddy]

Monday with the alt Country band. Very productive and enjoyable. Went for a booze after. Great guys, was just like hanging out with mates. 

[BillyBass]

On 16/12/2023 at 21:49, msb said:

Big gig in our favourite old dive coming up right after Christmas. We managed a quick band photo, and then a great rehearsal. Things are sounding great. I’m the geezer.  From the left … drummer , bass , two trumpet players , and two guitar players.

They look class.  You can sometimes tell just by looking at a picture that a band are true superstars that deserve our devotion, and these definitely come into this category.  Stand aside Taylor Swift.

[msb]

Here’s the poster for the upcoming gig. 

[asingardenof]

Have come down with a cold. Managed to power through a three-hour rehearsal this afternoon feeling not too bad, but then I had to carry all my stuff down a flight of stairs and then a couple of hundred yards to the car. Wrecked now, and back to work tomorrow – yay.

[SteveXFR]

Because we use a ridiculous low tuning (drop A#) I've been telling the guitarist for ages now he should try a baritone guitar to get some decent definition in the lower notes. Last night he turned up with one. It's such a huge improvement to our overall sound compared to his standard strat. He complained a lot about how difficult it is playing with a .60 lowest string. I pointed out mine is more than double the thickness and told him to stop complaining. 

I'm not sure if it was just because the guitar sounded so much better but we all seemed to be really tight and it was a really productive rehearsal. 

[Jackroadkill]

4 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Because we use a ridiculous low tuning (drop A#) I've been telling the guitarist for ages now he should try a baritone guitar to get some decent definition in the lower notes. Last night he turned up with one. It's such a huge improvement to our overall sound compared to his standard strat. He complained a lot about how difficult it is playing with a .60 lowest string. I pointed out mine is more than double the thickness and told him to stop complaining. 

I'm not sure if it was just because the guitar sounded so much better but we all seemed to be really tight and it was a really productive rehearsal. 

 

I use a baritone Tele for just that job and it sounds fantastic.  Glad to hear that it was a productive session.