In praise of band practice ...

[Fionn]

I'm really excited about band practice tonight.

That's always the case. Sure, I enjoy the practical process of developing and refining music, but it's so much more than that. Our band practices are happy occasions, filled with laughter, creativity, and general good vibes. First and foremost, my band-mates are friends. Some of the funniest, wittiest, and most pleasant guys that I know, and they are a pleasure to spend time with. None of us are virtuoso players, we don't take ourselves too seriously, and we're not afraid to phuk up ... but the necessary voodoo is in order, and subsequently the music works. The open-mindedness and mutual respect is prime for the free-flow of ideas. It's inspiring, elevating to the mind, and something that keeps the creative juices bubbling all through the week ... By the time Thursday arrives I'm frothing at the bung.

This hasn't always been the case. I've been in bands whereby band-time was a slog, things didn't connect, tw@t band-mates, etc.

It's good to appreciate things when they're good though.

If you're happy in your band, connecting with your band-mates, and you're getting excited about band practice ... then celebrate that $hit!!!

It's a wonderful thing

[CamdenRob]

I've got rehearsal tonight too... very much looking forward to it

[Bilbo]

It's all about Chemistry!! When it works, it works.

[Fionn]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1403775388' post='2486120']
It's all about Chemistry!!
[/quote]

Yeahhhhhh!!!! ... the necessary voodoo

[Horizontalste]

Amen brother.

[KevB]

I'd like to get a few more of these in but it seems a bit of an alien concept to the current band. Done 3 rehearsals in past 14 months. Dozens of gigs though. Covers, hey ho...

Edited June 26, 2014 by KevB

[Number6]

I have rehearsals Monday.....always a great buzz and a laugh and i am looking forward to it.

[JTUK]

It's work and has to be done. I am happy if it turns out better than I was thinking it would,

[UglyDog]

I've got rehearsal tonight but I'm under the weather at the mo and frankly I could do with an early night instead. Don't get me wrong, normally I'm with Fionn -- my bandmates are, well, mates and we have a laugh and make some cool sounds and I love playing with them. It's just today I'm feeling blehhhh and I'm not anticipating it with any degree of eagerness. I hate feeling crappy.

[CamdenRob]

I suppose for you guys doing working bands rehearsals are a necessary evil?

Music isn't my job and I really look forward to rehearsals and gigs. I have so little time I'm not in the office I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't fun

[cheddatom]

Same for me for all three bands! I just wish all the other guys felt the same

[PaulWarning]

the first 2 years were like that, the last 7 have been increasingly a little more fraught though

[RockfordStone]

im not a fan of practices, certainly in summer months, even more so if we have no gigs lined up... the thought of being in a room for 3 hours with no natural light after a full 12 hours at work really turns me off. I see them as a necessary evil to allow me to gig, so I just suck it up and cope

[jazzyvee]

I love the seemingly old fashioned idea of regular band rehearsals. One of my bands we gig a couple of times per month and so only rehearse if we have new material to learn, we have a dep or when there is a long time between gigs and we have a high profile gig. With my other band we gig about 3 or 4 times a year so rehearse only when we have gigs because the three other members of the quartet are full time pro players and are always busy. However when we meet up for rehearsals we really enjoy it and plan to rehearse regularly but somehow our diaries always seem out of sync.

Generally I find that many musicians I talk to do not want to rehearse unless there is an impending gig. Whereas my preference would be to rehearse regularly regardless of the gigging situation so that the band gets amazingly tight as a unit.

Edited June 26, 2014 by jazzyvee

[Booooooom]

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1403774508' post='2486098']
It's good to appreciate things when they're good though.

If you're happy in your band, connecting with your band-mates, and you're getting excited about band practice ... then celebrate that $hit!!!

It's a wonderful thing
[/quote]

It certainly is - you could be describing the band I'm in! 😄
We rehearse most weeks and although we probably don't gig enough we always have a blast. In four and a half years with this band I've never found rehearsals a chore as we're always adding to the set or writing original stuff as well as just having a good craic. Long may it continue

[Ticktock]

Music for fun for me.
Two guys I play with are friends of over twenty years standing. The force is strong with these two. It's like telepathy or something. Definitely more than the sum of our parts (ooer). Love band practice! !

[Si600]

Another +1 for practice. We've only had two so far and we're sounding pretty good already haven't got much of a repertoire that we're all good at at the same time, but it's fun trying

[bertbass]

What's a practice?

[thisnameistaken]

A band I quit a couple of years ago because of one intolerable bandmate has recently folded and the other members called me up to do something new, and it's such a fun thing to do now that one sour arse is gone. Everything we do is fun. :-)

[Marillionred]

Love it! We're a "weekend Warriors" type covers band - no one knew each other when we formed, but 5 and a bit years down the line we're mates and have a great laugh. There is a magic when something you've not played before just gels out of thin air

Practice once a week if we can, sometimes all six of us are there, some times as few as three, always make it fun.

[lojo]

Different bands have different requirements , and as someone said above, it's all about chemistry.

One band I play with currently requires a fair bit of work, but we've got it down so that vocal harmonies and guitar/keys roles when trying to cover a song which has multiple instruments in the recording are sorted in someone's house before drums and bass are added for run throughs in a rehearsal room.

I could never be in a band that isn't ready to add a rhythm section any more , to old and to busy.

[paul_5]

we rehearse once a month and it's the highlight of my social calendar. Sure, it's hard work and we get a lot done in the 4 or 5 hours, but everybody in the band is plain old bat-sh*t crazy. Which is nice.

[KevB]

As a polar opposite to the current band I'm in, back when I was a naieve starter to 'proper bands' I successfully auditioned for a band full of guys who had been around a fair while. We rehearsed [i]every[/i] week with very few breaks and it was nearly a year before my first gig with them (I recall we lost and had to replace a drummer along the way) at which point the band leader announced his heart had gone out of performing live and we went our separate ways after that performance. And it wasn't even a paid gig! Looking back it was quite clear in retrospect that the 'band practice' was the bandleader's main interest of itself and wasn't really there to prepare for real gigs at all. All part of the learning curve I guess.

[CamdenRob]

Very much enjoyed rehearsal last night... tried a new studio in Hommerton, very difficult to find the door (a simple sign would have been useful) but once we were in it was pretty good.

Had one of the new Fender Rumble combos that didn't sound half bad.

[tony_m]

Wish we could actually get another full band practice sorted, but both the drummist and newly-recruited second guitard are bus drivers, working for the same company, on different shift-patterns. Talk about making life difficult for yourselves...