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Productive Rehearsals


Bluewine

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I do think when it comes to prepping for a gig that far too many bands worry about the songs first and foremost. I think they are just a fragment of the whole.

What so often gets lost in inexperienced bands is the other bits that are super important things like:-

How to transition between songs

How to perform, not just play songs

How to cope with the inevitable pink torpedo ups during songs, whether that is equipment malfunction or pilot error

How to engage the audience during the set, which breaks down to:-

    How to engage the audience  during songs

    How to engage the audience between the songs

 

All of this can and should be rehearsed, that is what rehearsal time is for, not simply playing toons together and rocking out. IMO.

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6 hours ago, 51m0n said:


The track in question is almost 8 minutes long. Too complex? Or clever because it means people get to hear section A 5 times, section B 6 times, section D and E once each and so have an idea whats coming but it keeps changing at the same time. The punters seem to dig it whatever :D

It sounds like this:-
https://mistersuperjuice.bandcamp.com/track/frisking-the-whiskers

 

That was nice. Thanks for sharing. enjoyed it a lot.

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Rehearsals should (IMHO) be like a meeting at work; don’t call one if you don’t need one.

I once worked somewhere where there would be a scheduled meeting every Monday morning for 30 mins before actual ‘work’ started. Everyone had to come in early for half an hour if filler that could have been an email, which just made ya all resent it; only 2 people out of the 12 still work there...

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2 hours ago, 51m0n said:

I do think when it comes to prepping for a gig that far too many bands worry about the songs first and foremost. I think they are just a fragment of the whole.

What so often gets lost in inexperienced bands is the other bits that are super important things like:-

How to transition between songs

How to perform, not just play songs

How to cope with the inevitable pink torpedo ups during songs, whether that is equipment malfunction or pilot error

How to engage the audience during the set, which breaks down to:-

    How to engage the audience  during songs

    How to engage the audience between the songs

 

All of this can and should be rehearsed, that is what rehearsal time is for, not simply playing toons together and rocking out. IMO.

Stagecraft

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Yeah, it’s not just stagecraft. It’s about actually being authentic. Which is ironic considering I play in a tribute band. 

Rehearsing so you can be authentic rather than just learning the numbers. 

Edited by bigjohn
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1 minute ago, Quilly said:

I find an impending gig really focuses the mind. What drives me nuts is when a guitarist start widdling a tune that’s not on the set list and other band members join in 10 minutes wasted before you know it.

Yep with you there. Very annoying

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6 hours ago, 51m0n said:

I do think when it comes to prepping for a gig that far too many bands worry about the songs first and foremost. I think they are just a fragment of the whole.

What so often gets lost in inexperienced bands is the other bits that are super important things like:-

How to transition between songs

How to perform, not just play songs

How to cope with the inevitable pink torpedo ups during songs, whether that is equipment malfunction or pilot error

How to engage the audience during the set, which breaks down to:-

    How to engage the audience  during songs

    How to engage the audience between the songs

 

All of this can and should be rehearsed, that is what rehearsal time is for, not simply playing toons together and rocking out. IMO.

Good to engage with audience but not to overkill it. I remember one singer, he was cringe 😩

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11 hours ago, Quilly said:

Good to engage with audience but not to overkill it. I remember one singer, he was cringe 😩

All the more reason to try stuff out in a rehearsal...

If what you do makes you cringe that's nothing to go on, if it makes the whole band cringe then time to try something else :D

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Record. We put a zoom digital recorder in the room in a corner, and forget it.

Then I treat it with reaper to cut it following tunes, and send it to bandmates. As we rehearse two times a month, we have time to listen it, discuss about it, work with it to be ready to play it better on following rehearse.

One beer stop. Not one beer stop every three tune, just one beer stop in the middle of the evening. :biggrin:

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Sté said:

One beer stop. Not one beer stop every three tune, just one beer stop in the middle of the evening. :biggrin:

Nah, no beer, no drugs, they just make everything less professional, less gets done, its all bad when you need to use your time well.

One cigarette break halfway through. Ten minutes for a chit chat, then back to the funk

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15 hours ago, Quilly said:

Good to engage with audience but not to overkill it.

I got in trouble for speaking to a girly I recognised dancing a couple of gigs ago, between songs. There was much frowning. It was literally a four sentence quick "hi, how you doing?" exchange, which I thought was good punter engagement - but I felt uncomfortable for the rest of the gig and clocked every glance shared between the other guys.

I thought to myself, "this may not last much longer ...".

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We also record but just use a phone to be honest and its been good enough to clearly hear the overall sound and any mistakes.

We are all driving to rehearsals so coffee is the mid break aperatif. I'm not a drinker these days and drive to all gigs. Not fussed either way about being the dedicated driver if we use a van. Drummer same as me.

Dave

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1 hour ago, 51m0n said:

Nah, no beer, no drugs, they just make everything less professional, less gets done, its all bad when you need to use your time well.

One cigarette break halfway through. Ten minutes for a chit chat, then back to the funk

I've been in a couple of bands where it was okay to drink at gigs, but not at rehearsals apparently. But okay to bring your missus and turn up late and chat ****. Or restring a guitar. Or numerous other should be infractions but open a beer and it's all "oh that's so unprofessional".  Been in a band where it was too much though. Nothing got done.

Current band, no-one gives a **** what you do so long as you turn up on time and do what you should in the time allotted. 3 hours. No break. 

 

 

 

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I'm in a band where we've just had a 'messy divorce' out go two guitarists and in comes a new one, so we've had to practice twice a week to help the guitarist up to speed. That coupled with the decision to drop half the set and add a whole bunch of new songs. Once we're up and running and gigging the rehearsals will drop to a more sedate pace, once every couple of weeks to tryout new material.

Weirdly this has meant the band is leaner and tighter than it ever has been, but that is down to structured rehearsals, we've had a plan ahead of the rehearsal time, apart from the first - for that we went in with a handful of songs given to the new guy tried them out a couple of times then jammed out some of the new song ideas once he was comfortable with things. 

Dropping from two guitarists down to just one has meant I've had to up my game again... Such is life though :)

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I'm in a folk group, two of which still can't grasp the concept that I need to know what we are planning to do in the next rehearsal before I leave for work that day, as I am not making an hour and a half round trip back home because they have decided we should go acoustic this time. We even have a WhatsApp group set up 😐

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2 hours ago, BreadBin said:

I'm in a folk group, two of which still can't grasp the concept that I need to know what we are planning to do in the next rehearsal before I leave for work that day, as I am not making an hour and a half round trip back home because they have decided we should go acoustic this time. We even have a WhatsApp group set up 😐

Ah, I've worked with musicians like that before. Only way to deal with them is to make plain statements, not ask questions. So the evening beforehand you need to send out an email or message saying "I'm going to assume we're not going acoustic tomorrow, and I need to bring X, Y and Z. If there's a problem then let me know before 7am tomorrow so I can bring something different."

S.P.

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30 minutes ago, Stylon Pilson said:

Ah, I've worked with musicians like that before. Only way to deal with them is to make plain statements, not ask questions. So the evening beforehand you need to send out an email or message saying "I'm going to assume we're not going acoustic tomorrow, and I need to bring X, Y and Z. If there's a problem then let me know before 7am tomorrow so I can bring something different."

S.P.

Thanks, I am going to take this advice 👍

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It's good advice for life to be honest. Most people just like to be told what to expect, rather than have to think for themselves. That's especially true when you're asking them to think about other people ;)

"if only they'd have told me" becomes moot if you do the telling. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it requires you to do the thinking. 

 

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