How was Your rehearsal last morning or night ?

[nilorius]

11 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Well that was interesting! A quiet rehearsal! A drummer I haven't met before who put a towel over the snare. 

 

I got to refine my basslines for about eight originals. We jammed a few things, including me and the guitarist (Daz the daffodil) trying to play and sing Child in Time 😱

 

Aside from that, quite a chilled evening. I  even had  go with a pick.*

 

 

 

 

*It seems no-one calls them plectrums any more. 

Only God knows what is best for a new drummer.🧐

[mikebass456]

Had the third of three consecutive rehearsals with three different bands last night.

Monday night was the blues band - spent a couple of hours taking apart a simple Chuck Berry number (Never Can Tell), reallocating parts for fiddle and sax in the absence of keyboards, then putting it back together again in a form that none of us will probably remember come the gig this Saturday night 😕.

Tuesday night was the punk covers band - just a great blast through the first part of the set for the upcoming gig on July 5th.  Bit of a weekly therapy and offloading session as much as anything.....

 

Last night was the folk rock band, and we started work on a couple of the original songs written by the guitarist and singer when they were a duo.  The addition of acoustic bass and fiddle, plus the bouncing ideas off each other was the greatest night of the three - recorded the happenings on my H4n and getting it sent out to everyone later today.  It's currently chucking it down with rain, and I'm in the local cafe with a latte and toasted teacake doing a bit of 'admin'........😉👍

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

We finished by hamming Marilyn Manson style sweet dreams. I think thst shows where it's heading.

 

Our own songs have titles like Kill the Clown, Circling the Drain and Dreams of Despair. I suspect it's all going a bit goth...

But all good fun and you seem to be having a great old laugh doing it.

Dave

[Si600]

Do I have to rehearse or practice?  Can't I just get good/competent without expending any effort or time.

 

Not feeling it today in case you didn't notice.  A song I can quite happily sing without accompaniment has totally deserted me today.  Mangled words and totally mixed up lines.

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, Si600 said:

Do I have to rehearse or practice?  Can't I just get good/competent without expending any effort or time.

 

Not feeling it today in case you didn't notice.  A song I can quite happily sing without accompaniment has totally deserted me today.  Mangled words and totally mixed up lines.

It happens just relax and it will come back to you. The more you think about it the more it will evade you.

Dave

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, Si600 said:

Do I have to rehearse or practice? 

Yes.*

2 hours ago, Si600 said:

Can't I just get good/competent without expending any effort or time.

No.*

 

Channeling your inner, petulant teenager into the music of your chosen genre, is a good way to go, just not this way. 
 

2 hours ago, Si600 said:

Not feeling it today

Happens to us all, do something else and come back to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*You know this of course.

[Bagman]

Band Practice is for the Band to Practice 

 

 

[Si600]

And I got to rehearsal this evening and.... it all fell into place. No More Heroes was bob on, even if I say so myself. 

[DawnPatroller]

On 05/06/2025 at 07:33, dmccombe7 said:

A drummer with respect for hid bandmates. A rare thing indeed.

Dave

 

My drummer is absolutely amazing. Also read: a damn sight better than the last idiot we endured.

He has a discerning ear, leads us where needed, gives awesome feedback especially to our singer whose confidence grows every rehearsal, and he is just grateful to be there with us sweating out his frustrations from the week. Top fella.

[Richard R]

Strange one at church last night. New songs,I'm fighting off a cold, the IEMs were playing up and the sound engineer was relying on me to sort them out, and so the band couldn't always hear themselves. Fab drummer though, so all I did was play a rhythm with roots and thirds while squinting at the chord chart and try to hear myself from the FOH.

 

Finished up one of the most groovy rehearsals we've ever had! 😃

Edited Saturday at 10:39 by Richard R
Typo

[Richard R]

On 05/06/2025 at 12:22, Si600 said:

Do I have to rehearse or practice?  Can't I just get good/competent without expending any effort or time.

 

Tried this, didn't work. 😬

Now paying for lessons -  on the basis that if I don't then practice what I'm told I will be  p*ssing money away as well as time.

 

Let's see how it goes by Christmas....

[Marvin]

A very long day.

Had a full rehearsal, setting up the whole PA, monitors etc. We seem to have a serious problem with the mixer...and a gig on Friday. Otherwise it was a fun day.

[lowregisterhead]

11 minutes ago, Marvin said:

A very long day.

Had a full rehearsal, setting up the whole PA, monitors etc. We seem to have a serious problem with the mixer...and a gig on Friday. Otherwise it was a fun day.

 

In my experience 'the mixer' is usually the lead singer, who more often than not owns the PA. I feel your pain.

[Marvin]

3 hours ago, lowregisterhead said:

 

In my experience 'the mixer' is usually the lead singer, who more often than not owns the PA. I feel your pain.

Can't blame the singer 🙂... and the mixer was a freebie from a mate of the guitarists.

Vocal, guitar, bass and electric drums all through the mixer. We also recorded the rehearsal through the desk. 

Drums and guitar were clipping almost all the time. The FOH sound was showing the bass drum distorting all the time. I wasn't clipping, but was really low in the mix and farting periodically. 

This all showed up in the recording with the added bonus that one channel was louder than the other. We had problems first off with only one channel actually working, thought we'd resolved it but the recording said otherwise. 

Hey ho.

[WalMan]

Fun morning with my buddies half remembering songs, having a chat and a laugh, and making noise.

 

To be fair we haven’t had a get together since last November, this being a bit of fun blasting through our old new wave songs from 40+ years ago.

 

Drummer was using a newer kit that he normally uses as a cut down set so had a chance to use the whole thing. 
Guitarist had a new big birthday guitar and refined pedalboard. 
I stuck with the FrankenJazz, usual pedalboard, and the studio’s Hartke rig.

 

All sounded pretty good where I was stood and generally pretty tight - until it didn’t 🙄
 

Some songs fell apart when one or other of us forgot where we were in it, but much fun and hilarity all round which is what we’re after. Not really looking to gig, just make some different noise to what we all usually do in other bands.

 

We were the only band in this morning and the youngster that let us in and hung around to lock up after made some nice comments (probably just humouring the old farts! 🤣)

 

[Richard R]

On 07/06/2025 at 11:39, Richard R said:

Finished up one of the most groovy rehearsals we've ever had! 😃

 

Sadly I didn't get to play the actua service as this Lurgi is getting the better of me.

Especially gutted -  this is a bit of what I missed: 💃

 

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxlefBzSV-1qGvE5SpIrUt91kmbbISTSwC?si=Fe32n0kqr1c6uDXe

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Richard R
Typo

[Stub Mandrel]

7 hours ago, Marvin said:

Drums and guitar were clipping almost all the time. The FOH sound was showing the bass drum distorting all the time.

 

Sorry if it's 'suck eggs' but did you set the channel input gains so that each source only flickers into the red before doing anything else?

[Marvin]

51 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Sorry if it's 'suck eggs' but did you set the channel input gains so that each source only flickers into the red before doing anything else?

Unfortunately yes, as this made it all the more frustrating 

[Franticsmurf]

I have mentioned before that our singer and band leader is a massive Bruce Springsteen fan. Our gigs tend to follow 'the Boss' in length with 3+hour sets not uncommon. On Saturday we had the dreaded WhatsAppp message from him -  'I'm at a Springsteen gig' - which can often mean last minute set changes as new songs appear following an epiphany during The Boss' performances. Yesterday, with the BL yet to appear at the rehearsal, the sound guy and I were taking bets on which Springsteen songs would be added and, as Sir Paul was also present with Bruce in Liverpool, which Beatles tracks would also make an appearance. 

 

We both lost as the BL was very restrained and chose not to alter the set at all. Instead we ran through the first 6 songs, which run together as a solid 20 minute section kicking the set off. It's a new concept to most of the band so we've been working on the transitions and they're finally beginning to gel. 

 

The sound guy kept telling me my bass was sounding 'muddy' and I couldn't figure out why as nothing had changed from the previous rehearsal. Right at the end, as we were talking about it, his description 'all the top end disappeared from your sound' made me realise that the 'Ultra HI' button on my Ampeg SCR-DI pre-amp pedal had probably not been engaged and sure enough, that was the issue. I love that pedal but I wish it had indicator lights on the push buttons. 

 

Ibanez GSR205, Broughton HPF (set at 40hz) Zoom MS60 (for noise reduction, compressor, tuner/mute and a couple of one-off spot effects), Ampeg SCR-DI into the desk. Skechers. 😀

[WalMan]

2 hours ago, Franticsmurf said:

I have mentioned before that our singer and band leader is a massive Bruce Springsteen fan. Our gigs tend to follow 'the Boss' in length with 3+hour sets not uncommon. On Saturday we had the dreaded WhatsAppp message from him -  'I'm at a Springsteen gig' - which can often mean last minute set changes as new songs appear following an epiphany during The Boss' performances. Yesterday, with the BL yet to appear at the rehearsal, the sound guy and I were taking bets on which Springsteen songs would be added and, as Sir Paul was also present with Bruce in Liverpool, which Beatles tracks would also make an appearance. 

 

We both lost as the BL was very restrained and chose not to alter the set at all. Instead we ran through the first 6 songs, which run together as a solid 20 minute section kicking the set off. It's a new concept to most of the band so we've been working on the transitions and they're finally beginning to gel. 

 

The sound guy kept telling me my bass was sounding 'muddy' and I couldn't figure out why as nothing had changed from the previous rehearsal. Right at the end, as we were talking about it, his description 'all the top end disappeared from your sound' made me realise that the 'Ultra HI' button on my Ampeg SCR-DI pre-amp pedal had probably not been engaged and sure enough, that was the issue. I love that pedal but I wish it had indicator lights on the push buttons. 

 

Ibanez GSR205, Broughton HPF (set at 40hz) Zoom MS60 (for noise reduction, compressor, tuner/mute and a couple of one-off spot effects), Ampeg SCR-DI into the desk. Skechers. 😀

We always aim for at least three at the start of each set to run together with minimal breaks and links where possible. Great but when everything is running tight like that in the set getting to water or swap a bass (not something I do much to maintain the set momentum) can be a trial. 
with luck there’ll be something where the bass doesn’t come in for the first verse 🫣🤣