How was Your rehearsal last morning or night ?

[Leonard Smalls]

We had a Weeds rehearsal yesterday... We haven't played together as a full band for about 9 years, though we did recently make a 5 track ep via the internet... Which actually got us a gig, so we had to rapidly and remotely write 5 more songs (we're spread across Europe, from the west of Ireland to the south of France).

So we played 'em together for the first time. And surprisingly, it actually sounds pretty good! We're continuing today so we'll be a bit more polished though 2 full days of rehearsals takes it out on my fingers...

Then tomorrow we bimble up to Chester - hopefully we'll get another gig sorted in less than 9 years!

[Stub Mandrel]

At last night's rehearsal we thrashed three songs over three hours to hone their structures.

 

I was charged with finding a satisfying end to one song and after much trial and error found that adding a descending arpeggio of a four note G-augmented chord was an awesome way to take my finishing run down to the final E.

 

I've never found a 'musical' application for one before but it sounded absolutely perfect. We'd tried loads of ideas but going up to the G then down sounded perfect.

 

No punter will ever appreciate six people spending fifteen minutes to get to that!

[kwmlondon]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

At last night's rehearsal we thrashed three songs over three hours to hone their structures.

 

I was charged with finding a satisfying end to one song and after much trial and error found that adding a descending arpeggio of a four note G-augmented chord was an awesome way to take my finishing run down to the final E.

 

I've never found a 'musical' application for one before but it sounded absolutely perfect. We'd tried loads of ideas but going up to the G then down sounded perfect.

 

No punter will ever appreciate six people spending fifteen minutes to get to that!

Sounds very interesting. I’m still a bit of a beginner with chord tones so what were the notes in that arpeggio pls? I’m sure I know the sound but can’t get it from the description. Cheers!

[Stub Mandrel]

12 hours ago, kwmlondon said:

Sounds very interesting. I’m still a bit of a beginner with chord tones so what were the notes in that arpeggio pls? I’m sure I know the sound but can’t get it from the description. Cheers!

 

Start on the g string, any note, come down one fret higher on each string so you're back on the first note an octave higher on the E string. The intervals are all major thirds so any of the notes can be the notional root.

 

G, Eb, B, G  perhaps surprisingly, resolves nicely to E. The song in question uses just three chords: Em, C, G.

 

We certainly struggled for a long time we were trying to finish on a C chord (over which G bass sounded best) to create an unsettling effect but we couldn't get happy with it. But omitting the G letting the C hang and the bass does a run up then down that chord then E works.

 

There's probably some deep musical theory at work but I'm b****** if I know what it is.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:56 by Stub Mandrel
edited to be correct.

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Start on the g string, any note, come down one fret lower on each string...

 

... or 'come up one fret higher on each string', to get the fingering to correspond to the notes. No wonder it took you all so long. 

 

...

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

9 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

... or 'come up one fret higher on each string', to get the fingering to correspond to the notes. No wonder it took you all so long. 

 

...

 

 

 

See... you know what I mean.

[Japhet]

Wish I could get a rehearsal. For the past 2 years I've done nothing but gigs where I'm sent a set list on Whatsapp a few days before and everything is on a wing and a prayer.

[Dad3353]

15 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

See... you know what I mean.

 

I took down my bass from the wall behind me, and spent a good ten minutes trying it out 'your way', until it finally clicked what the 'issue' was. I wondered for a while exactly how you were tuning your basses to get those notes, but then the 'light bulb' moment came, and all became clear. I don't know who's the dafter of us two, you or me..! 

[Stub Mandrel]

10 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

I took down my bass from the wall behind me, and spent a good ten minutes trying it out 'your way', until it finally clicked what the 'issue' was. I wondered for a while exactly how you were tuning your basses to get those notes, but then the 'light bulb' moment came, and all became clear. I don't know who's the dafter of us two, you or me..! 

 

Me...

[Lozz196]

Great rehearsal with the classic rock band last night, as we had a mate of a mate turn up to sing, and unlike when we’ve tried this before, he could sing. Sure some were a bit out of his range but he was pretty good on Dio, Plant, Coverdale to name a few, which is no mean feat. Given it was his first time singing with us, and this material it went great.

[zbd1960]

Backm from hols and I attend a workshop yesterday run by a local music charity (Drum and Brass) aimed at getting more people of all ages involved in music making. We were asked to bring instruments along (I took a tenor sax) and the session was about conducting. Groups and ensembles of all kinds need conductors and without them groups either don't happen or fold... so this is aimed at getting people started on that road. 

 

I have ended up having to conduct at times, e.g. the conductor is stuck in traffic, or is ill.

 

Some of the session was about organisation/admin such as rehearsal room layout, repertoire selection, rehearsal planning, etc. 

 

I think following yesterday I am going to be asked to help out with one group... I will report more in due course.

 

 

[WalMan]

A quiet one minus drummer as he had to take his dog to the vet for its final trip today 😢

 

So a quiet one to run through couple of new songs for key, one tweaked slightly from that originally planned - it may have been due to not pushing so vox hard on the night but it felt better changed.

 

Took the Thunderpuncher I picked up from Dood recently into the studio Hartke/Ampeg rig and it was sounding great. Nice clank even with me rolling more bass and less and less top - whoever used the amp last had treble full up and bass rolled way back 😳 Now I like top end bite but that was crazy.

 

Good session working through arrangements and bv’s with loads of too and fro to sort things out. Our drummer has said in the past he’s not been used to how we sometimes work on stuff that in early days of a new song can be a chunk of time concentrating on finding an ending that works running different ideas to refine rather than necessarily just go route one slow down and final splat. That works sure but sometimes it’s good to try other ways, or how to get to the final slow and splat 🙂

 

[dave_bass5]

Just on my way home from an awful one. We were at Mill Hill again and while it’s an ok rehearsal complex the PA in the room we were in is awful. As I’m playing keys it really put me off and i hated every minute of it. The band sound was ok, and we played well but i was pretty much just hitting bits of plastic in the hope it wouldn’t sound too bad.