Hold your horsies!!

How long should my band practice till a show? and how often? right now we've only done it once every saturday but i think we need more practice than that but it's hard to find a place to practice, the only place we can is 20 miles out in the country and nobody can get a ride~! what do you think?

Well, if you wan't to be good you have to be willing to put the extra effort. Perfecting your sound is very important, and you guys should know you songs inside put, just in case one of your guys gets a little lazy during showtime, its the responsibility of the rest of the guys to cover a few rough spots (if any) from the guy who didn't get enough sleep the night before. Ive been through different arrangements where I thought our band had it made before showtime, but I overlooked a few things, and the confidence of our drummer. I swear throughout the show this guy was robotic, he was so afraid to make a mistake that he didn't put enough conviction into his performance, we would have done better that night with an electronic drumming machine.

You know, lately Ive had a hard time finding the right people to work with, because it seems like most people/musicians Ive come in contact with down here in South Florida are always asking too many questiuons instead of getting down to business. You guys should create a normal practice shedule at least three times a weeks, and try and stay focused. If you guys always find yourself checjing your watches during your practice sessions, maybe its because theres lack of compromise, always find ways to keep the rest of the guys interested and never be afraid to try out new ideas, even if they seem outragious..


-Joseph

Absolutely. Practice as much as you can, know eachother as best as possible. The last gig my band played myself and the guitarist went into a turn around when we weren't supposed to, but our drummer was right on top of it, and the whole medly was salvaged- and actually came out sounding good. Also, remember that when mistakes happen, you all have to be honest with eachother: Nobody should go around blaming other people, but you all need to be able to say "oh god, did I goof here ____________" or "steve, that drum roll messes me up every time, can we do it differently?"
In the studio, our drummer couldn't get a drum roll down at the beginning of the song- he kept adding beats that shouldn't have been there which of course screwed everybody up. So the solution became to make it like sound like we messed up, almost stop the song, then [SNARE!] back into it like nothing happend. And it sounds a lot better than the old intro.
So yeah, more practice time is an absolute must have thing for now. Someday you'll get to the point where between having been together so long and gigging, you won't need many practices, but for now the key is practicing until it hurts. Being a musican means being creative in a lot of ways, not just musicly, but how to fix things on stage, how to move things far heavier than you really aught to, and how to get rides 20 miles into the boonies. It's all part of the deal, and when it comes right down to it, it's a blast.

Originally posted by Raskolnikov
Being a musican means being creative in a lot of ways, not just musicly, but how to fix things on stage, how to move things far heavier than you really aught to, and how to get rides 20 miles into the boonies. It's all part of the deal, and when it comes right down to it, it's a blast. [/B]

Exactly, its important to expect the unexpected, but then again those who you're involved with don't always think the same way. So in a way, you have to be prepared for their possible mishaps. Theres so much to think about, but it all depends on whether or not you're prepared for the challenge, and hopefully you'll know how to handle everything a little bit at a time. Because just like any profession, the whole experiencec can be a bit overwheming.

-Joseph

If you have only one time a week it's important that everybody does his homework. When I study a solo at home it takes me about ten minutes to play it in the rehearsel room, if everybody else also worked it out. If not it's going to take much more time. Sometimes there are shows with not so much pressure on it. Then we do not practice more. But before an important show we practice a few days before. Also we do extra excercises with the vocals, this can be easily done at home and not everyone has to be with it.

Usually in that kinda situation I'll record a rehearsal and practice to the cassette at home. Try to position the mic so that it doesn't pic up much of your guitar or even get the other guys to do a take without you so you can practice new stuff by yourself without being influenced by your earlier playing.

The band I'm with now has been together for twelve years. Most of the guys have done recordings, either their own or studio. Now, we only play because of our love for music, and we play at local clubs, festivels and once in a while open for some local recording group in our area.
I've been playing guitar for forty two years, and I still practice five hours a day. It's my job, most jobs are 8 to 10 hours a day.
As a band, we practice once every two weeks. But in the mean time, I'm with the keyboardist for a few days. Then I'm with the drummer and back up sings for a day or two, then I'm with the bassist and lead singers for a few days. And in that mean time, those other people are meeting seperatly from me.
Here's how we do it.
We have two portable recording/mixing machines. The Roland VS840GX. We tape our practice sessions so each person in that session has a zip disk. We add to it in the next session. It sounds complicated, but it works for us.
I don't know how old your band is, or its memember, or how good you guys are, but some arrangement should be made for some of you guys to get together more often. It will only improve the over all preformance of the group as a whole.
Keep in touch and pass on what took place in that session with the guys who weren't there. Your a team, a band, ya can't make it if ya leave someone out.