By Tony Williams
If your band is in rehearsals, either preparing for gigging, orpractising new songs to add to your repertoire, the chances are youwill have to hire a rehearsal room. The costs of hiring a room can soonmount up if you don’t organise your time effectively. You could bewasting time and money going around in circles, with a growingfrustration that your band doesn’t seem to be making any progress.
The answer is to set a Schedule for your rehearsals. Without aschedule it’s difficult to monitor progress if in fact any is made.Disorganised rehearsals can soon turn into chaos, with everyonethrowing in ideas and playing different things at the same time. Therehearsal is not the time for your guitarist to hone his right handtapping skills, or your drummer to perfect his lightning fastparadiddles, it is valuable time for working together as a band, andshould be used as such. Band members should have their own privateschedules for practising instruments and learning new techniques.During a rehearsal you should all be working towards the same goal andmaking each other sound as good as possible. The rehearsal should neverturn into a ’who can play the loudest’ competition.
What should your schedule consist of?
Set goals for your rehearsal times and WRITE THEM DOWN! You shouldknow which songs you are going to rehearse in advance. If you haveplanned your strategy, you will avoid getting stuck in a rut and yourtime will be used constructively. Songs you already know can beperfected and the little nuances worked on, stamping your own identityon cover songs and putting the finishing touches to originals.
You should make a list of ‘finished’ songs, ‘work in progress’songs, and ‘new ideas’. As each one progresses, move it up into thenext category, thereby revising the schedule for your next rehearsal.
I would suggest starting with 2 or 3 songs you are happy andcomfortable with, simply to give the band a positive vibe to build on,and then start work on new numbers. Set aside a certain amount of timefor each song, and then move on! Don’t waste time trying to perfectsomething that just isn’t working, you can come back to it later or atthe next rehearsal. Perfect the numbers that do work, and you will seepositive results as your repertoire builds up considerably.
Always take regular breaks. Coming back to a number that wasn’tgoing too well with fresh ears can often be all it needs to make adistinct improvement. If that doesn’t help, there’s no point inflogging a dead horse, so move it to the bottom of the list or considerdropping the song altogether and concentrating on another one.
Work on band dynamics and expression, i.e. fast, slow, loud, andquiet. Get your fills as tight and as fluent as possible. What you areworking on is that elusive ‘feel’ that is the hallmark of a good band.Everybody should not only be playing his/her own instrument, but alsoactively listening to the rest of the band.
Tape your rehearsal. You don’t need any fancy recording equipment -a simple tape deck and mic will be sufficient. The idea is simply forthe band to be able to listen to their efforts afterwards. Listening toa song while you’re not playing means you can listen more subjectivelyand discuss the merits. Take notes while you listen, that way you arealready forming the schedule for the next rehearsal.
And finally, remember; you are in a band! As such, the sum of the parts should be greater than the individual contribution.
Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com
