Right, so you want to learn how to run a good rehearsal with your band? There are many things that you can do that will make your band practices way more efficient. When I first started playing in bands rehearsals consisted of 1 hour of bad practice plus 1 hour of sitting around trying to figure out how to fill up that hour of bad practice, not necessarily in that order. We were clueless, but luckily you don’t have to be, and here’s how…
Write out a set list which includes how much time you want to spend next to each tune. You also want to write a 15-20 minute break into the middle of the set list so everyone knows exactly when your break will be. Check the time every once and awhile to make sure that you are staying close to your initially predicted time per song. By keeping to your schedule, everyone will be a lot happier and your practice time will be way more efficient.
Come up with your own ideas for song structure, musical interpretation, and staging on your own time before the band practice. Have a concrete goal for what you want to work on and accomplish for each rehearsal. Compare your ideas to those of your band mates and work together to get the best possible result for the song. You have to leave your stubbornness at the door when it comes to being a great band member. I always tell my drum students that singer/ songwriters and other members of the band are going to tell you what to play so get used to it. If you don’t, you won’t learn anything.
Play your song once, at the most twice from start to finish without stopping. After this take the parts that need work and start rehearsing from there. Most amateur bands rehearse a song from beginning to end multiple times, just to fix one part. This is a huge time waster. Go directly to the root of the problem and practice that part until you have it down. Once you get the individual kinks worked out, you can play the entire tune, and this time it will sound a lot better!
Now that we know how to run a band practice we may need some more individual instruction on the guitar or drums. For detailed one on one instruction online just click on music lessons
January 7, 2012