Simplify simplify simplify

[HeyMikey]

I’m not sure why practices have to be done one way. It’s ok to agree on what you want to do for practice but mix it up. If you’re into song writing then do a rehearsal jamming and improvising to see if anything new comes out of it. If you’re practicing for a gig then put together a set list based on the venue and audience. Agree to do a dress rehearsal before the gig to make sure your changes and break points work. Do a vocals only rehearsal. Learn a couple new songs rehearsal. A fine-tuning rehearsal on weak songs… You get the point. They don’t all have to be the same, but it’s good to have a point to rehearsals.

 

[davismanLV]

I’m not sure why practices have to be done one way. It’s ok to agree on what you want to do for practice but mix it up. If you’re into song writing then do a rehearsal jamming and improvising to see if anything new comes out of it. If you’re practicing for a gig then put together a set list based on the venue and audience. Agree to do a dress rehearsal before the gig to make sure your changes and break points work. Do a vocals only rehearsal. Learn a couple new songs rehearsal. A fine-tuning rehearsal on weak songs… You get the point. They don’t all have to be the same, but it’s good to have a point to rehearsals.

I think this is good! If everyone has a song down pat and it's well played, you're going to hear it enough in performances and doing it over and over in every rehearsal is just tiresome. But if there's something that needs work, then work on THAT and focus on what needs work. Good advice!

 

[crank]

Yep, doesn't seem much point unless you guys are getting ready to go on tour with the Stones.
Echo upthread envy for having a group with which to play. Lucky you! I come from an area obsessed with ear-stabbing traditional fiddle music and step dancing which, as a guitarist, is like trying to play along with someone tormenting a sack of frantic kittens.

I once, at a regular pickin' party / contra dance, agreed to play guitar for the dance band so my buddy could play his banjo. Between the screeching fiddles and the ear piercing tin whistle I couldn't wait for it to stop.

 

[mushroom]

I think this is good! If everyone has a song down pat and it's well played, you're going to hear it enough in performances and doing it over and over in every rehearsal is just tiresome. But if there's something that needs work, then work on THAT and focus on what needs work. Good advice!

Yep. My last band just “knew” which songs did and didn’t need practice. We would do a low volume practice or sometimes rig up headphones with the drummer playing his electric kit so we could get an intimate setting to get the song right.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I still believe in a setlist running order, just like on an album. Starting w/ a strong tune, keeping a block of slower tunes together in the middle of a set, ending a set before a break w/ a strong tune

Yup, I usually do, too. But I'd rather come up with the list at practice. Working out the list beforehand is too time-consuming, what with all the email and US post (!) and phone calls flying around. It's easier when we're all in a room together and can just make the dern list. Much more efficient

And if you're seasoned enough, know your well of tunes, . . . Fun is the goal, but it often takes some real work to get there.

Yup. This group only practices once or twice a month to play for free for about 45 mnutes at a monthly coffee house. So I just want to stick with easy, fun, entertaining songs. The band leader has a hard time with "Bertha" and "Good Lovin'," but his heart is set on playing pubs and festivals.

I love playing pubs and festivals, too. But between limited practice time and a certain amount of CCDD (chord change deficit disorder), I'd rather stick with stuff like twelve-bar blues, "Smokestack Lightning," "You Never Can Tell," "Pay Me My Money Down," and "Jamaica Farewell."

Makes sense to me!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . we want to make good use of whatever time we can get . . .

Yup! Good use of time is what I'm talking about. See post 25.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . what I notice being described is is one person who wants to play with a group of friends who might do that in public eventually and perhaps as many as three people who have a minimum standard they want to meet prior to performing in public. . . .

Yup! You nailed it. We have one person, the band leader, who doesn't have strong musical standards or ability but has lots of ambition, and we have three guys, including this boy, who are better players, have a more realistic estimations of our potential, and just want to have fun. We're old. We're not heading for the big time.

Meanwhile we have another guy who fusses and frets about everything and who, for instance, likes making lots of phone calls and sending lots of emails before practice so he'll know what we're going to practice before we get there. Last week, I spent nearly two hours on phone calls, email, and snail mail.

If we'd just made the list when we got together, we'd've had it in five minutes.

I have other acts I learn harder tunes for. With this group, you're right, I just want to belt out tunes that are easy to make sound good. I'd rather play a foot-stomping "Feelin' Alright" than spend part of my week getting down a bunch of interesting changes that won't come out right no matter how much we flog them.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Charlie
I would say you have more confidence than the other group members. They seem to want their music centered around them and you seem "let's enjoy the music." They may think their mistakes are "amplified." And you may be a "gamer."

Close! Our keyboardist is the worrier. All the rest of us do have confidence in our abilities. Whether that confidence is well-founded is another question. The band leader needs a lot of correction, even on simple tunes like "Promised Land" and "Me and My Uncle." He wants the music centered around him — which we allow, because it's his band.

Our bassist and I are reasonably proficient at what we do and just want to have fun doing it.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . In my thoughts, this is why finding people to play with and keeping a band together is so difficult.

You nailed it!

My two favorite groups to play in are an acoustic Americana duo and an acoustic blues group with an expandable core of two. They're both made up of people who have the same attitudes about what we're doing, have the same approaches, enjoy playing with each other, and let each other do what we do best without trying to direct each other. Our practices involve learning, synching, and jamming.

For what it's worth, we do usually (not always) make set lists — but we don't belabor it. We just talk about it and write it up. And yes, deviate!

 

[crank]

Me and My Uncle, at least as I see it, Dead tune, features vocals and a nice blend of guitar and piano trading licks. I don't know that I've ever even heard Papa John Philip's version.

Gonna say one reason to have a list for practice is so that guys who aren't practicing at home have a clear homework assignment. Hell my jam band circulated a list recently just because we jammed a bunch of tunes and said - wow we should actually work on some of these.

Interesting list actually: The Wheel, kind of tough timings and lots of harmony singing. Have You Seen the Stars Tonight, kind of tough timing so far as the vocals go and the harmonies again. Low Spark of High Heel Boys, for our keyboard player; fun to jam on a couple of interesting changes need to be gotten down. Pretzel Logic, for our keyboard player - he's a Steely Dan guy. Sitting In Limbo, just because we like it.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'm very lucky. I only play with one other guy. He's a better singer and guitarist than I am. He is kind to my shortcomings on guitar and vocals, and he digs the songs I write. We write songs solo and bring them to our weekly sessions in my home studio where we have time to play about 12 songs. We have over 100 original songs. We don't practice, we just play. Which means the lead guitar parts begin life totally improvised (and we are amateurs), and over time the lead player starts to remember the licks that worked and is able to repeat some of them. Songwriting is our favorite part, and we like playing all the songs. So that means we never get very good at any of them. I'd love to dial in a dozen songs, and I think we'd get good enough to play to a generous audience. But he has no time to play gigs, so that's not going to happen. I'm grateful that he likes playing with me and playing my songs, and I don't have to worry about an audience. I get to be both the player and the audience for three hours each week.

Sounds a lot like me with my other projects. (See post 29.) Lots of originals, lots of learning by doing. In the Americana duo, we're both big song writers. He's the stronger singer, and I'm the stronger player (flattop, mando, square- and round-neck reso, and blues harp). But I sing well enough and he plays well enough that it works.

We've been about a quarter originals, but we're about to shift to maybe two-thirds originals. We don't have a hundred yet, but we have a nice crop.

The blues project is fewer originals, but with the blues, you rewrite every song to fit your style, anyway, so every tune is half-original. I pick guitar, mainly, and do most of the singing, and my friend sings and plays blues harp. And we often drag in friends to play with us. We're not Sonny and Brownie, but we make it work.

You said it best: "We don't practice, we just play."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . each semester we learned 4 or 5 new songs, no repeats, so that was actually kind of fun and challenging. We all agreed (for the most part) on what the songs would be.

Argh. I'm jealous. Our band leader hates bringing in new songs.

Since that band ended 7 years or so I have been playing pretty much by myself. However, on the plus side, I like myself and my taste in music. . . .

You and your Guild. Who could ask for anything more?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . I come from an area obsessed with ear-stabbing traditional fiddle music and step dancing which, as a guitarist, is like trying to play along with someone tormenting a sack of frantic kittens.

Whew! Thanks for that! It was starting to look as though I was going get through the whole day without a good laugh.

 

[Stuball48]

And somewhere the "Ego" thing gets involved. Don't think the word "Ego" ever crossed my parent's minds. Remember momma "shooing" us outside and across the road to play and her instructions were, "you youngins get outside and go down on the hillside to play - I will holler when it's dinner (noon meal) time and be careful going across the road, a car could run over you and kill you." We all turned out alright and later in life we learned what ego was. Ego is what happens when you tell somebody they are good at something when they are not instead of telling them working hard will help make them better.
End of rant!!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I’m not sure why practices have to be done one way. It’s ok to agree on what you want to do for practice but mix it up. If you’re into song writing then do a rehearsal jamming and improvising to see if anything new comes out of it. If you’re practicing for a gig then put together a set list based on the venue and audience. Agree to do a dress rehearsal before the gig to make sure your changes and break points work. Do a vocals only rehearsal. Learn a couple new songs rehearsal. A fine-tuning rehearsal on weak songs… You get the point. They don’t all have to be the same, but it’s good to have a point to rehearsals.

'Zackly! You and Davisman and I have the same attitude.

 

[KeithKeb]

I agree with you 100%, (although I do think you should all try to be in tune), but I am envious. I'd love to find 1 or 2 folks in my area that I could play with who like my kind of music for acoustic.

The guys I know either play their own, (horrible), stuff ad nauseum or are Rush/AC-DC wannabees.

And they always think their own stuff is genius!

 

[Coop47]

Yup, I usually do, too. But I'd rather come up with the list at practice. Working out the list beforehand is too time-consuming, what with all the email and US post (!) and phone calls flying around. It's easier when we're all in a room together and can just make the dern list. Much more efficient

That sounds like a nightmare - everyone standing around with their instruments with one person taking notes, arguing about what to play and when to play it. I just make the list and give people a few days to ask for changes. Nothing's more efficient than tyranny.

Seriously though - with any group of people, find it's a lot easier to react to a strawman than create something from the ground up. And until someone else wants it because they think they can do a better job, I take responsibility for drafting the list. It's worked for 12 years through three bands. Not saying it's the only way but it tends to minimize discussion and maximize playing time.

 

[Midnight Toker]

^It's always best to have one person do that. Of course others can chime in and request changes, but with today's smart phones, it's just too easy to have your band in a group text thread. Send a proposed setlist BEFORE practice, not during, as breaking out a tune that hasn't been played in years can be refreshed by all band members on their own time and you wouldn't have to waste time at practice listening to a recorded playback and relearning the tune. Same w/ introducing a new tune. Folks should come to practice w/ their parts prepared. Band practice should be for refining the cohesiveness of the group and/or discovering ways to make a tune your own if so inclined.

 

[dreadnut]

Our motto is: "Every performance is a practice, and every practice is a performance."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Me and My Uncle, at least as I see it, Dead tune, features vocals and a nice blend of guitar and piano trading licks.

Yup. Easy song, fun to play, sing, and solo on, a crowd-pleaser, highly useable by an Americana duo (like mine). I have a niece on the other side of the country who sings. We always talk about how we should call ourselved Me and My Uncle if we ever put an act together.

I don't know that I've ever even heard Papa John Philip's version. . . .

The chords are different and kind of hokey. I like Bobby's version better.