Band Practice Exercises?

[TonyHetherington]

Hi everyone

I'm in a band (thedeccas.co.uk if you're interested), anyway been together 2 years and things going very well.

However, we want to try and make our practice sessions (weekly) more valuable. Up until now we simply play, and work on, our songs. But that does not bring better tightness or skills.

Does anyone have any recommendations of any exercises we can do as a band that would help?

We are 90s rock n roll type music (very Oasis) with 2 guitars, drums, bass and hammond organ.

Thanks anyone and everyone!

[gbbird]

A sneaky trip to the pub on route always stimulated creativity for my band

No, seriously, it's a good question. To get the most out of our sessions, i always used to pre-record new tracks/riffs and give to the other band members in advance, so we were not starting from scratch when in the studio. A few other things we did -

1 Agree on a simple, basic cover in advance, then learn for the following week, sometimes at a very slow pace or hyper fast speed. It helped to get us warmed up without anything too technical.

2 Another thing we did when we thought we had pretty much nailed a song was to turn the lights off in teh rehearsal room and play it in the dark. Very good test of tightness and knowledge of the song, as opposed to watching when the guitarist or drummer gives you the nod/wink that they are about to go intgo the next riff and hence you must follow.

3 For variety we also used to play some songs acoustically i.e no distortion or overdrive! We were a Thrash Metal Band, so this was very interesting indeed - sometimes funny, sometimes difficult, but always very enjoyable - added variance to the monotony of rehearsing, plus it made you really nail a song - you cannot get away with mistakes as easily when playing acoustically.

g

[chevy-stu]

Yoga ???




From experience the best musicians (and bands), are the ones who have all played with a huge variety of other musicians of different backgrounds and playing different types of music. I only played rock & pop based stuff for 1st few years of my playing, but was encouraged to join a Jazz fusion band in my late teens and it massively improved my playing.

I'd suggest, if you have the time, maybe joining another band doing something completely different as well as your current band. I know it may seem like being disloyal, but if all the band did it it will make you far tighter, more flexable and better in the future.

[Get Karter]

Put in key changes to all your old tired songs...when rehearsing them anyway.

Might not keep the drummer awake though!

[TonyHetherington]

Thanks all!some good suggestions. Particularly like turning light out idea!!!!

I was thinking more along lines of rudimentary things, exercises if you see what I mean, specifically not playing our songs?

Thanks for suggestions!!

Ps I'm the drummer

[timbob]

Doing rudimentary exercises, like blowing scales, patterns, licks etc always seems a bit "school band" to me when rehearsing...

A few things to check how tight you are on the stuff you're rehearsing:

1/ Play a fast song at half speed. Try and keep the same groove to it.

2/ Play a song in another key, a tone up or down perhaps. Not a work out for you, but it'll get the other guys going. They'll either do it no problems, or fall down in a big heap.

3/ Biggest tip - practice quietly. It's amazing how much looseness is "covered up" by practicing loudly. As soon as you knock the guitar volumes down to half, sing acoustically and drum with hot-rods or brushes, everything suddenly seems crapper. Work at making this just as tight as thrashing it out, and the difference should be appreciable. Saves your ears too...!

ETA Tony, I've just checked out the band's myspace page, liking it

Edited by timbob on Wednesday 22 October 20:20

[TonyHetherington]

Thanks TimBob - some great ideas, we'll be putting them in to action!

Glad you like what you hear - thanks

[gbbird]

Another thing we used to do when we got bored was to swap instruments and attempt a song. The value of doing this was somewhat limited, but it was fun if nothing else

[dumbfunk]

Drop instruments out and practice with just rhythm section, just guitar and drums, etc. We used to do this before every recording session as it shows up any slips in timing or key that usually get hidden in the cacophony of it all.

df

[EmmaP]

What about doing a jam session?

[TonyHetherington]

We do "jam" so to speak now and then - usually at the end of a song we do a big ending and just carry on going for 20minutes

But I think that would mask even more so, rather than improve (if you see what I mean).

Thanks everyone for the ideas above - some really good stuff and, come Tuesday (next session) we'll certainly give it all a go (even if I will get smacked in the head by a guitar neck in the dark )

[EmmaP]

TonyHetherington said:

We do "jam" so to speak now and then - usually at the end of a song we do a big ending and just carry on going for 20minutes

How very self-indulgent of you

I did re-read the thread after my post and realised that I had the wrong end of the stick and my advice was probably no use at all I reckon going back to basics is best (like doing scales).

[timbob]

Do all the guys in the band practice individually with a metronome?

I practice everything with a metronome: Long tones, scales, exercises, studies, band parts, tunes, chord patterns... Everything. It's probably the best individual practice advice there is.

[TonyHetherington]

No they don't - that would be valuable, would it, doing it individually with a metronome as well as practicing as a band?

I've just started to practice with a metronome - I think it's helping me already (I'm the drummer)


edit; do you think we should practice as a band with a metronome? I'd think that'd be very difficult!

Edited by TonyHetherington on Friday 24th October 09:37

[Slikk]

TonyHetherington said:

No they don't - that would be valuable, would it, doing it individually with a metronome as well as practicing as a band?

I've just started to practice with a metronome - I think it's helping me already (I'm the drummer)


edit; do you think we should practice as a band with a metronome? I'd think that'd be very difficult!

Edited by TonyHetherington on Friday 24th October 09:37

We have done this many times, especially with new songs.. .. ..it's hellishly difficult and a real shock as to how far you can slip.

ETA Our drummer prefers to use a click, through headphones. We then follow him which is the natural order of things as I tie the bass line down to the hi hat or kick depending on the song.

Edited by Slikk on Friday 24th October 14:06

[timbob]

TonyHetherington said:

No they don't - that would be valuable, would it, doing it individually with a metronome as well as practicing as a band?

I've just started to practice with a metronome - I think it's helping me already (I'm the drummer)


edit; do you think we should practice as a band with a metronome? I'd think that'd be very difficult!

Edited by TonyHetherington on Friday 24th October 09:37

If I was a drummer, I'd never do anything but practice with a click - it does absolute wonders for your timekeeping. The drummer in my band does, and can record to a click track, first time, every time. So yeah, I'd keep practicing religiously with the metronome, and watch the improvements roll in.

Everyone else should be practicing with a metronome as well ideally, it just adds another level of tightness, being able to rip through, and fall out of 16th note runs dead on the beat, instead of doing the normal "OMG fast notes, RUSH!" trick that everyone falls into. It'll just tighten everyone's playing right up.

As for practicing with a metronome as a whole band, it's not going to be possible to do it, unless you get the whole row of headphones, a headphone amp/splitter, and plug a metronome into that. A challenge would be to start a metronome going, count in, play 8 bars, and see if the band is still even remotely near the beat after those 8 bars - can be quite an eye opener!!!