How do you practice band material at home (on your own) ?

[Fretz]

Hi Guys

I find that rehearsing at home (on your own) is pretty different to what happens in a rehearsal/gig with the rest of the band!
It's louder, less focused, you might be using different equipment and micing up (this is a big one :) ), etc, etc, etc.

So I was wondering how you guys prepare for such a rehearsal/gig?
Maybe you sometimes use backing tracks, mics, etc, at home to "simulate" a band scenario?


Be very interesting to get the opinion of the experienced guys on this one.

...Thanks.

[aeolian]

I am not a gigging musician, so I don't really have true experience. I do play with a hobby band (that's played out a few times) for the last 2 years and I do practice at home, so I can relate to that.

It sounds like you are trying to emulate a band practice environment at home. My goal is different: I'm just trying to learn my parts when I practice at home. I don't work on the sound aspect of my playing when I practice, in fact I almost always practice unplugged. This is possible because I'm not big into effects and such. My only pedal is my DVM MK2.

If it is a cover song I practice to the song we are trying to cover, which works pretty well. The exceptions are sometimes we play a song in a different key than the original, or we may rearrange the song a bit, then the 'playing along' method does not work completely.

What is missing when practicing at home is the interplay of all the instruments and vocals. When I practice at home I sing along to my playing although I'm not the lead singer in the group. I also attempt to 'hear' other instrument parts in my head as I practice. My goal is to get the muscle memory part down in practice.

If it is original material then it presents another problem because you don't have a song to play along with. In that case you can still sing along to it. Or get a looper so you can get loop rhythm guitar while you play other guitar parts or bass. And if it can done, you can make a backing track like you said.

[Katastrophe]

I used to just practice my parts on my own, and use band time to iron out any discrepancies with the other members. It made for a much more efficient practice.

I didn't worry too much about simulating the band environment. If your parts are nailed, and you have good timing, it should mesh well when you get together.

[sunvalleylaw]

When I was in a band, (music student hobby band), I practiced with backing tracks or playing along with a recording of the song (cover songs obviously), or by recording a loop of the chords played by me and playing over the top when I was trying to work out some leads. When we got together for band practice, I was well prepared.

[deeaa]

My take is band practice is just for that - practice. I don't as a rule practice at home at all usually, but like now when it was almost 3 weeks between band practices and also guitar playing, I did practice by recording basic guitars for Hallowed be thy Name and also played some of our own songs, or parts of, a few times while watching TV.

But normally, I don't feel like I need to practice guitar playing. I need to practice band playing. Or, in fact it's so that I would need to practice to become a better player, but in a way, I don't feel a need to become a better player, I'm happy being mediocre at best.

Before gigs, I just try to make sure the band has two sessions of training before a gig on the same week preferably. Before gigs I however tend to stay away from guitar as much as possible, I feel I play better when I play less frequently. If I play every day my fingers just start getting stiff and I start playing more clumsily and feel like I'm running out of ideas to what to play and it starts feeling like a chore.

[FusedGrooves]

I am not a gigging musician, so I don't really have true experience. I do play with a hobby band (that's played out a few times) for the last 2 years and I do practice at home, so I can relate to that.

It sounds like you are trying to emulate a band practice environment at home. My goal is different: I'm just trying to learn my parts when I practice at home. I don't work on the sound aspect of my playing when I practice, in fact I almost always practice unplugged. This is possible because I'm not big into effects and such. My only pedal is my DVM MK2.

If it is a cover song I practice to the song we are trying to cover, which works pretty well. The exceptions are sometimes we play a song in a different key than the original, or we may rearrange the song a bit, then the 'playing along' method does not work completely.

What is missing when practicing at home is the interplay of all the instruments and vocals. When I practice at home I sing along to my playing although I'm not the lead singer in the group. I also attempt to 'hear' other instrument parts in my head as I practice. My goal is to get the muscle memory part down in practice.

If it is original material then it presents another problem because you don't have a song to play along with. In that case you can still sing along to it. Or get a looper so you can get loop rhythm guitar while you play other guitar parts or bass. And if it can done, you can make a backing track like you said.

On the whole 'not into Fx, only have 1 pedal' . . . AND on the part about looping.....

If it were me and I could only have 1 pedal - give me a loop station every time.......!!! :) In fact, my loop station is what I use most and the ME-50 I bought is probably a waste of time/space considering how many Fx I end up using.....Delay, reverb, volume pedal, chorus do come in handy from time to time but yeh - if I was only allowed 1 pedal it'd definately be a loop station.

[Eric]

yeh - if I was only allowed 1 pedal it'd definately be a loop station.
Hmm...I think mine might be a tuner, but I get you. I have 3 pedals in my house: tuner, wah, and looper.

[deeaa]

I've never used a looper, never even tried. Maybe that'd be interesting to try, but I don't know when I'd have the time to use it really. Well I can always record something to DAW and loop that.

Come to think of it, I have never practiced playing a lead over a backing other than for recording some demos etc...it might be beneficial to find out what is the other guitarist playing under my leads and actually plan what to play for the next practice...usually I just wing it...hm...

[Brian Krashpad]

I'll be honest.

I don't.

Practice at home, on my own.

I know, I'm sure I should. But I don't.

The church praise band practices at church, as does my side band where I play bass with the praise band leader on keys/guitar/vox and the praise band drummer. My "main" band (inactive right now) and another side band practice at my office after hours, and my other side band (where I play mandolin and guitar) practices in our keys player's living room.

In all cases, I use my own gear, the same stuff I'll perform with at the gig (or worship service), and all of our practices are pretty focused. All the bands come in and do the set, with maybe some new songs being considered as additions. No farting around or "jamming" just to see what happens. Nobody in any of our bands writes that way.

Given that band practices are on my gigging gear, and focused on our actual sets, I don't find the need to practice at home.

[deeaa]

Brian, do you feel like you *really* should practice?

As I said, I don't practice much at all...BUT I don't know...a part of me is thinking like...'ok, so I could be good, just need some practice' and thinking I could be good is enough to soothe my craving...BUT at the same time, maybe I'm just scared that if I did practice, I might run into something I'd find way too difficult or challenging to master, and would have to face my limitations and such...it's safer to just not do it and be content where you are I guess.

[Monkus]

Most of the time I'm arranging...so the interplay that works in my head, sometimes doesn't work when its played. So I have to play it out, and its better I do that at home than waste time at practise. That's one of the negatives of learning to play by ear. I just fire up GB and away we go. I play piano as well so putting down keyboard bass and electric pianos isn't an issue for me.

I don't know if what I do at home is called practise, but I told myself I'm gonna learn one new song a week, and spend at least 40 mins a day playing the guitar. I think I've grown out of procrastinating when it comes to music.

There comes a time though, more now that I'm more into it, that an arrangement or hook, or line just pops into your head and you have to get it down. When I do get it down I have to record it, even if its into my phone so I don't forget. This as a rule happens at 2:00 am. I'm not one of those people who can quickly transcribe what they hear on to a piece of music paper.

Tone is an area of many grey shades of not quite. Many, many hours have been spent finding an adequate, reliably repeatable, unforgiving tone

[Lev]

In most cases I would just practice a song along to the CD recording. Quite often though we'd change the original key to accommodate the vocals. In that case I'd search youtube for another cover band doing the song I was learning in the key I wanted and play along with that. You'd be surprised that you can find most popular songs being performed in a variety of keys on youtube.

One thing I usually do when learning new material is 'NOT' plug the guitar in. I find as soon as you plug in you spend too much time tweaking and trying to replicate the sound of the song instead of just learning it. Most sound tweaks you do at home get lost in a band situation anyway.

In a band situation find a clean, dirty and semi overdriven sound that works and cuts through well & take a note of these settings (usually I take a picture of the dials with my phone). That way there's no surprises when you go to band rehearsal. Your rig will always sound the same and you can practice at home knowing what to expect when you plug in. Same goes for FX but if you have a MultiFX you can save patches tweaked for live sound and patches tweaked for home use separately.

[Brian Krashpad]

Brian, do you feel like you *really* should practice?

As I said, I don't practice much at all...BUT I don't know...a part of me is thinking like...'ok, so I could be good, just need some practice' and thinking I could be good is enough to soothe my craving...BUT at the same time, maybe I'm just scared that if I did practice, I might run into something I'd find way too difficult or challenging to master, and would have to face my limitations and such...it's safer to just not do it and be content where you are I guess.

I dunno. I can do what I want to do on the various instruments I play in the various bands I'm in, with the possible exception that some things are still a bit daunting on mandolin. I guess if I practiced at home I would be a better over all player, but I long ago found my voice on bass and guitar at least (still a noob on mandolin though), so I'm not sure that practising at home would really make any difference.

Kind of a moot point since I really don't have time for it anyhow. I don't really find any fun in playing alone either, so it ain't going to happen.

[hubberjub]

I almost never plug in at home. I have a fairly extensive effects setup and I leave that at the rehearsal studio. Let's be honest, if you're in a rock band you don't really need to practice too much. Most of the tunes we play aren't that involved. I just keep one of my Strats out and grab it when I get a chance. I usually just run scales though.

[Fretz]

Have to say, I'm surprised that most of you guys don't that a regular practice routine.
For me it's essential if I want to make any progress at all! And I'm always tweaking the routine to make it better or add new stuff.
Plus, I find that if I have limited time to practice, if I have a routine/schedule done up for that week it stops me from wasting time playing stuff I already know, or browsing the fret for too long :)

[deeaa]

25 years back I practiced a lot...but since I was in a band that basically gigged so much we had no time to practice, we just practiced during soundchecks and in studio...it just kinda wa forgotten and never came back. I should...but it's pretty strictly practice for a specific purpose if I ever do, like composing a new song.

[Moander]

Practice to me has two phases.

Phase one: self improvement
Phase two: coordinated synchronized playing (band situation)

If you're a jamming or gigging guitarist, you're probably playing quite a bit in a week as it is.

When I was gigging, I'd use backing tracks, tab, and a Winamp plugin called Slowmedown, which slows tunes without changing the pitch, to learn songs.

So, learning a song is the self improvement time. Once I learn the nuances of the song, I break out the backing tracks and go at it, working on the synchronized part.

Then, my rehearsal comes, we master the song to our liking.

So, over time, we've developed one or more 'set lists' for the band.

At home, now, while practicing, I would run through all of my songs once or twice for the band, with the backing tracks, as we play those same songs during rehearsal.

All the rest of my practice time is for self improvement. New scale patterns, any pertinent theory items I need study on, another new song, or just plain noodling around, seeing what pops into my head.

So, basically, once you learn a song, and it plays well when in a band situation, you shouldn't really need to spend alot of personal time on those songs, unless one song just happens to need some help.