No Band Rehearsal?

[Rex Hart]

Another thread got me to thinking about this. I know of quite a few Bluegrass bands that do not rehearse between gigs and might play 5 or 6 festivals a year or 10 to 15 times a year. Most have really capable musicians. Most comment that they play Bluegrass and don't feel the need to rehearse. I play in a Bluegrass Gospel band and we play 60/70 times a year. We rehearse weekly. Some of this is due to original material, but most the time it is working on stops and starts and intricate harmonies as opposed to "block" harmonies. To me, this is what holds my attention when I go to see a Bluegrass band. Is this the norm for bands that play Bluegrass?

[dwc]

I think most serious bands rehearse. But if you have been playing the same 20 or so tunes the same way for many years, you may not feel the need to rehearse. The individual musicians may not play together often, but they are probably attending local jams where they hone their chops.

On the other hand, I have seen bluegrass performances that barely rose above the level of a jam, no real intros or outros, just a simple kick, sing a verse, someone takes a solo, on and on. When you have complicated arrangements and vocal harmonies, those don't happen by accident. They are worked on assiduously.

I remember a quote from Brent Midland of The Grateful Dead. He said that you can either practice incessantly with purpose and sound like Crosby, Stills, and Nash, or you can goof off and wind up sounding like the Dead. I have heard bluegrass bands that take each approach.

[Paul Hird]

I'm not sure it wouldn't pertain to any group of musicians, bluegrass or otherwise. I have a friend who is a touring musician with his bandmates. Some of them live in different towns as well as states. They fly in, do a show and meet up for the next show. In addition, a couple of the musicians will go off and do a solo show as well. I think it may have more to do with how long they have been together, knowing each others style and playing music together for a long period of time. Just my thoughts.

[Tobin]

"Most comment that they play Bluegrass and don't feel the need to rehearse."

I can understand this. Unlike most other genres, bluegrass is not a carefully composed and scripted type of music. As long as you know how to play your instrument, know how to read the cues from those you play with, and know the tunes being played, there really isn't much need to rehearse as a band. Working on your break material is something each member can and should do on his or her own, but experienced bluegrass players should be able to operate in a band setting pretty much the same way as in a jam. The only parts that really need some coordination are the kickoff and the ending. But even those can be done on the fly when playing with people whose style you know.

Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't want to perform as a professional band without practicing. But I could see where serious professionals might see it as a hindrance to creativity. Doing it a little different each time makes the music more fun to play instead of being the same old formula each time.

[allenhopkins]

When I ran into Jeanie McLerie at a folk camp years ago, she was in the Harmony Sisters with Alice (Foster Seeger) Gerrard and Irene Hermann, and they lived pretty much at opposite ends of the US. She said they rehearsed over the phone, which must have led to some hefty long distance bills.

I am in several musical groups, duets and bands, that play pretty occasionally, and we usually get together once or twice before each gig, to run over our repertoire and sometimes add a song or tune. I wish we "rehearsed" more, because I enjoy playing with these people, but we're all so damned busy...

[bigskygirl]

I think in Bluegrass/OT the music lends itself to spontaneous playing with others...it's what attracted me to the genre when I realized that one can sit down with complete strangers and have fun playing tunes.

I've been playing for a couple years now - nowhere near "accomplished" and could sit down and play a few tunes with others. The pros have been doing it so long they don't need much rehearsal...several of them tell me that at times when they get together on stage it's the first or second time they've heard the tune if it's an original...if it's a fiddle tune - game on at their speeds.

So, I think the need for rehearsal is driven by the goals of particular group.

[farmerjones]

I understand what you saying Rex.
There's tight, contemporary Bluegrass like Kenny and Amanda Smith. Some of stops. Also lots of haunting minor chords, not just I, IV, V. Then there's traditional Bluegrass, kick-off, verse, chorus, break, verse, chorus, break, turnaround, tag end. Some of these folks, I would come just to see them in-person. I'm trying to think of who's still alive. . . .Rhonda and the Rage kinda go either way.
In my case, we don't rehearse mostly because of individual's time constraints. We'd be dangerous if we rehearsed. Some also love the feeling of life on the razor's edge, laugh in the face of death, hang on by the skin of your teeth playing. I've grown used to it. But I love to play. Rehearsing is playing. I've happily jammed around the clock. I'd gladly play eight hours a day, every day. The invite hasn't arrived.

[Hallmark498]

Amateurs practice till they get it right, pro's practice until they can't get it wrong.

Main thing is can you groove with the people you are playing with. All the practice in the world will not help if everyone in the group aren't on the same page. I'm sure Dan T, Ronnie M, Ron S, and any top bass player could show up and blow a crowds socks off.

[SGraham]

I've played lots of non-rehearsed gigs where it was fly by the seat of your pants. That's a lot of fun. So is working as hard as you can with a group of friends to make your songs sound as good as they possibly can. That's deeply satisfying. They're both good. I play in 3 groups right now. One of them plays gigs cold from sheet music and does it very well. One plays mostly originals with almost no rehearsing. The third rehearses intensely every week. I enjoy all of them.

[Jeff Mando]

Guys, guys, we're talking G, C, and D on songs you've played for 20 years............you don't have to be Sam Bush and Tony Rice to get that right!

Now, you wanna learn somebody's original composition with odd chord changes, minor chords, etc., sure knock yourself out, have a practice!

And, it goes without saying that some folks look forward to a weekly practice as a social event, I know I do! No harm in that!

[DataNick]

Depends on the band situation...My personal band project Desperado is by concept/design a bluegrass "wrecking crew" (ie: no rehearsal) in which I have a call list of some 30 bluegrass musicians in SoCal. Does it work? I'll let you be the judge but after less than 1 year, 3 festivals, 2 weddings, and several private events, I'd say yes it does.

[dhergert]

I'm in three bands (all Gospel bands), one with five people, one with three-to-four people and one with about a dozen people. While I love the mandolin, it isn't my main performing instrument -- my main band role and expertise is as banjo player. Most of the other members of these three bands are also in at least one other band. Two of the three bands that I'm in perform three to six times a year and practice once or twice before each gig. The other band plays so often that we really don't practice, but we may or may not warm up on a few more technical parts of our song list for a few minutes before each gig.

I know this reads like an algebra word problem, but really what I wanted to say is that once a band has arranged their songs, including the nuances such as starts and stops, key changes, etc., and once they've mastered them, it doesn't take much practice to get these nuances ready again for performing.

A big part of being in a serious band is playing off of the other people in the band, following their body language and chords, listening to what they are doing and picking up their individual nuances and adding to them. Doing this well requires that players know how to play without watching their own hands so they can watch everyone else in the band, that players have a sense about tempo and timing and that they know their way around chord progressions and keys. Pretty much like we all want to be when we grow up.

Once being able to play off of each other starts being achieved in a band, a lot of the easily forgettable nuances in songs become natural because the people in the band are all following each other. A lot of memory is used, but also a lot of improvisation happens, and since everyone in the band is following each other, if there's something unexpected that happens, everyone "covers" for the little goofs that get made, so it all sounds well practiced whether it is or not.

There is an energy that happens when a band plays like this, and it's not only fun to be a part of in the band, it's fun to watch it happening in the audience.

[Charlieshafer]

I'm not sure it wouldn't pertain to any group of musicians, bluegrass or otherwise. I have a friend who is a touring musician with his bandmates. Some of them live in different towns as well as states. They fly in, do a show and meet up for the next show. In addition, a couple of the musicians will go off and do a solo show as well. I think it may have more to do with how long they have been together, knowing each others style and playing music together for a long period of time. Just my thoughts.

Most of the band I know that do this will spend a solid week working on a show before the kick-off tour, get everything right, and then, yes, go their separate ways during the periods in between the tours. I know Jayme Stone does it this way, 9 Horses, Mr. Sun, etc

[jaycat]

. . . I remember a quote from Brent Midland of The Grateful Dead. He said that you can either practice incessantly with purpose and sound like Crosby, Stills, and Nash, or you can goof off and wind up sounding like the Dead. . . .

Surely those are not the only choices?

[Timbofood]

Hey Nick, do you guys ever try to do the "trumpet" part in "Ring of Fire"?
That hit me in the middle of a performance and my banjo player picked up on it and we both just looked at each other and started laughing! It's a fun little thing to throw back and forth.
We used to practice all the time but, now that we are not playing much,mwe might get together once or twice before a gig. Then three of the four of us have been playing together for better than forty years, maybe that's unfair.

[DHopkins]

Our band has been together about 9 years. We have enough songs in our repertoire such that we could probably play at least 4 hours without repeating anything. About one-third of those are played often enough that certainly no rehearsal is needed. We try to practice once a week. We use that practice to learn new songs and maybe spruce up some of the old ones with different intros, outros or breaks. We also brush up on some of those that we play less frequently.

About 5 years ago, we played a casual pool party/anniversary celebration. The day before, we got together to figure out what we were going to play and our lead singer introduced us to a song he wrote several years before. He wrote it for a co-worker's wedding reception. (That co-worker has since been divorced and re-married at least twice.) The song is called "I'd Know You Anywhere." Anyway, we went through it twice, decided against using it and moved on.

At the party, he had a change of heart and decided to do the song anyway. It came off perfect. One guy at the party was the team physician for a major league baseball team and he asked if we would record it so he could use it at his wedding in a couple of weeks. (I won't identify him because he is also now divorced.)

I say all that to say this: If the same guys work together long enough, you might be able to second-guess what the others are doing and maybe almost sound like you know what your doing. That can be advantageous if band rehearsals are hard to come by. I do a lot of breaks in our songs and I always keep an eye on the lead singer. Sometimes he can't remember the words to the next verse after the break. If he doesn't move back up to the mic or looks at me with a nod, I always extend the break until he gets back into position.

We average about 8-10 gigs a month. If we haven't learned each others' quirks by now, we probably never will.

[BrianWilliam]

Do land lines still incur long distance bills?

[DataNick]

Hey Nick, do you guys ever try to do the "trumpet" part in "Ring of Fire"?

Hey Tim!

My main fiddler, John-Michael Brooks, plays it and our banjo player in High Mountain Road does as well; otherwise it's hit & miss with other personnel.

[Ivan Kelsall]

When i had my band together back in the late 1960's early '70's,we had a list of well over 50 songs & instrumentals that we could play almost without thinking about them. To get to be like that,in the begining we practiced twice a week until it became as natural as breathing. We'd done our own individual practice at home before that, so we knew our 'parts'. After that,did our home practice to keep us on form. If we had a gig coming up,we'd get together & outline the tunes we were going to do & go through them. At one point,we were out every night & very often we'd play pretty much the same sets, with maybe the odd change if we though we needed to brush up on a song or tune. All told,we knew our stuff backwards & it was pretty easy after we'd got rid of our stage nerves. That only took a couple of tunes. Once we'd settled into a gig,we most likley could have played all night,& on the odd occassion we almost did. We played a Country & Western Club one night. We did our 2 x 20 minute spots (we weren't the only band on). Afterwards,the guy who ran the club told us that after 12.0 midnight,there was an ''all-night Folk club'' & asked if we could do another 2 sets. We agreed,after settling the ''cash flow'' situation,& we not only played our 2 sets,but another '2 sets worth' as well - awesome !!,
Ivan

[Timbofood]

When my band started, we had enough material for two sets and had to play four. We repeated the first two for the last half of the night until we had added enough to make each subsequent set. We too rehearsed twice a week and were playing a bar gig anywhere from two to four nights, it's amazing how much stamina we all had forty years ago!
As you get more familiar with the instrument, the easier making things "work" to sound right becomes. I rarely practice alone, never have. I do use Prof. Harold Hill's "Think Method" however, think the mandolin, play the mandolin (To paraphrase)
One time I had been out of town for almost a year and they boys had a gig booked for the day after I returned, I had not picked up my mandolin in the entire time I was away. After the gig, my banjo player turned (to now, my wife) and said " He just ticks me off, the way he can do that!" She only told me that about two years ago. The gig was probably ten years back.
But, the point is once you know each other well enough, things fall together much more easily. I have been asked to fill in from time to time for other guys and once you know what's going on within the band, you start to find the right "fit"
The more you play, the more you know.

[EdHanrahan]

Sorry to trot out yet another "college rock band" story, but Ivan's experience hits SO close to home ...

... late 1960's ... over 50 songs & instrumentals that we could play almost without thinking about them. ... in the begining we practiced twice a week until it became as natural as breathing.

Then in '95, with us spread over the east coast, Tom on lead guitar decided that his backyard party for 150 closed friends & neighbors really needed US to play. So, WITHOUT PRACTICE, we played together for the first time in 27 years! Sure there were a few mistakes, but even we had a hard time finding them on the videos that our wives (ya know, groupies?) made.

[Ivan Kelsall]

In many ways,back in the late 1960's early '70's when i got my band together (actually it was a joint effort between me & my friend Mike Bowker,the guitarist singer. We met one night & we'd had the same idea - start a band ) - coming up with the songs & getting them so we could play them together was easy - we both had the same LP's & learned to play the same songs / tunes the same way. So it was for Mike's cousin,Tom Bowker,when he joined us to play mandolin. We all knew how the songs were played & we knew them exactly the same way. It was easy for us to copy the style we'd heard,which in the begining, was what we did. Tom had a few of the old Folkways LP's with Old Timey songs on them, & we did our own arrangements of several of those,including the old tongue twister ''Jenny Jenkins'' - i think Mike put his own slant on the chorus at times,it certainly wasn't on the LP !.

Our band split for the most ridiculous of reasons which i won't go into,but it was caused by our guitarist letting his mouth run away with his brain !. Nothing 'nasty' simply supremely stupid in the circumstances. - Oh well !!!!,
Ivan

[fernmando]

I have played in at least 5 national acts, for periods of off-and-on fill in shows to 6 months or a year. I have always LOVED practice, as I love to hone, play and create, bouncing ideas off each other. I hate practice when all members aren't at the same level. It becomes teaching, which I do for a living and do not want to do during my "golf game".
That said, there wasn't any regimented practice in those bands. You were given the material, expected to know it, and you went on stage and played it. It was something to get used to. It's definitely a faith-walk for the band leaders. I joined at least one without an audition Sometimes we would run a couple songs backstage to knock the dust off, and then we'd go to work. One artist didn't like singing before the set because he wanted to save his best voice for the paying work We would sometimes run a few songs with whispered vocals.

Roscoe Morgan

[GTison]

If we don't practice regularly, one practice is usually counter productive for some reason. Maybe its because we listen more and/or our brain just relies on long term memory. Seems as though it only last one time though. I think It would be better to go over starts and stops and then go eat or relax. Talent, ability and experience work wonders.

[Mark Wilson]

I can go for days and still remember how most of a song goes. Stands to reason a pro or semipro can go for months