Practicing for band practice

[violet]

i've been playing exactly 2 years and am in a band... and need to practice our songs a lot on my own, right before band practice, in order to have a decent group practice without making numerous embarrassing mistakes. this takes a ton of time and doesn't seem to actually make me a better drummer, it just prepares me for the group practice so i don't mess up.

did/does anyone else have this issue? my other bandmates just come in and play... i'm hoping that i'll improve enough soon to move beyond this. i'm overwhelmed with everything i need to do better.

[babliku]

What mistakes are you making? If your brain is on overdrive during group practice, from trying to navigate through the song, I suggest you simplify. Concentrate on keeping the time good and also being able to listen to the other members while playing.

If you practise consistently (not just before band practice haha), you'll surely improve, just don't try to too much too quickly. Try to focus on a few aspects and you'll see progress.

[gusty]

hows your technique?

[Joe_Ita]

You can:
- practice the groove you use in that particular song
- practice the fills you use in that particualr song
- sing the song and follow it with your playing
- write a chart and follow the chart

[Wavelength]

Listen to the songs and write charts (including the song form, dynamics, important rhythmic figures etc...) of them. Imagine playing the songs without listening to the songs, but try to remember and imagine how it should sound while reading the chart and pretend-playing. Then do the same thing but play the song on the drums, again without listening to the song itself but while looking at the chart and trying to remember how it should sound. The point is not to just read the chart, but use the chart as a visual memory aid.

Start with very minimal grooves and fills; simplify everything to their bare bones. By not having to worry about playing, you can focus on the song itself, and the less you play, the less mistakes you'll do, and the better you and the band will sound. When you have learned the song by heart, you may start adding appropriate fills and flourishes, but don't ever forget the song, its form and its rhythmic hooks. Try to learn the song as quickly as possible and get rid of the chart; otherwise you may find yourself relying on it during rehearsals or gigs (been there, done that, gone past it).

[jonescrusher]

Try to learn the song as quickly as possible and get rid of the chart; otherwise you may find yourself relying on it during rehearsals or gigs (been there, done that, gone past it).


Your standards are just too high! What's wrong with using charts?

[Big_Philly]

Your standards are just too high! What's wrong with using charts?

Nothing, really, but I find it a comfortable idea to know that I know what I have to play by heart. And it looks cooler not having to look at any sheet music or charts during playing.

Sometimes, when I play a lot of songs during gigs I will have a notebook lying next to me with some quick notes about song structure, not more than one or two lines per song.

[Wavelength]

Your standards are just too high! What's wrong with using charts?

Nothing wrong per se, but I've found that following a chart usually takes something away from the energy and excitement of the song. If your eyes are locked on the chart, you're not looking at the band members and the audience -- it's almost like you're all alone playing along to a live backing track. I don't like it, but sometimes time is so scarce (if I need to play four sets of new songs next weekend, for example) I have to play a gig from charts. I consider charts and notation in general to be learning tools, and they should be discarded once you have learned and memorised them.

[violet]

thanks... very helpful. i've used notes in the past but not quite as you described, and i wasn't even using those anymore. i need to...thanks.

[hungrypo]

i've been playing exactly 2 years and am in a band... and need to practice our songs a lot on my own, right before band practice, in order to have a decent group practice without making numerous embarrassing mistakes. this takes a ton of time and doesn't seem to actually make me a better drummer, it just prepares me for the group practice so i don't mess up.

did/does anyone else have this issue? my other bandmates just come in and play... i'm hoping that i'll improve enough soon to move beyond this. i'm overwhelmed with everything i need to do better.

hey violet...
i was in the same situation with the last band i was in. i was in university studying music at the time, and i had already been playing drums for 9 years. i thought i was pretty good, but when i started playing with these cats at school i felt like you said: overwhelmed with everything that i had to get better at. things like my stick control, my technique, TIME(!!!) both metronomic and feel wise, basically everything that makes a good drummer.

i was also under a lot of pressure to be 'creative' and 'original' and to feed my ego - making sure i was the most 'creative and original drummer of all time'. i, like you, spent a lot of time out of our proper band rehearsals to practice playing the songs that we wrote on my own, but with a metronome. this helped a great deal. but it did take a lot of time. my friends would be in the pub, and i would be at the practice room. but i would go to the pub later :-P

my point is that many people go through what you're going through, and the worst thing you can do is beat yourself up over it. you will get better at the drums through consistent and focused practice. that doesn't necessarily mean practicing for hours at a time, but it means when you are practicing, pick one thing to get better at, and spend maybe 30 mins trying to do it better. do that every day, or every other day, and you will see improvement, and that's when you get really motivated instead of overwhelmed.

cheers!

[Ytsejammer]

The more I play with the same and different people, the more I realize that confidence is the most important thing. It will steady your groove and improve your fills as well as clear your mind. Whether you're Jojo Mayer or Chad Smith or you, if your confident in what you play it makes you that much better.
I struggle a lot with song structure right away when I start learning a song, especially this year. It was the first time I had joined a band and had to learn pre-existing music rather than just make something up, which was a big struggle. But I listened to the recordings day and night and that helps more than anything. Make notes, but it's also a really good idea to record what you do, if you like it, memorize it; if not, change it. Cheers

[royspeed]

For the past few months, I have been subbing for the regular drummer in a local covers band, as he was away on business in LA. The guys gig fairly regularly, and it is no surprise for them to throw a song at me during a gig that I have not played before. I usually manage to make a good fist of it, and can cope with various time-signatures and tempos.
I have found that this has helped me greatly when I rehearse with my regular band, MindfooD, as the extra experience it gives me enables me to broaden my range of fills and breaks, and as I am the only band member that has actually gigged so far, both with the covers band and my original group thirty years ago, they have commented on how my playing helps them to construct the songs more easily.

So, the more you play, the more other musicians will appreciate your efforts.

Keep Rocking,

Roy.

It also helps if you can listen to the music away from the band, as Ytsejammer says, even if you do not have a kit to hand, you can capture the grooves and structure of the songs, and will be more prepared to actually play it when the time comes.