Musicians who don't want to rehearse

rogue_drummer

Gold Member
The band I got asked to join several months ago through an audition that is in the process of rebuilding after their drummer died (very good drummer, I might add....the rest of the band thought very highly of him...) is now going through an ordeal of trying to rebuild and redefine itself by adding keys and a female lead singer, maybe a sax player, etc.

So the two guys remaining who are original members are banging thier heads against a wall trying to find decent people who aren't egomaniacs, druggies, alcoholics, etc.

I get an email and a phone call several weeks ago from the leader saying he and the bass player are going to check out a keys player and singer, so to sit tight, they'll keep me in the loop and let me know what's going on. Hopefully these two are a good fit, etc.

I rehearsed with these orignial members twice before and we definately have something going, so I'm thinking all is good and hopefully we can have a fully band before long.

Get this: the 2 people they tried to recruit, both good players I was told, didn't want to spend time once a week for 3 hour rehearsing the material. They just wanted to "show up and play" like hired guns, although they wanted to be listed on all band advertising, the web site, etc.

The female lead singer just wanted to show up and have the band follow HER, instead of being PART of the band.

They were quickly told "thanks but no thanks".

So, we are on break until decent people can be found....
 
At least they stated that at the outset. Better to lay your cards on the table early than create drama later.
 
I play with a regional act that is a 10 piece band. If you asked ANY of these guys to rehearse they'd laugh. This is a band that brings in $3500+ per show (corporate, weddings, clubs, etc).
They expect to run new tunes at the gig and maybe for soundcheck.
Here's the thing: sometimes the band consists of subs that have never MET let alone know the material. They call it "being pro".
Weird, right?
 
In theory, if everybody knew their parts, it would be possible.

I assume that musicians that read do it all the time.

I understand and appreciate that arrangements need to be done but I hate hate hate band rehearsals where people are trying to learn their parts on my time.
 
Once a week rehearsals aren't even on my radar anymore. All four of my bands practice on an "as needed" basis. I fully understand the mentality of pro musicians being reluctant to practice/rehearse on a regular basis. It's not an ego thing, but more of a not wasting time thing...
 
I have been part of bands that rehearse once or twice a week and bands that rehearse as little as possible. I always, always felt like the bands that rehearsed more often were more in tune on a personal level and we could read each other much more clearly. If there's any improvisation at all in your act, it's not the easiest thing to do to pick up someone's cues at the gig.

I do think that on a session basis, rehearsals are time, and as we all know, time equals money. Show up with your part learned, brush up with the person who's writing the checks, do the job, and everyone's happy.

The best bands sound like they've been together forever, and in bands where the chemistry isn't that way automatically, it will take some time and work.
 
It really doesn't matter how good you are, or think you are, practice makes better. I believe that the more time you spend together, and play together, the more you will understand each other and subtle cues that each player emits. That said, there's nothing as exciting as a great "jam" with players you've never played with before... when it's going well.
 
The female lead singer just wanted to show up and have the band follow HER, instead of being PART of the band.

I had the same situation in a band where we had a guy free style rap over our music, but he rarely ever came to rehearsals because he never "felt like it." The music still sounded ok, even though he didn't know where the songs ended. But that was high school. That woman was either incredibly skilled and professional, or an amateur with potential. My money's on the latter.
 
The two hired guns in this one band I play with don't like to rehearse, like they're arrogantly above it or something. I think that's fine but we're all paid to rehearse and as the least experienced musician in the group I need it.
 
Decades ago I was on a quartet gig with one monster of a bebop alto saxophonist. The piano
player and I asked if we could get together the day before to rehearse. He was thrilled we
wanted to do that and so we played for about 4 hours. On the gig, the first set went by and
during the break I mentioned that we hadn't played any of the tunes we ran through at the
rehearsal.....to which he replied...."but we just played those. You don't want to play them
again tonight do you?" That was a turning point in my understanding of performing live jazz.
It was just a rehearsal to make sure the chemistry was going to work.
 
The rehearsal thing goes both ways for me, and it always depends on the band, and the state of that band.

One guy I've worked with for almost 33 years (not Al, BTW) never rehearses, not in the last 25+ years anyway. And, he brings new music to us, and the band members change from time to time! Still, no rehearsals. We don't do a large numbers of gigs, 2 or 3 a month, and there are no sound checks to speak of... yet we sound great, even on new songs that he brings us on the spot, with no stumbles or glaring errors. How do we do it?? Simply put, we're pros who know how he works, and can also follow cues on the fly. Sure there's a little discussion, maybe a simple chart provided, but the first time we play a new song is the first time we play it!

Then again, there's a cover band that doesn't learn many new songs per year, yet we always try to rehearse before our regular monthly gig. In that case, the other members aren't pros who keep busy between gigs, and getting together is a social activity as much as anything.

And another of my bands is going through singer and bass player changes, and sorely needs to rehearse, but we just can't seem to coordinate everyone. Yet, we continue to do gigs, and the lack of rehearsal is evident.

There are also bands I've played with several times where there's never been a rehearsal with me.

Like I said, it depends, and I never mind rehearsing if there's a reason to do so.

Bermuda
 
For years I've been in bands where the members live too far apart for regular rehearsals to be practical, so we practice our parts individually and then come together for a very occasional rehearsal just to make sure everything works before a gig. This works for certain sorts of music more than others though, and with some people better than others.
For Gloryhammer, we had three rehearsals with just me, the guitarist, bassist and our backing tracks, and then one rehearsal with all five of us, before our first ever gig, and it seems like we got away with it!
 
I used to be in a band that rehearsed significantly more then we played out. I had to leave that band. Nothing whips a band into shape like a live gig. Too much rehearsal is just as bad as not enough rehearsal IMO.
 
I used to be in a band that rehearsed significantly more then we played out. I had to leave that band. Nothing whips a band into shape like a live gig. Too much rehearsal is just as bad as not enough rehearsal IMO.

I was in a band for a while where the main decision-maker of the band would rearrange all the songs almost every time we rehearsed them...new parts, new structures, new requests for drum parts...it was impossible to learn anything for long because we ended up having to change it all again shortly afterwards. That was both a band that needed a lot of rehearsal time, and an example of rehearsal time possibly having an unhelpful influence as well.
 
All four of us enjoy rehearsing.

We try to rehearse weekly. It's as much a social thing for us, as a musical thing but we do like playing so much that we'd probably rehearse even if we didn't have gigs coming up.
 
The rehearsal thing goes both ways for me, and it always depends on the band, and the state of that band.

One guy I've worked with for almost 33 years (not Al, BTW) never rehearses, not in the last 25+ years anyway. And, he brings new music to us, and the band members change from time to time! Still, no rehearsals. We don't do a large numbers of gigs, 2 or 3 a month, and there are no sound checks to speak of... yet we sound great, even on new songs that he brings us on the spot, with no stumbles or glaring errors. How do we do it?? Simply put, we're pros who know how he works, and can also follow cues on the fly. Sure there's a little discussion, maybe a simple chart provided, but the first time we play a new song is the first time we play it!

Then again, there's a cover band that doesn't learn many new songs per year, yet we always try to rehearse before our regular monthly gig. In that case, the other members aren't pros who keep busy between gigs, and getting together is a social activity as much as anything.

And another of my bands is going through singer and bass player changes, and sorely needs to rehearse, but we just can't seem to coordinate everyone. Yet, we continue to do gigs, and the lack of rehearsal is evident.

There are also bands I've played with several times where there's never been a rehearsal with me.

Like I said, it depends, and I never mind rehearsing if there's a reason to do so.

Bermuda

Bermuda pretty much sums it up. I think that for a new band (or in this case a band that is revamping itself, adding a new singer, etc) having 2 3-hour rehearsals a week would be the natural thing to do at first. Once the band is tight, then dropping down to 1 rehearsal a week (or every other week) could be all that's needed to keep things in shape between gigs, add new songs, etc. It depends on the band's dynamic.
 
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