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Amp Up Your Band's Performance: The Art of Balancing Practice and Rehearsal · The Steve Stine Podcast

• 0:36
  Steve: Hey, steve here, thank you so much for joining me.
• 0:37
  Steve: Today we're going to be talking about the difference between personal practice and rehearsal.
• 0:44
  Steve: I got into a conversation with an industry friend of mine and this became the topic of our conversation about how frustrated he was sometimes when he shows up for rehearsal and then winds up being the instructor to try and teach everybody their parts, ends up being the instructor to try and teach everybody their parts.
• 1:04
  Steve: So I'm just letting you know, if you're kind of new to the game and you're starting to play in bands or whatever the case may be, one of the most important things that you can do is prep everything you possibly can before you ever get to a rehearsal.
• 1:18
  Steve: Okay, what a rehearsal really is for is for every member of the band to learn how each other's elements work together.
• 1:31
  Steve: Okay, um, you know you've learned the song, you know how the beginning goes, you know how the end goes, you've got a plan for the solo, whatever it might be, and now you get together and you know the drummer may have a different tempo in mind, or the groove might be a little bit different, or the way the drummer starts the song might be a little bit different, or maybe it's exactly the same.
• 1:56
  Steve: Okay, maybe when you start playing it sounds a little bit different, right?
• 2:02
  Steve: So these are the things that you try and work out organically and methodically with the band members is how to get through the songs as a group and then figuring out dynamic elements.
• 2:17
  Steve: You know any, any issues that you're having, uh, in terms of the feel of a certain part, or the transition of a certain part, or whatever it might be.
• 2:27
  Steve: Those are the things that you're working out in rehearsal.
• 2:31
  Steve: You don't show up for rehearsal going.
• 2:35
  Steve: Well, how did the chords go for this part, right?
• 2:38
  Steve: Or, uh, can someone show me the lead line for this?
• 2:42
  Steve: Or what scale should I be using for soloing, or something like that.
• 2:45
  Steve: That's not their responsibility.
• 2:48
  Steve: That's your responsibility to have already worked those things out.
• 2:52
  Steve: Now, that doesn't mean that you might show up for your rehearsal and there's a certain part that needs to be worked on between two of the musicians, or something like that.
• 3:05
  Steve: I think that might be a valid thing that could be done in a rehearsal, as long as it doesn't take a long time.
• 3:11
  Steve: One of the appropriate things that you can do is if you find something like that when you're working with another musician and you start trying to work on something kind of making a plan and you realize that it's already taken you, you know a couple, three minutes to work this out.
• 3:27
  Steve: That's when you would say something like okay, we'll come back to this, you know so-and-so and I will work on this outside of rehearsal, but we're going to work this up, we're going to have this taken care of.
• 3:37
  Steve: That way.
• 3:38
  Steve: You're not taking 15, 20, 30 minutes to try and work up a part, while your drummer and your bass player and the saxophone player or whoever might be in your band is sitting there waiting for you to figure this out.
• 3:49
  Steve: You can simply identify that there is an issue and then decide that you're going to get together with this other person or whatever it might be, outside of rehearsal in some other form of practice, to work that up.
• 4:04
  Steve: So that's one thing that I do with the people that I play with oftentimes is that I will work up all the things I need to work up on my own and then, if there might be a dual guitar part or some sort of thing like that, then I'll get together with that other person again not at rehearsal but at some point, so we can work on these parts make a plan, you know, are the harmonies working or whatever it is that we need to do.
• 4:31
  Steve: So now we both go okay, we've got that figured out, now we can separate, we can both work on these things, and then everybody then gets together for that rehearsal and now we put it all together.
• 4:46
  Steve: It's not like the rehearsal has to be perfect, it's not like everything that you're doing has to be absolutely perfect for the rehearsal.
• 4:52
  Steve: But the rehearsal the whole point of that is is for the entire band to start trying to feel the ebb and flow of these songs and how they work together and how the tempos are going to work, as I said, and the dynamics and all these different kinds of things and any structural elements.
• 5:11
  Steve: That all needs to be worked out in that rehearsal.
• 5:13
  Steve: Now, if you have multiple rehearsals for a very important show, or maybe you're going on tour or whatever it might be, this is where, obviously, as you keep getting together over and over and over each rehearsal, the point is to dial in further, right.
• 5:29
  Steve: So maybe it's dialing in parts, maybe it's just dialing in groove, right, the feel of each other's playing and you're dialing that in.
• 5:38
  Steve: That's what each subsequent rehearsal is for.
• 5:42
  Steve: It's not to show up and have the same problems over and over and over.
• 5:45
  Steve: Your job is to eliminate those problems on your end.
• 5:49
  Steve: So if I'm going to show up for rehearsal and I've got a really difficult song to play guitar-wise, I have spent a lot of time on my own dialing all that in.
• 6:02
  Steve: I don't want to, you know, have a situation where the band has to keep starting over because I don't know my parts or I keep making mistakes.
• 6:11
  Steve: Now again, I can make mistakes, but I have to make a mistake that can continue on right.
• 6:17
  Steve: If it's a mistake that makes me fail and I stop, then the whole band has to stop and they have to wait for me.
• 6:23
  Steve: And you know, it's always been in my nature not to allow that to happen.
• 6:28
  Steve: I am not going to waste anybody's time.
• 6:32
  Steve: So if I put myself in a situation where I'm playing songs that are challenging, in whatever capacity that is, then it requires more personal practice on my part to prepare these things, and when I show up for rehearsal I would expect everybody else to have done the same thing.
• 6:53
  Steve: So if I show up and the drummer hasn't learned it, or you know the drummer can't, you know, play a certain part of it or something like that.
• 7:00
  Steve: Again, we all have our limitations.
• 7:02
  Steve: That's an entirely different thing.
• 7:04
  Steve: But if there is a physical limitation that we cannot perform this song, we're going to find out in rehearsal, and we may have even found out beforehand by a simple phone call or a text saying, yeah, this isn't going to work, like, I can't do that.
• 7:17
  Steve: But let's take in the assumption that we all really can play this, you know, in whatever capacity we need to.
• 7:25
  Steve: So when we show up, then that drummer is is saying okay, so this is how I'm going to play this and I've got this double bass part that I'm going to be doing today.
• 7:33
  Steve: The double bass part isn't going to be exactly perfect because I'm still working it up, but we can certainly get through the song.
• 7:40
  Steve: Hey, that's okay.
• 7:41
  Steve: That happens Just like if I've got a solo that I'm working on and I don't have that solo quite dialed in yet, but I can get through the rehearsal with everybody.
• 7:49
  Steve: Right, the solo isn't perfect, it isn't exactly what I want it to be, but it doesn't derail me from playing the song.
• 7:57
  Steve: We have to keep quitting.
• 7:58
  Steve: I just I'm just not creatively.
• 8:00
  Steve: I haven't decided what I want to do yet with that.
• 8:02
  Steve: Well, that's okay, that's.
• 8:04
  Steve: That's not going to, you know, inadvertently cause problems with everybody else.
• 8:10
  Steve: I just I'm just not ready with that part yet, okay, so those things can happen.
• 8:16
  Steve: You know, you go from rehearsals where you're just trying to brush up on things and make sure that you're feeling good with each other, and then there's rehearsals where you know the song structures or the complexity of what you're working on is at a much higher level, and so sometimes you have to work those parts out and you will have to stop and you will have to fix those things right, because you're learning how to synchronize with the other people in the band these complex parts that you're playing.
• 8:44
  Steve: That's exactly what rehearsal is for.
• 8:46
  Steve: It's not because you showed up and didn't know your parts, it's that you're trying to figure out how these parts are going to jive with everybody else in making these parts function right.
• 8:58
  Steve: Sometimes, again, when you're dealing with something that's, you know, maybe technically more advanced, or the groove is really really advanced or something about it just really needs to be locked in, and so you know you might take a segment of a song and, instead of practicing the entire song, you as a band at rehearsal, are dialing in this segment of the tune.
• 9:21
  Steve: Right, that's okay.
• 9:23
  Steve: That's what rehearsal can be too.
• 9:25
  Steve: So you have to remember that rehearsal isn't just about getting through a song.
• 9:30
  Steve: That's definitely part of it.
• 9:32
  Steve: But, depending on the kind of music that you're playing, sometimes that rehearsal is also about dialing in certain elements that you're playing.
• 9:39
  Steve: Sometimes that rehearsal is also about dialing in certain elements.
• 9:46
  Steve: What I would say that's worth thinking about is that if it's something in particular that maybe you and the drummer need to work out, or you and the drummer and the bass player need to work out and the singer doesn't necessarily need to be there for that right, or whatever it might be you can always arrange a pseudo-rehearsal with these other musicians to dial in these things.
• 10:02
  Steve: So by the time you get the full band together, now you can do whatever Everybody's there and you can work on it.
• 10:09
  Steve: So always think of it as kind of like three or four levels.
• 10:12
  Steve: Level one is you being prepared as best you can with your things.
• 10:14
  Steve: You being prepared as best you can with your things, aside from the parts that really need to be developed with your band.
• 10:22
  Steve: The second level is sub-rehearsals, where you're getting together with other people another guitar player, a bass player.
• 10:30
  Steve: You know a drummer and bass player, whatever it might be, and you're working out things before you get to the full fledged rehearsal.
• 10:40
  Steve: You know, maybe you're doing that in somebody's basement or something.
• 10:46
  Steve: Before you get to an actual rehearsal space.
• 10:47
  Steve: You're trying to dial in these things and then there's the real rehearsal.
• 10:52
  Steve: So it can work lots of different ways.
• 10:55
  Steve: What I have found is the best way of keeping the phone ringing is to show up as prepared as you possibly can be and be ready, and you might, at rehearsal, take notes on things Like there might be an adjustment to an arrangement of a song, or the way you're going to be playing something, or how many repetitions there's going to be, or you're going to eliminate a certain part or whatever I mean there's all kinds of different things that can happen.
• 11:21
  Steve: So, having a piece of paper and a pencil handy, or having your phone with your notes ready where you can keep track of these things, so that way, next time you get together for rehearsal you're not like, oh, I forgot about that, we were going to do that.
• 11:35
  Steve: You know, what I like to do is, after rehearsals, we've taken all these notes and then we can share the notes after the rehearsal with each other in a text or whatever, saying this is what we decided on, this is what we're going to do, you know.
• 11:47
  Steve: And that way, before the next rehearsal, we can go hey, everybody, remember, we're doing this half whatever.
• 11:52
  Steve: And if you have somebody in your band who's consistently going oh, I forgot, that's the person you put on alert and you text them.
• 12:00
  Steve: Right, if you're, certainly if you're the band leader, at least at that moment you are, you're the one that's going to need to remind them.
• 12:07
  Steve: Hey, this is how this part needs to go.
• 12:08
  Steve: You don't need to be a jerk about it, but you can, you know, let them know.
• 12:12
  Steve: You know, remember, this is how this part's going to go.
• 12:14
  Steve: So you can text them after the rehearsal, you can text them a couple of days before the next rehearsal, say, hey, just letting everybody know, remember, we've made these adjustments or these, these edits, so this is what we've got and I'm super excited to play with you on Thursday or whatever.
• 12:29
  Steve: And and there you go.
• 12:30
  Steve: So always remember that.
• 12:35
  Steve: I've had a couple of experiences where I've showed up for, you know, a rehearsal and somebody is like, well, I got to listen to the parts, like I gotta, it's like this is not the time to be doing that.
• 12:44
  Steve: Okay, I'm a busy human being, as everybody else in this room probably is.
• 12:49
  Steve: Um, that's not what rehearsal is for.
• 12:52
  Steve: It's not for you to now spend the next 20 minutes or 30 minutes trying to learn songs and just a rule of life that I firmly believe in show up on time, okay.
• 13:05
  Steve: If you're going to have rehearsal and rehearsals at eight, don't show up at eight, oh five, and then start setting up your drums or setting up your guitar gear.
• 13:13
  Steve: So now it's 8.30 and everybody's waiting around.
• 13:16
  Steve: If rehearsal is at 8, unless the doors don't open until 8, unless you don't have a key to get in, okay, then you can say setup is at 8, rehearsal's at 8.20.
• 13:29
  Steve: That's an easy way of doing that.
• 13:32
  Steve: If it's at your house or it's at a rehearsal space where everybody can get in, you say be ready to play, be ready to rehearse at eight o'clock, okay.
• 13:41
  Steve: So if you're a drummer and it takes you 30 minutes to get your stuff set up, you're going to get there at 7.30.
• 13:46
  Steve: If you're a guitar player and you have a bunch of gear that you have to set up, you're going to get there at 7.30 or 7.40.
• 13:52
  Steve: So you're ready to play at eight.
• 13:55
  Steve: Because if your rehearsal is eight to 10 and it takes till 8.30 to get ready and everybody's talking, now it's 8.30 and you kind of get rolling.
• 14:04
  Steve: And now you've got some problems and somebody didn't learn the part.
• 14:06
  Steve: Now it's a quarter to nine, right, the time goes by very, very quickly, unless you've got five hours to sit around and hang out, which is great.
• 14:15
  Steve: And if you're okay with nobody being prepared and everybody showing up late, and that works for you, that's wonderful.
• 14:21
  Steve: That does not work for me, okay, and a lot of people that I know and that I work with, it doesn't work that way.
• 14:27
  Steve: So if rehearsal's at 8, it means we're starting at 8.
• 14:31
  Steve: Okay, and you can always say be ready to make noise at 8 pm.
• 14:35
  Steve: Okay, get there early if you need to to get stuff set up.
• 14:39
  Steve: We're going to start making noise at 8 pm or whatever the time is right.
• 14:43
  Steve: That's a great way of being able to run your rehearsals as well.
• 14:48
  Steve: And if you find yourself in a situation with players who are not prepared, who show up late, who don't show up at all, get out, find a different band, find different people to play with, because that's not the way to run a ship.
• 15:02
  Steve: I tell you it's not the way.
• 15:04
  Steve: So, anyway, hopefully that helps you a little bit in understanding a little bit more about the difference between a practice, a rehearsal, and then the in-between stuff that you can do to get yourself ready.
• 15:14
  Steve: It's very, very important to do that, all right, so do me a favor, make sure you check out guitarzoomcom, check out my guitar courses, all that sort of thing, see if there's anything there that works for you and, most importantly, stay positive, keep practicing and I'll talk to you soon, okay.