4 Tips For More Efficient Rehearsals

Rehearsals are the life-blood of a band. Whether you're neophyte players in the garage or a bunch of A-listers in the studio reading down a chart, you want to get the song down so it sounds great as quickly as possible.

Here are 4 tricks from my How To Make Your Band Sound Great book that any band can use to not only make that song sound better than ever, but also do it in the most expeditious manner possible.

"No matter what kind of music you play, here are a few rehearsal tips to help things go a bit smoother.

1. When your first learning a song, stop as soon as there’s a train wreck and work it out.  Talk it over to see what everyone is playing, then play just that part until you get it.  Sometimes the problem may be in the middle or end of a section, so if you’re able to play just that section, great.  It’s pretty easy to work out.  Most bands just can’t get into unless you start four bars before or even at the beginning of the section to work it out.  Whatever it takes to make things sound great!

2. Find the hardest part of the song and concentrate on that first.  Slow it down to where it’s easy to play, then bring it up to speed when everyone can play it cleanly.

3. Sometimes it’s best to start with the chorus, especially the out-chorus, since it usually repeats.  It’s the section of the song that you’ll play the most anyway and probably has a hook so it’s easy to remember.  Starting with the chorus can give you confidence about playing a difficult song.

Once the band knows the form and can make it through the song, then come back and work on the things talked about in Chapter 8 and below.

4. It’s The Little Things That Count

As we’ve been saying throughout this book, it’s the little things, the nuances, that take your band to another level.  They’re what make you sound great.  We’ve talked about these things before, but let’s list them again, because these are the things that you’ve got to have down.

• You know the part inside out

• The turnaround between song sections is defined.

• You know the dynamics of the song

• All rhythms are in the pocket and the song grooves

• Attacks and releases for each part are worked out

• All the sounds are layered so nothing clashes either rhythmically or frequency-wise

• All vocals are in the best range for the singers

• Background vocals are defined and tight

These are the things that you should be concentrating on during rehearsal, not so much your individual parts. Or, if you must learn your parts at rehearsal, make one rehearsal for the parts and the next for the nuances, but don’t take the song out of the room until you’ve got both down cold!"

To read additional excerpts from How To Make Your Band Sound Great and my other books, go to the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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7 Tips For A Better Rehearsal

Regardless of where you're at in the musical food chain, rehearsals are an essential part of your life. One of the major differences between a pro and an amateur is in rehearsal technique. Here's a quick checklist to make those rehearsals go a little smoother so you can get a lot more accomplished (excerpted from the How To Make Your Band Sound Great band improvement book).


1) Have an agenda. Know what youʼll be working on before rehearsal even begins. It saps so much energy out of a band to argue about what you're going to do when you have to decide at the rehearsal. Learn something new, work out something that doesn't sound right yet, but keep moving forward. And plan the next rehearsal at the end of the last one.

2) Know your parts before you get there. You canʼt concentrate on playing with the band if you donʼt know your parts. This applies more to cover bands, but can also apply to bands that play their own music as well. Usually the songwriter will record at least a rough demo before the band gets together to work it out. If you work out the changes and get an idea of where the song is going beforehand, there'll be a lot more time to experiment so you can perfect playing with the other musicians during rehearsal.

3) Concentrated on the details. It's not just the changes that make the song, it's all the other things that take it to the next level. Learning to play dynamically and concentrating on the turnarounds, builds, attacks and releases make all the difference in the world in how the song finally sounds.

4) Stop immediately when thereʼs a trainwreck. Address the problem while itʼs fresh. Don't let a mistake go by, especially if the player or players making it aren't aware of what they're doing. Remember the golden words, "How are your playing it?"

5) Work on the most difficult part first. Start as close to the part that's giving you trouble as you can and donʼt stop playing it until it works. Repeat until you get it, even if you have to play it slower at first, or softly so you can hear yourselves better.

6) Donʼt rehearse a song to death. Give it a break and come back later. One of the worst things that a band with their own music does is play the same songs every rehearsal. Give them a rest, especially if you've been playing them for a long time or out on gigs. Don't worry, you won't forget how to play them.

7) Rehearse your show. Before you play a gig, rehearse the entire show, including what youʼll say in- between songs, sound and light cues, etc. This is what a major touring band does and that's why they can nail it from the first night of the tour onwards. The less you leave to chance, the better your show will be.

Just by following these simple techniques, you'll find that not only will your rehearsals be more productive, but your shows as well.

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The Beatles "Hey Jude" Rehearsal

Here's a compilation of rehearsals of The Beatles "Hey Jude". What you'll see is snippets of takes 7 through 25, although most of the footage comes from take 9. This recording was not intended for the final recording, but was supposed to be part of documentary regarding the song. Much of the what you'll see never made it into the film.

In the middle you'll see George Harrison, producer George Martin, and engineer Ken Scott in the control room. George didn't have a part to play (reason unknown) so he chatted up Martin in the booth.

Things to look for:

1) Once again, the boys are having fun. It's great to see people (especially our heros) have fun when they're making music. They do seem bored with the process however.

2) Ringo, as always, is his steady self. In most of these behind-the-scenes things, he's always the one no one pays attention to, mostly because whatever he plays just seems to fit.

3) Also notice the drums - the tea towels draped over the toms, and the miking technique. It appears that all of the drums are individually miked, which is unusual for the time.

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"Get Back" Rehearsal - The Beatles

This week I have some great behind-the-scenes Beatles footage starting with a rehearsal for their hit "Get Back." There are two versions - the top one is edited and has much better video quality, and the bottom one shows a bit more behind-the-scenes, but the quality isn't as good for either the audio or video.

There are a couple of things to notice as you watch:

1) The boys are having fun. There are a lot of smiles and laughs, which is contrary to the perceived mood of the band during this period. They are thoroughly enjoying themselves, which is what being in a band is all about besides the music. In fact, that's the thing I miss most from my band days; the camaraderie and the laughs. If you don't have that, you don't have a band.

2) Check out their rehearsal technique. They work out all of the parts quietly before they crank it up so everyone can hear. For those of you just starting out in bands, this is the way to do it.

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Follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating the music business.

7 Tips For A Better Rehearsal

Regardless of where you're at in the musical food chain, rehearsals are an essential part of your life. One of the major differences between a pro and an amateur is in rehearsal technique. Here's a quick checklist to make those rehearsals go a little smoother so you can get a lot more accomplished.


1) Have an agenda. Know what youʼll be working on before rehearsal even begins. It saps so much energy out of a band to argue about what you're going to do when you have to decide at the rehearsal. Learn something new, work out something that doesn't sound right yet, but keep moving forward. And plan the next rehearsal at the end of the last one.

2) Know your parts before you get there. You canʼt concentrate on playing with the band if you donʼt know your parts. This applies more to cover bands, but can also apply to bands that play their own music as well. Usually the songwriter will record at least a rough demo before the band gets together to work it out. If you work out the changes and get an idea of where the song is going beforehand, there'll be a lot more time to experiment so you can perfect playing with the other musicians during rehearsal.

3) Concentrated on the details. It's not just the changes that make the song, it's all the other things that take it to the next level. Learning to play dynamically and concentrating on the turnarounds, builds, attacks and releases make all the difference in the world in how the song finally sounds.

4) Stop immediately when thereʼs a trainwreck. Address the problem while itʼs fresh. Don't let a mistake go by, especially if the player or players making it aren't aware of what they're doing. Remember the golden words, "How are your playing it?"

5) Work on the most difficult part first. Start as close to the part that's giving you trouble as you can and donʼt stop playing it until it works. Repeat until you get it, even if you have to play it slower at first, or softly so you can hear yourselves better.

6) Donʼt rehearse a song to death. Give it a break and come back later. One of the worst things that a band with their own music does is play the same songs every rehearsal. Give them a rest, especially if you've been playing them for a long time or out on gigs. Don't worry, you won't forget how to play them.

7) Rehearse your show. Before you play a gig, rehearse the entire show, including what youʼll say in- between songs, sound and light cues, etc. This is what a major touring band does and that's why they can nail it from the first night of the tour onwards. The less you leave to chance, the better your show will be.

Just by following these simple techniques, you'll find that not only will your rehearsals be more productive, but your shows as well.