Hi everyone, hope you all are doing well!
Yesterday I came back from a band practice and this made me think that I could make a post about a few things that some musicians do all the time ; Things that make a band progression much harder than it should be. I will tell you about those behaviors that literally kill a band practice.
This post has for goal to inform and help musicians out there who aim for a higher level of effectiveness in their projects. Here's what not to do at a band practice :
- Arriving late.
This as to be the most common thing that musicians do before practicing. It's not a problem if it happen just a few times for good reasons such as an urgency or an accident, but when it become an habit it can really irritate your band mates. There's no magic to avoid this problem : organize yourself, set a schedule, plan the time you'll need to get at the practice... or come earlier.
- Forgetting gear.
You should know exactly what you need before a practice, if you struggle at it then I recommend you write a checklist of your needs before packaging. It can be understandable that you forget one specific thing if you have to bring like 15 pedals, 4 cables, a midi pad, your laptop, 2 instruments and an amp... but when all you need is a D.I., 2 cables and your charts, then most of the time there will be no excuses. Personally, I even bring some spare gear in case something happen.
- Not knowing your parts or didn't hear the song before the practice.
If you have good sight reading or hearing skills this problem shouldn't be hard to overcome since it'll only take a few minutes for you to memorize what you have to play, but for those who lack it, it can be a problematic situation in a band because those who know their part will always have reminds others of their own, which will surely annoy them.
Just do it.
- Arriving stoned or drunk.
The purpose of a practice is to be fully aware of the mistakes to eventually get the band ready for a real show, as quick as possible. Some might think that consuming help them ''feel'' what they play, but really drugs and alcohol only distract you from your main objective... avoid mistakes. Consuming drugs and alcohol has the same effect as putting too much reverb on your amp ; you’ll notice your mistakes much harder.
- Constantly looking at phone, memes, facebook, instagram, snapchat...
It just shows that you're not interested in the band's projects and that you're not up to anything productive. This behavior can have an impact on your band mates productivity as well as your's. Of course, memes are fun, but you can surely watch them at more appropriate times.
- Arriving late, stoned AND without gear.
This as to be one of the most disgusting way to show up at a band practice. It happened one day that one of my band’s bassist showed up 1 hour 45 minutes late, stoned and without his gear, charts, etc. It goes without saying that this situation is likely to kick you out from the band, which happened very quickly in his case.
If you don't do these things it'll directly impact the way your band will evolve and grow. Over the time you'll notice your practices will be more productive, fun and will eventually lead you to your dream gigs!
See ya!
Laurent