Experienced guys gimme tips on rehearsals

[Shawn Lutz]

first of all everyone should know the material well , practice your set list or a good majority of it. If you are doing any originals live ample time for jams and improvs as for me that is where i created a lot of new material from.

For me it was important for rehearsal to be for the band only...no wives or girlfriends that way your are rehearsing and not performing

its important to have fun but its also important not to watse anyones time too...

[Trem]

Show up..

Show up half an hour late. The drummer will anyway, so you might as well not stand around fuming.

I kid, I kid.

:ROTF: and the truth has been spoken - ah, that cracked me up

[Outlander]

Keep your tone balanced with the others as was stated before, a great tone on your guitar by itself is not usually the best amongst other instrumentation. I like to rehearse unmiked and key the volume and balance off the drummer. Instruments just a bit over the drum level and vocals on top of everything. Set up as you would on stage whenever possible, this helps you define and keep your levels balanced as well.

[MartinBarre]

I normally play with the mids set almost to 0, with bass around 3 and treble around 7. But I read that in a band situation you should be turning the mids up more.

Any tips on setting a three band EQ so it cuts through the mix well? It's bloody hard to tell when everything's so loud!

And does anyone wear earplugs? My right ear started to ring pretty early on last week and I thought I should maybe have the old lugs protected. It's not rock and roll, but I'd rather be a cock with earplugs than be deaf.

[Tim]

I normally play with the mids set almost to 0, with bass around 3 and treble around 7. But I read that in a band situation you should be turning the mids up more.

Any tips on setting a three band EQ so it cuts through the mix well? It's bloody hard to tell when everything's so loud!

And does anyone wear earplugs? My right ear started to ring pretty early on last week and I thought I should maybe have the old lugs protected. It's not rock and roll, but I'd rather be a cock with earplugs than be deaf.

Turn your mids up. Way up.

If you have your mids set that low you'll need to turn your amp up far louder to be heard, and that will damage your hearing.

Try Bass 3, Mids 7, Treble 6. Maybe a bit more treble or bass if your amp is voiced quite middy already. If you overdo the treble or bass the cymbals or bass guitar will mush up with your tone and it'll sound indistinct.

EDIT: And if you can't hear what's going on, your band is either playing way too loud or you're using too much gain.

[Newc]

Definitely get some earplugs. Pete Townshend certainly regrets his hearing loss.

[MartinBarre]

I actually have a set of custom moulded earplugs, which I had made when I worked in the J&B whisky factory. I'll try them.

[MartinBarre]

Double post sorry

[Bert]

Get some custom molded musician's earplugs. I'm pretty bad about wearing mine, but when I do they sound way better than stuff that's just meant to block noise. They have little channels in them that let the high frequencies through.

Oh, and if you plan to play out, it helps to work on stage presence. That's something I never quite appreciated enough until it was too late!

[Tim]

Stage presence is something that comes naturally, if you "work on it" then it can come out really cheesy and staged-looking. You just have to endure the first few gigs of standing there shoegazing drenched in sweat

[Gartron]

Sounds obvious, but make sure that you are enjoying it, when I left my band I put my guitar down for three years cause I couldn't stand to look at it let alone play it.

For me it came to the point when rehersals became a massive chore which I dreaded almost as much as going to work.

[Bert]

Stage presence is something that comes naturally, if you "work on it" then it can come out really cheesy and staged-looking. You just have to endure the first few gigs of standing there shoegazing drenched in sweat

I don't think it comes naturally for everyone. I'm not suggesting staged theatrics, but for example it can take some amount of concerted effort to learn to play without your eyes burning holes in the fretboard. It did for me anyway. There's more to a good performance than just playing the notes.

[thenine]

I generally say there a 4 things.

1.) be on time - dont be late
2.) handle your gear - no cord issues, guitars that wont stay in tune, etc
3.) know your parts - if you cant hang, if you dont know the material, etc
4.) play hard - give it all you got every minute, every day

[Newc]

Get some custom molded musician's earplugs. I'm pretty bad about wearing mine, but when I do they sound way better than stuff that's just meant to block noise. They have little channels in them that let the high frequencies through.

High frequencies are what damage your hearing.

Hearing protection is essential for musicians, but you have to know what they're doing. Some people will put in earplugs, then crank the highs/mids on their amp and drop the bass to make the amp sound like it did without the earplugs, which is incorrect.

Earplugs are designed to reduce the volume of harmful high frequencies as well as reduce the volume over the whole spectrum. Once you have them in, don't adjust your EQ unless it's to fit with the band. Only then after you've heard the playback of a recorded track or if you've got a reliable soundman with good hearing and no plugs to tell you what's missing.

I started wearing earplugs to rehearsals and then the singer/guitarist got in on it. He wanted to crank his highs because he couldn't hear his amp the same way he was hearing it before the earplugs.

After a few minutes, I told him to remove his plugs and listen to the playback. It sounded like crap. Then I had him put his amp back like it was and it sounded like it should have.

[MartinBarre]

High frequencies are what damage your hearing.

Hearing protection is essential for musicians, but you have to know what they're doing. Some people will put in earplugs, then crank the highs/mids on their amp and drop the bass to make the amp sound like it did without the earplugs, which is incorrect.

Earplugs are designed to reduce the volume of harmful high frequencies as well as reduce the volume over the whole spectrum. Once you have them in, don't adjust your EQ unless it's to fit with the band. Only then after you've heard the playback of a recorded track or if you've got a reliable soundman with good hearing and no plugs to tell you what's missing.

I started wearing earplugs to rehearsals and then the singer/guitarist got in on it. He wanted to crank his highs because he couldn't hear his amp the same way he was hearing it before the earplugs.

After a few minutes, I told him to remove his plugs and listen to the playback. It sounded like crap. Then I had him put his amp back like it was and it sounded like it should have.

I do have custom moulded earplugs somewhere. I'm gonna try and find them and use those this Sunday.