Starting A Band, Stage 2 - Practising

Right then, presuming you've read the first instalment of this brilliant guide to becoming a rock star, you should now have yourself a gang'o'musicians with which to take the world on. Oh yeah, and you should have yourself a suitable name by now as well.

So then SpudMonkey (or whatever you've decided to call yourselves) are you ready for your first rehearsals?

Practice makes perfect.

Now the thing is, one of the most difficult things about practising as a band is actually just finding somewhere to practice. It all depends on where you live really, and unfortunately there's a lot of luck involved - for instance if you live in a big town or city and you have access to a car then you'll probably have no problem in finding somewhere to practice - a school hall, community centre, basement or even a proper room in a studio (if you can afford it! - most will be charging about £5 an hour!) will probably all be available to you.

If, on the other hand, you live out in the sticks with only a Raleigh Chopper to get around on, then you're obviously gonna find it a lot harder to find somewhere to make noise. I suggest you target all the community halls, school halls, farms (they might have a spare barn to practice in) and maybe even put adverts up explaining your situation - you never know what kind soul might read it!

The other thing to take into consideration when deciding where to practice is where your band members live. You ideally should try to pick somewhere which is fairly central to everyone in your band cos having to travel a long way is a real pain, and this is something which can seriously dampen morale - just think, would you be able to travel fifty odd miles, three times a week and still be a throbbing rock lord guitarist? Exactly.

Ok, now lets suppose that you have found somewhere to call home - how exactly do these rehearsal things work then?
Now I'm gonna be really patronising now and give you some really basic level advice - cos really there are no rules as to how to rehearse effectively - but there are some things which could make things run a little smoother!

When it comes down to it, it's funny how the silliest littlest things can totally cripple something like a band rehearsal - so before you begin, make sure that you have everything you're gonna need before you turn up. By that I mean, have you got enough guitar leads? Spare batteries for tuners and pedals etc? and perhaps most importantly: SPARE GUITAR STRINGS! Yes, yes, I know I sound like your dad, but it's amazing how easily forgotten these little details can be.

I really reckon that pre-preparation is the key, so before you begin your rehearsal, tell your other band members what songs they're gonna be practising - (and have they got what they need to be able to practice them - guitar chords, lyrics, demo tapes etc) also make sure you tell them exactly what time they should turn up cos there's nothing worse than band members all appearing at different times. If you have to wait around for the bass player before you can start then everyone's gonna get p*ssed off and you'll end up arguing - not good.

You see, now when you all turn up, you should be well prepared for a practice: Everyone here? CHECK! All equipment ready? CHECK! Everyone know what songs they're supposed to be playing? CHECK! Hah! And you thought I was being picky when I reminded you didn't you?

It's important to remember that when you finally start to like, make music man, that you pace yourself. I think that you should probably practice for about three to four hours max each session, and if you want to be really productive then I suggest you should aim to work on a maximum of three songs per rehearsal. If you attempt more then you'll have brain food overload and probably end up learning nothing, which isn't really the point hey?

Oh, and make sure that you have a few breaks in between mastering your new choons - a wagon wheel and a cuppa will go great lengths to boosting band morale, it might seem like you're wasting time when you're just sitting around munchin'and'a'sippin' but no-one can play guitar non-stop for three to four hours·, and afterwards you'll find yourselves refreshed and erm...ready to rock.

As you progress as a band, you might want to increase the number of times you practice each week, I mean it's alright to practice a couple of times every seven days in the beginning - but as you get more confident, you should think about steppin' on the gas a little and maybe get together more often - especially if you're almost ready to gig. It's really at this point that the commitment thing will begin to rear it's ugly little head as well - and if you find your drummer making his excuses as to why he can't turn up to rehearsals (and be warned - you'll be lucky if you don't!) then you've really got to do something about it. If you're all serious about it then you won't mind committing yourselves to practice after practice - even if it does mean missing out on a night out at the discotheque...or whatever you youngsters do nowadays.

Ok then, there's enough nuggets of knowledge for you for the time being. The next exciting instalment will deal with that most nail biting of moments - your first gig! Trust me, I'll be in the front row.

- Eddy Vista