Grateful Dead Music Forum

almost every wed night we have been practicing/rehearsing? for 4 years..it has been and continues to be an interesting experience..we currently practice at our drummer's place, and it a fine comfortable and good sounding room..and as long as we don't consume any of the "practice killer" before we start, most sessions are productive. We always have a setlist printed for the upcoming show, and most nights we know which tunes we will need to go over..now I have time to practice before practice, but not all of bandmates do, so that can be frustrating. Although we have all played for such a long time, we don't get too tied up going through the rough spots when needed. The hardest thing I deal with is striking a balance between working on parts and getting the tunes down, and jamming..what I mean is we can get into some big fat jams at practice, which are fun but takes away time from working on the tricky stuff (help/slip!) I know we need to work on transitions in jam tunes like terrapin, let it grow etc...but how long we should jam I question sometimes...mainly because we are pretty good at the jamming parts...we also tend to get into some discussions about almost anything from beer to politics during the evening, and I have to be practice police and reign everyone in and get back to work...but all in all the band looks forward to wed night..and our sound has benefited from it
http://www.theCAUSEjams.com

I like this thread, but I have to ask a different question. What are you in it for? Isn't there something to be said for playing with the resources you have, playing to your strengths, and accepting the music that is being played for what it is? I suppose if you're a working band that you have to be responsible and practice individually. But if you're having the issues that I see in this thread, then you're probably in a garage band and you're playing for the camaraderie, the betterment of self, the expansion of your consciousness, or some other intrinsic reward. Maybe, like me, you just like to get drunk and howl at the moon with other wolves.

I agree with all of the things being said in this thread, but I was reading the Rock Skully book (I forget the name of it) about how the Dead wanted to fire Pigpen and Bobby early on. How would that have changed things? Maybe they should have...? Bobby wasn't evolving as an electric guitar player, and Pig couldn't hang on in those more complicated, psychedelic songs. I don't know. I like Bobby's playing and Pig was a cornerstone of the band in the beginning.

I play with a guy who doesn't believe he can learn barre chords, and he's often adding an extra beat here and there. But we all suck relative to somebody else. Last weekend we nailed a St. Stephen >> Other One >> He's Gone (a fast and swaggering version, for an interesting change) that killed! I think it was because we really played to our strengths, didn't worry so much about our weaknesses... and we had the music in front of us. '


Crippled but free...

I whole heartedly agree with Strumminsix about practicing your own parts at home. That's a huge irritation to me - when I spend a lot of time at home working on my parts - and then come to practice and some people haven't even tried to figure out their parts yet. That really slows progress down to a crawl.

Individual practice is essential.

flayton wrote:I like this thread, but I have to ask a different question. What are you in it for? Isn't there something to be said for playing with the resources you have, playing to your strengths, and accepting the music that is being played for what it is? I suppose if you're a working band that you have to be responsible and practice individually. But if you're having the issues that I see in this thread, then you're probably in a garage band and you're playing for the camaraderie, the betterment of self, the expansion of your consciousness, or some other intrinsic reward. Maybe, like me, you just like to get drunk and howl at the moon with other wolves.

I agree with all of the things being said in this thread, but I was reading the Rock Skully book (I forget the name of it) about how the Dead wanted to fire Pigpen and Bobby early on. How would that have changed things? Maybe they should have...? Bobby wasn't evolving as an electric guitar player, and Pig couldn't hang on in those more complicated, psychedelic songs. I don't know. I like Bobby's playing and Pig was a cornerstone of the band in the beginning.

I play with a guy who doesn't believe he can learn barre chords, and he's often adding an extra beat here and there. But we all suck relative to somebody else. Last weekend we nailed a St. Stephen >> Other One >> He's Gone (a fast and swaggering version, for an interesting change) that killed! I think it was because we really played to our strengths, didn't worry so much about our weaknesses... and we had the music in front of us. '


Crippled but free...

that was one of the best posts ive ever read

Yeah, very impressive for a first post and it makes some good points. Fun drives people more than anyone else and there was a guy who I played in a band with once who would go out of his way to not learn theory and to give you a hard time if you tried.

But if you could squeeze it into a song, or just make it work in a jam and then explain it later, you can really make progress.

Of course he wasnt the type of person that you would want to have in a regular gigging band.

It definitely starts w/ fun flayton - and welcome! Great first post.

And I agree with a lot here - if the person is in a gigging band, or trying to be, then there is a certain amount of responsibility that comes with that for each individual member. I mean, you're getting paid to play out, you should be earning it, and if there's one or more guys in the band that aren't pulling their weight or practicing at home, then it really does do a disservice to everyone's time, including respecting it.

But we do need to accept where we are, wherever that may be. Harder said than done, though, especially when you try to determine where it is you (as an individual and a band) are at that exact place in time. It's hard to reflect when the time has yet to pass. But who knows where we'll all end up in the different levels of music. We've got everything here from the weekend warrior to the full time gigger, but the main thing that always is constant in the love of the playing, and how fun it is for all of us.

Eventually you get to the point where you dont want to sound half- assed anymore and when winging it doesnt do it for you anymore.I'm Getting too old to not apply myself more.
It took me a long time to realize that the DEAD practiced real hard at sounding like everything is played off the cuff.
I love my jam buddies.
Good times.
And it is hard to get everyone on the same page.
Thats why I get blown away by some of sick bands the other members have.
The sheer resolve of it all.
They are my inspiration!

Finding good dedicated band mates may be the hardest part of the music. I mean once you got it all in line, everything falls into place with the right amount of practice . . . . Im still at the searching phase, but Im relatively young.

Tennessee Jedi wrote:Thats why I get blown away by some of sick bands the other members have.
The sheer resolve of it all.
They are my inspiration!

amen to that. i was skiin yesterday at labrador mountain and there was this dead band playin in the lodge. they knocked me over, just awesome stuff. i caught a great good lovin, and i envy them and all you guys who have great hardworking bands.

Strummin six wrote:
With regards to the selection of band members I see it as having many dynamics. In short here is what I look for in bandmates:
quality individual
a friend
reliable for gigs and rehearsals
someone still growing as a musician
open minded to new ideas
passion for the music
thick enough skin to take a careful critique
intelligent enough to convey thoughts, advice, critique
somebody who practices on their own time


I think that about sums it up. We just replaced our keyboard player, and 1 of the drummers. I can't tell you what a difference it has made. The keyboard player comes to practice already having practiced the new tunes for the week. The drummer is just a superb musician and nice guy. It has been to good to be true the last couple of weeks. We actually are trying a new format. The drummer suggested it. We warm up with something we know, then rehearse 3 songs that need work, then finish with something we know.

Cheers!!

So I did a quick search on band problems and landed on this thread. Some very interesting posts.

My band plays mostly Grateful Dead and Dylan tunes and just recently they (everyone but me) wants to play different music. I'm not to happy about it. We've played some pretty cheese ball songs that I just don't have any tolerance for like Smokey and the Bandit's East bound down! I hate it but I suck it up and play it because the other guys like it. I don't know if I can handle playing some of these new tunes. I love playing and practicing dead tunes. Man am I screwed!

I feel your pain brother. I once quit a band in Buffalo because they wanted to play Achey Breakey Heart! Just the very fact that they wanted to play the song at all was a big red flag that I was in the wrong band. Actually, it wasn't just that - but it was the last straw.

But - you know... sometimes you have to compromise as long as you don't feel like you're prostituting yourself musically.

Whoa whoa whoa -
I can see quiting a band over Achey Breakey.
BUT not the theme from Smokey and The Bandit!
Dude.
Extra points if you can segue right into "Dukes of Hazard"
YEEEHAAAA!

Dozin wrote:So I did a quick search on band problems and landed on this thread. Some very interesting posts.

My band plays mostly Grateful Dead and Dylan tunes and just recently they (everyone but me) wants to play different music. I'm not to happy about it. We've played some pretty cheese ball songs that I just don't have any tolerance for like Smokey and the Bandit's East bound down! I hate it but I suck it up and play it because the other guys like it. I don't know if I can handle playing some of these new tunes. I love playing and practicing dead tunes. Man am I screwed!

Sorry, dude. That really sucks. More than once has a band changed direction under me and I've split cuz of it. Sorry to say... But soon you'll find that the band will draw more but your gratification will diminish conversely.

I'm pretty much on the fence with this. If I loose the desire to play and just can't do it I'm not going to fight it. What in the world does a Weir like minded guitarist play and sing for non dead tunes anyway?