Group exercises to make a band tighter, better listeners, more cohesive?

[Eye_Of_The_Liger]

I was wondering if you guys do anything with your bands, like exercises or jams or something, just to help tighten up, or force yourselves to listen to each other? I think it would help my band a lot if every now and then, instead of trying to hammer out a new song, or jamming aimlessly, or going over our set list for the 50th time, we did something to just help us learn how to play more cohesively.

 

For example, I remember this game that my high school jazz band played, called the clapping game. It's kinda hard to explain without physically demonstrating it, but the point of the game was to listen to other members of the band, while clapping in a certain way, to a certain time signature (like say 3/4), at a certain tempo. It was kinda like a call and response sort of thing, and you had to make sure you didn't miss the beat when you were called on, or else the whole band had to start over. We had a lot of fun with it, and it really forced us to listen and pay attention.

[ImpaledRound]

My big band play this "time displacement" game where in a bar of 7 beats you have to clap on beat 1 then beat 7, then beat 1 of next bar and beat 6, then beat 1 of next bar and beat 5

 

First the bandleader claps the beats, then try it with no rhythm and eyes closed

 

Though I think if I tried this with my current band they'd tell me where to get off "We're rock musicians like innit". Jazz is the key.

[Tweeker50]

The only group exercise my last band was willing to do is tear down, pack up and go home.

[mfergel]

 

The only group exercise my last band was willing to do is tear down, pack up and go home.

 

 

We practiced drinking Saturday night......we were all pretty good at it.

 

Actually, our band has kind of tried to jam a few times at rehearsals, but our bass player doesn't really know standard 12 bar blues and such. He's one of those guys that can read things (tab mostly) but doesn't really have an ear, so he can't pick things up.

[RupertB]

I've found an effective way to make a band better listeners and pay more attention to the nuances of the music:

 

Turn down. At practice and on stage.

 

Get the drummer some bundle sticks if necessary.

 

Practicing with a click track can help too.

[Guitar Guru]

Practicing with a click track can help too.

 

For my band, this is the most invaluable way of getting "tighter" as a group.

 

We usually start off by taping our jam sessions on an old 4-track that I have. Then we listen back to it and heavily criticize what we've done. Then we start practicing the songs to a click.

 

When we were doing pre-production on our first album, we spent almost 3 months playing all of the songs to a click track....not only did it make our studio experience that much easier, but we found our "live" tempos evened out and became smoother......people constantly comment how "tight" we are.

[Lee Flier]

I find it helps to practice songs in instrumental "sections." Like go through a song with only the rhythm section playing while the others listen. Then have the guitarists, or the guitar and keys, play through it by themselves. Then just do the vocals with an acoustic guitar or keyboard. It's a great way not only for the various parts of the band to get tight with each other, but the other band members can really listen to the parts their bandmates are playing, without having to play themselves. Invariably you hear things they're doing that you don't hear when you're playing, and you can act on it: "Oh wow, he's doing a cool little bassline there, maybe I can reinforce that on the guitar." Or "Oh, so THAT's how he's doing the vocal phrasing there... I haven't been tight on with that." Etc.

 

Doing this at lower volume helps a lot too, then everybody can hear that much better.

[FitchFY]

LOWER THE VOLUME ALOT: With my band, we normally start practice by playing a song at the same tempo and intensity, but about 30% of the volume. We're a heavy rock band, and by forcing everyone to play things clean and accurately, they can't let the adrenaline and the power take over: everything needs to be backed up by musicianship and accuracy.

 

CHECK PATTERNS: I recently started teaching my band the 16 Check Patterns, something all marching drummers know inside and out. We play them together to work on rhythmic accuracy. As a drummer, I switch about how I play them to make it more fun (sometimes with the double kick pedals, sometimes just as a rudiment, sometimes as a groove with a backbeat).

 

PLAY IT ALONE: Especially when we're doing pre-production for a recording, my band mates will play the entire song by themselves, note perfect. It's the prime chance to realize that accents or notes may not be lining up.

[slaws]

My band would always set up like we were on stage, all members facing one direction or somtimes with our backs to each other. That way you learn to listen to each other better, or take visual queues out of the corner of your eyes. You can also learn to overcome some adverse stage conditions, bad monitoring for example. Point your amps in a different direction or as mentioned before lower the volume.

[FitchFY]

I really like the idea of that blind rehearsal, so we can't see one another... I may steal that idea from you, slaws!

[Flying_Milkman]

I really like the idea of that blind rehearsal, so we can't see one another... I may steal that idea from you, slaws!

 

I have personally used the turn off all the lights method to this. It works well, assuming everyone is into the idea.

[light_without_heat]

We try to mess around with "excercises" once every now and then. My favorite is where guitar and drums play for 4 measures then drum and bass play the next 4 and then guitar and bass for the next 4... so forth and so on. We come up with some cool stuff this way and then you are sitting out for 4 measures just thinking about what to do when the groove evolves and it's time to come in again.

 

Some others we try are just doing a vamp and getting really quiet to really extremely loud and varying the speeds that we do the swells. OR the drummer sometimes comes up with rythmic patterns that we have to duplicate by ourselves around in a circle and then he does something different and we all duplicate that.

 

-light

[tucktronix]

We do some "warm up jamming" before the start of each rehearsal and we usually come up with some interesting stuff. Now, if we can have that cassette player rollin'...

[SanDiego333]

+ 1 for...

 

Turn it DOWN during practice