Practicing Right

There are many ways to practice

Although sometimes it takes a more trained eye to see it, there are many ways to practice. You can practice very slowly, aimlessly, pointlessly, and progressively. The reason so many teen bands never make it past playing at their school talent show one year is because they don’t know how to practice progressively. It’s difficult to practice progressively, and sometimes I still have trouble with it. It’s very easy to practice pointlessly, because that’s doing nothing, and sometimes you do practice progressively, but it’an extremely slow process. There is also the evil brother of practicing progressively, which is practicing aimlessly. You may be practicing all your songs 10 times at every practice, and maybe they all sound really good, and you’re thinking wow, we sound great! But you’re not progressing as a band, so you’re getting nowhere.

How to practice progressively:

The first step is to set up some goals. Goals are a key to success, and they will (almost) never be a bad thing to have. Having goals forces your band to have to work towards a goal without taking a lot of breaks, or time off. On some of your first goals, you may slack off, but then be roped into playing something, and you’ll realize how much it sucks to have to go out and play a gig when you’re not ready. This will make you never want to do that again, and will force you to practice much more progressively.

Steps to take:

• Set up some gigs in about a month, so you have time, but not too much time
• Figure out some new covers to learn, or write some good new originals
• Get a whiteboard and write down all the things you need to do
• Get your bandmates to commit to some set practice days, where they won’t say they can’t come at the last minute

Obstacles you might encounter

Although you might think it’s really easy to set up a gig date, and then practice for a month or so, then do the gig, it might be harder then you think. Getting your bandmates to commit to practice days, and getting all the stuff done that you need to is sometimes a hard thing to do. Make sure you talk to all the guys/girls in your band first (and they talk to their parents) before you even organize the gig. Then, once that’s taken care of, decide with you band the songs you’ll do, or make a setlist. Then make sure they can make all the practices, and that they practice their parts at home, so that they’re in tip top shape. Even if you’re very committed, and ready, your band won’t sound good unless everyone is well practiced and ready.

In summary:

• Get organized, and make sure your bandmates are too
• Make some easily attainable goals to work towards
• Check, and double check with everyone that they’re up for it
• Practice, practice, practice