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Posted by: Keilnoth Dec 7 2009, 09:23 PM

On Friday, I went to a test rehearsal to join a cool local band. My first "real" rehearsal with a real band...

And I must say, I probably wasn't ready. It wasn't a success.

The band play some Ska, Reggae and Rock. They have 2 vocals, bass, guitar and drum. The guitarist play with some effects so it's, from my point of view, pretty dense.

I was pretty much unable to play anything on the chords progression except trying to repeat the chords the guitarist was playing.

Note that I didn't know their songs at all.

Obviously, I am really disapointed by my performance (or non-performance).
What do you think ? Am I bad ?
What should I practise to play in those kinds of situations ?

Posted by: jafomatic Dec 7 2009, 09:39 PM

I wouldn't use the word "bad" here. From some viewpoints I'm sure that label would stick but what's really important is that it shows only a lack of experience. And THAT is something you can fix both on your own and here at GMC.

There's a difference between ignoring theory to write your own stuff (which is fine) and ignoring theory while trying to play along with another person. The latter strategy simply doesn't work.

If you want to target this particular weakness, you can study theory towards the goal of being able to jam and improvise with someone; this assumes the guys told you what key they were playing in or at least "what the chords are." To achieve this, I'd start with the following selection from Andrew's lessons:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=3160

Once you learn that, then what? Then you need to know how to play in that key:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=3009

I'm assuming that you know the minor pentatonic. If I'm right about that, it means that you can leverage just a little information about relative minors to gain a quick boost in your ability to improvise.

EDIT:

Ok, I just came from your MTP thread and that would suggest your theory should be more than up to the task. Did something else happen? Overcome by the density of the other musicians' output? Froze up? Same results could come from those things as well, or even just a lack of confidence.

For confidence, the only cure is to pretend you have it: get out somewhere, stand up, plug in, jam on.

Posted by: MickeM Dec 7 2009, 10:15 PM

It takes a lot of experience to make a good jam, it's easier if you know the guys and are familiar with how they play.
With enough experience you can "guess" the chord progression, or pick it up quite quickly. Unexperienced it's not that easy.

Knowing the pentatonic and common chorprogressions. Hearing how they relate. Practice known songs until you can hear the chord pro, if you know what I mean, and you'll learn how to pick up a songs' chord pro.

Experience!
Experience!

Don't let this get to you. They had more experience playing together, possibly more time with their instruments aswell. Playing in a band is the best school you can find. Try looking for other bands they are at the same level you are.

When you're on a try out, play confident and claim your space without being cocky

Posted by: carpathian Etude Dec 8 2009, 01:48 AM

I think you are being hard on yourself, you didnt even know the songs they were playing, ideally you would have had something in advance to at least know what key progressions they were using, it would take someone pretty experienced to just turn up and jam perfect without knowing the songs.

i would imagine even with some good theory under your belt the new situation of jamming with strangers can cause you to be on edge at first. wonder if the band have a myspace you could get to hear songs in advance then, deconstruct them a bit find what key they are in and see which of your riffs or licks work over the songs,

why not advertise for some people to jam with yourself on a local board, mention type of songs you want to play then when you make initial contact tell em ehat songs you know and find if they know any of the same and agree to jam on ones you both feel comfy with.

Ideal thing is with some theory at even a very basic level, (major scale relative minor and the associated chord progressions you can make your own songs and not have to learn other peoples solos.

I think you will be ok just keep learning on here, and dont beat yourself up, like you say you didnt know the songs at all, and unless it was a real standard blues piece you could easily pentatonic over (and even then youve gotta find the key its in) you wer at a major disadvantage. I am gathering you have successfully practised some lessons on here, focus on what you can do when you have the proper information to play with and the pieces you have learned succesfully when you feel demotivated, the other guys in the band know the songs off by heart so you were at a huge disadvantage.

keep going man and you will succeed and next time try to have an advantage yourself by finding people to jam with on songs you know or get advance info off myspace and get the tab or work out what key they are in and what scales/licks etc will fit.

seasons greetings ....paul

seasons greetings....paul

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Dec 8 2009, 01:55 AM

If it was test rehearsal for a local band, than a band should provide you with the songs they play, so you can learn them and try to play them with them. If they didn't do that, this was unprofessional from their side.
If the band wanted to test your improvising skills more than anything else, and they clearly said so before the rehearsal, and you couldn't "catch up" with their playing, then you have some more practicing to do.
Don't worry about this, next time be prepared when coming to any form of audition rehearsal. Preparation is half of the work done, and it is a clear sign of a professional musician.

Posted by: Daniel Realpe Dec 8 2009, 04:17 AM

First rehearsal is always tough,

More so if you don't know the songs

The first thing you should do is at least learn the songs and have them very well prepared. Play along with a cd at your place before going so you have a similar idea to what the rehearsal will be like before hand,

Posted by: methodseeker Dec 8 2009, 05:41 AM

Good for you for going to the tryout in the first place! That seems to me like the hardest step.

Posted by: Keilnoth Dec 8 2009, 10:31 AM

They gave me their MySpace.
I should have learned a bit more the few songs I had access to. That's a lack of preparation on my side I admit it...

Ah well, that's part of the learning process. Thank you guys for the advice. It sounds pretty logical tho. Next one will be much better I am sure !

I probably need a lot more practice on improvising as well. Especially on song I don't know the key.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Dec 8 2009, 11:45 PM

Its very good that you tried! You should go to as many audition you can (once which seem interesting to you of course). Its an valuable experience. Now bands should provide you with info on which songs to learn for audition. They should give you 2-4 songs max to learn and perform with them. If they have another guitar they need to tell you which part should be yours ( rhythm, lead).
You should learn at least 2 songs "very well" and once you meet them tell them you had time to learn those two songs and try to play them with a full band. If they ask you to improvise leads/fills in their songs on the spot, then your improvisation skills will come in place. You should practice that as much as you can and here at GMC we have collaborations/mtp and lots of lessons on that topic so it shouldn't be hard to do.

Generally bands on those auditions will asses your personality, skills and how well you prepared and how you're interested in joining their band. Note that those assessments will be very subjective and they may choose someone you least expected Also on auditions VERY good and skilled players get rejected for this and that reason so you should not worry rather go forward and attend other auditions that seem interesting.

Posted by: Santiago Diaz Garces Dec 9 2009, 04:18 AM

I would ask them to give you, at least, the tabs of the song to learn them. I mean, If I want to try someone to include in my band, I want to see how he plays my songs, but, knowing that they fully-know them mv x