In Defense of Bad Practice Videos

In defense of bad practice videos

No, they’re not MTV-ready. But they can be useful tools for your rehearsals.

Yesterday we managed to get all five members of Jersey Calling together for a practice, and we ran some new material. After some false starts, some missed cues, and a lot of wrong chords on my part, we got comfortable with a couple of the new tracks. Then we recorded video of them.

I’m not gonna lie — the videos are bad. The sound is awful. Everyone is only in the frame for a fraction of each song. My back is to the camera. And did I mention the sound is awful?

But - selfishly - these videos are a great way to review my own playing and come up with new ideas for the songs we’re working on. Usually when we’re rehearsing new material, I’m focused on just getting the basics of the song down. What are the changes? Where are the stops? Is the chorus over already? Basically I’m trying not to fuck up.

When I go back to watch the video, I can let my brain wander a little bit and think of other ideas for fills, or ways I can create a harmony over what Josh is playing, or find something that mirrors the bass line or accents the drums. And, of course, I can see where I fucked up so I can practice those parts on my own.

These videos have become essential tools for Jersey Calling. When Josh, Randy and I started working on new tracks two years ago, we recorded a couple of the songs and posted them on YouTube. That allowed us to go over them on our own, and we could share them to generate a bit of buzz for an upcoming album (our first in 16 years). It’s also a lot of fun to watch that first practice video and compare it with the studio version that we recorded a few months later.

For me, I love watching these videos (awful sound and all) because I love hearing a song come together. And I feel really, really lucky to be a part of it.