We had minimal time to practice Uptown Funk. Most of our plans for this song were finalised the day before the gig during the dress rehearsal, such as the ending.
Positives:
Isobel and I throughout sounded good, despite me lacking confidence for this song. Our tones were a little bit scratchy but smooth enough. The second half of the first verse sounded less rushed than the intro part and slide. Travelling upwards in the scale sounded great as everyone was in time and playing the right notes. Albert and Luke’s key parts, particularly with the brass section, sounded great as everything was really well placed. The transition into the bass, drums and vocal only section sounded good as it was followed well by the whole band.
Negatives:
The ending was quite rough, we hadn’t had enough practice at that point to finalise what we wanted to do there.There was hesitation from the whole band when it came to moving out of the first chorus due to some timing issues between drums and guitars, which was fixed with some practice. Guitars sounded a bit rushed in the intro bit and the slide was early. Vocals sounded out of key for the first intro, I’m not sure which of the vocalists had this problem.Additionally, people were noodling before the run-through and while Nic was trying to talk, which was not very productive and caused us to be waiting for longer than we needed.
This rehearsal shows that the intro was much better organised and less rushed in comparison to last rehearsal. The transition into vocals, bass and drums only was a lot smoother and more organised, plus both guitars came in when agreed during this part so it sounded well planned and much tidier. The sweet dreams part was delayed but eventually came together with the whole band, gradually adding more texture, plus the transition from sweet dreams back into uptown funk was organised and clean. The ending verse was more organised, but still with a few issues with what parts come where, particularly for bass. The ending itself sounded good and everyone played it together. Guitar came in on time during the first verse with a little bit of hesitation throughout that part, this could need work so that there is no hesitation going into the song. More rehearsals or independent rehearsal would help. Moving up the scale for the first time started late for the whole band, but this was corrected on the second time we did this. Vocal confidence has improved overall, Marcel and Robert performing together was a good idea. They push each other and it feels like they have fun doing this song together.
There are some issues on my part with consistency with my strumming, this is due to a lack of confidence and I can improve this by continuing to play the part in my free time whenever I pick up my guitar. I also need to stick to one guitar and not switch every rehearsal so I get used to it.