Practiced vs. Spontaneity. Do You Have a Love / Understanding / Desire for Both?

[String Tree]

For me, the Question is Why?
When I have taken on Band Pit work with Musicals, yeah, get it as right as possible because the Cast on stage is counting on me.

As for Bands, If someone has a song they have written (dare I say Original? That is another discussion) and, told me in advance what they expect, yeah, I will do my best to use my Talent to make their Song the way they want it.

Cover Bands. I tend to surround myself with those who Don't care about getting it 100% right any more than I do.
Get the Lyrics right, play it well enough to dance to.

I used to practice every morning to a Metronome and, I'm glad I did.
It helped me a LOT.

These days, I would say I practice to get new Music 'Right'.
Once I do that, time to have some fun.

 

[Ascension]

Back when I was in an originals band, I would try to get the new stuff recorded as soon as possible before we over rehearsed and drove all the magic out of the tunes.

We did exactly the same thing! Wondered if it was just us? Almost always would keep the first couple takes of a solo as it just had a different feel. After it got to rehearsed and polished it just lost something.

 

[Ascension]

Had a nice rehearsal today. It was a 2nd rehearsal with some local players. And the best material was the stuff we weren't prepared to play.

Did "In color"and "Bandi the rodeo clown". And did it better than any of the tunes we came in prepared for.

Idk. But playing with guys who can just come off the cuff is awesome.

I do a lot of stuff in Churches and this is the norm. Have a set list have rehearsed but--? One particular team I played with had a saying we may play ALL or NONE of what we rehearsed so be prepared. We as a group had played together enough we just could feel where it was going and go with the flow. Many many times it was just pure magic and many times we came up with stuff off the cuff that was special. Like this one totally spontaneous off the cuff and never played it again. Was recorded off a little Sony personal recorder sitting on a chair at the front of the Church.

HTNI Mountain Worship Nov 10 We Fix Our Eyes On You.MP3 | Powered by Box

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Or here when one of our singers did this.

HTNI Debby Love Flow.mp3 | Powered by Box

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Or this off the wall gospel thing playing with a bunch of local folk who had never played as a group before that night. Many of us had never event met until that afternoon much less played together. This was definitely NOT on the set list LOL! Shure was fun though!

 

[Alex_C]

For me, there are three different approaches.
1. Note for note, Dream Theater does this and it is mind blowing. I understand that there is no room for improvisation due to the complexity of the songs. I've been in prog bands where I had to play everything exactly the same. There wasn't any room to play something different. The songs were so tightly integrated, where a kick would match one of my notes while the bass would play the third of that note. It was amazing when everything sync'd up.
2. Full improv, Jazz players often do this. Jeff Beck was a master of improvisation. As the OP mentioned, Jeff never seemed to play the same thing. This ability is what I strive for.
3. A mix of both, Andy Timmons does this with his solo's. He plays some parts of the solo as it was recorded, but improvises other parts. Love this method, as it offers familiarity and 'in the moment' improv. Jeff also did this.

The ability to improvise requires a good ear. I've known people who could play note for note but failed at improv, others who could improv but weren't great at the exact duplication schtik. I like all the methods, but improv is my favorite.