While you’ll want to focus your practices toward specific directions, most of your practices are really just a way for your band to keep sharp during the week. If you don’t have a specific goal that requires a closed practice you should consider inviting people to come and hang out while you practice.

There are several benefits to this that may not be immediately recognizable. For instance, you could invite people that haven’t yet heard your band yet, which lets them check you out for free on a night when they probably don’t have any plans. It takes the pressure off of them having to make it out to see a band that they’ve never heard just because they know one or more of the members. Now, when you have a show, they already know what you sound like and would feel more comfortable inviting friends of theirs to come with them.

Open practices also encourage a social scene around your band. If you invite people that don’t know each other they can meet and become familiar. Now, when they see each other at shows, they aren’t strangers.

If you make your practices open you also get the benefits that we often encourage on this site: experience playing in front of people and a chance to get feedback from the people that are there. These practices are not formal shows, so you don’t need to worry about messing up, or entertaining those who come. They know it’s a practice, so after you finish a song, you can ask them what they thought.

Many bands already do this, and it does work. They generally keep most of their practices open and occasionally have closed practices to write, work on ideas, or work on their weak areas. Typically arrange these ahead of time so that no one invites people on those days. When they do have open practices, everyone usually hangs out afterward. It’s really a good time.

If they can make it work, you can too. Just remember that you are still there to practice. Don’t let the people that you invite distract you from actually practicing. This can be a problem as well, but a little discipline should keep things on track. If you find that the people you invite are too much of a distraction, you should have more closed practices and less open ones.

Give it a try. Order a pizza, buy a six pack and have at it. Even if it doesn’t work, at least you can have a little fun while trying something new.