Gametapes
If you are heading out the door to a party, chances are, you check out the mirror to see how you look, and straighten out your hair or clothes. If you're practicing for a show, it makes sense to record yourself to do the same thing for music that you do with a mirror for your appearance.
You should record your practices, and every show that you play, so that you can improve your performances.
It doesn't have to be a high-quality recording to be useful to you. You can literally dig out an old cassette player for it. If you have a laptop computer, or even a desktop that's in your practice space, you can buy a microphone at Radio Shack, and record directly to your computer, which would allow you to distribute the files more easily to the rest of your band.
If you record to a computer, you don't even have to pay for software for recording. We recommend installing the free program Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). Audacity has recording capabilities, and editing capabilities so that you can cut out the chatter between songs and just send out the good stuff. Audacity also allows you to export the music to MP3.
For performances, it's best if you have someone you trust that can watch the equipment, and hit record when it begins so that you don't have to worry about it. You can use audio recordings of your shows to find out how the sound people did, and be able to give them more specific information in the future on how do deal with your bands music.
The best option for shows is if you can get your hands on a video recorder so that you can record your performances. Watch how your band moves during songs, and presents itself during a show. Remember while you're watching to look at it from the point of view of a music fan who's in the audience to be entertained. Is the banter smooth? Did you remember to announce your CD's? Did you say your band name enough times? Remember, at every show there are usually people who don't know who you are, and some other people who have just walked in the room after you finished that last song, you should announce to them who you are.
By listening to recordings of your band in rehearsal, and at gigs, you will probably learn a lot of surprising things, and some can be fixes as simply as straightening your hair before a party when you look in the mirror…