bad timing

jacohead · #1 08-24-2008, 04:32 PM

my chops are really good... can play fast, complex stuff. but i just joined a band and have been having a hard time keeping good timing with everyone else. this is my first band ever. i cant seem to lock in with the drummer very well either. will my timing get better as i continue to play with bands and get more exp. anyone else gone thru this too ?

Rudreax · #2 08-24-2008, 04:44 PM

Did you ever practice with a metronome? If you didn't and you got fast, your timing is going to be very off.

PocketGroove82 · #3 08-24-2008, 04:44 PM

Most music gives us bass players a choice. Should we fight or should we submit?
Since this is your first band, I will recommend you learning to play with the drummer, regardless of his poor time. Even later in life you will have to make a choice...do you lead or do I follow?
If you are not 100% sure of your own time, then making waves may not be in your best interest. Once you are 100% confident, then you can judge, but right now you cannot lock with your drummer... who's fault is that?

Blame the drummer all you want...but if you want to be a pro you are going to have to make many bad drummers sound good, before you are anything.
Forget improving your "chops", work on becoming a Musician.

steve66 · #4 08-24-2008, 04:45 PM

Timing is everything. Its not about how many notes you can play. Improving your time takes work. Start tapping your foot in quarter notes. Make sure your drummer is not following the guitarist.

Rudreax · #5 08-24-2008, 04:48 PM

I don't think he ever mentioned his drummer being bad...

Poor Tom · #6 08-24-2008, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve66

Timing is everything. Its not about how many notes you can play. Improving your time takes work. Start tapping your foot in quarter notes. Make sure your drummer is not following the guitarist.

Can I ask about the part that says make sure your drummer is not following the guitarist? Why is this? I ask because I happen to know for a fact that this is what my drummer does, he has told me himself....

NickMarinelli · #7 08-24-2008, 04:59 PM

Timing, you will find, will be the most important thing about your playing when it comes to getting gigs and impressing band mates. Maybe you can play that Billy Shehan lick twice as fast as he does, but chances are you'll never be asked to do so while playing in a working band.

Get a metronome or a drum machine and start practicing your time. At first, you'll probably find that playing the slower tempos will be very hard to keep steady, but more and more practice will bring it together.

Once your time improves, believe me the drummer will notice and if you are playing with confidence he will follow you wherever you go.

El Barbero · #8 08-24-2008, 05:01 PM

Good chops is good, playing fast is good (maybe), can't keep time is entirely missing the substance of your role. Get together with the drummer and get some work done together.

unclejane · #9 08-24-2008, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacohead

my chops are really good... can play fast, complex stuff. but i just joined a band and have been having a hard time keeping good timing with everyone else. this is my first band ever. i cant seem to lock in with the drummer very well either. will my timing get better as i continue to play with bands and get more exp. anyone else gone thru this too ?

Yep, that means your chops are actually not so good

.

You're probably like me and are totally self taught, and for a long time before you actually played with a group. I also could barely carry a line when I got into my first band even tho I had learned a fair bit of stuff at the time.

I'm going through all this again, not having played with a group in many years (almost 15) but have worked on an almost totally new style with all new equipment in the meantime.
Sure enough, when I started trying to record my own stuff recently, I basically could just barely keep time with the stuff that I wanted to play and had to simplify a bunch.

Try practicing with a drum machine or some other way to play along with a beat. I bought a boss loop station and practice with its built in drum tracks all the time. It amazes me how poorly I play a lot of my licks that I thought sounded just fine without any accompaniment.
But it's already really helping me with my time as the machine will keep perfect time.....

Keep your practice bass lines simple to start off with, as simple as needed to keep good time and build up to more complicated stuff later.

BTDT!

LS

mutedeity · #10 08-24-2008, 09:25 PM

Get a metronome and practice with it. The end.

DudeWheresMy182 · #11 08-24-2008, 09:30 PM

metronome.... or sometimes its easier to get a drum machine with pre programmed beats. Thats how i rolled for a while

NKUSigEp · #12 08-24-2008, 09:31 PM

What's with the sudden rash of how fast you can play?

JimmyM · #13 08-25-2008, 01:41 AM

It's typical of new bassists who work real hard to play fast but nothing else. Just quit trying to play fast and work with a metronome to get your time down better. All good advice being given. You'll get it soon enough if you work at it as hard as you did to play fast.

**bassybill** · #14 08-25-2008, 04:41 AM

Playing along with other musicians (live or recorded) is crucial to developing good time. You could actually make this a fun thing by just working with your drummer, both playing along to some recorded music and working at staying ABSOLUTELY locked into it - like metronome work, but maybe a bit more rewarding for the pair of you. You can also do this alone, of course, but from your first post it does sound like it would be good for you both to try.

The advice about tapping your feet while playing is also excellent, especially if you forget the showmanship for a few practice sessions and play sitting down while you get that feeling of how to stay tight. It takes a lot of concentration at first, but after a while it becomes a natural thing and that's when you can relax and start enjoying the experience.

KJung · #15 08-25-2008, 04:55 AM

+1 to all of the above. The simple rule is, if you can't play it in time with a metronome, you can't play it. It's a simple rule that many don't take the heart.

As others have posted, slow it down and play it right!

The great news is, you are aware that you have an issue. That's about 50% of it right there. If you sense you have a time problem, that's usually an indication that you can tighten things up. It's when you think you are grooving and everyone else is looking at you funny that you are sunk

Also, per bassybill... tap those quarter notes with your feet when practicing.

pedroims · #16 08-25-2008, 04:59 AM

Have you tried practice with a metronome? Give a try, if your time is fine then you should be able to follow the tic tac without problem.

Ask the other members of the band play with a metronome too, when I asked my band to do it, the drummer said: I dont like to use metronome because it makes me lose my timing.

Vincent P · #17 08-25-2008, 05:04 AM

I've used a metronome for so long that my mind starts to relate sounds durning the day as a beat. It's easy to get sidetracked when playing by wanting to be super fast but, superfast solo and superfast in time; are two different animals. I have to agree with the crowd, get a metronome.

Vincent P · #18 08-25-2008, 05:10 AM

To add to this, back in highschool (a whole world ago) our drummer had real issues with timing; so much so that us that followed him were playing twice to thrice as fast by the end of the song. Our shop teacher helped us build a small strobe type of light that sat within the drummers kit and flashed a small red diod. Our drummer had masking tape with the songs in our set list around the knob and he would dial it to that song for beat setting. After a while he found he no longer needed it.

GreyBeard · #19 08-25-2008, 05:12 AM

Practicing with a metronome or drum machine can definately help. If your timing is bad it is usually because you are not giving enough of your thought process to it. You have to know your bass lines well enough that you can put timing #1

KJung · #20 08-25-2008, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedroims

when I asked my band to do it, the drummer said: I dont like to use metronome because it makes me lose my timing.

That's like the guy who says 'I'm going to keep buying metronomes until I find one that doesn't slow down'