Does Drumming Experience Help with Your Bass Rhythm?

DeanAngerer · #1 03-03-2009, 02:33 PM

I would imagine internalizing all those beats and rhythms, and having built up all of that coordination would help a bassist keep rhythm well. What do you think?

troyus · #2 03-03-2009, 02:37 PM

Piano would be better, because you still need to keep the beat but it can be melodic as well. IMHO, YMMV, etc.

chroma601 · #3 03-03-2009, 02:38 PM

Best thing for me is _listening_ to the drummer - and everyone else!

RBrownBass · #4 03-03-2009, 02:42 PM

Played drums from sixth grade thru HS, three years All-State on snare and two on timpani. Advanced corps-level player with no realistic options at the time because Spirit of Atlanta (closest corps to Huntsville, Alabama at the time) displayed Confederate flags prominently in their post-contest parade formation. I owned a kit but was not fantastic at it.

Several people on different gigs, most of whom didn't know one another, have told me that my playing reflects a percussionist's training in a positive fashion. I don't know that untrained rock kit drumming will do anything for a bassist, but I can't imagine that it would do any harm.

Most instruments require finger independence. Drumming requires hand independence (and foot, if you're a kit drummer rater than, say, a Latin percussionist). It probably all helps somehow.

millsbass5 · #5 03-03-2009, 03:05 PM

Over the years I have became pretty proficient on the drums(Thanks!, to all the drummers who've left their kits here at the house for practice!). I've even subbed for drummers at gigs.It's definitely made me a better bass player.I can't really describe what I mean.It's made me a better "pocket" player,for sure.I tend to look at bass playing from a different angle,which is always an advantage,these days.Buy learning to play the drums,I've learned to play bass from a drummers point of view.If that makes any sense.

JustDavid · #6 03-03-2009, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troyus

Piano would be better, because you still need to keep the beat but it can be melodic as well. IMHO, YMMV, etc.

+ 1 for melodic.

I don't know about it being better for the rhythmic aspects. Your experience may differ from mine, but I find a lot of pianists couldn't groove if you held a loaded gun to their head.

Orangeclawhamme · #7 03-03-2009, 03:40 PM

I hope that learning drums helps my bass playing because I started drum lessons and bought a drumset. Then again, can it hurt to learn more things?

megadan · #8 03-03-2009, 03:58 PM

Since I started playing drums about a year ago, my bass playing has definetly change (hopefully for the better). I have a much better understand of what is (and should be) happening on the drums in terms of where kick beats naturally fall. So now I find those places in my bass playing and make sure I'm covering them.

My bass playing attitude has definitely become more rhythmic, but I'd say the biggest advantage is that I now understand the drummer's perspective, and that makes me a better bass player.

erix · #9 03-03-2009, 04:13 PM

Well, if you consider Jaco's and Mark King's experiences, it seems playing drums do help in playing bass.

JimK · #10 03-03-2009, 04:47 PM

Oteil Burbridge is another that played drums prior to bass.

No doubt, the piano is great for compostion & harmony...
IMO, be able to think like a drummer/percussionist is a bigger asset for a bassist.

RicPlaya · #11 03-03-2009, 05:08 PM

No doubt about it. I am a self taught bass player, because I am a drummer. Granted I can't play jazz which I really love, because since I am self taught I lack the thoery..but that is getting better and better. But for every other style I am able to identify the drummer/bass relationship immediately and lock right in to the drummer. Sure after 7 years now of playing bass I stuill have a long way to go and still adding the feel and groove to my playing. But there's no doubt about it if I was not a drummer prior I would not be a bass player now.

Jefenator · #12 03-03-2009, 05:14 PM

+1 I think the two share a special bond. Within the limits of my very crummy chops on drums, I feel surprisingly comfortable playing in a combo. I feel like I'm doing largely the same job: herding sheep.

Just my humble O but I think everyone should be required to study piano AND drums in addition to whatever else they plan to major in.

Mikio · #13 03-03-2009, 05:24 PM

the rhythm is something you have or you don't, and something you can also develop

If you play drums well, you have it and you can play ANY INSTRUMENT you want if you learn how to. Of course it will be hard at first to manage some stuff, but with practice it will come sooner or later xP

Thrashed · #14 03-03-2009, 06:17 PM

I've been playing drums for a little over four years. I just started to play bass a couple months ago and can confidently say I am at least a solid bass player. I don't know that I would've gotten to where I am if it weren't for the years of drumming experience prior to when I decided I wanted to play bass as well.

If anything, it definitely doesn't hurt.

failuresXbass · #15 03-03-2009, 06:25 PM

Played drums for 9 years before switching to bass, both marching drums and later on set. I do think it helped me pick up bass alot quicker - I was a decent bass player fairly quickly - within a couple of weeks. I find that I am able to keep time better than most other players, and that I can play more complicated rhythms, as for syncopated rests, notes, etc.

But who knows? Maybe I was really a bass player trapped in a drummer set, because if I try to play drums now, I hate it!

Lichtaffen · #16 03-04-2009, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by failuresXbass

I find that I am able to keep time better than most other players, and that I can play more complicated rhythms, as for syncopated rests, notes, etc.

This is the problem I have ("more complicated rhythms, as for syncopated rests, notes, etc.") and was considering learning drums to help out.

I was a guitarist in my past life and I can say that it definitely helped in my understanding of the fretboard, theory, coordination of hands, etc. So I can't see how playing drums wouldn't help your rhythm altogether.

I'd buy a kit right now, but I'm trying to avoid G.A.S. until my CPA finishes my taxes.

paganjack · #17 03-04-2009, 10:06 AM

i'm an adequate drummer, and i feel that understanding the drum aspect of the rhythm section is helpful. approaching music from as many angles as possible will never hurt you.

Spiritbox · #18 03-04-2009, 10:06 AM

I started playing drums when I was 14, and started playing bass in a band in 2000! I think it was a big help, because It was so easy for me to be in sync with the drums!

hankazoid · #19 03-04-2009, 10:25 AM

I started playing drums at 13, and then at 19 I started playing bass. Part of the reason for the switch was because I was moving around a lot and couldn't take my drums with me.

Switching to bass made the most sense, and while my experience with playing drums has helped my bass playing in a band, ultimately I think it's a good sense of rhythm that a good bassist needs.

I'm sure a bunch of us have and maybe still do play with drummers that don't have good timekeeping skills. I wouldn't want to see any of these drummers try to pick up a bass.

Bassgrinder77 · #20 03-04-2009, 12:06 PM

Hell YES!
Any instrument reinforces any other but I'd say drumming certainly reinforces bass playing. Drummers study specific rhythmic patterns that bass players SHOULD also. Listen to great bass players. It's generally not the scale tones that make what they play so cool, it's the rhythmic patterns and spacing of the notes. Give the simple blues scale to someone with an ear and a great sense of rhythmic phrasing and you get a great bass player like Flea or JP Jones or ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeanAngerer

I would imagine internalizing all those beats and rhythms, and having built up all of that coordination would help a bassist keep rhythm well. What do you think?