Drummers Who Always Use The Same Drum Beat

[jay_esplana]

i've been playing with my drummer for almost 2 years and whatever he did, always had that gosh darn ride cymbal playing in the background. every song he played had the same groove to it. and sometimes he'd never get the time signature so i'd have to turn up my bass and tap on the strings on the 2 and 4 of the beat. and get this, he has an electic kit too..what a guy.. <sigh> ANY STORIES?!!

jay

[Folmeister]

I was auditioning drummers for my now-defunct country project and got a contact off of CL. This guy laid it on thick when we communicated. When he came to the audition, it was a real hoot.

He arrived with one of those Ringo-ish Ludwig drum sets. You know, the sparkly ones? Most of the hardware was duct tape. It looked like a toy. We started to noodle around before plunging into the agreed-upon audition songs. He had one of those spastic, frantic styles that depended upon lots of ride cymbal. I had a very, very queasy moment. I knew the audition was over before it started.

Let me summarize the rest of the story:

1. He learned none of the tunes we asked him to learn

2. He used the same beat on every song he said he "knew"

3. The epistemological/metaphysical certitude of his actually "knowing" any songs was in dire jeopardy

4. When we asked him to count us in, he had no idea what that meant

5. He was a nice guy

6. We said "thank you" and helped him load up his stuff

[Josh Ryan]

I had a drummer once who started off as competent, but becuase of drugs, ended up playing what the guitarist and I called the "shuffle of death". -think a slowly devolving irish jig. We let him go.

[Benjamin Strange]

I thought this was going to be a Neil Peart bashing thread. Since it's not, I guess I have nothing to contribute.

[Scottie Johnson]

One of my good friends is a drummer, and while he is above par with his playing, there is one problem. He only listens to 70's rock, so the only beats he can come up with sound like Boston or Foghat or Molly Hatchet. I usually end up coming up with his beats for him, and drum beats are not easy for me to explain.

[jay_esplana]

4. When we asked him to count us in, he had no idea what that meant

5. He was a nice guy

6. We said "thank you" and helped him load up his stuff

yeah. some drummers don't even know how to count the damn band into a song.. and if, they either count us in really really slow, or too fast.. occasionally, he's pretty un-aware of the upbeats and downbeats of a song in general.

[Howard K]

It's very easy to get stuck in ruts, we all do it frmo time to time, maybe he needs electric shock therapy?

[B8ssMan89]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

I thought this was going to be a Neil Peart bashing thread. Since it's not, I guess I have nothing to contribute.

You huave something against Peart or something?
He's a great drummer

[agcarver]

We had a drummer in my college band that we had to "medicate" with the proper illegal substance to get a steady tempo out of him, and everything he did had that geek rock, weezer vibe to it. When he was straight he was a good drummer though.

[tim oconnor]

Nothing bores me more ... including waiting in line at the DMV!

[{OE}]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

I thought this was going to be a Neil Peart bashing thread. Since it's not, I guess I have nothing to contribute.

LOL, Peart does anything BUT play the same beat over and over..... Kind of like saying all that Stewert Copeland can play is pop/reggae.....

[Stanley Design]

I just recently started playing drums to extend my musicianship or whatever you would call it, and it's fun coming up with new beats, the one thing I don't understand is drummers who play in a band but hesitate and wont play louder or harder not because of the music but because they're nervous, we get that a lot in my town.

[Mellem]

Originally Posted by Todd Stanley

I just recently started playing drums to extend my musicianship or whatever you would call it, and it's fun coming up with new beats, the one thing I don't understand is drummers who play in a band but hesitate and wont play louder or harder not because of the music but because they're nervous, we get that a lot in my town.

That's a problem? I guess hesitation is bad, but I always think drummers try to play too loud to impress. I don't know who they're trying to impress, especially in practice, but it happens, I swear...

Yeah I guess I don't like drummers who play the same thing all the time either, to get back on topic.

[DWBass]

Our current drummer counts off in a way different tempo then the actual song's tempo. Imagine a fast countoff into a slow ballad!

We've auditioned drummers who all talked the talk but when it came down to actually playing what we needed, they either did not really listen to the songs nor adapted to our style of play which is variety/dance/beach music. Way too busy and 'rockish' for our needs. One guy actually brought a double kick pedal! Why? None could play disco, latin, reggae or funk. Since I've been in Virginia, I've encountered zero well rounded players of all instruments!! I so miss the NYC music scene! Sigh!

[RicPlaya]

Well if he plays the same beats it goes to show that your drummer is not paying attention to the material. As a drummer for years before playing bass I can tell you that I never play the same beat to any song because each tune has it's own charateristics and needs to be supported differently. Drumbeats are constructed to support the rythym and harmony of the tune 95% of the time. If your drummer is playing the same stuff then he is not listening to what the music is trying to do and working within that framework, he is just throwing randon beats in there with no purpose. Maybe he/she is newer to drumming and don't quite understand what the true role of the drums are. If he/she has been playing for quite sometime and still hasn't got it... well you can't beat a dead horse, well I guess you can but it's not going to do you any good

[Howard K]

Ricplaya, not wishing to get into an arguement, but how does the drum pattern support the harmony of tune... (other than by tuning the drums ot the key of the tune, which in 99% of cases isnt done specifically).

Supporting and/or providing the rhythm and bolstering the melody I can see, but not the harmony? I've never heard a drummer ask for the chords!
As you were/are a drummer, and I've never been one, I thought I might have missed something?

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by Todd Stanley

...the one thing I don't understand is drummers who play in a band but hesitate and wont play louder or harder not because of the music but because they're nervous, we get that a lot in my town.

Is THAT wierd...! You get that a lot?!

That's something I don't know if I've ever encountered, and in fact I think you'd find the overwhelming experience of the rock bassists here that drummers play as hard as they can all the time, and won't lay-back if their life depended on it (which is increasingly becoming the case with my drummer - his life depending on it, that is...).

Joe

[RicPlaya]

Originally Posted by Howard K

Ricplaya, not wishing to get into an arguement, but how does the drum pattern support the harmony of tune... (other than by tuning the drums ot the key of the tune, which in 99% of cases isnt done specifically).

Supporting and/or providing the rhythm and bolstering the melody I can see, but not the harmony? I've never heard a drummer ask for the chords!
As you were/are a drummer, and I've never been one, I thought I might have missed something?

No this is a very fair question. If you heard a drummer and guitarist play any song by themselves with no bass or vocals you will tell the drums are playing a beat and doing fills/rolls built and based on the rythym of the song. This is usually dictated in rock by the rhythm guitar and what that is doing. Drummers support the root notes with hits on drums. Maybe I should of said melody instead of harmony in my example, that would be more appropriate. As a drummer chords are not considered very much.

[Howard K]

Originally Posted by RicPlaya

As a drummer chords are not considered very much.

That's good, I was getting worried drummers were smarter than they made out

[Woodchuck]

Originally Posted by Blisshead

"shuffle of death".

LOL!