Bandmates with Bad Tempo

[Baird6869]

One of the guys in my band gets excited and rushes through a bunch of our songs making them crazy fast.

Any ideas of how to nicely get him to slow down? Click track? Make him listed to all of the original tunes over and over?

We play 100% covers....

[tlwaps]

My old band struggled with that for 2 years. The only thing that seemed to slow our drummer down was smirnoff for some reason.

[fenderhutz]

Headphone based metronome at rehearsals, so he/she can feel what's going on.

[Nick Kay]

If it's the drummer, a click track / metronome works wonders, especially if you ever end up using MTC triggers or samples live. If he's not willing, just tell them to play those songs really slow. He'll end up speeding it up regardless, and hopefully end up at the proper tempo.

If it's not the drummer, then you just have to tell him to get in the damn pocket. Tempo is ALWAYS determined by the rhythm section, and he's going to need to learn to fall in line with that sooner or later. You can start him off with some hi-hat excercises (War Pigs by Black Sabbath, for example) and move him to more complicated grooves. Sooner or later, he'll actually be listening to the rhythm section, and at that point, your job is done.

[Slax]

Question, do these people practice their rhythm on their own time also? Perhaps it's also lazy practicing on their part. I have a guitarist friend who's been playing as long as I have and his rhythm/tempo is all over the place because he never made it a point to practice it.

+1 to any type of click track or form of reference for tempo.

[derrico1]

Originally Posted by Baird6869

Any ideas of how to nicely get him to slow down?

. . . by nicely replacing him.

[VisualShock]

A Bottle of Jack and a chinese take away

[51m0n]

Try this:-

HELP DRUMMER SPEEDS UP!

Always worked for me in the past.

[eotpr]

Are there some metronomes that work by feel rather than by sound? If there are that might be a good alternative too.

[pointbass]

I have zero patience for players with bad time ... Nothing makes for a more frustrating gig than fighting tempo constantly. If it's a drummer, either he goes or I go. I can usually keep the rest of the band in check if the drummer is solid .....

Our drummer for two years was like a human metronome, he had flawless time and the tempo never moved. That worked great for me, especially since I do a lot of looping with a Boomerang. Unfortunately, he had a ton of other really offensive habits and we had to can him at the end of last year.

The new drummer we hired used to be very solid, as well. But he began drinking to excess at the gigs and his time fell completely apart. Just bounced him, too .....

Hopefully drummer #3 will be the charm, so far it seems like he is solid and dependable ....

[mjolnir]

Strap a metronome to his ear and crank the volume, get it surgically grafted if necessary. Make sure he uses it when he practices at home as well.

[BassChuck]

Have his SO lower his 'energy level' before practice and gigs.

[BillMason]

Our singer/acoustic guitar player thinks playing slow means playing quiet, and vice versa, and that playing fast means playing loud, and vice versa. I keep trying to educate him on the differences between tempo and volume dynamics, but he's starting to just roll his eyes and ignore me.

[ClassicRock55]

right now, my band is going through a transitional phase so me and the lead guitar/vox (the band) are playing gigs with fill in drummers, doing our more straightforward numbers. If everybody's booked, some of the drummers really suck and the guitarist tells me to manage the rhythm section to keep the tempo at a sane level. my bass playing's taken a hit live because i'm being a band director too.


Anyway, you just gotta make some hand single that means slow down and give it to him when he speeds up. he'll learn good time, eventually....

[B4snrise]

One drummer I played with practiced rudiments with a metronome but I don't think he practiced the songs that way. As a result all of his fills and things were spot on but his overall timing was off increasing tempo as the song went along.

Someone told me long ago to make a track of just a snare playing quarter notes. On occasion drop a quarter not but still keep the time, then drop two, then three and finally a measure or two. You learn to keep time with the metronome and solidify it by dropping the beats but mentally keeping yourself on time without them so when the beat comes back you are still on. I used this trick and it helps a lot for stops in songs at live gigs or if someone messes up and you have to pull the train back on the track.

[tmart937]

Originally Posted by eotpr

Are there some metronomes that work by feel rather than by sound? If there are that might be a good alternative too.

Like one that gives a shock when a downbeat is missed?

[mikeypbass]

I jammed sat in with a guitar player that informed my that "all the great jazz guitarists don't play in time"

[capnsandwich]

One way we've got the rhythm and other things such as dynamics and syncopation under control is to record ourselves practicing and then listening to the song together and kindly critiquing one another's playing. As long as everyone's open to criticism and change then it should work. It's gotten us through a bunch of hard to play songs and tightened us up quite a bit. There's nothing better to reveal the truth than hearing yourself play from the other side of the spectrum.

[GeneralElectric]

Originally Posted by BassChuck

Have his SO lower his 'energy level' before practice and gigs.

You want the OP to convince the drummer's girlfriend to drug him?!

[Etbass]

Two really simple elements. Your foot. His sack. Every time he speeds.

Make it happen.