Drummer is truly bad!!!

Bobmouse · #1 09-09-2003, 04:46 PM

I am in serveral bands/projects at the moment, one of which contains a really bad drummer who cant keep basic timing and has a bad attitude, but the other membwers of the band are kinda cool. The drummer can get free lessons but he has not taken a single lesson. What do i do?, i feel bad for letting the others down but I cant play with this guy, he suck's big time.

Obsolex · #2 09-09-2003, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bobmouse
The drummer can get free lessons but he has not taken a single lesson.

I think that kind of speaks for itself, I mean, I'm not going to go into the self vs. lessons thing... But if HE truly knows he's bad, he's probably not serious about it to skip free lessons to get better if it's not working all that good on his own.
Just tell the other guys he sucks

, just don't try to be a dick though, just tell them flat out man...

soundoholic · #3 09-10-2003, 05:15 AM

Maybe you should tell him he has bad time. If you can't get on your band members for playing piss poor then how do you get better as a band?

Eric Moesle · #4 09-10-2003, 08:05 AM

Playing with drummers with bad time can harm your sense of time as a bassist. This guy isn't going to improve, which means the project is likely going nowhere. My opinion, cut your losses, be polite to the other guys, and ask them to call you if they ever get a viable project together.

Howard K · #5 09-10-2003, 08:43 AM

There's only one thing to do. Offer them an altermatum - either he goes or you do.

I was in a band with a "drummer" who couldnt keep time a while back - all very good friends of mine including the drummer and still are. eventually I just had to quit because I knew there was no way things would change.

Now the drummers in both my bands aae professionals and are very very good. I'll never play with a poor drumemr again - period.

moley · #6 09-10-2003, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Howard K
I'll never play with a poor drumemr again - period.

Only the rich ones from now on eh?

Howard K · #7 09-10-2003, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Only the rich ones from now on eh?

You a funny guy huh?

I think you'll find they dont make drummers rich any more, not like the days of Ian Paice and Ringo... these days they just use machines instead.. you only have to punch the information into them once...

boom boom

vegaas · #8 09-10-2003, 11:00 AM

Someone made an excellent point that playing with a drummer with bad time can severly affect you time.
I was in that situation and it sucked. It started out that our drummer had bad time. After months of this, I started questioning my timing. I am still recovering from that one.

Howard K · #9 09-10-2003, 11:03 AM

Quote:

I was in that situation and it sucked. It started out that our drummer had bad time. After months of this, I started questioning my timing. I am still recovering from that one.

Absolute the same thing happened to me. I only realised I was kind of OK when I started playing with a good drummer again! Horrible feeling that, questioning yourself - but releiving when you realise it was a lot to do with someone else!!!

Bobmouse · #10 09-10-2003, 02:23 PM

What can I say, thank you guy's. I hace made up mind, I'm not playing until he makes the effort to learn or they get a new drummer. The other alternative is that they get a bass player who does not mind playing with a bad drummer. It's strange that the other members of the band thought his drumming was good but then say things like "yeah, he has a few problems with timing and what he is doing most of the time", it amazes me that it has been left for so long. he bottom line is you cant push things forward if all the elements aren't there.

thrash_jazz · #11 09-10-2003, 02:47 PM

It isn't the "bad drummer" part that would make me leave, so much as the "bad attitude" part.

It only takes one jackass to ruin a good rehearsal.

If the guy was a bad drummer with a good attitude, it'd be easier to work with him and he'd be working hard to improve anyway, so sticking around would be worthwhile.

I strongly suggest not playing with anyone with a bad attitude - no matter how good they are.

Ricky Daion · #12 09-17-2003, 03:07 PM

Remember, you're only as good as your lowest common denominator

mcdeath · #13 09-17-2003, 03:50 PM

Convince the band to rehearse with a metronome? That way the drummer's timing issues will become rapidly visible. Either he'll be embarassed enough to fix it or the rest of the band will be on board to replace.

ed

Bobmouse · #14 09-17-2003, 05:11 PM

I quit the band yesterday, the drummer got all offended and took it to personaly, its not worth the effort. I feel better anyway.

JPJ · #15 09-20-2003, 11:52 AM

My band recently went through a simiar scenario. Fortunately, our drummer realized that he was the weak link in the band and removed himself. He liked the band so much that he wanted to see us be as good as we possibly could be...pretty nice, I thought. The bad part is that we wasted the entire summer looking for a replacement and couldn't find anything that came even remotely close to what we needed. So...since I started out as a drummer in Jr. High (although I've been playing bass exclusively for about the last 10+ years) I decided that I would probably be the closest thing to the perfect drummer for the bad that we would come across. The positive thing is that we now have a drummer and can pick up our gig schedule, but the negative thing is that I currently don't have a bass gig (our second guitar player took over the bass chair)!

Bobmouse · #16 09-28-2003, 05:52 PM

After leaving one band I started thinking about what I was doing with my self in a musical sense and I left the other band I was in as well. I am now bandless. I dont like being around other musicians who have odd idea's of being great when there average at best. I'm currently working on a solo project........