Bassists vs drummers on online forums

[MVE]

I got on DFO a few months ago as I was trying to learn to play a “jazzy” beat and didn’t know how to bounce the stick on the ride, and I had my ride in the wrong place. I was developing some soreness in my elbow.
They helped me through it and I really appreciate their help.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

I’m still friends with my drummer from grade school. That was 55 years ago.

 

[brianrost]

Ringo, Tony Williams, and Buddy Rich are by far the most talked about drummers on these forums.

That's no surprise to me.

And some Vistalites with lights inside.

Forty years ago I played in a country band with a guy who had Christmas lights inside his blue Vistalites.

 

[knumbskull]

Glad to hear some drummers like Ringo. I get sick of hearing him joked about.

(I’ve been a drummer almost as long as a bass player…. Never cared as much about drum gear though)

 

[BOOG]

Joined a handful of drum forums, and I've noticed a few different things:

---Participation isn't nearly as strong with drummers as bassists. Drummers do some psycho-analyzing of everything they do, but not to the extent of bassists by and large. But whereas you never run out of new topics on here, you can get through most drum forums in 5-10 minutes a day.

---They actually like bass players and don't make up stupid names like "dummer" for us, though of course you get an occasional fish joke.

---It's really weird to think percussively again instead of chordal. Sometimes I'll bring up a part of a song and a melody or chord change, and a lot of people don't have the faintest idea of what I'm talking about, so I have to find other ways of explaining it. On the other hand, up until 3 days ago, I had no idea what blast beats were, and there's a ton of other important terms bass players don't know as well, so don't get any superiority complexes over it

---There are quite a few folks on here who are on drum forums, and there are quite a few folks on drum forums who double on chordal and wind instruments. Still, there are a lot of them who have zero interest in anything else but drums.

---Drum shredders (I call them "stunt drummers" but apparently they think it's a slur and not a compliment) have all the best techniques for people my age to remain as pain-free as possible while still playing as good as we used to. I'm not quite back up to where I used to be, but I'm a whole lot farther along than I would have been without studying what they do to minimize trauma and maximize everything else.

---Ringo, Tony Williams, and Buddy Rich are by far the most talked about drummers on these forums. One well-known drummer in LA just did an exhaustive search on every single cymbal Ringo was ever seen playing in The Beatles. I now know more about Ringo's cymbals than he does.

---Drummer GAS is worse than I ever imagined, especially when it comes to snare drums and cymbals. When I get ready to upgrade these CB700 shells, I'm going for the first decent brand name 3 or 4 drum shell pack I see for $200-300 used and stopping. Except for the cowbell. And I might want to change out my ride and hi hats eventually. And get some Rototoms. And a custom built Yamaha Recording Custom set. And some congas and timbales. Maybe a rack of percussion. And some Vistalites with lights inside.

But that's it.

@JimmyM this is by far the most interesting thread I’ve seen on TB in a long while. Good on you for doing the enemy reconnaissance!

 

[2tonic]

Ahhhhhh.... @JimmyM .....still stirring the pot, are we?

 

[Zoffy]

I've played the drums for over 40 years and am a much better drummer than I am bass player though I have preferred the bass over the last ten years or so. Your observations are pretty good, but I would also say that the online bass community is much friendlier. I used to belong to a particular drum forum (the Pearl Drum Forum) and stopped participating because so many people were rude, condescending, and cliquish. Here I don't see that type of attitude. People are very welcoming to new members and give equal weight to other members' opinions regardless of whether they are professional touring musicians or just people who like to jam alone in their bedrooms (um...with the bass, I mean).

 

[Alper Yilmaz]

Do they ask which pair of sticks are the best for metal?

 

[truand85]

Thanks for sharing

 

[packhowitzer]

@JimmyM - winning hearts and minds, mending fences - the talkbass ambassador to Drumistan. You are awesome!

 

[Ekulati]

Over the years when people asked me who my biggest influences are as a bassist, all I can do is name drummers. I started as a wee lad as a drummer. And more recently I played drums on a last minute Woodstock anniversary gig and a friend from my regular band said I should put the bass down and only play drums. (In fact he wouldn't shutupabouddit. Very annoying.)

I should check out some drum forums, err, fora.

 

[Bassndrums73]

Drums are bad……..ungkaaay? Oh wait…….that should be drugs are bad. According to Mr Mackie.

 

[Pings Bass]

Drum gas is real. I've got enough perc and drums to support a full Latin orchestra, and still want more. Well, better, at least, especially in the traps and cymbals department. I haven't waded into any forums; that could be really dangerous.

 

[jerry]

I subscribe to the drum magazines Modern Drummer and Jonathan Mover's Drum head because I can relate to them more than guitar mags. Drumhead is one of the best magazines out there period, the interviews are always done with excellent insight to the artist they are covering.

 

[Mannyinnewyork]

I’m still friends with my drummer from grade school. That was 55 years ago.

Ha, so am I. A great friend. He was the drummer in the first band I was in. That was in 65. We talk often. A wonderful person and awesome drummer. Love the guy.

 

[jamesblue]

Some drummers do think about how their kits sit in a mix' what cymbals and drum heads work best, some ask others opionions and make modifications. Also some have pratice kits, live kits, and stuido kits; and can mix and match. Some try to keep same brands instead of a multi-mix of differnent branded equipent. It's easy to have several large brand names all over the place.
There also seems to be some drummers that don't think too much about the sound of their kits and just let the sound guy deal with it if they are in a live band situation.
Yes, cymblas and snare drums are their equivliant of effects pedals. One cymbal can be equal to the price of all the drums.
Pratice is difficult for dummers; you can do pratice pads and drum mutes, but it doesn't replace a full set at normal volumes.

 

[Mike N]

I started out on drums in 1978 and switched to Bass in 1995..... all the local bands had drummers but no one had a Bass player, so I bought a P Bass and jumped into the game.

I'm basically self taught as a Bassist, but I believe that being a drummer in the past made me a better Bass player since I can see the role of Bass/Drums from both sides.

 

[JohnnyBottom]

Do they talk about hanging out with musicians?
Or how much drool they got on their SAT tests?

 

[logdrum]

Joined a handful of drum forums, and I've noticed a few different things:

---Participation isn't nearly as strong with drummers as bassists. Drummers do some psycho-analyzing of everything they do, but not to the extent of bassists by and large. But whereas you never run out of new topics on here, you can get through most drum forums in 5-10 minutes a day.

---They actually like bass players and don't make up stupid names like "dummer" for us, though of course you get an occasional fish joke.

---It's really weird to think percussively again instead of chordal. Sometimes I'll bring up a part of a song and a melody or chord change, and a lot of people don't have the faintest idea of what I'm talking about, so I have to find other ways of explaining it. On the other hand, up until 3 days ago, I had no idea what blast beats were, and there's a ton of other important terms bass players don't know as well, so don't get any superiority complexes over it

---There are quite a few folks on here who are on drum forums, and there are quite a few folks on drum forums who double on chordal and wind instruments. Still, there are a lot of them who have zero interest in anything else but drums.

---Drum shredders (I call them "stunt drummers" but apparently they think it's a slur and not a compliment) have all the best techniques for people my age to remain as pain-free as possible while still playing as good as we used to. I'm not quite back up to where I used to be, but I'm a whole lot farther along than I would have been without studying what they do to minimize trauma and maximize everything else.

---Ringo, Tony Williams, and Buddy Rich are by far the most talked about drummers on these forums. One well-known drummer in LA just did an exhaustive search on every single cymbal Ringo was ever seen playing in The Beatles. I now know more about Ringo's cymbals than he does.

---Drummer GAS is worse than I ever imagined, especially when it comes to snare drums and cymbals. When I get ready to upgrade these CB700 shells, I'm going for the first decent brand name 3 or 4 drum shell pack I see for $200-300 used and stopping. Except for the cowbell. And I might want to change out my ride and hi hats eventually. And get some Rototoms. And a custom built Yamaha Recording Custom set. And some congas and timbales. Maybe a rack of percussion. And some Vistalites with lights inside.

But that's it.

Thanks for this Jimmy. It really irritates me when people here blame the drummer or think drummers are not musicians. Any musician can improve if they learn how to play rhythm or drums for that matter. I know the guy personally from cymbalholic.com. My cymbal collection is probably worth 2 -3K and I am not a drummer. I have not put a bass together but have built a drumset from parts and I had to drill and paint and fix the bearing edges. I have rented out my drums to some jazz cats that came to town. Tain Watts for example.

Since my buds are jazz or orchestra drummers, they know more theory than even some of the pedants here. One is a professor at NEC in Boston. One time I referred to a theory being discussed here and he flat out told me that it was wrong and explained why it was wrong. So yeah bass players should not assume that drummers know nothing about theory as well.

And try to read a drum chart next time.

 

[MVE]

Drum gas is real. I've got enough perc and drums to support a full Latin orchestra, and still want more. Well, better, at least, especially in the traps and cymbals department. I haven't waded into any forums; that could be really dangerous.

For me, it all started about a month into covid when our drummer called and said he wanted to pick up his kit.
I convinced my wife that the corner of the basement just didn’t look ‘right’ without some drums set up down there. After a few weeks of searching, I found a great Tama kit complete with cymbals for a little over 300. But the cheap stamped cymbals sounded like….well, cheap stamped cymbals. So then, I had to start searching for some real metal, and after another few weeks and several c-list and offerup meetings, and a couple of purchases and flips, I finally found my ride in a tiny closet music store on the south side of Chicago.
Next was the snare, I varnished the inside with real flake varnish and polished the edges with wax… still might do the same to the rest of the kit, only because it makes the inside look so cool.
New heads top and bottom all around and many hours on youtube learning to tune a kit…
Now I finally have a respectable “contraption” to stand all my expensive drum mikes in front of…
……..It never ends lol.