Dealing with Dumb Bandmates

[BassGuyFL]

There's a device called a Beat Bug that attaches to the snare with a trigger that gives a digital readout of tempos. Once you figure out the bpm of a song you just put it on his set list like this:
Song title X 130 bpm
Song title Y 107 bpm

The read out will tell him if he speeds up or slows down

 

[eriky4003]

Our drummer attempted to incorporate a metronome so that the all the songs at a gig had the 'right' tempo. Utter disaster for trying to keep people on the dance floor. Between setting the right speed, then cueing the band among the other usual issues (wiping a brow, grabbing a drink, etc.). This was a case of fixing one wrong and creating a new, and worse (in my opinion) one.

 

[lovethegrowl]

Curious, does your user name have to do with a Rickenbacker bass?

 

[lovethegrowl]

Our drummer attempted to incorporate a metronome so that the all the songs at a gig had the 'right' tempo. Utter disaster for trying to keep people on the dance floor. Between setting the right speed, then cueing the band among the other usual issues (wiping a brow, grabbing a drink, etc.). This was a case of fixing one wrong and creating a new, and worse (in my opinion) one.

Forgot to quote. Thought maybe 4003 was a reference to a Ricky.

Exactly, but there wasn't that much need to fix any wrong in the first place. We were never in the habit of markedly changing tempi (slowing down, speeding up) once the beat was counted off. This over attentiveness to the metronome is making our rehearsals less efficient.

 

[funkingroovin]

The question is, do coyotes really devour all the bones, as well as all the flesh, of the dead mammals they eat. Or is that just a wive's tale.

Wive's tale..Coyotes will crack the bones to get at the marrow,but you need to find a pig farm..they WILL eat any and all evidence..er,I mean 'foodstuffs'

 

[Helaskold]

If your drummer wanting to keep perfect time is the worst problem the band has, you guys are pretty well off.

 

[Hopkins]

Jesus, why such hate for a click track. I know quite a few drummers who have gone to them and their bands were better for it. They are all good drummers, they aren't using it as a crutch, its just a tool to make the show better.

 

[Nashrakh]

drummer doesn't use a click:

TB says "amateur"

drummer uses a click:

TB says "crutch for self esteem issues"


Maybe we should be writing this down.

Thanks for not reading. Wee, what a contribution!

 

[lovethegrowl]

Jesus, why such hate for a click track. I know quite a few drummers who have gone to them and their bands were better for it. They are all good drummers, they aren't using it as a crutch, its just a tool to make the show better.

Maybe it's a generational thing? I completely lost interest in pop culture in the mid 70s when tunes like, Louie, Hold Your Head Up, Rock on, I Tied to Rock but the Radio Rolled Me, Midnight at the Oasis, You Sexy Thing. By that point I decided that pop culture was beyond redemption. I even began avoiding movies such as Jaws, Close Encounters, Saturday Night Fever. From that point on I became very selective about what I listened to, life's short.

My understanding is that in the eighties, many pop tracks had synthesized canned drum tracks that played themselves. (Sure sounded like that.) From that era on, extreme rigidity of the beat might have become an end in itself. Hence, you have many offended BT users defending click tracks. They don't have the frame of reference of old farts like myself, who came from an era in which it was a given that if you needed a click to keep a steady beat, you might want to try something else.

Young people don't understand my point of reference. Just a few weeks ago I was talking to a friend, telling him that I have no interest in dating women with tattoos. I told him that I couldn't discern which was a bigger turn off, a woman with tattoos or a butt in her mouth. An obese girl who was eves dropping on my conversation, herself loaded with tattoos (even on her neck) totally went off on me. (I have no interest in 'fatties', wonder how she'd feel about that?)

But the truth is that things were better in my day, heck you could get a loaf of bread for 5 cents. We all were better. Men were men & women were women. Now? Nothing tastes good to eat, my prostate's the size if a cantaloupe, & I'm wearing Depends undergarments. Why I tell you young man, if I were half my age I'd.................................,.............................................. Is it time for my prune juice?

 

[lovethegrowl]

GET THE HECK OF MY LAWN you whippersnappers!

 

[Hopkins]

Maybe it's a generational thing? I completely lost interest in pop culture in the mid 70s when tunes like, Louie, Hold Your Head Up, Rock on, I Tied to Rock but the Radio Rolled Me, Midnight at the Oasis, You Sexy Thing. By that point I decided that pop culture was beyond redemption. I even began avoiding movies such as Jaws, Close Encounters, Saturday Night Fever. From that point on I became very selective about what I listened to, life's short.

My understanding is that in the eighties, many pop tracks had synthesized canned drum tracks that played themselves. (Sure sounded like that.) From that era on, extreme rigidity of the beat might have become an end in itself. Hence, you have many offended BT users defending click tracks. They don't have the frame of reference of old farts like myself, who came from an era in which it was a given that if you needed a click to keep a steady beat, you might want to try something else.

Young people don't understand my point of reference. Just a few weeks ago I was talking to a friend, telling him that I have no interest in dating women with tattoos. I told him that I couldn't discern which was a bigger turn off, a woman with tattoos or a butt in her mouth. An obese girl who was eves dropping on my conversation, herself loaded with tattoos (even on her neck) totally went off on me. (I have no interest in 'fatties', wonder how she'd feel about that?)

But the truth is that things were better in my day, heck you could get a loaf of bread for 5 cents. We all were better. Men were men & women were women. Now? Nothing tastes good to eat, my prostate's the size if a cantaloupe, & I'm wearing Depends undergarments. Why I tell you young man, if I were half my age I'd.................................,.............................................. Is it time for my prune juice?

Ok, that post was hilarious

 

[xUptheIronsx]

1. sounds to me like the drummer has probably been told all of his life that he "has no tempo" by other musicians (who should probably check a met themselves)*, and is trying to avoid that with you guys.

* funny that in my experience with this as a trained percussionist (bass is my 2nd instrument) every non-percussionist who has called out my sense of time, could NOT play with the metronome when given the opportunity to do so in the challenge....just saying. AND, in most of these challenges, the person with the attitude and bad time was a guitar player or wind player....just saying

2. there is nothing wrong/unprofessional with the drummer starting songs. In fact, I have never played in any group where the drummer did NOT count off songs, other than pit orchestra gigs

3. traditionally it is the drummers job to keep the time, so why is it wrong that he is wanting to be correct. By the logic of this argument, why do you guys waste the drummers time tuning your instruments. Can't that be done in the practice room....or as you play?

Just saying...it is odd to me when a musician is trying to do something right, and other musicians have a problem with it.

Now, I do agree that at the performance, the met should be "in ear" or just to reference the initial tempo. I could never use a click live for the reasons you mention...it makes me too mechanical, and takes away from the fun of the live interaction with the other players. Unless I am synching up with video or samples, I refuse to use a met live

 

[lovethegrowl]

In my experience in orchestral conducting, I decided what metronome markings were optimal weeks before the first rehearsal. (And of course, when playing in a highly reverberant environment I had to quickly decide on a slightly slower tempo.) I didn't come in and start and stop, pause. Start & stop, pause, incessantly consulting the metronome (at the expense of precious rehearsal time because I hadn't yet made up my mind how fast a piece should go.

Also, our guitarist is the lead singer, & these tunes are HIS repertoire, stuff that he's wanted to do for years. Tempi are set to suit HIS singing style. Already the drummer has 'miscalculated' a number of times & the guitarist had had to stop & correct him.

Yeah, it's really the guitarist who's inviting unnecessary chaos, it seemed a pretty arbitrary random decision to do it that way too.

There were several songs we do that the guitarist wanted the drummer to count off, that the guitarist starts solo. E.g. Boy in the Bubble, Me & Julio, etc. I pointed out to the guitarist that if he starts it out, the drummer shouldn't have to count out. Then the guitarist goes, "oh, yeah!" He never even thought of that, and seemed relieved (by that point) that he didn't have to rely on the drummer.

 

[lovethegrowl]

PS. It bears repeating. All three of us were told we're tight. We already have good internal metronomes.

 

[lovethegrowl]

Just because he uses a click track doesn't mean he is dumb. In fact, he could say the same about you given the fact that you obviously have a problem with his efforts to play in time. It could be that this is how the drummer prepares for gigs in order to make sure that his timing is consistent. Personally, I don't see a problem with it.

He already plays in time. My problem is fixing stuff that 'ain't broke'!

 

[Jim Campbell]

He already plays in time. My problem is fixing stuff that 'ain't broke'!

i appears that you are doing just that....if your drummer is getting it done,find an unobtrusive place for his metronome and leave it alone....at some point he'll likely wean himself off it anyhow....

 

[fhm555]

Don't sweat it. In my (limited) experience with drummers using clicks, they start off enthralled with the possibilities, but as they evolve their own internal "click" using the external device as a training aid, they will at some point wean themselves off the external device and once again become the involved (albeit more steady than before), drummer we all know and love.

Failing that, put a squirrel in a sack and take it to rehearsal. When your drummer begins to fiddle with his external device, loose the rodent and while pointing at it yell "LOOK!! SQUIRREL!!" While your drummer is distracted, grab (and hide) his external device and swear you have no idea what happened to it if he asks later.

While a multicolored flashing light display would work as well as the sudden release of a squirrel, if you wind up having to dispose of the drummers corpse a live squirrel tied around his neck will draw the coyotes much quicker than just dumping his remains in the desert.

 

[Jim Campbell]

Don't sweat it. In my (limited) experience with drummers using clicks, they start off enthralled with the possibilities, but as they evolve their own internal "click" using the external device as a training aid, they will at some point wean themselves off the external device and once again become the involved (albeit more steady than before), drummer we all know and love.

Failing that, put a squirrel in a sack and take it to rehearsal. When your drummer begins to fiddle with his external device, loose the rodent and while pointing at it yell "LOOK!! SQUIRREL!!" While your drummer is distracted, grab (and hide) his external device and swear you have no idea what happened to it if he asks later.

While a multicolored flashing light display would work as well as the sudden release of a squirrel, if you wind up having to dispose of the drummers corpse a live squirrel tied around his neck will draw the coyotes much quicker than just dumping his remains in the desert.

so you advocate a "hole in the desert" for recalcitrant drummers?...whew!...i thought it was just me.....

 

[DwaynieAD]

Thanks for not reading. Wee, what a contribution!

I read everything. wee, what a head in the sand.

 

[E.J. T.N.T.]

i appears that you are doing just that....if your drummer is getting it done,find an unobtrusive place for his metronome and leave it alone....at some point he'll likely wean himself off it anyhow....

This. Can we all resume playing music now. Please?