Drummers' timing and how it affects your playing

[BassTerd]

The thing that annoys me about bad drummers is that its up to us bassists then to keep the WHOLE BAND in time, which can be annoying when the one who's supposed to keep the beat cannot even play a simple 4-4 beat with a half-bar fill in the middle without something throwing him (and consequently, the rest of the band)) off time

I find that even with a good/great drummer I still keep the whole band in time. The bass also acts as a metronome. I've been fortunate enough to play with some heavy drummers and they have said that the bass tends to be the time keeper and the drummers fill in the rest of the pocket.

 

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

Obviously the timing of the drummer will be perfect since its on cd.

unless it's the White Stripes

 

[spectorbass83]

unless it's the White Stripes

hahaha! we laugh yet they landed a major record deal without even having a bass player :scowl:

When they play live, do they have a bassist? or is it just drums and guitar?

 

[gdawg27]

I've seen the White Stripes live and it's just the 2 of them.

I've been in a band for about a year and it's only about now that I'm getting some kind of sync with the drummer. He's starting to feel it too, which is good because it can be torture not being able to establish a consistent groove that doesn't fall apart from tempo issues.

I remember way back when I was in college playing in a jazz big band, the guest artist for the spring jazz concert was Max Roach . He insisted that the drummer play so it was me and 2 drummers. I remember being complemented on keeping excellent time during the concert, and I thought to myself, "Well, I really had no choice."

 

[slythe_bassist]

In my band, we have had 3 drummers.

Our first drummer, when I was a guitarist with four strings, was the crappest drummer ever. She couldn't keep a beat in time and practicing was herendous. It always used to consist of my guitaist shouting his balls off at her. I suppose we were all ametuers then, but she was far by the worst member.

After her, we got a new drummer and he was a really consistent drummer, but he was boring. I mean, the guy wasn't a metronome, but he was good with his timing. When we used to introduce a new song, it just used to be a simple hi-hat and snare beat and that irritated us. I still jam with this guy in school and I feel really comfortable jamming with him.

After him, we got our current drummer. He isn't as good with timing as our last drummer, but he can fill like a motherf****r! I feel good when I play with this guy and when he fills, he knows that I'll be there behind him, keeping up the timing. I'm sure he'll get better with his timing. When I play with a drummer that aint as physically as good as me at their instrument, as I am at mine, I can't play to my usual standard. I've never played with anyone that challenges me, but I'm sure I will in the future.

 

[SGT. Pepper]

Plain and simple. If the drummer sucks it's going to throw you off!

 

[stedtale]

No matter what the drummers skill level, if you two can get in the pocket, it'll groove along. But if they suck...they suck and it pulls me off my game. If they don't have good time, there's not much to do about that. But if they're tight, it helps me groove it.

Usually it has more to do with the drummer (and bassists) frame of mind. Are they willing to listen to each other and the other musicians, or are the stuck in the "bang on drums (Bass/Guitar/Keys/Vox), me make noise" mode...it's all about listening more than it is playing to me. But, if someone can't play in a stedy tempo..sometimes you gottta not listen

 

[Lazylion]

"I take the path of least resistance with drummers. I adjust what I play with drummers all the time, not that I want to, but it just makes life easier."

That right there is what it's all about! Make it work the best you can, any way you can. In my band the last drummer was a rusher. After 3 years with him, he quit. Our current guy plays with a click, and so his time is near-perfect. But it did take me several months to get off the front side of the beat!

"The thing I really hate to see when playing with a drummer is double bass pedals. I move up the register when the bass pedals start sounding like machine gun fire. I also have learned to have "it's not me" look on face."

I agree 100%! I play country, and the drummer sometimes brings an extra pedal. Not that he's not good with it, but in country music?? No no NO! Tasteless, to say the least. When he starts that crap, I go dead simple to keep the clutter to a minimum. Otherwise, he's cool.

 

[Slinkeezruled]

I've only played with 3 drummers since I took up the bass. Weirdly enough, all 3 were brothers, And were human metronomes. The oldest is currently the drummer in my cover/original band Zippo and the Slinkees. He has that rare combination of speed, touch, and taste. Never (hardly) over plays and always right on time. We established the telepathy thing instantly. While the guitarists haggle over what they are doing we just smile and hold down the groove. life is good.

Gee, remember when you wrote this??? That's the kind of thing a "best friend" might say. Why did you have to screw it up??? You really had me fooled. I really thought you were my best friend. By the way, how's the poser ( your new drummer if that what you want to call him ) doing??? He ain't got it from what I hear but then again neither does your guitar player. Guys, you are talking to the biggest two-faced back stabber I've ever seen. He single handedly destroyed what might have been the best band in town for reasons unknown. Damn good bass player/piss poor friend.

 

[calshands]

I have little enough experience with drummers, having only played with 4 in my 1.5 yrs of playing electric bass (about 5 yrs of acoustic bass guitar before that). That said, the guy that I play with most often at this time is an AMAZING drummer. I think that Ricplaya said it best when he described how a drummer moves a song along. They introduce the changes, and make the turnarounds complete.

This particular drummer and I have a mind-meld thing where we can tell right where the other guy is going and travel around the beat together. We call it getting on the "groove-train". Of course, if I drop a beat or if he doesn't come back from a fill right on the one, it's ok because the other guy is there to carry on (this is only in practice situations -- when you are trying out sounds -- not live performance).

Now if we could find some other musicians to join us on our groove-train... a guy's gotta dream!

 

[Enden]

I natural adjust to a drummer. maybe too much. When I'm jamming with some people and we decide to do a cover or something if the drummer starts speeding up i speed up too, then the guitarist gets pissed. i probably should force the drummer back down. i don't know. There's nothing like playing with a solid drummer.

 

[arbarnhart]

I find that even with a good/great drummer I still keep the whole band in time. The bass also acts as a metronome. I've been fortunate enough to play with some heavy drummers and they have said that the bass tends to be the time keeper and the drummers fill in the rest of the pocket.

I am still a bit of a noob at this and I have regular jamming buddies on guitar, not really a band. Just last night they were commenting on how you can have a drummer that isn't that great if you have a good bassist or visa versa. We usually play without drums, though every now and then we use a machine one of them has. I play better when that machine is on.

 

[Phalex]

The drummer is the single most important position in any band. You can have a mediocre singer or guitar player and still get by, but if the drummer can't keep time, Victor Wooten would sound like sh!t.

 

[bassjus]

My drummer plays fairly simple, but the time is always rock solid. I never notice how much I enjoy playign with him until someone else sits in and drops the time.

 

[the_fonz]

i've learned that my drummer is sloppy, and there's nothing i can do about it.
so i have taught myself to just keep him out of my head and follow my foot tapping instead. i don't need him ****ing up my playing

 

[Xhiggy_bass]

I've only played seriously with three drummers in my life.

#1. great drummer, even though i was pretty lousy when i started with him. The better i got the better i realized he was, unfortunately he moved away to pursue university...

#2. replaced the previous drummer in my band, solid, but not innovative, will play what he is told to play, but not much else. He never subtracts from the music though.

#3. High school buddy, thinks he's great, in reality he's so-so nice guy though.

Out of all of them it was by far the easiest to play with the first one, even though he was quite a bit better than me. So, yah better drummer=easier to play with, unless yur drummer is a show off and play's way over your head...

 

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

it's ironic that I had a running joke of knocking the White Stripes' Meg White and her sloppy timing-

this year my original band recorded in Toerag studio where the White Stripes' Elephant album was recorded (inc. "Seven nation army"- which I parodied in a bit of my track "cheeky cockney gangsters" on my myspace and soundclick pages )

- and I've had timing issues with the drummer- he speeds up, and some of his fills are out. it's a bit uneasy for me.

you can hear it in the tracks on the Ian De sylva myspace page-
Link Removed
"medicine show" starts with a steady eighths line, but I'm thrown a bit when the drummer comes in.

also "equilibrium" on the soundclick page- [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

however, bandleader Ian himself is totally happy with the drumming and doesn't notice the timing (and occasional volume) inconsistencies-
he also thinks Meg White's drumming is tight.....

either I'll have to try getting the drummer to listen to my playing more, or just hang in there until a manager or producer has words...

 

[vabeyta1]

I don't know if path of least resistance is exactly right, but I think it's usually to our detriment to fight whatever the drummer is doing - right or wrong. We need to find a way to work with what we have, because everything starts with the drums. If a song/section needs to be slammin' but the drummer is limp-wristed, it's not going to rock; if the dynamics need to come down, but the drummer is killing his drums, it's just going to be loud with a screwed up mix; if he's off to the races, nothing anyone else does is going to slow down the song - it'll kill any "groove" that might have been possible, and possibly create a total trainwreck. Ditto with too slow. It's our job to create the groove, and we can only do that WITH the drummer - even if we don't like what he's doing. At some point, earlier than later, we need to recognize if we're fighting the drummer - that will make creating a groove impossible. I like the remark about life being too short to play with bad drummers - great advice I try to live by. Unfortunately, sometimes it's not that simple.

 

[jomahu]

i played drums for 12 years, so that helps. plus the drummer in the band is awesome.

i just follow the drummer. no matter what tempo we end up at. 'cause i'd rather be too slow/fast together than to have us sacrifice groove for the sake of metronomic accuracy.

 

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

it's ironic that I had a running joke of knocking the White Stripes' Meg White and her sloppy timing-

this year my original band recorded in Toerag studio where the White Stripes' Elephant album was recorded (inc. "Seven nation army"- which I parodied in a bit of my track "cheeky cockney gangsters" on my myspace and soundclick pages )

- and I've had timing issues with the drummer- he speeds up, and some of his fills are out. it's a bit uneasy for me.

you can hear it in the tracks on the Ian De sylva myspace page-
Link Removed
"medicine show" starts with a steady eighths line, but I'm thrown a bit when the drummer comes in.

also "equilibrium" on the soundclick page- [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

however, bandleader Ian himself is totally happy with the drumming and doesn't notice the timing (and occasional volume) inconsistencies-
he also thinks Meg White's drumming is tight.....

either I'll have to try getting the drummer to listen to my playing more, or just hang in there until a manager or producer has words...

update, we've got a new drummer in the Ian de Sylva band, and he's got great timing and volume consistency.
we're considering re-recording old songs with him.

it's so much easier when you don't have to worry about shifting the timing of your notes to catch an errant drummer- it frees you up for altering your basslines, doing backing vocals, moving about when playing live etc.