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Drummers' timing and how it affects your playing

#61
the drummer I play with now not only has a bad sense of timing, but has bad meter - cover songs that are too fast, that are too slow. Plus, he's lazy. He doesn't learn the songs right. I am looking for specific rhythms from the song, specific kick-drum hits to go along with the bassline, and they just aren't there most of the time. He's lazy. He admitted last night that he hadn't had time to practice on his own in over 3 weeks!

I told the singer last night that I will likely leave them at the end of the summer. I can't take it anymore.
 
#62
Our drummer can be like DR Jekyll and MR Hyde. We play twice a week and generally one day he is right on and as a bass player I feel like I can just fall into a slot and have room to throw and occational little flourish in.

On the other day his timing stays even, but he plays very stiff with not a lot of space in the drums and I can't devaite to much or I'll go out.

We forgive him however because the cause is that he's tired as hell on the bad days from working 10-12 hours at his job.

Thing is though I can look at him and tell how he's going to play his drums that day, so it's no suprise and I can be ready for it.
 
#63
It is a "Holy grail" of bass players to find a drummer(s) that they can truly work well with.

Sadly, the concept of playing together as a section is a lost art, partricularly with many younger players both bassists and drummers. So often I hear bands and the bass player and drummer might as well be in separate buildings. And then when you get two guys playing in time, they still miss the opportunity to really lock. It isn't enough for the bass part to make sense with the foot kick. I want the note forming at the precise instant the beater is striking the kick drum head. Or, precisely opposite that instant.

The drummers desire to play with me should be every bit as keen as my desire to play with him. Anything less, and someone is wasting their time... :rollno:

JKT
 
#66
christoph h. said:
heh, just yesterday a had a gig with a great drummer, and it was fantastic: you can concentrate on the groove and play off each other - in short, just make some music.

with not-so-competent drummers you always have to play "babysitter", so to speak, and it really takes a lot of the fun out.

for me the difference is especially noticeable because i've always known and played with to kinds of drummers from the beginning,
both the "no-time-amateur" and the "nail-it-to-the-click"-pro.
Click to expand...
The "babysitting" thing rings so true to my current situation. My last real band prior to this involved a drummer who was rock solid and intuitive, and as stated elsewhere allowed me to do my thing instead of having to focus on his ability to hit his marks in order to sound coherent.

I need a better band with a better drummer.
 
#67
i just sat in, for a set, with a cover band i was considering working with...:hmm:
the drummer played mumbling fills, missed the one after them...i tried to babysit, with indifferent success.
(the thing about this band is...the frontman is a mediocre geet player, but gets the chicks dancing (between him and his instrument, mostly), so he thinks he is the bawlz, and gave me nuthin' but an attitude [and a shot of tequila...not a total loss!] during the whole night.)
:help:
if they call me, (which is quite possible: even the bass player hired for that night was enthusiastic about me...nice guy) i will tell mr. attitude that i have a minimum price that he must meet. if he kvetches, i will tell him that i charge extra for childcare.

God save us all from crappy drummers and stupid frontmen!
 
#68
The Mock Turtle Regulator said:
update, we've got a new drummer in the Ian de Sylva band, and he's got great timing and volume consistency. :)
Click to expand...

the new drummer plays to a click from a drum machine most of the time, which feels natural to me.
the new tightness of band has brought to light another problem- singer Ian's acoustic guitar playing often being out of time!

the drummer has pointed this out- even asking for Ian's guitar to be taken out of the headphones when we were recording!
not the most diplomatic approach, but it's got the point across.

it's notable that Ian disagreed with me when I said Meg White's timing is very sloppy- good timing is something you pick up from practice, and sloppy timing isn't noticeable to you unless you have a good sense of time yourself.
 
#70
WHen I first started playing bass I was told that it was my job to keep the beat. Most people think its the drummer but the reality is drummers all tend to speed up when they get excited. With that philosophy in tow I beacme the rock solid temple of rythm. I quit playing for a long time and when I returned to playing recently the drummer I play with is a lady who happened to sit behind the drums one day and the guitarist asked her if she could play. He said "can you count to four?" The next thing you know she's turned into a pretty steady little drummer. Now, I have found myself to be quite an improvisor because we dont really have a stong lead guitar. Funny how stuff like this happens. But the reality is if anyone in the band sux we all suffer. WE all kind of hold down the fort and try to take turns "wandering off" That my friends is the beauty of a garage band.
 
#71
I find I'm quite sensitive to tempo because my other instrument is drums. I've been playing drums on and off for 35 years and bass for only 5 years. We have a worship team that has been rotating a lot of the different instrumentalists in and out every week. I find that a couple of the younger drummers especially are quite erratic in their timing. I find myself banging out the tempo with my foot on the stange and purposefully accentuating the beat to keep everyone in time. This is not fun. The drummer who I usually play with is a guy who I can fall into rhythm with very comfortably. It sure makes a difference.

Another ensemble that I'm going to be playing for doesn't have a drummer. This should actually be pretty good.
 
#72
The first drummer i ever jammed with was good, but i didnt know it yet, i am currently in a band whose drummer is good w/ timing at shows but not so much at practice.:hmm: Today i jammed with that first drummer for the first time in a long time, and realized how good he is, i mean we were grooving for 30 solid minutes straight on one jam, it was the best feeling ive ever experienced, the only way i can describe it was orgasmic, and the drummer felt the same. My bands's drummer is leaving in december and i hope that first one can join my band.
 
#73
man, i used to try to rock out with my little brother all the time
whenever i hear him practicing, it's awesome
but he's got a deadly case of "one-upmanship"
cus, y'know, noones gonna care if he's off time as long as he does a sweeeeeeet fill
 
#74
The band I'm in now uses severail drummers due to schedualing conflicts.
It put's me in a unique situation where I get to play the same songs with 5 different drummers. I've never really noticed the huge difference in these guys untill lately.
They're all good drummers but say one shines on a certain type of rythem while another nails a different type better.
My playing is greatly affected by this .
It keeps things so entertaining. I do truly beleave that the drummer makes the band. I'm just the link between him and the guitar player.
The guitar player is the iceing on the cake.
 
#76
The drummer in my band is one of the tightest people I've ever met and he just plays it spot on every time, A lot of drummers I know have trouble when recording playing to a click, but he just picks it up straight away.
it really is a thing of beauty when they can actually play
 
#78
maybe its just cos ive worked with so many solid/talented drummers from day one, but if any drummer im playing with loses time (at rehearsals), I'll just stop playing and look at him until he stops. This results in the rest of the band stopping, and looking at me questionably.

Me: "You slowed down/sped up" (its usually the latter)
Drummer: "I did?"
Me: "Yep, start over"

about six months of that will whip almost any drummer into shape =)
 
#79
I appreciate a drummer with a great sense of time, but even a lot of those guys got their good sense of time by playing at full intensity all the time. The rarest drummer in the world is one who is always on time and who can still play quietly in the process.

There are two kinds of bands - ones with good drummers and ones with bad ones. Once you've been in one of the former, you'll never tolerate being in one of the latter.
 
#80
RicPlaya said:
Bands live and die by the quality of the drummer. You can have great guitars and vocals, bad drums = the band will suck. I have seen sub par singers and guitars with awesome drummers and they rocked.

It all starts with the drummer. IMO the most important piece of the band.
Click to expand...

I've been playing since the 70's and I couldn't agree more.
I've said many times myself that the drummer is the most important member of the band.
Effects can cover up for most anyone else. You can't hide a bad drummer.
 

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