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should I quit?

#21
Preaching to the choir, son. I'm dealing with the same thing - great songwriter/guitarist, great lead guitarist, but a chronically weak drummer.

This drummer has a condition I've run across in drummers before - no musicality. He simply doesn't hear where accents should be, where fills should go, or even the proper beat for the song most of the time. My son (who's in a complete different league skill-wise than this guy) sat in on a rehearsal once when the drummer was out of town and completely blew the guy away - without ever hearing the songs before.

Our last practice was interesting. This drummer tries to sing backing vocals, but has no sense of pitch whatsoever(I've already taken to telling soundmen not to put his vocal in the house mix). We were playing one of the songs where he attempts harmony, and the first chorus was so bad I stopped the song to go over vocal parts. I spent about ten minutes giving this guy the right notes to sing - and he never got it. On another song, he was playing an accent one beat behind where it should have been - lead guitarist looked at me and shook his head. He also tends to hit his kick drum at random times - kick drum beat shows up in places that make no sense in the song.

Otherwise, he's a nice guy and works to get gigs for us. I have the least tenure in the band and he was already there when I came in. If it weren't for the other two guys, I would have already bailed.
 
#22
a bad drummer is a bad drummer, its almost impossible to fix short of sending him for some lessons which I'm sure won't go over very well. The way I see it, if he can't play drums, I can't play bass, its that simple. Plus, bad vocals will clear out a bar faster than bad playing. No one want to hear the sound of someone dry shaving a cat in the vocals.
 
#24
Hey, guys, thanks, so much your suggestions, so many to choose from ; )

That musicality expression is right on point, drummer has ability, more than I have on bass, but lacks in tempo and touch, as well as timing, I think that when things get going, he really gets worked up and pushes hard, I know that my job is to lock with him, but it becomes very difficult. The previous band I was in (my first) the drummer had less chops and I had much less skills a well, but we locked from the beginning, it was just so cool how we made the engine that drove the band and we would crow about that to the guitarists, the whole band was tight as a tick! I guess I got spoiled and expected that from then on after...

I am of the mind to get another band thing going and see what I can work out with the current band, as I said, really nice people who's company I enjoy, and try to check the frustrations at the door. As otter and robert has mentioned, see if I can work it out one song at a time. These people are part of a jam group I play with occasionally, some of the other jammers I played a couple of band one-offs, and wow, really nice chemistry and music! Would love to poach some of the members for another band, and may do that down the road so I don't want to burn any bridges... thanks guys
 
#25
OtterOnBass said:
No. Recognize that you are a perfectionist, and the band needs someone to be that perfectionist. If everyone was a perfectionist, there would be no fun, and you'd never be ready to play out. Instead of quitting, let them know that you are a perfectionist (or maybe, you've got a musical ear), and that you think the band has room to improve in these areas.
Click to expand...

Beautiful sig, and expresses my sentiments exactly, just got to get the band from being turned the other way around...
 
#26
I liked a sentiment in the first few posts:

It's supposed to be fun.

If you can get the band member(s) in question to change so that you're having fun again, great. But if it's like pushing against a brick wall, then that's no fun.

I'm guessing you're fairly young. Life is shorter than you may think. Spend it expressing your joy of life, not swallowing your frustration.

(Sorry, I may have gotten all artsy-fartsy there for a second, in my old age. :^)
 
#30
To the OP, I think most people are not able to see the issues in a band like you see them (that is, look at it from the outside and properly recognize its problems). Since you can do that, I think you should try to stick around and fix what you can. Also, perhaps replace the drummer.
 
#31
replacing the drummer is probably not an option without blowing up the band and regrouping, the leader is aware of the issues, but the drummer has been in the band from the beginning...

played at a jam last night that included most members of the band as well as some new faces and 2 very good drummers, and another bass player. asked her if she would mind if I played when she stepped off for a break, she said, not my ax or amp, do you have your own? Yes, and set them up and played. Saw her later and asked her if she would like to get back on and play, and she apologized about not letting me play her gear and then said that I was very good! Don't get many compliments and that was nice! I don't think of myself as that good, but am working hard to get better... Several jams were really off the hook and I was able to lay down some serious groove with the drummer, man, the whole room was flying! When I saw and talked to the other band members though, it was like walking on eggshells, nobody knew what to say and were a bit taken back by my comments in the email, some could not see what the problem was, not a good sign.. next band practice should prove interesting...
 
#32
I want to thanks all the posters for your insights and words of encouragement, I did give it a go, but tonight, I realized it's a lost hope, like trying to herd cats, and the drummer is just not working. Interestingly, I got a call to join a new band going there tomorrow, played with the keyboard player before, this could be quite good. Not that the new band was going to interfere with me playing in the old band, but the old band just won't work, so now I have to break off with this group, too bad, they are a nice group of people...
 
#36
Randy Warren said:
Should I try to square it, or take my earned lumps and move on?
Click to expand...

Move on, and don't be too hard on yourself.

Maintain your standards and hold out for mates who see things a little more like you.

Nearly everytime I've tried to assert myself and impose my opinion on band direction, it almost never works, especially when the band is established.

Either find an existing band that does things more to your liking, or start one from scratch where you can impose your views on direction.
 
#38
If you do NOT think there is a musical click with you and drummer then go find a situation where there is one. Only thing you are doing is killing yourself AND the band.
You must be able to "feel" eachother out musically and get to point of I "know" what is musically coming next feel with the drummer. It doesn't matter how good vox and guitars are if the drums and bass aren't there. I learned that a loooong time ago. Good Luck.
 
#39
I am dealing with a drummer that changes the tempo 6x in a single song, I can feel that it is changing but I gotta groove my ass off. The best thing for me in dealing with bad drummers is it is so damn challenging but thank god the problematic drummer I played with for 2-3months will be fired next week.. :D

Quit the band or talk to the band leader and tell him/her that you can't deal with the drummer! If they will fire the drummer then that's better!
 

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