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Stuck in a rut due to Drummer

what would you do?


  • Total voters
    95
Been there, done that. He may be your friend but if his personal life is wrecking your band's music and especially your recording, it's time to cut ties. He may kill it on stage but it doesn't make a lick of difference because he's impeded the recording process. Which in turn could have cost you guys a ton of money if you hadn't pulled the plug on the studio time. No time to re-train, no time for foot dragging, just hire someone else.
Yep, seems like everybody's on the same page here, it seems you've already given him time to regain his lost mojo, so I retract my previous statement. You know what must be done, if he's your friend he will understand.
 
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find a new drummer or use programme drums. at least for a demo or EP.

Our drummer was keen to play in our band. We even had all the drum lines figured out, he just had to learn them and record them. Sadly he lost his job and was unable to contribute $$ to the project so with a deadline looming we said screw it and used drum software (we used the same one meshuggah used for Nothing) and while its not the real thing, its a great means to getting content out there so people can listen to it and gauge their intrest in your band. Since releasing the music we have had drummers ask to join and everything went better then expected.

heres what they sounds like.

 
Today went better, he adjusted the drums put a new bass drum head on and now he can hear his Bass drum nice and clear which is great. We changed up one of our songs and I to so much more fun to play now and it felt great to play again cause we stopped for a little bit.

I'm gonna be getting a 1x15 combo linked to my 2x10 in lieu of a 1x15 and 4x10 with tube head cause there is no reason I need that gear, but I get excited and want the gear but instead will add to the band as a whole.

Drummer knows he is in the hot seat and agreed that he will step it up and really get down and practice. And to many of you who said it's not all on him, you're totally right. I was heated because everyone was tense and we were worn out from practicing every single day. Being around each other that much can hurt a band so we cooled off a bit and today felt way better and fresh.

We are going to resume recording but it will be one song at a time and the BL showed us the song recorded all the way through and it sounds killer so we are on the right track here.

Today was a short practice and tomorrow we will really dive back into it and see how things go. :bassist:
 
Watching videos from the gig and playing with him, he isn't horrible like I made him sound but he didn't work on the songs before and still would count wrong but today he was pretty on and we all actually made mistakes today and were able to laugh at them which was refreshing.

So far, things are starting to pick up (if one day is an indication) and I don't obsess about gear nearly as much as I used to (tweaking my set up every five minutes) and coming in I was conditioned to play soft due to where I lived so we've both had issues to overcome.

My biggest issue now is that I'll get distracted by cool bass things and I'll want that but after talking with BL, he explains why said crazy 4 tube bass head isn't needed at all right now and neither are huge rigs unless we play the and which we clearly don't now.

That's actually a neat question, What quirks to my fellow low end holders have pertaining to music , their band, gear etc? :thumbsup:
 
Quirks? Well every band is different. Of the two bands I'm in now, one has so much fun playing and coming up with new freaked out, over the top stuff that we rarely take the time to nail it all down and set the arrangements in stone, which would be frustrating for a lot of players, but we're pretty laid back and treat our rock band more like a jazz band.

The other band is the opposite where the other guys don't do nearly as much improvising as actual composing, and get wrapped up in how an intro should be laid out in detail when there isn't an actual song in place yet! The players' individual skills aren't as high as the other band, but they make up for it in the deliberate nature of the songwriting.

Both bands have their strengths and charms so I just roll with it. Fact is that I like both approaches and can't really say I have a preferred methodology as long as the material is satisfying in the end.

The one thing they both have in common is a high tolerance for mistakes, which is important for an originals band (to me anyway) since breaking eggs is part of making tasty omelettes. But both seem to get it dialed in by show time.
 
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What I've found is that sometimes a mistake, like you said, ends up being an awesome part of the song because some times I'll be playing a different part than my guitarist and he'll say dude that's killer, or I'll say "what are you playing there?"

Our songs sound way different than when we first made them and getting a riff down first and then worrying about the composition is how we do it. :bassist:
 
we posted an ad for a new drummer. weve given plenty of timefor him to learn tge parts and he definetly had time to practice strokes and stick patterns at home. weve definetly suffered as a band so its probably going to end up with him out
 
Watching videos from the gig and playing with him, he isn't horrible like I made him sound but he didn't work on the songs before and still would count wrong but today he was pretty on and we all actually made mistakes today and were able to laugh at them which was refreshing.

So far, things are starting to pick up (if one day is an indication) and I don't obsess about gear nearly as much as I used to (tweaking my set up every five minutes) and coming in I was conditioned to play soft due to where I lived so we've both had issues to overcome.

My biggest issue now is that I'll get distracted by cool bass things and I'll want that but after talking with BL, he explains why said crazy 4 tube bass head isn't needed at all right now and neither are huge rigs unless we play the and which we clearly don't now.

That's actually a neat question, What quirks to my fellow low end holders have pertaining to music , their band, gear etc? :thumbsup:

we posted an ad for a new drummer. weve given plenty of timefor him to learn tge parts and he definetly had time to practice strokes and stick patterns at home. weve definetly suffered as a band so its probably going to end up with him out

Huh. Kinda weird seeing these two posts just one day apart from each other. Yesterday he's not too bad, things are getting better, everybody's got issues to improve on. Today he's been given plenty of time and it's over.

Question: if you're posting an ad for a new drummer, have you TOLD him he's fired? Or are you auditioning drummers behind his back and only plan to let him know after you find his replacement? How would you want the band to treat you if they were unhappy with your playing?
 
Is the band a hobby or friendship thing? Or the the band a business you hope to see a future with? Get that clearly in mind and don't try to mix the two. If it's a friend thing, enjoy the people and make the music in a way everyone can enjoy. If it's a business, solve the problem within band (fire, replace, demand etc.) or move on.

Most band problems like this are because a person wants the group to be more than it can be, or they lack the self confidence to move on.
 
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Huh. Kinda weird seeing these two posts just one day apart from each other. Yesterday he's not too bad, things are getting better, everybody's got issues to improve on. Today he's been given plenty of time and it's over.

Question: if you're posting an ad for a new drummer, have you TOLD him he's fired? Or are you auditioning drummers behind his back and only plan to let him know after you find his replacement? How would you want the band to treat you if they were unhappy with your playing?

He knows that we are looking for another drummer and he will still be involved but not as the player. The new drummer may end up full time or may bop out at some point and the current one can practice his playing. And yeah the posting is weird I try to be optimistic and make it work but I'm just trying to find ways to not do it, and now they have this plan to all move in together and play :rollno: if he can't play his parts practicing every day then living together won't change a thing :banghead:.

I'd rather have a player that practices than one who gets big ideas to make up for it.
 
Is the band a hobby or friendship thing? Or the the band a business you hope to see a future with? Get that clearly in mind and don't try to mix the two. If it's a friend thing, enjoy the people and make the music in a way everyone can enjoy. If it's a business, solve the problem within band (fire, replace, demand etc.) or move on.

Most band problems like this are because a person wants the group to be more than it can be, or they lack the self confidence to move on.

I don't have the power to fire on my own but today I was given the option. A drummer replied to my ad, and I want this band to go somewhere. I put in time to practice and got it done. The current guy only complains that he can't practice at home even though he can
 
So I'm having a drummer audition today. We explained to the old drummer why we were booting him which was obvious. Still all friends though and if this guy doesn't work out then it's back to the ad or if months go by and the old one practices and actually gets better maybe he can come back. Regardless if he really wants to drum, he will.