The science of pulling back a speeding drummer

[Geepers]

It’s not a one way street. As a drummer I can attest to the problem of guitarists speeding up too. I would often find myself trying to straddle the line of “keeping the tempo” vs being sensitive to what everyone else is doing. Bands - even really good ones - speed up and slow down. Listen to the start of the studio version of Dead Flowers by the Rolling Stones and then jump forward to the end. The increase in tempo is almost comical. I think someone said earlier that this issue “is not a one size fits all”. Yes. Each band is a unique beast and has to find its own balance point with the personalities and musical abilities at its disposal.

 

[pepj]

If you are talking about drastic speeds then you can try one time to fix them. If they don't get it, understand or work to fix it, you're basically going to either remove yourself or him.
These differences mark you out as ready to move onto to a better level.
Speeding up to the point that even the audience notices it is waay too much.
If drummers can't play to click....they haven't really got their thing down.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

I used to play on a worship team with a young drummer who would always speed up. He would not listen to the bass at all, even when I played simple roots. Band leader solved the problem with a click track. End of problem.

 

[dune]

Unless it's a case of the drummer already being aware of and actively working on their rushing issue, it might be best to think about: "The science of replacing a speeding drummer."

 

[project_c]

It’s not a one way street. As a drummer I can attest to the problem of guitarists speeding up too. I would often find myself trying to straddle the line of “keeping the tempo” vs being sensitive to what everyone else is doing. Bands - even really good ones - speed up and slow down. Listen to the start of the studio version of Dead Flowers by the Rolling Stones and then jump forward to the end. The increase in tempo is almost comical. I think someone said earlier that this issue “is not a one size fits all”. Yes. Each band is a unique beast and has to find its own balance point with the personalities and musical abilities at its disposal.

Yeah, ‘ebb and flow’ in timing is part of playing together, and we play jazz so it’s totally fine to fluctuate, I definitely don’t think we should be completely rigid in terms of timing. The issue is that it’s always a one way thing, wherever we start off, we end up 20/30bpm faster, sometimes even more. And the other issue connected to that is that bass solos usually happen towards the end of the song, which means by time time the song gets to the bass solo, things are way faster than they were at the beginning, and taking a bass solo at say 165bpm is very different to having to take one at 210bpm and rising..

 

[Pacman]

The drummer should NOT be listening to others to get the tempo. He/she is supposed to set the tempo for the others.

If my time is better than the drummer's (and it often is), he's going to listen to me for time.

In my experience, the bass player has the larger share of responsibility for time keeping, and the drummer is there for style.

 

[Jogobass]

I played with a drummer on a session once. He sped up about 150% during the song. I tried to pull him back but to no avail. The whole band was angry at him. When I asked why he sped up, he said he felt like it was slowing down. He did not for a moment acknowledge his mistake. Some drummers are a bit self centered and I just can't work with that.

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Buy him a bag of decaf and discretely give it to him.

 

[HardNHeavy]

my drummer says he needs to see me while drumming, I guess my fingers on the frets it helps him keep time when he feels he is off. But sometimes i sit down at rehearsal when were just working on something for and extended time and he cant see my fingers/frets when i sit hiding behind his hihat/snare stand

 

[Maxra]

I play (fiddle) in a couple of big acoustic bands that speed up with gravity, ie when the tune goes downhill on the page in a run of quavers, they speed up. Music goes uphill, they slow down, like truck drivers in hilly country. Sometimes they get to the right place in the end...

 

[Rev_Slinky]

I've had some luck with turning to face the drummer, making eye contact, then emphasizing where the beat should land in tempo by hitting where the kick and snare should be. It doesn't always work, but our drummer knows he can get overly enthusiastic on certain songs so he's usually open to the input. But not on River Deep, Mountain High. We just have to hold on and take the ride on that one.

 

[Parzival]

I find it easier to speed him up a little bit than slow him down. We have signals. It is important to communicate. My drummer and I have a great relationship and he trusts me on when the tempo is right and when it is wrong.

Communication we have:

Too fast - I make a frown face at him and nod my head downward twice. This means too fast and you need to slow down.
Too slow - I mouth the word "dragging" and nod my head upward twice. This means too slow and pick it up.
All good - I smile and just start nodding my head back and forth to the music and dance away!

 

[Pings Bass]

Working to establish good tempo in a rhythm section is one thing, but managing a chronic condition is an indication of bigger problems, IMO.

Yeah you gotta deal with this in rehearsal. If you're trying to rein in the drummer live, it's going to sound worse than just galloping along.

A drummer who can't keep time needs many hours of practice with a metronome on their own time. If they're unwilling to put in the work outside of rehearsal.... Next!

 

[RandomKaren]

A drummer I was playing with not long ago was a nightmare for speeding some tracks up to the point where vocals couldn't get the words in, but on others dragging them slower and slower like a train pulling into a station. Mention tempo and he would be instantly on the defensive with "there's nothing wrong with my timing!" but on the other hand happy to criticise anyone else. Next time I did the set list I put BPM next to the song keys. We went our separate ways soon after that.

 

[shirojiro]

When I'm playing with a rushing drummer, I simplify my basslines and play fewer 16th notes. I also play more legato and less staccato to draw out the notes a little.

I also make eye contact and nod my head/body to the beat so we can lock in.

 

[Matt O]

Choose one:

1. Spray bottle. Douse as necessary.
2. Taser. Increase voltage as necessary.
3. Record rehearsal. Make drummer listen in shame. Suggest click track until tempo improves. Engage in a warm hug with your band homie.
4. Fire the drummer (TB default)

Edit: I have worked with many drummers with tempo issues. Sometimes it is possible to slow them by pulling on the beat, or by eye contact / slow down hand signal, etc, but in my experience, unless or until the drummer develops a sense of time on their own it will be a continuous battle.

 

[matthewbrown]

You might try suggesting that the drummer download Time Guru Metronome for their phone and spend some time working with it.

 

[Geddaric]

I spent most of my young life trying to reign in rushing drummers by forcibly playing slower. It never works. The drummers hear you playing slow and forcibly speed up. The exact opposite of what you want. The next part sounds very counterintuitive, but stay with me here. It really does work, and you only have to do it once.

Play faster. I’m serious. If you rush a rushing drummer, everything speeds up so fast, that the drummer notices it’s going too fast, and will start to try to slow down. Which is exactly what you want.

The above works, but it does not reflect well in on the band during a performance. Try this at your next couple practices and it will (hopefully) get him thinking more about his tempo.

 

[mambo4]

Tempo is everyone’s job. Not just the drummer. When the drummer is failing at his job, it is everyone needs to fix the situation, not just the bassist

 

[fdeck]

There's a lovely app called LiveBPM that shows you the tempo in real time, with a graph. It's pretty eye-opening. I usually don't recommend technological solutions to problems that should be solved with practicing, but if it's your word against the rest of the band, it's helpful if you can show some evidence.

Then they can go and practice.