best way to deal with a drummer that plays too slow?
...tell him to find another couch to sleep on
...tell him to find another couch to sleep on
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What’s the best way to deal with a drummer who plays too slow?
- Thread starter Pete Berger
- Start date
I auditioned for a band two years ago - (my last audition ever as it was simply too depressing).
The drummer played every song at about 60 % of the correct tempo. The two guitarists seemed fine with it. I finally said “were playing everything really, really slow - is that intentional ?”. The drummer responds with “don’t worry about it, when we play in front of people I’m so nervous that I play these songs way too fast”. He was serious.
I was a bit put off. I just couldn’t understand that mindset. I asked can we try playing them at the actual tempo? Drummer said sure and played them just as slow again.
i thanked them and left. It was all so weird. For me, the best way to deal with it was to walk
The drummer played every song at about 60 % of the correct tempo. The two guitarists seemed fine with it. I finally said “were playing everything really, really slow - is that intentional ?”. The drummer responds with “don’t worry about it, when we play in front of people I’m so nervous that I play these songs way too fast”. He was serious.
I was a bit put off. I just couldn’t understand that mindset. I asked can we try playing them at the actual tempo? Drummer said sure and played them just as slow again.
i thanked them and left. It was all so weird. For me, the best way to deal with it was to walk
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And there’s the root of the problem. All the technical solutions in the world won’t help if he doesn’t actually want to improve.
- Sep 21, 2011
- 149
- 169
- Disclosures
- I'm just a user/customer that plays gigs. I am not professionally affiliated with any vendor, etc.
This was probably posted a ton of times throughout this thread (PARDONS, if so!), but... I really, REALLY love playing to a click. Despite the time it takes to get used to it... once you do, it's almost literally one less thing to think about. All of the energy can be focused RIGHT out to the audience/house, vice being distracted by trying to get comfortable with a common pocket that feels good.
I think that's one REALLY difficult ingredient to identify... 'in the pocket'... or internal 'rhythm'. A person either HAS it, or they don't. It's one of those things that even when you're at the right tempo (as dictated by BPM), you can really feel where the pocket should sit.
The only possible metaphor I can offer is 'analog' vs. 'digital'. 2 drummers (or, musicians, for that matter) playing the exact same thing at the exact same tempo can sound or feel totally different if one of those musicians truly lives 'in the pocket', and the other one doesn't. Ever hear a musician or band that just sounds... 'clinical'... or 'sterile'? That might be why.
(Disclaimer: I'm a bassist, but also play drums... even as a drummer, I ALWAYS prefer playing to a metronome, when possible... I'm VERY, very lucky, in that I can adjust tempo 'in flight' should the singer need me to do so. For lots of drummers, ya - once they're in a tempo, they stay there, regardless.)
Cheers, peeps!
I think that's one REALLY difficult ingredient to identify... 'in the pocket'... or internal 'rhythm'. A person either HAS it, or they don't. It's one of those things that even when you're at the right tempo (as dictated by BPM), you can really feel where the pocket should sit.
The only possible metaphor I can offer is 'analog' vs. 'digital'. 2 drummers (or, musicians, for that matter) playing the exact same thing at the exact same tempo can sound or feel totally different if one of those musicians truly lives 'in the pocket', and the other one doesn't. Ever hear a musician or band that just sounds... 'clinical'... or 'sterile'? That might be why.
(Disclaimer: I'm a bassist, but also play drums... even as a drummer, I ALWAYS prefer playing to a metronome, when possible... I'm VERY, very lucky, in that I can adjust tempo 'in flight' should the singer need me to do so. For lots of drummers, ya - once they're in a tempo, they stay there, regardless.)
Cheers, peeps!
Agree on the right bpm for each song on your set list. Have him use a visual metronome just to get the right tempo for the songs before he counts them in. He is still in control and doesn't have to play to a click.
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So am I
I thought this was written in stone, handed down through history from the dawn of man, from when musicians realised that they had people on stage with them that weren't musicians (and thats not the roadies) but they were useful to level up the stage - SACK THE DRUMMER
OK joking apart, there are X number of members in a group, one of them isn't up to scratch. After speaking to that person, after several temperature rising discussions that person still isn't playing what ever in a way that the majority agree on is acceptable - REPLACE.
Or shut up and keep gigging with a train wreck until the audience or venue manager decides to stop supporting you.
This.
We ( the band) establish the correct tempo at rehearsal and note it. The drummer uses a metronome to count us in at that tempo, both at rehearsal and at shows.
We're not held hostage by the drummer's imagining of the tempo.
If his tempo is consistent, then just write down the tempos of the songs as they are on the recordings, and just at practice, use a metronome to get the tempo in your heads. Then turn it off and start the song. If the rest of the band wants to try that and the drummer doesn't, find a new drummer. If no one in the band has your back, find a new band.
I wouldn't be that polite. 'We've decided that 'someone else' should count the songs in'. If the drummer asks why, just be honest and polite and keep it simple; 'tempos have been slower than we want'.
If he offers you the sticks, take them and point to the door.
That’s a pretty unique problem, contrasting the common runaway-train-drummer-speeding-up-as-the-song-goes-on issue.....which is just classic.
Yes, playing to a click can be fun, but I much prefer listening to a band that doesn't use a click, music (tempo) should breathe, imo.
It's just life, imo.
I create the sheet music for our band, changing what needs to be changed, transposing keys, setting the tempo to our speed, etc. But in the end, the band chooses the tempo at the moment. It's rare that we run through a song multiple times at the same tempo.
Lots of times, in the middle of the song. Sometimes they stop singing because they forgot the lyrics, even though it's right in front of them on the music stand.
We call it letting the spirit takes us to where-ever. I call it not practicing. Just this past rehearsal, the lead singer came upon a measure where he sings the first quarter note, then rests the remaining 3/4's. There's no rest for the instruments though.
He shortened the rests, and when we were done with the song, I asked if we rushed measure 4 in verse 1. The singers said probably, but we should follow the lead singer. That's not going to work in this case, and come this weekend's performance, we're going to come apart in that measure and the following one.
It's just life.
I create the sheet music for our band, changing what needs to be changed, transposing keys, setting the tempo to our speed, etc. But in the end, the band chooses the tempo at the moment. It's rare that we run through a song multiple times at the same tempo.
Lots of times, in the middle of the song. Sometimes they stop singing because they forgot the lyrics, even though it's right in front of them on the music stand.
We call it letting the spirit takes us to where-ever. I call it not practicing. Just this past rehearsal, the lead singer came upon a measure where he sings the first quarter note, then rests the remaining 3/4's. There's no rest for the instruments though.
He shortened the rests, and when we were done with the song, I asked if we rushed measure 4 in verse 1. The singers said probably, but we should follow the lead singer. That's not going to work in this case, and come this weekend's performance, we're going to come apart in that measure and the following one.
It's just life.
I think this advise would apply to any fellow band member. Find something they are doing well and praise that first. Be polite, honest, fair and specific in what you find needs improvement. Find something else they do well and praise that.
- Sep 21, 2011
- 149
- 169
- Disclosures
- I'm just a user/customer that plays gigs. I am not professionally affiliated with any vendor, etc.
Oh, I can TOTALLY agree with that, too! That said, the type of band you're referring to is comprised of musicians that gel well with each other (either instantly, or over time). The click takes the guesswork out... and again... you can have a band that plays to a click and still has a very natural sound/feel to them - just that they have the click as their common anchor (...and the best of them might sound like they're not playing to a click, because they don't sound sterile in doing so!). Bands that can do this without a click... TOTALLY awesome.
Cheers!
Mute strings slap out the tempo before the song. Maybe he’ll stick on it. If not he’s purposely playing slow or can’t get it fast enough.
