Worst. Drummer. Ever.

[Nev375]

You are making this about you.

1. You aren't the bad drummer.
2. It's not your job to hire/fire the drummer.
3. Anyone who would judge your bass playing upon what the drummer is doing is not someone you wanna work with.
4. If you start whining to the BL and refusing to work with certain people you are creating problems for the BL and lowering your worth.

My advice is to play the bass and only play the bass. Never offer your opinions unless asked.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

fire the BL.

 

[mobdirt]

Had a drummer who sped up all the fills so we had to play all the songs faster till the fills couldn't be sped up anymore, good times.

 

[4SG]

Would I be out of line to let this BL know that I refuse to work with the drummer again? Would I be out of line to cancel a gig at short notice if I find out this drummer is booked again?

No.

 

[ToneMonkey]

Perfectly fine to tell BL, "I don't care to work with this drummer again. Please don't call if he's on the date." But you need to be prepared that the BL might not call as often. Or you could just start declining all dates with BL. Careful what you wish for.

 

[JW56789]

I was once on the outside looing in at a situation like this. Player A (you) invited player B (the BL) and C (the nitwit drummer) outside afterward. A had C tell B his laughing account of why he didn't care, didn't keep time in the fills, etc. Whereupon, A cold-cocked C, told him if he EVER made him sound like that again, this would happen again, then turned and told B he'd get the same thing if he ever made him work with him again.

A got more calls from B, never saw C again, and never paid for another drink. Sometimes, enough is enough is enough.

 

[Big Hoss]

The problem is It's not my gig, I'm just a hired gun. I don't have any authority to axe this drummer from the BL's bench. I told the BL tonight that I would have found a fill in drummer instead, had I known he was planning to use this guy

You have the ability to decline gigs with this drummer do you not?

 

[MordBass]

is the BL totally low balling the drummer? There's gotta be a reason that he even called him in the first place.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

This drummer is a friend of his. He is a "deep bench player" and is only "fielded" when the BL has no options. I know two drummers that were free tonight other than that guy...

Edit: The BL does not know these

is the BL totally low balling the drummer? There's gotta be a reason that he even called him in the first place.

They're friends which probably means he can get the drummer for cheap and without much effort.

It's possible the BL didn't know anyone else, but that's really not an excuse after the first time the drummer fudged a gig. After that, it's on the BL to tighten up his ship, which he clearly didn't do. That level of sloppiness on the BL's part says a lot about his ability to lead.

 

[MordBass]

They're friends which probably means he can get the drummer for cheap and without much effort.

It's possible the BL didn't know anyone else, but that's really not an excuse after the first time the drummer fudged a gig. After that, it's on the BL to tighten up his ship, which he clearly didn't do. That level of sloppiness on the BL's part says a lot about his ability to lead.

In that case I would definitely hook the BL up with as many drummers as ya know lol

 

[mikewalker]

Life is too short to play with bad drummers!!! c'mon...

 

[RHA III]

When you get to be decent as a bass player you almost have too have some type of standard or minimum skill level acceptable for your drummer. I've reached a point with my music that I stopped working with a friend because of the reasons you listed above.

 

[trowaclown]

In that case I would definitely hook the BL up with as many drummers as ya know lol

And have both BL and drummers know that YOU were the one who linked them up. You get better drummers, and you build your reputation as a go-to guy for building networks!

 

[CaseyVancouver]

Suck it up and be a pro.

Nobody likes a whiny sideman. The band leader is a flake and so is the drummer.
You know that ...so do the gig or don't.

There are more bad drummers and bad band leaders out there than good ones.

 

[gidbass]

So a friend of mine who is a BL contacted me earlier in the week to do a cover gig at a beach bar. This BL will throw together a band on the fly to do simple reggae standards. I am typically his bassist, but the line up is always rotating amongst players in the area. When I got to the bar I asked him who the drummer was going to be for the night. He informs me it's X who we are both familiar with and have worked with. We are also both aware and have agreed that he is a horrible drummer. We start the first song of the night and it is almost immediately a total travesty. As the night goes on things don't get any better. At one point the BL turns to the drummer and asks that we pick up the song to a double time. The drummer then precedes to do a triplet "Dancehall style" reggae rhythm which essentially crashes the song into a ditch - we barely recover. The whole night is like this.

This whole thing made my blood boil for a few reasons. First of all his awful performance made the rest of us look terrible in return. I can only do so much to keep a train wreck rolling. Two songs tonight had to be stopped arbitrarily because he got so lost that he could no longer find the beat. Often times I get gigs with new BLs by meeting them and networking at gigs I'm doing for other BLs. If there was a potential BL looking for a bassist, I doubt he would have hired me based on the sh*t show I was involved with tonight.

The other thing that pisses me right the **** off is that there are practiced, talented, ambitious drummers in our area who have put time in to hone their craft and they are dying for work while this guy is taking gigs and totally cavalier about how terrible he is. It's almost a joke to him... I've talked to him in the past about his horrible performance, specifically not holding tempos during fills, and his response was to the affect of "Yeah, I don't bother trying to hold down the tempo in drum fills" ...!

Another point of contention is that this BL and I have talked and both agreed that this drummer is no where near talented enough to do these shows, yet here we are again.

Would I be out of line to let this BL know that I refuse to work with the drummer again? Would I be out of line to cancel a gig at short notice if I find out this drummer is booked again? I do 2-3 nights a month with this BL which is significantly more than any other, so I'm weary about being ham fisted with the way I handle this. I cannot go through another gig like tonight, though.

I'll be honest, not sure how this is the drummers fault since you and the BL know ahead of time that he/she isn't up to your level.

Sounds like the BL's fault/issue, not the drummer. If you should be mad at anyone, it's the BL, again, IMHO.

Life is too short for crappy gigs...

Not sure on what you should do, but if its that bad, I'd just refuse to do the gig if that drummer is involved.

Good Luck!

 

[Bubble]

Listen to London Beat, Thinking About You, Add it to your play list.

 

[bassbully]

I would tell him if you are ever using that drummer again do not call me for your gig.

 

[AlexBassMP]

I think that BL has to be approached with a "everybody wins" solution but, if that drummer is his friend there's no logical way to convince him for not to call him again. Friendship is a very strong link and sometimes blinds people's thoughts.

Do not approach BL with ultimatums or "I don't like to play with that guy" arguments because he's gonna take it personally (you're talking about his friend). Be emotional in your speech. Talk to his emotions , not his mind. Talk about how better can sound the band with more competent musicians and how can all benefit from this. Tell him that it's not personal with his friend, but hiring him doen't benefit anyone. The band sounds bad , band members are unconfortable and maybe he can find himself in a situation that the best musicians out there don't want to gig with him.

What about the drummer?.. well , somebody has to tell him that he needs more practice. Nothing personal here..but if he wants to enjoy music and do more gigs he must work on his drum skills.

 

[pedroims]

We are also both aware and have agreed that he is a horrible drummer.

there are practiced, talented, ambitious drummers in our area who have put time in to hone their craft and they are dying for work while this guy is taking gigs

Another point of contention is that this BL and I have talked and both agreed that this drummer is no where near talented enough to do these shows, yet here we are again.

For what I read, the only ones to blame here is you and the BL.

In fact, you could change the title of the thread by: Worst BL ever and then tell us how this guy get gigs without a former band, get muaicians on the fly and to make it worst decides to hire the worst drummer around.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I cannot go through another gig like tonight, though.

I know the feeling well.

I played for hire with a band like that for about a year a while back. It wasn't a fill in guy though, this was their drummer, and he was beyond horrible. It became crystal clear when we went into the studio and it was impossible to record with him. They were forced to hire someone else. I felt like you, but the gig was paying well, the people were really nice, and I always try to suck every last drop of learning out of any situation I'm in. I really believe in hindsight that that gig helped me grow in leaps and bounds. These were the things I considered a challenge, and started working on:

• I had to help the drummer keep the groove, and I had to work on where my best spot in the groove was when the guitar and drums were doing things that didn't work together.
• I had to learn listen really really well.
• I had to learn to play less at times, and let notes just ring out or it wasn't going to work.

Then the tougher stuff. I had to learn to:

• Smile despite the fact that I knew we were sucking big-time.
• Keep my mouth shut, especially after the gig with people around, about how much the drummer sucked.
• Work at convincing myself that the band sounding like crap wasn't a reflection on me.
• Keep telling myself this is only my ego that's hurting. Nothing more nothing less.

Not saying you have to do any of that, but it was beneficial to me. I do feel that if you're not going to look at it as some sort of positive thing that you'll learn and grow from - or make a lot of money - it's best to just say you won't work with that drummer any more. It'll become a real easy choice for the BL. Either you - or the crappy drummer. If he chooses the crappy drummer, then I think you might have to stop looking at what the drummer is doing and start looking a little more at yerself . Not saying that's the case, but I don't see any reason from what you've posted why BL would choose crappy drummer over capable bass player.