drummers and tempo

davylee

In cover bands
Our band has this problem.
I know other bands who have this problem
I'd say about 70/80% of live acts i see have this problem.
Drummer is playing to fast
Okay, i'm all for playing gigs 10/15% faster than the record.
I would imagine that's about right but when songs just start racing away what do you do??
I understand the main reason for this is adrenaline. As the night goes on, the crowd level rises, the blood starts pumping and then of we go, 100mph.
In my experience, it's not easy to tell drummers to slow down, they think there right.
How i know beyond doubt, that the tempo is too fast (besides just feeling it) is that i cannot get the lyrics out of my mouth.
Any help?
Drummer with a click track in his ear?
I know this is good for studio work but i here mixed reports about live performance.
Any help would be much appreciated.
nice one
Sorry i dont know why i posted it twice

navannavan

your drummer is right , bad musicians play slower as they lack confidence. i suggest tell him you are sorry ans learn to listen to his beats,, simple

davylee

navannavan wrote: »

your drummer is right , bad musicians play slower as they lack confidence. i suggest tell him you are sorry ans learn to listen to his beats,, simple

That is one of the most ridiculous comments i've ever heard. Lack of confidence?????????? What the hell is that supposed to mean?? I'm still laughing out loud writing this. The only conclusion i can come up with is that you're a "drummer"? Can't think of anything else.
So i'm playing tonight and i don't fell good about my playing so i deliberately slow down the set. What utter tripe.
God damn it, SOME people!!

joeduggan

ur right there davylee. what a load of ****e. i dont even think navannavan is a drummer. i think he thinks hes a drummer.

Shane_C

You got to convince him he's wrong before the gig.

If the drummer follows anyone, its the bassist (he probably can't hear anyone else).

For a difficult song get your bassist to stand in front of him with his back to the crowd so he has some visual timing information too.

But if he still thinks he's right you haven't a hope.

navannavan

for all your information , thats a direct quote from a mr Eric clapton

davylee

The the eric clapton who lives up the road from you or what?

navannavan

in a bbc interview

joeduggan

thats ridiculous. you must have taken that out of context or misunderstood.

BloatedPope

I've had that problem before. I dealt with it by identifying the problem songs and counting them in myself

Irishcrx

I'm a drummer and I sometimes suffer from this when playing live, now I have a good sence of timing without having to use a click trick or anything it's sometimes just pure adrenilin that gets me moving quicker, but to be fair if your band is tight and you know the songs it's usually adds to them rather than takes away, if things are being played too fast for you to play or sing with then you need to discuss it with your drummer at practice and just make sure he's aware to keep his composure.

Don't blame us all that heat gets to us back there lol.

Arcto

Yeah im a drummer also and i agree with Irishcrx.

It happens to us, fortunatly we play Black Metal so an increase of 10-20% sounds better

I couldnt really imagine a cover band playing poker face 20% faster being any good hahaha.


Oh wait i can imagine it, HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Just keep telling ure drummer to play the songs at the correct tempo. If your not playing covers then whos gonna notice (besides the band) if their a little too fast?

+typo+

navannavan

clapton did actulay say that, he also said that non drummers had no sence of fun and took everything too serious ---fact

Mr.Mond

Navannavan, well said! At least you have a sense of humour!

Seriously tho' tempo can be a problem sometimes. From a drummers point of view, the complainers of tempo tend to be the same person in the band all the time. For example, we had this bass player who was used to constantly playing slower kind of rock at home in his bedroom. He gone now long time, TBTG..

Before a gig, I usually listen to the songs in the car on the way to keep me clued in, not listening to the original or recorded version for a long time can make one drift to something faster, slower or different...

Don't get too many complaints now as I'm too unfit to go fast anymore

Weird Scientist

your drummer obviously needs a lot more gigging experience(to help with the adreniline buzz) and practice with a click at home. The click at home would be best as bringing it to the live scene too soon could destroy some tunes even more if it starts to go wrong.

That or get a drum machine or a better drummer.

Irishcrx

Yeah agree with most of the advice, your drummer should be practicing with his timing at home anyway.

But what alot of other band members forget easily is that when playing live and in general the band should keep to the drummers tempo that's why he's there seen alot of bands screw up live by not being tight and all playing in differant tempos and not following the back line of the band.

davylee

I'm all for having fun. the reason i started playing music was out of love for music and to have fun but what happens when the songs you are play are played too fast. I start to feel embarassed and guess what, it's not fun anymore.....

joeduggan

most drummers ive ever met are arogant and you cant tell them anything without them going into a huge sulk. and most of them are in their 20s to 30s. the prime role of a drummer in a band is to KEEP TIME. give me a steady drummer anyday before a fancy one with all the drum roles. and the ten minute solos i could do without. also i find it extraordinary how some drummers dont even know weather a song comes in after , for example, 3 or 4. ive found that with 2 drummers in the last year. and also remeber my first sentence lads. most drummers ive met, not ALL DRUMMERS.

navannavan

In cover bands
Our band has this problem.
I know other bands who have this problem
I'd say about 70/80% of live acts i see have this problem.
Everyone else is playing to slow
Okay, i'm all for playing gigs 10/15% slower than the record.
I would imagine that's about right but when songs they just start fading away what do you do??
I understand the main reason for this is stupidy and lack of confidence. As the night goes on, the crowd level rises, the blood starts pumping and then of we go, 3 mph.In my experience, it's not easy to tell musicians to speed up down, they think there right.
How i know beyond doubt, that the tempo is too slow (besides just feeling it) is that i cannot get the lyrics out of my mouth.
Any help?
Drummer with a click track in his ear?
I know this is good for studio work but i here mixed reports about live performance.
Any help would be much appreciated.
nice one
Sorry i dont know why i posted it twice

Arcto

Lads, at the end of the day the drummer is the tempo, weather or not you think hes going to fast YOU HAVE to keep in time with him.

Then after the gig tell him that was wrong and that youd like it slower the next time.

Baggio

well it can happen......
.............................always prided myself on never needing a click track or whatever,,,and yet there i was playing a well known GNR song a few months back and man it IS too fast....having said that thats how the band at that time wanted to do it!....I eventually pulled it back to a better groove feel and its way better now.

Then we do a gig 2 weeks ago and lo and behold a well known Lizzy song is rocket pace!!!! man was sooo annoying to hear how fast it was,,as we're seriously tight and it did the song noooo justice at all..so gave myself a right good kicking over that one!

Next time NSD go live - all will be well,.,,,even ego maniacs like me have to SOMETIMES be almost wrong

Having said all that i hear soo many guitar/bass/vocals folks saying "keep it simple, dont want a flashy drummer" bla bla.....well time keeping is a job for a clock not a talented musician in a band! ...arrogance is a gift/curse of many musicians for me its a real sign of weakness give me humble talented people any day

now...where did i leave that mirror...got a look at myself one more time! hahahahahah

ciao'amigos....Baggio....

joeduggan

baggio , i personally think thats the best post ive seen on this thread so far. so before u go back to the mirror (joke) , take a bow.

davylee

navannavan wrote: »

In cover bands
Our band has this problem.
I know other bands who have this problem
I'd say about 70/80% of live acts i see have this problem.
Everyone else is playing to slow
Okay, i'm all for playing gigs 10/15% slower than the record.
I would imagine that's about right but when songs they just start fading away what do you do??
I understand the main reason for this is stupidy and lack of confidence. As the night goes on, the crowd level rises, the blood starts pumping and then of we go, 3 mph.In my experience, it's not easy to tell musicians to speed up down, they think there right.
How i know beyond doubt, that the tempo is too slow (besides just feeling it) is that i cannot get the lyrics out of my mouth.
Any help?
Drummer with a click track in his ear?
I know this is good for studio work but i here mixed reports about live performance.
Any help would be much appreciated.
nice one
Sorry i dont know why i posted it twice

??????

davylee

Baggio wrote: »

well it can happen......
.............................always prided myself on never needing a click track or whatever,,,and yet there i was playing a well known GNR song a few months back and man it IS too fast....having said that thats how the band at that time wanted to do it!....I eventually pulled it back to a better groove feel and its way better now.

Then we do a gig 2 weeks ago and lo and behold a well known Lizzy song is rocket pace!!!! man was sooo annoying to hear how fast it was,,as we're seriously tight and it did the song noooo justice at all..so gave myself a right good kicking over that one!

Next time NSD go live - all will be well,.,,,even ego maniacs like me have to SOMETIMES be almost wrong

Having said all that i hear soo many guitar/bass/vocals folks saying "keep it simple, dont want a flashy drummer" bla bla.....well time keeping is a job for a clock not a talented musician in a band! ...arrogance is a gift/curse of many musicians for me its a real sign of weakness give me humble talented people any day

now...where did i leave that mirror...got a look at myself one more time! hahahahahah

ciao'amigos....Baggio....

Baggio are you really a drummer
Far too much common sence coming from your side:D

Baggio

Dave,,well even lunatics sometimes make sense haha

joe added ya there bud...yeah real drummer here if in doubt check myspace for me and never say die and feel free to add if ya's like amigos!

www.myspace.com/markobaggio

www.myspace.com/neversaydieclassicrock

ciao' amigos....Baggio.....

irishthump

joeduggan wrote: »

the prime role of a drummer in a band is to KEEP TIME.

Yes, a drummers job is to keep time, it's just a pity that an awful lot of "non-drumming" band members forget that it's THEIR responsibility to STAY IN TIME with the drummer.

joeduggan

you are right IRISHTHUMP. but most drummers i know play the songs so that you cant even get the words out of your mouth. it might be keeping tempo. but the tempo is way too fast. and then if you say anything, like i did to our drummer recently, he sulked for the whole gig. u cant say anything to most drummers cos they get the hump.

bogs

Arcto wrote: »

Yeah im a drummer also and i agree with Irishcrx.

It happens to us, fortunatly we play Black Metal so an increase of 10-20% sounds better

I couldnt really imagine a cover band playing poker face 20% faster being any good hahaha.


Oh wait i can imagine it, HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Just keep telling ure drummer to play the songs at the correct tempo. If your not playing covers then whos gonna notice (besides the band) if their a little too fast?

+typo+

YOU seem to have a problem playing to the rehersed programme on stage.What MAKES YOU THINK your wright May I suggest that if you (or your fellow players) are trained as musicians should not have this problem thats IFye are PROPERLY TRAINED.BOGS

i57dwun4yb1pt8

any drummer worth his salt uses a tama rythm watch or some such to count off the tunes.

Drummerboy08

How many more from DI will post here before tommorow?!

As its already been pointed out, its up to the other members in the band to stay in time with the drummer. He cant be slowing down and speeding up because the guitarist i pished!

DerKaiser

It's very childsish to take this as a personal attack

I am a drummer and even I say if the band is out of time it's generally the drummers fault (unless at the beginning of the song the tempo is set by another instrument)

davylee

Jaysus this one's been going on for a while.
It seems to be drummers Vs everyone else with the exception of derkaiser.
It is a toughy alright.
I suppose as a bassist i should try take a little more responsibility with tempo
Good drummers are few and far between. I's say thats safe enough to say

spunkymunky

As a drummer who has been on the back of this complaint, i suppose the way to fix it is to get YOUR drummer to practice the songs more to a click at home. Im generally pretty good but for a while i had problems with my last band. They gave me an ultimatum. I got the tracks, recorded to a click and got playing. I got my metronome out again and dusted it off....that was the problem, no practice to a metronome.
Get your drummer to make the effort, if he/she keeps speeding up then you know what to do....put up an ad!!
Or get them a click in their ear for practice and maybe gigs. The problem wont fix itself so you try fix it!!

deanodrummer

I'm a drummer and think I have pretty good timing. Never had a complaint with any band that I've played with.

Playing live can give you the adrenaline rush to go and lash out a song too fast so that will happen sometimes. Unless your drummer is gifted when it comes to time-keeping he might have problems. Tell him to practise more. Thats the only way to get it right. And if he doesn't then kick him out ans stop moaning. Get a new drummer.

Problem is that alot of people think they can drum and they can't. Everyone can play the drums... badly.

Exmnk

Waterford/Cork area, hopefully someone that can keep time, and has a sense of humour. Am I asking too much? Rock on. :cool:

i57dwun4yb1pt8

all you need to do is this

1/ drummer practise with clicks in spare time - all good drummers do this - if your drummer doesnt want to - boot him / her
2/ drummer brings metronome to gigs and a head piece to hear it - has the set list tempos marked from rhearsal .
all rehearsals should be clicked - fro evryoine benefit. - alot of guitarists are AWFUL timekeepers.
3/ drummer counts in each song from the metronome . this includes coutning in anyone else who starts a song/
4/ drummer sticks to the tempo even if someone else is trying to rush or drag - they spoon learn to get it together,

problem solved.


most good drummers will click thier teeth or heel the hats or somesuch to maintain time , and will take a breath or two before counting in a song to calm down