Drummers who keep changing the beat during the song

[Muzz]

There was an awkward silence, and the party-goers paused their revelry to stare. It was only then I realised the heart in my mouth wasn't mine...

Edited August 5, 2018 by Muzz

[discreet]

2 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

My heart was in my mouth as I sidled into the crowded room wearing nothing more than a smear of lipstick, a tri-lobal posing pouch and a pair of shiny, patent leather dance pumps.

OMG, that was you?? I remember we had a spirited discussion on partialism before adjourning to the orangery for Swarfega and cling-film play. Small world!

[spectoremg]

Drummer threads that start with 'he's the salt of the earth but...'

He ain't being paid for that. 

[brianthebass]

In my opinion - the best drummers are the ones who watch the bass players fingers and time their drumming strikes to those fingers, and the best bass players are the ones who watch the drummers sticks and time their bass playing to those stick strikes - if you both watch each other then the groove will impress everybody - no need to do anything too fancy.

[Bluewine]

I can't believe how many drummers live in their own little world and pay little to no attention to what's going on around them.

Blue

[discreet]

36 minutes ago, brianthebass said:

...no need to do anything fancy.

It also helps if you can both count. It's surprising how many people can't. Apparently.

[Bluewine]

46 minutes ago, brianthebass said:

In my opinion - the best drummers are the ones who watch the bass players fingers and time their drumming strikes to those fingers, and the best bass players are the ones who watch the drummers sticks and time their bass playing to those stick strikes - if you both watch each other then the groove will impress everybody - no need to do anything too fancy.

I give accent ques to our drummer. I'm struggling with him following acknowledging my ques

Blue

Edited August 5, 2018 by Bluewine

[Dad3353]

10 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I give accent ques to our drummer...

So would I, spelt like that..!  

('Cue': giving the nod to someone, or playing pool. 'Queue': standing in line ...)

[discreet]

¿Que?

[skankdelvar]

[skankdelvar]

21 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I give accent ...

Blue

A raised eyebrow or a diffident nod will scarcely pierce a drummer's mental carapace. You need some energetic back-swing with sufficient movement from the waist that he thinks you're about to head-butt him. The latter may sometimes be necessary so remember to always keep the forehead low.

[mrtcat]

Best drummer I ever gigged regularly with was an absolutely brilliant player but a complete tool. He once turned up at a wedding reception in a room that we knew was going to be tricky (high ceilings, marble floor, nothing to break up sound at all) with two kick drums and a China ride on either side of him and totally leathered the kit all night. The day we sacked him it was the biggest relief ever. Impossible to work with idiots like that.

[Bluewine]

Sorry guys, I get it. Cue or que, drummers switching beats and not paying attention makes our job twice as hard.

Blue 

Edited August 5, 2018 by Bluewine

[Dad3353]

26 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

"Hey, you sass that hoopy Bluewine? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." 

[skankdelvar]

How best to react to a drummer who keeps changing the beat?

[uk_lefty]

8 hours ago, Bluewine said:

I give accent ques to our drummer. I'm struggling with him following acknowledging my ques

Blue

I've been playing with my drummer for two years. In practice we are constantly making eye contact to follow each other for fills and stuff but it doesn't always work. On gigs he will barely look at me. I played a dep with a different drummer though and found it far more difficult, the guy had better timing but didn't build up to a chorus or bridge or anything which is hard when you're playong unfamiliar material.

The first band I was ever in had a drummer who is hands down the best all round musician I have ever known. He and I could drop out for odd beats and come back in and accent each others playing so easily. It was a band dominated by a guitarist playing huge guitar-w@nk solos so he and I needed to keep ourselves awake somehow!

[Bluewine]

15 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

I've been playing with my drummer for two years. In practice we are constantly making eye contact to follow each other for fills and stuff but it doesn't always work. On gigs he will barely look at me. I played a dep with a different drummer though and found it far more difficult, the guy had better timing but didn't build up to a chorus or bridge or anything which is hard when you're playong unfamiliar material.

The first band I was ever in had a drummer who is hands down the best all round musician I have ever known. He and I could drop out for odd beats and come back in and accent each others playing so easily. It was a band dominated by a guitarist playing huge guitar-w@nk solos so he and I needed to keep ourselves awake somehow!

I think the whole idea or the importance of the bass player locking in with the drummer is a bass player value.

I don't think it's anything all drummers get or have value for.

Blue

[Bluewine]

8 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

"Hey, you sass that hoopy Bluewine? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." 

It was 100 degrees and humid, you must have a towel.

What's a frood?

Blue

Edited August 6, 2018 by Bluewine

[Oopsdabassist]

8 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

What's a frood?

Blue

 

[ezbass]

6 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

It was 100 degrees and humid, you must have a towel.

What's a frood?

Blue

It’s from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy:

“Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."
(Sass: know, be aware of, meet,; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)”

In the books, towels are seen as one of the most useful items a hitchhiker can have. World Towel Day is May 25th.

[Dad3353]

6 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

...you must have a towel.

What's a frood?...

It's from 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy', recommended reading, as there are references to that work interspersed throughout this forum, and others.

Here it is, in Pdf format ... HHGTTG ...

[Muzz]

Just to interrupt the sadly-missed DA* lurve, I rarely watch the drummers hands - it's the feet for me...  I'm lucky to have played with a fantastic drummer for a few years now, we rarely have to make eye contact, because I know what he's gonna do, and vice versa. When we have a dep for one night, it can be very hard work readjusting...

 

* Can you imagine what he'd have to say about the current POTUS? 🙂

[Bluewine]

23 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Just to interrupt the sadly-missed DA* lurve, I rarely watch the drummers hands - it's the feet for me...  I'm lucky to have played with a fantastic drummer for a few years now, we rarely have to make eye contact, because I know what he's gonna do, and vice versa. When we have a dep for one night, it can be very hard work readjusting...

 

* Can you imagine what he'd have to say about the current POTUS? 🙂

"Fantastic Drummer" that's key.

Blue

 

[Stylon Pilson]

40 minutes ago, Muzz said:

I rarely watch the drummers hands - it's the feet for me...

I find that, by staring in the rough vicinity of both hands and feet, my eyes tend to alight in an approximately groinal area.

S.P.

[Muzz]

You do know you said that out loud, right? 😐