Jerry W said:
I don't think drummers as a whole have any worse time than other instrumentalists, its just easier to notice and quantify. I would be willing to be that many of those that give drummers grief because of thier time are "metronomically challenged" also.
Good time is something that you have to develope and it is a matter of concentration. It took me some time (pardon the pun) to really learn to be exact and lock in on everything I play. As a keyboard player, I could certainly get by with what I would call "feel" but "feel" is different than "time". Getting the groove is one thing but what if you have to execute parts that are not exactly groove parts. What if they are orchestral parts and counting and timing are everything. How well would you do. Would you hit the mark everytime or would there be time discrepancies.
So, the next time you want to rag on the drummer, check yourself.
I like this guy. He understands that group music is a group effort and group communication.
Everbody can screw up, and sometimes one person's idea of where time needs to be stretched or shortened can differ from another person's. That's where communication comes in, not finger pointing.
I just had a very pleasant experience this year working in a project studio with a singer/songwriter that had a very different concept of time than I had. Compromises where made, we communicated, no blood was drawn
and it was very friendly and I think it worked out well in the end.
I had another experience working with another singer/ keyboard player/songwriter just last week that never played her time and phrasing the same way twice and would suddenly decided to sustain a note at the end of a measure a beat or two and then pick up the next measure. No warning, live take, and I was blamed. Recording engineer agreed with her, and the bass player and I just looked at each other shaking our heads. We kept telling her if you want to do that kind of thing,just give us a signal or a hint of some kind and we'll be there for you. These things can be effective. But playing with others is very different than playing solo or in mlti-track overdubs. Eventually this "jazz" demo became a multitrack overdub recording where we played over her track.
Jazz spontaneity was lost but at leas we got a salvageable recording.
Don't just act, interact. And above all, communicate with each other and enjoy the act of "playing together".
