Time Keeping?

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Matt303

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Tell me, do any of you drummers out there practice time keeping. I now use a recorded drum machine live because I cant find a single drummer who can keep time. I'm doing well paid gigs, I've tried 7-8 different drummers who all talk a good game. Typically they speed up , slow down, cant play accurate bar sub divisions i.e. swing when no swing is required or shuffle when no shuffle is required.
I'm doing 70s soul and disco covers for Christs sake how hard can it be?
 
I knew a drummer that toured with a band called Wild Cherry in the 70's. He said that what gave him good time was playing along with drum machines. Time is the hardest thing for almost any musician. Record yourself with a metronome and you'll be very suprised how much you drift when you tink you're dead on.
 
I agree that time keeping is not easy it is however the stock in trade of a drummer. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't endlessly talk about "groove" and "feel". None of which are possible without a fundemental pulse which none of them seem capable of producing. Another really irritating aspect to this is generally the drum patterns being played by these "people with drums" are more complex that the original recording, presumably because they think playing more badly is better than less
It is with shame that I must admit that the songs sound a hell of a lot better with a drum machine. I would like to think that they would be better with a good drummer, if I find one I'll let you know but don't hold your breath
 
HElpful tip:


Try getting your next live drummer to play with a click. (metronome or whatever) He may drift a little, but it probably won't be near as much, and if you get him to practice at home with a click, then he will get better and better at it.
 
Unfortunately, if you're not playing your shows to a click, of course there is going to be some variation. If you played your instrument with no drums, click, etc, you would ebb and flow out of time as well.

Many, many live drummers play with a click (usually only they hear it). I always have a click on when I am practicing and can confidently play with one without it being distracting. Try and find a drummer that is comfortable and experienced with playing with a metronome. Forcing it upon one that hasn't had any experience would not work out to well as it takes alot of practice to "not notice" the click.
 
Theletterq has it right! My advice is , if you audition a drummer, don't get all googly on the fact that he or she can fill like mofo. If you do get someone who comes in and starts showing off their fills without a groove every so often, it's probably not going to be a good session. I went through the stages of learning all the killer fill I could. Then as I got older and played with better musicians, I started to realize MY "role" (excuse the pun) in the band. It wasn't to fill the songs with everything I had. Though many songs required me to play a bit more buzy than other, I realized that the fundamental job was to keep time. Wow!!!! what a concept!! :rolleyes:

Now, if I play with a band, I'll warm up with beats instead of fills. It creates a much better environment to start and who knows, they might play something to my beats that would inspire me to play something even better.

Goodluck....

RF
 
I was running sound for a band recently and the drummer, who has played in a band with a fair amout of commercial success, was excusing his poor timekeeping by saying "it's all about the groove, man...". I smiled and politely excused myself...

I too am a drummer. I do a fair amout of sessions and allways play to a click in the studio. A drummers number one job is to KEEP TIME. If you don't have a solid foundation, everything else will suffer.

My thoughts on timekeeping; either you're born with it or you're not. Best of luck on your search, you may have to check out 20-50 guys before you find one who actually has good time.

If nothing else you'll learn patience (or you'll go on a shooting spree!) :D
 
Comfortable with drums?

Just to add to the above posts - ear protection. For many years I would cut tracks in the studio using a very loud headphone mix. This was to overcome the inherent problem of sound leaking into the cans and the tendency for foldback to include a mix of the drum sound going to tape.
Now the cans used were usually Beyer DT100 types- enclosed, and capable of and indeed being run at high volume. Most drummers might relate to the sight of the audience blinking involuantarily when a snare or hi hat in particular are smacked with some force and then put out thru a nKilowatt rig - I certainly have The same thing happens with headphone foldback and the massive volume will totally fuck your ears if you regularly submit to high heaphone foldback levels. In addition an insiduous side effect of this is poor timing, inability to deal with a click etc. The drummer must take control of the volume element to playing the drums - loads never do, buy edrums, give up etc.. So make sure the drummer has a bunch of those 29 dB rated yellow foam ear plugs at least. When a drummer is used to plugs it will make a big difference to what you you get out of him or her.

Cheers
 
I have been a drummer for over 11 years professionally and I have always used a click actually the Alesis SR-16 to be exact I'm also a guitarist , bassist and pianoist I have a real good concept of time and it is a shame to see all of these so called great groove masters fall apart I'm not much of a fill guy I basically let the song breathe mainly because I have real bad Arthur in my hands so most of my speed is gone which now I can focus on what is important accenting cresendos and being rock solid ...being human though I drift ocassionally as well as everyone who plays music it actually isn't a bad thing if the whole band can work on that part together and get it right the more familiar the drummer becomes with the music the better time they will keep

Animal
 
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