Is this a bad sign?

[Whiskeyrebel]

My band had a (sadly rare) practice Saturday. One of our songs has had a history of drifting tempo since I wrote it more than 9 years ago. If we start it midtempo, it slows a little through ever fill between chord changes until it is dragging. If we start it faster it sounds too perky and and can end up rushing until it's practically a downhill freewheel.

I finally thought of a reference song that I figured would be indelible - like burned into our brains. I said we should play it at the same speed as "We Will Rock You".

The drummer says "What speed is that"? :eek:

And no he isn't one of the eleven-or-so humanoids on the planet who have never heard the song.

I'm like this close to giving him the can-you-clap-the-same-speed-as-me test.

[Tone_Terrific]

Does anybody else notice?

[Guitar Dave T]

Keeping in time is EVERYBODY'S job.

That said, it's particularly hard to do when the drummer can't manage it.

[Luke]

Put a click track through the PA

[cbstrat]

I played with a drummer that had a beat meter attached the his snare. Once we decided the tempo all he had to do was watch the meter. I don't know what it was called but could always find out if you like.

[GAT]

I played with a drummer that had a beat meter attached the his snare. Once we decided the tempo all he had to do was watch the meter. I don't know what it was called but could always find out if you like.

It's called a Beat Bug. Every band should buy one for the drummer!:beer

[Lance]

All hale the Beat Bug! The perfect solution for drifting time.

[markw1980]

Yikes! I was in a punk band for a couple of years. We had a drummer that has fine chops, but his tempos could swing 20 beats/minute either way through the course of a single song. That eventually drove me nuts, and I quit the band (well...some other things got to me, too).

[Whiskeyrebel]

The thing that actually surprised me was that a song he knows doesn't give him an internal reference for a speed. If somebody names a song I'm familar with, I can imagine hearing it and clap to its beat. It was as though he was saying either

A. he can't 'replay' a familar song in his imagination, or

B. when he does hear a song in his 'mind's ear', the memory doesn't come to him at any particular fixed tempo, or

c. even if he remembers it at a certain speed, he can't translate that into matching it with his own beat.

I wanted to play so rather than digging into it I just went stomp-stomp-clap, stomp-stomp-clap a few times til he got the hang of it and off we went. FWIW we held the meter nice and steady all the way through after that, so it did do something.

The guy is probably my best friend. We've known each other for over 20 years and we were frat brothers in college. He was best man at my wedding.

Unfortunately it makes me reluctant to try to correct or instruct his meter. It would work a lot better coming from someone he repects as a drummer so there would be no personal element to it, and no dispute that it's a matter of my perception vs his, or any question whether the advice pertains to drumming.

[Guitar Dave T]

That's a tough situation. Exactly why I don't like working in bands with friends.

Especially drummers, who can lose their chops and meter in a hurry if they don't stay brushed up.

No, we choose to use "hired gun" drummers to insure they're staying fresh when not playing with us. It also makes it easy to

Find a sub who knows our setlist from the 'pool'
Include someone more often whom we really like
Exclude someone who isn't staying on top of his game

[andybaylor]

Sorry to piss in the corn flakes... but a Beat Bug will tell you how shitty the drummer is. Nothing more.

A drummer I knew had one. He was the worst. It did nothing to help out.
40+ years playing and you can't keep a BEAT? Gimmie a break.

Good drummers don't need em'. They've got the tempos inside of them. Like a pulse.

Sad, but true.

If the tempo problems are driving you nuts...the only fix is a new drummer.

[redroos]

Interesting. What's odd to me reading this is that - although on occassion the 'whole band' can definitely impact the speed of a song - its the bass player who carries the meter that everyone follows. I know, I know, this is always met with an argument from many players when they hear this for the first time.

To reference at least one person of credibility who says such a thing, I give you Herbie Hancock in his Rock School video series. He easily defends this by saying that it is only the bass player in the band who stays in the center of the beat - while all others - for the sake of driving or enhancing the song, are free to move ahead or behind the beat. It makes amazing sense to me, particularily when you have a drummer that seems to be all over the map and you pair him with a truly great 'pocket' bass player. Trust me, you will see that drummer light up like a Christmas tree if he has been struggling with a weak bass player.

So maybe you need to redirect your focus. Find a monster bass player and bring him into the mix, just as a trial. If your drummer has the chops, you will hear a change.

[Whiskeyrebel]

There is the proverbial rub. We all are friends, although the bass player doesn't have a personal history with us predating the band. He met us by answering our ad in the Metro Times after our first bass player - a friend who had been a former coworker - decided to drop out of the band due to too many demands on his time. Sadly, we were really getting the gig ball rolling at the time.

Loyalty kept me from replacing either of them or joining another band when both of their horrendous work-travel schedules left us apart and inactive for weeks to months, essentially knocking out all our momentum.

I know a lot of musicians will have a jam situation with friends for fun and a serious band where it is less personal. I'm barely able to get together to practice with one band since I have two kids below school age. Maybe once they both are out of the wife's hair 5 days a week....

As far as whether a solid bass player would have an effect, that would depend on skills of listening, recognition and adjusting. And being able to adjust by feeling the underlying count and, shall we say, hitting the one ON the one. Right?