Archived Edition of Chromatic Musings

Round 3 with new drummer

Today, we gave the same guy his final shot. He had said that he would work on learning a few originals and covers, and we would have another go at it. He and I had talked after our last go round, and I pointed out to him that there were already enough meter problems in the band -- We really don't need to add another one. Working against him is that he doesn't have a kit on which to practice.

I can understand and be sympathetic towards that kind of predicament; it's not the easiest thing for me to learn a bass line just by listening. Still, if I listen to a piece of music enough times, I should be able to internalize the construction of the song, so I know where all the transitions are, how many bars long the bridge is, etc.

So I picked him up on the way to practice. We weren't going to have much time today (about an hour before I would have to go up to Montgomery Village to rehearse with A&S). On the way down, he told me that he had learned about ten songs. Well, two of them were iffy. Maybe four weren't quite solid yet.

Rich and I set up, and then the three of us started to play. Initially, things went well. The first two or three songs, he was clearly more familiar with the tunes and his meter was in check -- maybe even a little slow. But then we got to the more upbeat kinds of songs and the style of music that he favors, the meter got away from him.

One song in particular that was causing problems was "Plowed" by Sponge. It's a pretty driving song, very straight-ahead harder rock. The tempo is somewhere around 210bpm. Just as with the other two times we played, at each transition point, things jumped 4, 5bpm -- enough so that it was very noticeable. After Rich and I both made a comment about the tempo, the drummer caught wise to something I was doing.

Whenever I play using a delay effect, I use a button on my Lexi footboard to set the rate of delay. Sometimes I want the delay to fall just a bit ahead of the beat (which produces a rushed, almost claustrophobic kind of feel), sometimes I want to set the delay behind the beat (a more open sound) and other times I want it right on the beat. So, about the third time through, the drummer noticed the blinking light on the Lexi unit in my rack that was keeping time. For that song, his tempo never wavered, but he spent the entire tune staring just over my shoulder at my rig. Personally, I found it rather amusing. I left the tempo unset for the rest of the rehearsal (no need in giving out more help than I should. He wouldn't be able to see my rig during a performance anyway).

Anyway, he did an okay job as far as being familiar with the songs. He had about six and a half out of ten. But his tempo was all over the place. And tempo is such a huge issue with drummers.

Just speaking for myself, one of the main things that I want in a drummer is rock solid time. When I have that, then I don't have to worry about holding down the meter, and I focus a bit more just playing, letting the groove breathe and the music flow. I can do both at the same time (I have on many occasions and I'm sure I will again) and I should always be keeping good time, but it's nice when it's not my full time job.

Posted by Casper at December 28, 2003 10:38 PM