jamming with a bad drummer

Don't worry, Lars Ulrich always sucked on Drums, and see what he has accomplished.

Hm. Are you sure you're playing loud enough?

People tend to improve, especially when in the context of a band - the social experience of playing together tends to make people learn faster, meet requirements and such... so I say: just stick to it, it will improve.

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Original post by Chokki Hm. Are you sure you're playing loud enough?

I'm playing with a cheap 30W amp but he can hear me just fine (I tested it myself)

How did he perform worse? Did he at least keep a consistent tempo? That is the most important function of a drummer, to keep a tempo that drives the band in sync. Everything after that is fancy decorations for the music. If he can't, then you both need to get a metronome until you (or at least he) can.

If he can't keep a steady tempo at all, then he needs to practice with a metronome. Or if you have really good rhythm, perhaps you can stick to your guns and not change when he gets off tempo. If you do this enough, he should start to realize when he gets off beat and attempt to get back on. Give it some time and see if he starts to get better at this. If he can go for a long, long time completely off beat from what the rest of the band is doing and doesn't even realize it.... well then you have a major problem. If that's the case then I suggest:

1) You keep hanging out with your friend and drinking beers with him.

2) Get a different drummer for the band part of your life.

Nate

Convince him to practice with a metronome for 15' a day, every day. Even plain paradiddles will do. Expect to start seeing results in a about ~7-10 days (*if* he keeps at it); 1-2 months and he'll start to perform fills on time.

If you are able to keep time, take the lead: tap your foot, move or dance (whatever feels more comfortable). He'll pick the cues subconsciously and his timing will improve.

However, the single most important thing is that you "connect" as a band. There's no magic bullet for this: try to practice with a metronome yourself (15 minutes during warm up will do wonders) and play with him as often as you can. Then, in a few months' time, you'll both start to "read" each other; and there's nothing more awesome than the moment you hit that note at the exact same time, look at each other and say "hell, yeah!"

One last thing: an inexperienced drummer is often thrown off by the timing mistakes of other band members. Try to improve your timing and the improvement will reflect on him.

I'm still playing with an old guitar friend of mine (me on drums). We've been jamming on and off since high school some 15 years ago, and still suck pretty good, although we master most of the classic (Metallica) songs we used to play.

Jamming is fun, playing covers is fun, but to keep things interesting we've been writing our own stuff and recording it on 4-trk tape. In the last year or so we finally went digital, and started to make CuBase demos of our songs with primitive MIDI drums etc., to experiment more freely as well as to finalize the compositions somewhat. Some of these songs have 10 year old riffs in them, but are still not finished. Next up we will (if there is time) go into rehearsal to regain our playing abilities after the latest longer break from music. When we're good enough to play it, set up recording, and we have a metal demo baby!

Getting good at drumming really is all about training, training, training. Play along a click track (metronome), practice rudiments and grooves until you're blue in the face. It's all about persistance, something I haven't been the best at, but if you play regularly for a couple of months, you will start seeing improvements in both tempo and stamina.

Another tip for your drummer is to gather advice and tips from a drummers forum, where other aspiring drummers hang out. I've learned a whole lot from lurking at such places as Mike Portnoy's forum.

Good luck and happy playing!

Do you mean a classic metronome device that we both can look at? I do have a metronome on my guitar effect board but so far didn't make use of it at all. It has a LED that we could set up in the middle of the room to look at.

I'll also slow down a riff when I feel that the drummer gets out of sync.

problem with me as a band member is that I'm overambitious, just like in every thing I do (eg programming). different personality types really show when playing music together

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Original post by basement Do you mean a classic metronome device that we both can look at? I do have a metronome on my guitar effect board but so far didn't make use of it at all. It has a LED that we could set up in the middle of the room to look at. I'll also slow down a riff when I feel that the drummer gets out of sync. problem with me as a band member is that I'm overambitious, just like in every thing I do (eg programming). different personality types really show when playing music together

Even if the drummer changes tempo/keeps bad tempo, you are responsible for matching it. The band follows the drummer, not the other way around, and you are the one out of sync. Besides, if you don't play with a metronome (and one that beeps is fine too, though if you give him a silent one he can look at thats fine too) then how do you know he is really the one off? You could be speeding up without realizing it.

In the end you just have to keep practicing no matter what you do.

Just a word of warning: playing with a clicktrack as a band is very very difficult (in that it takes a lot of practice and results in a lot of frustration at first). I personally prefer (as a drummer) to practice with a metronome, bug the other band members to practice with a metronome, but play without one when we all get together.

This is mostly a matter of style: some people feel that slight tempo variations add to rather than detract from a song. For example, Rainbow didn't even use a clicktrack when recording, resulting in relatively significant tempo variations (e.g. ~7bmp on Temple of the King) I haven't heard anyone faulting them for it!

Of course, there kinds of music, like funk, which require spotless tempo. Other kinds are more 'relaxed' on this front.

If you really want this guy to be your drummer, then get him a metronome and set him up with a practice regimen. When he loses track of time while you guys are jamming, don't stop and don't lose time yourself. Just keep at it when you're jamming and eventually he'll realize that he was the one who lost time and he'll try to match you.

The drummer is supposed to be the rhythmic backbone of a band... it should be the other band members relying on the drummer to keep proper time and not the other way around.

It's very hard to find a decent drummer. Back when I was in a band we went through 3 or 4 drummers before we found one that was good.

It sounds to me like you should find another drummer to jam with. It's fun to hang out, drink beer and make noise, but given your ages, I don't see your jam sessions leading to much more than that. Going to jam with another drummer might motivate your friend to pick up his game, but it might also motivate him to put it down for good.

Does this make you feel any better? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9176319944485135703 My friend and I, I'm on the drums. :P My friend is excellent at reading my widely varying tempo and fill length. Otherwise it would have been even more of a disaster.

That was a couple years ago. I might be *slightly* better now.

I have one of those roland electric drum sets. So I just put one of my favorite cds on, turn it down real low, so i mostly only hear my drums. And play along.

The playing the music low is pretty critical or you wont hear how off beat you are. But playing along to music you know is a good way to practice i think. You have to know the music before you can play it. Making sure you're on time for the various fills and stuff.

I also try to play a variety of music. The faint, deftones, chevelle, rage against the machines, lil wayne, NERD. But this all rather moot after showing you that video. :P

If you haven't improved in 15 years then it aint gonna happen, but by all means keep having fun.