Drummers and other Clowns

[Chris]

I have worked with one particular drummer intermittently for 8 years,
now every other week (luckily he isn't the only guy I play with). He
consistently speeds up every tune from about the 4th bar on, and keeps
accelerating until the end. The other night a guest singer said into
the mike, "that's the fastest version of "Teach your Children" you
will have ever heard! The funny part is that one night after the first
set he said to the rest of us bandmembers in his usual sage wisdom-
filled voice, "you guys gotta keep the tempos steady." We all looked
him and said in unison, "but you're the drummer!" He didn't get that
and is still speeding up.

Ironically he is playing with the son of one of the pioneers of bebop
drumming known for his rock steady tempos of all speeds (see http://stanlevey.com
), but that doesn't seem to make him consider he might be the problem
- being the official timekeeper and all.

In addition he has now started putting in those oddly placed snare
accents in every bar which just kill any groove that may be starting
to flow. CLUELESS!! - Chris

[pbagley]

Chris complained about clueless drummers with out of time accents and
a problem with time.
I've played with both, but as separate individuals. One guy with both
problems is special.

Some may say life is too short to waste it suffering bad drummers or
beer.
Then again, you may have a reason for staying in the band.

Occasionally I get tired of holding back the acceleration, and I go
with the flow until it all spins out of control.
Generally a vocalist will be the one to ask if we sped up, and I
confirm despite the drummers denial.
Bad me, not holding back. Sigh. Still, it beats not playing in a
band or having no gigs.

- Paul

[Ziegler, Robert G]

I played with one guy who’s speed changes were so bad it was like changing gears.  Not sure how many speeds his tranny had.  Same problem – the band was a good money maker and I needed the extra money to pay the bills.  Sometimes I would leave out an occasional note to try and play at the right speed but be at our new chord change points with everyone else.  Hard to describe – but it helped a bit. 

 

He used to keep a big thermos of coffee by the drum throne – I shoulda spiked it with Vodka.

 

 

 

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§  Drummers and other Clowns [1 Update]

 Drummers and other Clowns

pbagley <p...@visi.com> Jan 18 07:45AM -0800  

 

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[Kent Fossgreen]

I played some gigs recently with a drummer who, in addition to
possessing the ability to seemingly slow down and speed up
simultaneously, would play fills that would make me turn and look to
make sure he hadn't fallen off his stool. I was bemoaning this sad
experience to my brother in law, also a bassist (Tom Hill, for a while
leader of the house band at Ronnie Scott's), who told me about a
saxophonist he works with who had played a pickup gig with a bad
rhythm section, which he described as follows: "The bass player
sounded like a humpback whale giving birth, and the drummer sounded
like a skeleton having a wank in a biscuit tin." Exactly...

[emg456]

Kent, I don't even know how that might be possible but your
description made me really LOL! Thanks for brightening up my day.

Mind you, having attended a Flecktones gig on Thursday evening, I am
reminded yet again that just because *I* don't know how something
might be possible, that really doesn't mean that it is actually
impossible! :)

Cheers

Ed

[Walter Harley]

Oh, that's an image that's going to stick with me! And now on to
today's band practice, trying to banish any humpbacks from the
basement...
-walter

[Kent Fossgreen]

Today's lesson, in summation: Polyrhythms--only good when they're
intentional.

[Tim Sarter]

Good description, I think I may know exactly which drummer you are
talking about Kent!

Worse drummer I played with sounded just like tennis shoes in a dryer.