Question for the drummers...

[metaldrmmer83]

Consistency...we all want it playing live and recording. Aside from taking the time with a click and pad and working on every hit landed close to the same, any other tips or tricks you guys use to help a brotha out? Also, what do you guys do when your damn guitarist is blarring in your ears at practice and you have to over compensate volume-wise by hitting harder than needed thus throwing off you're body mechanics? Any help is very much appreciated. Cheers!

 

[Executioner213]

How much do you rely on your guitarist blaring at you? Make him turn his amp another direction. No sense hitting harder to compensate, you are just gonna make yourself tired and the end result isn't worth it anyway.

 

[Everybody]

do simple kit excersizes with a metrenome in your headphones and try to stay on beat.

maybe play a song that you know very well (good enough to not need the music to play) or a song for a band your in, set the metrenome to the tempo of the part your going to practice, and play it just to the met.

while doing this, find parts or exercizes that give you a little bit of trouble and slow the met down until you get them.

consistency is about practice, patience, and repetition. you want to be comfortable with whatever your playing and know every hit your doing so you can do it everytime.

 

[Executioner213]

I think he's talking about volume/dynamic consistency, not timing.

 

[metaldrmmer83]

I think he's talking about volume/dynamic consistency, not timing.

Correct. I've really tried to work on my dynamic consistency for a little while now, trying to get my live performance and studio performance close to the same. I think when working on this consistency, you inherently end up working on your timing as well so you kind of hit both at the same time.

 

[Matula]

Guitar players, unlike bass players (and drummers), only listen to themselves when they play. They are the least time/tempo aware musicians. Yeah your're all guitar players so, please, post your replies on this.

 

[Trevoire520]

Also, what do you guys do when your damn guitarist is blarring in your ears at practice and you have to over compensate volume-wise by hitting harder than needed thus throwing off you're body mechanics? Any help is very much appreciated. Cheers!

Tell him to turn down. Is it not obvious? If he's so loud that you can't hear your drums that are about a foot away from your head then he's clearly far too loud!

 

[Trevoire520]

Guitar players, unlike bass players (and drummers), only listen to themselves when they play. They are the least time/tempo aware musicians. Yeah your're all guitar players so, please, post your replies on this.

Can't say I agree with this personally. Any half decent guitarist should be able to lock with the drummer. I know it's something I am very aware of when playing.

 

[SickBoy]

Guitar players, unlike bass players (and drummers), only listen to themselves when they play. They are the least time/tempo aware musicians. Yeah your're all guitar players so, please, post your replies on this.

Not sure with whom you've been playing with, but they don't seem half-decent musicians if they fit that description... Honestly, I've had more cases with drummers only listening to themselves (and thus "overplaying" their parts, cause otherwise it's "boring for them to play") and not keeping the time right

 

[AudioPhile777]

Guitar players, unlike bass players (and drummers), only listen to themselves when they play. They are the least time/tempo aware musicians. Yeah your're all guitar players so, please, post your replies on this.

I'm a VERY rhythmically aware guitarist... I pay close attention to the drummer and what he/she is doing...

Sounds like the OP's guitarist needs to turn the fuck down... you need to be able to hear everything, so base the volume off the acoustic instruments...

 

[Matula]

I'm a VERY rhythmically aware guitarist... I pay close attention to the drummer and what he/she is doing...

Sounds like the OP's guitarist needs to turn the fuck down... you need to be able to hear everything, so base the volume off the acoustic instruments...

Hey!i I wish I had the honor (luck?) to work with you. In my experience ALMOST all I get is super ego like guitar players who think they are not part but all of the universe. They seem to think everyone else n the band has to fit to his playing.

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

Whatever the drummer is doing, everyone plays to him/her. The drums are there to keep the beat, like the conductor in an orchestra - if they speed up, you speed up; if they play harder, you play harder. Anyone in a band that doesn't realise that shouldn't be in a band.

That applies to the original post too - in the practise room at least, you set the volume of everything else according the the drummer. If the *drummer* can't hear himself over the guitars, something is seriously wrong.

As for practising hitting consistency, I have no idea as I'm not a drummer. Do you have room to set up your kit so you can see your computer's screen? Maybe throw up a mic, open up a meter in your DAW or whatever, and watch it as you play every now and then so you can gauge how consistent you are. Or just press record, practise a bit of everything, then look over it and see what techniques are throwing off your consistency, then practise the crap out them?

Steve

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I was chatting with the drum tech that works with Staind about this (and studio tuning and David Silveria). He stated that having the correct tuning on your kit is essential. The heads need to bounce and you shouldn't feel like your digging in with each hit. Basically the stick should bounce off enough that you should be able to bring it back down without working to hard.

 

[GeertSamuel]

Don't throw off your body mechanics, make him adjust, he needs you more then you need him!

What helps for me is, when I have my left foot free, I just tap along with the music, it's always a great way to just work with a pulse and timing without playing with a metronome.

 

[drew_drummer]

What we do:

Drummer plays. We hit chords, we turn up. We don't set our levels exactly the same every time, because the room is always different, and so is the energy the drummer has on that particular day. The drummer sets the volume, not the guitars.

And as a guitar player, I'm well aware of the fact that most guitar players are ego freaks and suck beyond recognition. I try not to be that way

 

[Lazzari]

What we do:

Drummer plays. We hit chords, we turn up. We don't set our levels exactly the same every time, because the room is always different, and so is the energy the drummer has on that particular day. The drummer sets the volume, not the guitars.

+1.. This is the best way to rehearse.. Also about the guitar player being a egocentric guy.. kick him in the nuts ..
I'm a guitar player.. and I've always played/practiced/learned new songs/etc.. through a metronome..

To some this may sound really mechanic or "less musical" because of the use of a metronome..

 

[drew_drummer]

Nope. Metronome = more musical.

 

[amarshism]

Metronome. 12 hrs a day.

My timing shits on every drummer I've played with except for this guy www.myspace.com/theamityvilleaffliction

I can't stress enough how much more confidence and freedom it allows the other musicians in your band when you have a rock solid drummer.

Guy doesn't practice, and is on the money no matter what. Perfect timing and wonderfully consistent hits. I love a drummer that hits hard! Andy hurley (falloutboy) saw him play and proclaimed him a freak.

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

Buy ear plugs, Hit your snare, toms and kick HARDER than your cymbals. Loud cymbals= shitty sounding drummer IMO. Play to a metronome for at least an HOUR before you go practice the fun stuff on drums. And tell your guitar player to turn down a little. But he may be turning up loud because you hit your cymbals too loud. As a guitarist my self it never bothers us to hear the KICK and SNARE LOUD but if your snare hitting is not loud and your hi hat buries it then that becomes a problem.

 

[metaldrmmer83]

I was chatting with the drum tech that works with Staind about this (and studio tuning and David Silveria). He stated that having the correct tuning on your kit is essential. The heads need to bounce and you shouldn't feel like your digging in with each hit. Basically the stick should bounce off enough that you should be able to bring it back down without working to hard.

So true. Havent replaced my heads for a while (low on the funds) and I do notice a big difference when I've been playing on heads that are a bit older compared to new heads tuned well. And the new heads hold their tuning a lot longer. Just going to have to bit the bullet and replace my heads.

Buy ear plugs, Hit your snare, toms and kick HARDER than your cymbals. Loud cymbals= shitty sounding drummer IMO. Play to a metronome for at least an HOUR before you go practice the fun stuff on drums. And tell your guitar player to turn down a little. But he may be turning up loud because you hit your cymbals too loud. As a guitarist my self it never bothers us to hear the KICK and SNARE LOUD but if your snare hitting is not loud and your hi hat buries it then that becomes a problem.

Definitly something I work on by myself often. Saw a drum clinic with Todd Sucherman and he stressed the importance of the kick/snare relationship and having those two be solid both timing-wise and consistency-wise. If any of you haven't seen his Methods and Mechanics DVD, it's really worth checking out, along with JoJo Mayer and Benny Greb DVDs.