I need a little advice.

[Naveed Afzal]

I am the bassplayer in the university Jazz band, this semester we got a new drummer who isnt very experienced. He and I have become friends pretty fast, every tuesday is bar night and so forth.His playing has always been a little suspect, ie: his stamina, his soloing(he doesnt solo at all now), and little other things, like how loud he plays etc, but these last two weeks, he's been God awful, he's speeding up every song and he's speeding them up painfully fast.

Ive introduced him to a metronome, ive suggested he plays softer, many other things, but with our concert coming up tommorow (!!!!) im running out of options, as im playing "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and a couple of other songs, where im playing a **** load of... well ****, and its killing me and everyone else. Everyones looking at me because he and i are friends for answers, and frankly i have nothing. This is my last option, and i pray that one of you can give me something that will help me.

[FockerTheLopper]

Wow... Well tell him to FOCUS, he doesn't sound like hes serious about drumming if you had to introduce a metronome to him, just tell him to focus his *** off for the show and focus only on the time

[Tim]

buy him some Vater whips. Or something similar.He wont be able to play hard with those...they will snap, and arent as loud as sticks.

[DrOctagon]

get someone to stand behind him with a can of pepper spray, and whenever he ****s up blast him in the eyes with it.... either he will want to fix his problem, or he'll quit.

but seriously, maybe hes been having to focus eles where, like his classes, being it final season and all right? you should have a practice befor the show and try to get him focussed and whatnot. i guess thers not much eles you can do unless you know another drummer who knows the songs, but replacing him would probably be a big downer for him and probably hurt his self confidence.

use your best judgment on it...personally i like the pepper spary idea

[Naveed Afzal]

replacing him isnt an option, it is, but he's come to every practice, which besides myself he's the only one who has, he doesnt have a drumset at home, and if he wasnt the only drummer, im sure he wouldnt be playing it, andits not fair to replace him.

I dont want to embarass him, i CAN keep up, but my lines suffer, part of the beauty of the lines ive written, and my soloing style is the dead space, muted notes etc, i cant feel it, so i know no one else can.

Vater Whips, or those the sticks that are like a bunch of sticks together and make one big stick or? are they they made really thing metal sticks?

I wish i could tell him to focus only on the time, but in songs like Flithy McNasty, theres dead space for when the person who solo's gets thrown out in the spotlight he has to watch how i move my body, or else he wont get the stops, its so unnerving.

[Tim]

go to vater.com then go to products then brushes and specialty sticks. teh whips or the accousticks should do for a quieter setting. wont be so loud so you cant hear him as much. ha. vic firth makes similar sticks as well. Dont know if it will solve the problem though. I jsut figure if hes playing hard....playing wiht a stick that isnt so durable and is made for a quiter setting might help.

[aznriceball]

as a last result, go by his timing..that is if he stayed steady

tell him to get serious and let him know how u feel. maybe bring in another drummer to make him mad..or play for him

[_R2D2_]

crap man TALK to the guy. it sounds like no one has said anything to him about this. i bet he isnt even aware that he has been speeding up and making it hard for everyone else. its his playing: tell him the problem and let HIM fix his playing.

[Naveed Afzal]

Did you read what i said? its pretty evident I did talk to him, and keep talking to him.

[rohbit]

Since you are also a part of the rythm section trade places. (i don't mean you should physically trade places but bear with me)

Now the drummer is supposed to be the time keeper and what not, but if you can maybe you should be the one who he listens to for time.

Tell him to follow you instead of having the band follow him.

This is just a temporary solution ofcourse (if it is even a solution).

All you have to do is keep it steady and hope he follows you well.

[Naveed Afzal]

good idea...
i wonder if that will work tho, i atleast a 4bar intro on everysong, so it should be simple enough. good idea.

[dairyairman]

do you guys interact on stage at all? maybe you could give him some kind of "slow down" signal every time he starts speeding up.

[rohbit]

WOO! Give me REP you morose mother****ers for I am 1337

[Wizz]

WOO! Give me REP you morose mother****ers for I am 1337

i gave you reply :thumb:


negative reply >=D

[tapioca]

i gave you reply :thumb:


negative reply >=D
Liar!

I'd do what dairyairman and rohbit said, good advice.

[Talos]

IMO opinion he obviously finds it comfortable to play at that speed otherwise he would try to avoid it because he'd be making mistakes all over the place. Try to keep up if he isnt makng mistakes. Or is he ?

[Naveed Afzal]

do you guys interact on stage at all? maybe you could give him some kind of "slow down" signal every time he starts speeding up.


yeah, theres a couple songs with stops in them, and he has to watch the way my body moves or else he'll miss them.

theres some songs i start by myself, theres one song that i solo before anyone else comes in, he never knows when im going to be done, so he has to watch me.

[rohbit]

You should tell him to count, and watch you.

So for example, if your solo takes 4 bars, tell him to count to 32 and to watch you.

That way, he'll be counting and will anticipate you giving him the singal

[Naveed Afzal]

We played lastnight, and during soundchecks i asked him what tempo he was comfortable with, and he played faster then normal but not to fast, so i decided i would start the songs at that tempo, and it ran smoother then ever, it was the best he's ever played.

[rohbit]

Awesome.