What's Up with Drummers

[Rewddawg]

I don't know if we are going thru a temporary phase or is it the nature of drummers. We are now in to our fourth drummer in 3 months. We will find a good drummer that can do the songs and out of the blue they start showing up one day and not the next. We have a great bass player and the guitars and vocals are masterful. Does anyone else have this problem or is this just a phase we just have to work thru. It sucks asking 2 drummers to show up and one day we have 2 drummers and the next we might have one. Not to mention the insult to the drummers when 2 show up. Any thoughts or comments.

Rewd.

[Jantha]

Drummers just march to the beat of their own drum.

 

Ba-dum-bum

 

Ok, that was dumb.

[ShredAstaire]

In the 10 years my band lasted, we went through 3 drummers....not bad right?

 

7 bassists!!!!

[Shnate McDuanus]

Drummers just march to the beat of their own drum.

 

Ba-dum-bum

 

Ok, that was dumb.

 

That's OK. I liked it.

 

I have no experience with drummers.

[Rewddawg]

In the 10 years my band lasted, we went through 3 drummers....not bad right?

 

7 bassists!!!!

We're kind of lucky I guess? The bass player is the girlfriend of one of the lead guitar players.

[L5Larry]

I'm with ShredAstaire on this one, I've had way more trouble with bass players. In the eighteen years of my blues band, I've been through three drummers and six bass players (that I can count and/or remember). That still is not bad for the length of time.

 

Of the above replacements, one bass player quit, one drummer had to be replaced due to an industrial injury, and the others I had to "let go".

 

Hang in there, the dust will settle. The ones that don't show up, are always late, or just have a bag full of excuses and problems are not the ones you want anyway, regardless of how good they are. The way to keep a band together, having fun, and making good music is to surround yourself with people that you would have have over to the house with their wives and kids for Sunday afternoon BBQ, even if they weren't musicians. Easier said than done, but it CAN be done. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a notch or two of "skill level", but the greatest player with "problems" will only cause trouble within and around the entire band.

[46 and 2]

I don't know if we are going thru a temporary phase or is it the nature of drummers. We are now in to our fourth drummer in 3 months. We will find a good drummer that can do the songs and out of the blue they start showing up one day and not the next. We have a great bass player and the guitars and vocals are masterful. Does anyone else have this problem or is this just a phase we just have to work thru. It sucks asking 2 drummers to show up and one day we have 2 drummers and the next we might have one. Not to mention the insult to the drummers when 2 show up. Any thoughts or comments.

Rewd.

 

I have been lucky, same founding four people for 3 years. Our drummer is pretty solid, bass player has been shaky but always pulls through.

[46 and 2]

We're kind of lucky I guess? The bass player is the girlfriend of one of the lead guitar players.

 

Ohh, inter-band relationships, those always work out SWEET!!! Good luck with that one; I honestly wish you the best

[Rewddawg]

Ohh, inter-band relationships, those always work out SWEET!!! Good luck with that one; I honestly wish you the best

i knew that comment was coming that's the reason for the question mark. lol

[EVOL!]

I have gigged as a drummer and one of my main goals was to not be that drummer that flakes out. Having been a guitarists & songwriter before drumming, I knew what a responsible & musical drummer should be and that was my thing. I think it is hard for drummers that just drum to be comfortable unless it is a perfect situation, which is why they no call, no show. That doesn't excuse it. Man up and tell the people it is not working out.

[46 and 2]

i knew that comment was coming that's the reason for the question mark. lol

 

Right on man, just goofing wit ya!! I have seen the Fleetwood Mac “Behind The Music” enough to know not to mix bands and relationships if possible. Unless that is of course if the “band” was made up of Playboy Playmates, then hey, lets see where things go ladies!!!

[TommyK]

Maybe you need to pay better?

 

 

Actually, that is why God invented the Beat Box.

[ZenKen]

Think about it. The drummer sits there banging away with all those shock waves bouncing up and hitting them square in the forehead. I never wondered why they were so flaky. What I always wanted to know was why they got all the hot babes?????? B)

[FirstMeasure]

Right on man, just goofing wit ya!! I have seen the Fleetwood Mac “Behind The Music” enough to know not to mix bands and relationships if possible. Unless that is of course if the “band” was made up of Playboy Playmates, then hey, lets see where things go ladies!!!

Don't forget Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, those guys have been happily married and touring together since 1979. And then there's all those band that broke up and no one was sleeping together. I'm with the singer in my band and I'm pretty sure that's kept us together through some questionable times in the beginning when it seemed like we weren't getting any gigs (The Bass player's my Brother, which helps a lot, too).

 

Back on topic, The only problem we've really had so far has been the drummer. I should say, "the old drummer". He was doing great for the first two years, he showed up to rehearsals early and learned his parts well. But as soon as we started to really take off he became more and more stand offish and complained about having to play holidays (Like Valentines Day, I laughed at him cause I really thought he was kidding. he wasn't he actually felt but hurt because we booked Valentines Day without checking with him first <_< ).

 

The "Last Straw" came this last Fourth of July when he straight up told us he wasn't going to play on the Fourth because he had a B-B-Q planned. Fortunately I knew a drummer that could play all the covers we needed on very short notice (that's a testament to keeping good relations with players you've worked with in the past, don't burn them bridges).

 

Anyway, the new Drummer worked out great, the old one can have all his Weekends and Holidays free for whatever he's doing. Even though I liked the way our old Drummer played, the audience seems to like the way the new Drummers plays and he's Available and Committed to the project. In fact I'd say he's downright Enthusiastic about it. I've found that trait to be more important than chops, fortunately for us The New Drummer has Chops and Enthusiasm.

 

Tell ya what, though. There's no way the Three core members are gonna let some damn Drummer stop us from doing our thing. Always have a backup plan.

[grampa]

They do tend to go up in flames unexpectedly.

[Rewddawg]

Maybe you need to pay better?

 

 

 

 

It isn't the pay. Everything is split equal, no big egos yet. It's not my band. I am the fifth wheel. I am just playing for the fun of it and to get experience playing guitar with others. I am just the rhythm guitarist on songs we can play with 3 guitarists or where I can help keep the rhythm section going where the 2 lead guitarists can share solos and do duel solos. I don't play the paying gigs cause who wants to split a mere pittance of pay between 5 when 4 can do the job.

[cabba2203]

They do tend to go up in flames unexpectedly.

 

Or choking to death on someone else's vommit.

[Kimbabig]

Or choking to death on someone else's vommit.

 

or bizarre gardening accidents.

[Sinner 13]

or bizarre gardening accidents.

Or in my case freak furniture moving accidents.

 

 

 

[Silenced Fred]

I have gigged as a drummer and one of my main goals was to not be that drummer that flakes out. Having been a guitarists & songwriter before drumming, I knew what a responsible & musical drummer should be and that was my thing. I think it is hard for drummers that just drum to be comfortable unless it is a perfect situation, which is why they no call, no show. That doesn't excuse it. Man up and tell the people it is not working out.

 

You better still have a set... (drumset that is)

[Tman5293]

Last time I checked, drummers tended to do whatever the hell they wanted. But then again, last time I checked, so did I. Thats how drummer's, and most cool guitarists, are.

[TommyK]

I suspect the drummer got tired of working holidays and week-ends. He probably has a significant other that didn't like it either. On the other hand, you and your significant other are together on the weekends. Working that kind of schedule takes a special type of person. That is why I don't work retail.

[FirstMeasure]

I suspect the drummer got tired of working holidays and week-ends. He probably has a significant other that didn't like it either. On the other hand, you and your significant other are together on the weekends. Working that kind of schedule takes a special type of person. That is why I don't work retail.

I understand that much, but you think he would have mentioned something about that when we formed 2 1/2 years ago. I made it perfectly clear that we were intent upon filling out Holidays and Weekends with gigs, as a working band might expect. He was all Gung Ho and on board until we actually started experiencing a little success. But hey, the world need ditch diggers, too.

 

On a side note, it's no accident that I have a significant other that supports my passion and ambition. It just so happens the first woman I found that accepted it was a singer with similar ambitions. There's no way I'd give up what makes me who I am just for a traditional relationship with a common woman. I don't care what it is you love, if your "Significant Other" wants you to give it up then you haven't found a "significant other", just another selfish, needy person with no hobbies. But that's just my take on the whole relationship thing.

[dbreslauer]

inter-band relationships... the kiss of death. Fleetwood Mac is a good example, but so is Jefferson Airplane! Grace Slick ran that gig... :D

[Silenced Fred]

I have never had a problem with my drummer, all of my song writing comes from riffs, I bring to him and we work on, just jamming to it, figuring out the groove. He played a lot of jazz, so he's great at that.