this is a real problem, we have just played a gig at warp speed, and our playing was really sloppy because of it.

even the songs i start (guitar) in a nice orderly tempo, he comes crashing in really fast. i think its the whole adrenalin thing. any ideas?

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Click track?

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tell him to cool down

or play faster

lars has this problem consistently. he gets pumped/nervous and plays too fast the rest of the guys in the early days decided just to keep up

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you allways play faster live, its something you gotta work on. or well, it started like that for us too back in the day, we rehearsed everything a tad slower and it all went allright. we now play equally fast on both occasions.

you could also try kicking his fucking ass and telling him not to screw up. it helps.

Screw all of that, get him a click track or metronome to use during shows...If he always uses one, he'll be used to playing at that speed and not play too much faster than normal.

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Metronome or click track during a live show?? not a great idea if your not used to it, you can spend too much of your concentration on the click track and not on the other musicians, a live performance is about you and the other musicians you need interaction a little bit of speeding up slowing is okay, but if he is speeding up heaps I suggest doing a bunch of shit ass live gigs to improve his timing and live performance.

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Yeah man. I was always annoyed at how slow our songs were and I've spent my whole time with the band trying to get them to speed up. Sometimes I'd trick them and play faster in practice just to show them how much better it sounds. So before our first gig they were all like sitting me down saying "now - don't take this the wrong way, but you must be careful not to play to fast on the night.. etc etc". Bastards. Anyway, the first song starts with the lead guitarist, and he sets off at fucking 300mph! Must have been a good 10 or 15bpm too fast. Useless fucking guitarists.

But really, if you practice enough and your drummer isn't having some kind of nervous breakdown, he should be able to control himself. Like someone else said, get him to practice with a metronome and hopefully eventually playing at the right speed should become second nature. And yeah, you can't beat playing lots of gigs. It's the one and only way to learn "stagecraft".

i have this problem now and then, its anxiety, i get bad stagefrieght sometimes, play live more, thats pretty much it

maybe a metronome would help too

a metronome wouldn't help, we tried to make him play to one in the studio and it just didn't click (sorry, bad pun) with him.

how about a collar around his neck, and a little stomp box for me that would electric-shock him to the beat?

right then, lots of gigs it is.

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I hate metronomes. They take too much concentration for me to play comfortably. I'de say it would be better to just practice practice practice!

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youd have better concentration if you didnt smoke so much pot


and you guys need more communication in your bands!

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Seriously man, I can't recommend metronomes more highly.

I played for years without one and was pretty chuffed with my timekeeping until we went into the studio to record our first proper demo. Jesus fucking Christ. It amazed me how awful my timing was. I know part of it was not being used to playing to a click, but once I got past that I found huge, gaping caverns of the song where I was out of time, especially going into and coming out of fills. In the end the drums on that demo sounded SHITE because I had to simplify everything enough to be able to keep time.

Immediately after that I bought myself a metronome and now I wouldn't even consider practicing without one. The next time we went into the studio I was a totally different player because I'm so used to playing with the click. You don't even hear it after a while (as long as you're in time, obviously). I think it's even more important to get used to a click when you're into your double kick stuff. It's amazing how fooled you get into thinking you're playing at the same speed as you were without the double kick, but you almost never are in time.

I don't see why concentration should be a problem anyway, as a drummer you have to get used to limb-independance and stuff - all those beats that seemed impossible when we first started playing, that we can now do without a second thought, we learnt by concentrating on them hard as hell until they became second nature.

If you ever want to record in a "proper" studio, they'll insist on him playing to a click. Better to learn it now for free than when you're paying some dude a fortune for him to sit back in his creaky chair while your drummer goes over the same track 1,500 times trying to get it right.

Yeah going through the same thing at the moment ^^^^

but I would recomend lots of gigs, and even taking ones shirt off helps, (trust me) it makes you more comfy playing live and the more comfy you are the better you are gonna play and the less you are gonna make silly fucking mistakes and stupid timming problems because of stage fright.

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Ok, on the metronome thing, if he can't click with it, he shouldn't be a drummer. Drummers should have GOOD TIME MOTHERFUCKERS. Sit him down with a metronome at a practice pad and make him do single stroke quater notes at 60 BPM for half an hour or longer until he gets it perfect. Seems cruel, but I used to spend 45 mins to an hour playing rudiments on the practice pad with a metronome, and same ordeal with the feet. If he doesn't have an internal pulse which should allign with a metronome, a song, whatever, how the hell does he drum, or for that matter, headbang? Go through simple stuff with him slow, because if he can't play slow, he's not playing fast, he's just twitching.

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It's true! How the fuck can that be, man? All the hours of practice, all the money spent on decent gear, all the nerves, the hype.. all of it - yet when you take your shirt off you play better. Actually I just play in a sleeveless t-shirt that's like 40 sizes too big for me, but it has the same effect. I play better in shorts than in jeans, too.

And yeah, playing very slowly (annoyingly slowly) is very good for timing. You need to know about the gaps bewteen notes whatever speed you play at, and you can't beat gaps of a whole second between hits to sharpen your timing. Something like a normal paradiddle at 60bpm is unbelievably hard at first, but pays off when you speed back up again.

the whole no shirt thing i think is good for summer, humid as fuck type shows coz you're gonna be a mess if you dont take it off, i see alot of people take thier shoes off for double pedal, i dont do this but i can see that its better for the pedal not getting all nastified by whatever you walk on everyday

I think it just boosts your confidence and makes you feel more relaxed due to the no constriction on the shirt.

but I always play topless.

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I wish I could play topless, damn moral norms. I play fine in longsleeves, but they end up soaked, and all my shirts bar one are baggy, so it's odd always having cloth flapping around your wrists or arms. For pants, it's always baggies for me, but with them you have to be careful so that they don't get caught in the beaters, so they should be long (cover the ankle always). Drumming in tight pants is ok except when it starts pulling on your ass and makes you feel uncomfortable.

The shoe/no shoe thing is preference, I have a friend who plays in converse allstars only, and I have a special set of heavy hiking shoes for myself which I love to play in, and I know others who play in slippers and docs.

Either way, all those small things wont make up for the fuckers utter lack of time and above all, ETHIC. He's screwing you over and not willing to fix himself up through exersise, he dies.

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brokenCrimson: wow, you really dont like my drummer.

hes fine for time keeping in practises, and i think its just nerves, he knows he does it, and as soon as he gets back from glastonbury he will grovel on his knees in apology.. that was the first gig we've played in about a year. but well play again next month and hell be better.

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Well, you said just before that he doesn't "click" with a metronome, so that's why I got a bit mad.

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Calm down, it is just a metronome:



I wouldn't complain and I am sure the crowd wouldn't either

as for the trousers part, I play in shorts always and only one pair (they have a dominatrix on the front, she is my good luck charm)

I play in barefeet simply because that gives me the best 'feel' on the pedal and makes heel toe stuff easier, but I can play in docs etc. but just prefer bare feet. I can even do heel toe in doc boots just not that great, so it doesn't really matter what you wear as long as you are comfy, hence my no shoe policy when gigging/practising.

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Oh god that would suck
get up on stage, the whole bands amped except the drummer cant keep in time and makes the whole gig sound like shit.

I guess it is just practise and expanding his comfort zone.

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thats a bit harsh, Stage Fright can make people make silly mistakes, Like making drummers speed up or fuck a fill that one can pull off in practice no sweat, its just a case of getting comfy on the stage which is where doing lots of shitty little gigs where it isn't too important about being tight as hell cause it is a small crowd which no one cares about, BUT you get the stage experiance which means when you start to play bigger gigs you don't get stage fright and you sound awesome

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