How much input from others do you get concerning your drum part?

Larry

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
Just wondering if your bandmates are actively involved with what you play....or if they don't even consider it. Or something in between. I'm referring to them trying to dictate...or suggest...what you should play when doing a new song. I have nothing negative to say about that, I don't experience it much, I'm just curious how much input you guys get when you do a new song for instance.

I've been asked to play quarter notes on the kick, when I defaulted to a busier pattern. Sometimes, I'm asked to play louder or softer, but I'm more referring to the note choice of the drum part... if your mates have definite opinions...or not about what they want you to play. Or do they leave it all up to you.
 
In the band I'm in, sometimes, I'll have a couple of different options for patterns, and I'll ask them which one they like better because I trust their opinion. Ultimately, my job as a drummer is to support the song, and I think that they should have a voice in regarding what kind of support they want or need. However, once again, I only do this because I trust them and they all have good ears for what sounds good.

At church, I ask for no one's opinion because I learn the part as it was written. If the leader doesn't like it, he needs to pick a different song. The drum parts these days in modern worship music are horrible, but I do it because it's what I feel I'm "called" to do. Trends change, and I'm willing to wait it out. Drum parts used to be a lot better, and I think they will get there again. In short, no, I do not ask for input or feedback at church but I do with the band that I'm in outside of church.
 
I'm in a cover situation. In cover situations, I have received almost no input. Which is what I desire. :)

In an originals situation, I could understand dialog on what the drum part should be. But in a cover situation, I would not be a big fan of receiving a ton of input.
 
Depends on the project. With the stuff i write there is little to no input. With the stuff other people write it depends. Usually they let me figure out what works and then ask for changes in specific spots. Hits that might not be obvious/necessary but that they hear/want to hear. For covers no one tells me a thing. I just listen to the record or find the sheet music and then adjust based on how the other people play the song.
 
It depends on the musicians I'm working with. If it's someone else's project, I find I get more input on exactly what the person wants. In a band setting, especially with musicians I know, I get very little.
 
larryace said:
Just wondering if your bandmates are actively involved with what you play....or if they don't even consider it. Or something in between. I'm referring to them trying to dictate...or suggest...what you should play when doing a new song. I have nothing negative to say about that, I don't experience it much, I'm just curious how much input you guys get when you do a new song for instance.

I've been asked to play quarter notes on the kick, when I defaulted to a busier pattern. Sometimes, I'm asked to play louder or softer, but I'm more referring to the note choice of the drum part... if your mates have definite opinions...or not about what they want you to play. Or do they leave it all up to you.
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Interestingly enough, i have a sticky situation with regards to the two different settings i play drums for

One, my cover band that plays range of 80s and 90s rock at pubs - these guys are in it for a long haul, however we are all tuned to our own parts only 99 percent of the time. None of them know enough about drums or care enough to push their agenda or two cents about anything small or big mistakes i may make during practice. Therefore it is actually harder for me to keep to the standards i hold to playing proper accurate cover. Well not really actually... what i mean to say is that an environment as such forces me to work harder and listen to the original tracks more and more so that i can correct myself of improper part playing... because nobody will ever tell me what im playing wrong in the band. In fact i may or may not have been playing a certain part completely clear or accurate all this time but as long as it isnt OUT OF BEAT, we make a habit of ignoring it and move on as long as it sounds good. The 4 of us eventually reach a silent convergence of satisfaction point in all of the parts we play. If anything, i probably comment on how id like to hear the guitarists play their notes moreso in general here

On the other hand.. the organized church worship team i play for... we have number of dedicated intrsumentalists who are trained who ALWAYS ALWAYS has something to say about my playing at any given parts i may or may not play correctly. In a way emulating the same worship songs played already by its original song writer/creator that we are to "copy" and paste into our own mix is essentially a "cover band". So in this particular cover band... they will tell me everything from "ur supposed to come in with the crash half beat early", "make sure u dont ever slow down at that bar", "can u make this part with way fancier fills?", "can u make these 24 bars build up gradually from rim click to full out accordingly?"

Never stops. I only realized after nearly a year that i drum in two polar opposite environments on a weekly basis. It is interesting... im not sure which i like bett3r...
 
To me there have been two types of input...well, maybe three.
Bandmates that are so good and meticulous about theirs and everyone's playing that everything is scrutinized. Bandmates that think they are all that and blame the drummer for their every mistake. This type tends not to be able to follow a click and will lash out if you try to prove that timing failures are on him and not you. And finally bandmates that can't play anything right and don't really care, so long as they are playing in front of a crowd, no matter how bad.

For me, the best learning experience has been with the first scenario. Sometimes it's been tough to get through a practice session, but music has been the most alive and once we connected, we had the most fun, but probably the slowest in getting anything done. I've had this same type of musicians in my worship bands and probably the best experience I've ever had.

I can't work in scenarios 2 and bored out of my mind in scenario 3. I'll take a bunch of annoying perfectionists any day.
 
I get very little these days. We know what we're doing so nobody treads on anybody's toes. Not worth it.

I've always found that people who feel the need to complain are usually found wanting themselves. Empty vessels........

If I was in a situation where I was being paid enough to take someone's input then that's cool they're paying me for it.
 
It depends on who it is, and the situation.

The worst was when I was in a band where everyone else in the band was a drummer, actively drumming in other bands. They had lots of input, until I started giving them input on their instruments. I'd probably never get into a band like that again. It wasn't fun constantly being under deep inspection, even though they tripled my pay. What's three times nothing?

My current band is interesting, because I am usually given creative license on any part that I play, whether it's drums, fretless bass, guitar, synth, piano, banjo, trombone, kazoo, theremin, ukelele, harp, or backing vocals.

But with our new album, it has been a different story because it is also a musical. On top of the band, we also have french horn, flute, trumpets, and a full-blown orchestra. Every string, horn, etc., on the album is REAL. We've been working on this album for five years. Mixing is a nightmare, but I digress.

In the really early stages, we were recording our parts as the band. Our music director, who was also leading the script writing and character development, had some visions about the parts that he was writing for the orchestral players, brass, and winds.

I could not possibly read his mind. As a result, he would be directing my drumming, indicating that we'd need a bigger fill here, or back off in this section due to character dialog, or whatever needed to happen that I might not intuitively know about. Sometimes he would describe what would be happening and I could give my own interpretation. Other times, he would just flat-out tell me what he wanted me to play.

I accepted this in lieu of having my music written out for me, because I still had SOME creative freedom, even though the framework is more strict. He had enough writing to do for all of the other players, the characters, foley art, and so on.
 
I am open to suggestions but in my last 2 bands no suggestions at all. In a blues trio before that, the guitarist occasionally had input, but he could never articulate what he wanted. He spoke in 'boom-bap-klam' kinds of language.
 
mostly left to my own but sometimes some of the input is really annoying. We play S.O.B by Nathanial Ratliffe and I play the original drum part as close as possible.

The singer didn't like it and wanted something very different. My opinion is that it is because he could not get used to such a different groove but I think the groove fits that tune.
 
AzHeat said:
Band mates that think they are all that and blame the drummer for their every mistake. This type tends not to be able to follow a click and will lash out if you try to prove that timing failures are on him and not you.
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My situation to a T. I play in an acoustic rockabilly duo, and my partner is a professional musician. Has been for 15 years and barely scrapes by on the band hopping he does outside of our gigs (and he still lives with his parents at 51 years old).

I've learned to get a beer in him first thing when we arrive at the venue so he'll be less of a narcissistic control freak. I've talked to a few of his past band mates & they all are amazed I've hung with him for the 2 years we've been playing together.
Most wanted to punch him out on stage by the 10th month because while he says, "Be you" when you're first hired, he'll slowly control how you play, what you wear & how you act because "it's his band".

I've managed to find a happy medium and that's kept things on the level (that & his beer).

He knows if this gig ends, it ends & I'm happy moving on to other things. He NEEDS to play music to eat. I don't and maybe that keeps him treating me well and letting me play how I feel is best for the songs we write.

I know one day I'll get fed up & leave like so many before me. At least I'll leave knowing I had fun while it lasted.
 
Most times I get very little. Occasionally the band leader will ask me to do something a little differently on our original material, but like most everyone else is saying, leaves me alone on the covers. Also like others have said, as long as I'm on the beat and not varying tempo, they're cool with what I'm doing.

Usually what I get for input is more regarding dynamics the the actual drum parts themselves.

I'm far more critical of what I'm doing than them, and that works out just fine.
 
Frank said:
I'm in a cover situation. In cover situations, I have received almost no input. Which is what I desire. :)

In an originals situation, I could understand dialog on what the drum part should be. But in a cover situation, I would not be a big fan of receiving a ton of input.
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That's exactly my situation.
 
On covers, I don't think I'm ever given direction, unless there's a specific part that needs to be done differently, such as inventing an ending on a song that normally fades.

For original songs, it varies. Sometimes I'm given a general reference ("play it like xxxx"), sometimes more specific ("Play the fill from xxxx"), and sometimes, I'm just told to do what I do, meaning apply the same sensibilities that I did at some previous time. There's one band where I'm basically on my own 99.9% of the time. Once in a great while I'll get some direction, but it's usually not too specific and more of a suggestion than an instruction.

Bermuda
 
I've had lots of different experiences.

Everything from guys who think everything I come up with is gold, all the way to specific parts and fills being dictated. I've also had some more odd situations where it's a certain "feel" or "type" of thing they want me to do. They might say, "I was thinking something kinda, mastadon-y here?" meaning that I had to come up with a part which wasn't dictated, but should make the section feel a bit like a mastadon song. I actually don't mind that. At first I usually don't know but then I think about what that drummer might do for the music I'm hearing and typically come up with something interesting. Along those lines, but appreciated much less is where they'll hear a part in music they like and then ask me to do almost or exactly the same thing in their music. Not a fan of that one.
 
Mostly from one of our lead singers. He's VERY complementary to me, off stage, and one. But, sometimes he'll ask that I play a song slower, or occasionally that I NOT play a fill in certain places. He's also commented if he feels something is off on a fill, which happened one time. Sometimes he's right and sometimes he's wrong. When I get these comments, I try to accommodate the best I can and try to learn something. The hard part is when he's wrong.
 
I'm in two bands right now, one of which is mostly originals (some of which I created the drum part, and others which were written before I joined the band) and the other of which is pure covers; plus I play in a contemporary praise and worship team at a church. Oddly enough, I play all three in pretty much the same way -- I play the song as musically as possible in my own style, while observing the original content and general feel of each song. I get very few complaints and a lot of compliments.
 
I'm in a few bands, and a church band on Sundays. Most of the time I don't get much input from anyone, which is pretty nice because I actually do end up playing some pretty crazy and hard stuff sometimes. I think most of them trust me because what I play generally sounds good, but if I try something that sounds bad they let me know. I think a lot of musicians stop worrying about you and stop giving feedback when you start making good drum choices in music and building yourself a good reputation by approaching every song as musically as possible. I on the other hand am always throwing ideas out for different guitar and bass parts and licks and stuff. I never criticize though
 
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