Drumming affected by poor bass playing

Feel the pain here. Had a few shockers in my time. The worst ones are the people who don't see the point of the D or G string of a bass or being in tune and try and cure this by being louder than everyone else. Woe betide they have any other strings to play more wrong notes on!

I'm lucky my bassist is a good mate and we can sit in the pocket all night as we will tonight and have a telepathic understanding.

The best bassist I ever played with was a guy in Derby who had talent and technique to burn, we were in a 3 piece and he glued the guitar and drum parts perfectly. He played with a stereo delay which baffled sound engineers. No ego either which was the best part. It's a shame he never made a living from playing.

Indeed it cane be.

For a long time I played a very talented bass player, but he was always accusing me of not being in the pocket enough. One day we went into the studio to cut some songs to a click. He couldn't follow the click, and was throwing me off. He finally left the room and I cut the songs to the click without him.

Another time I went to an audition. I thought the band's music was pretty cool. But at the audition, the bass player just kept showing off his chops rather than playing the songs, and it sounded like a disaster. So of course I got the blame. A few months later, I played with the guitarists from that audition in another setting, and he was was like "wow, I didn't realize you were that good, now I realize it was everyone else who made you sound bad that night."

It seems the drummer often gets the blame if the time or pocket isn't right, but if the rest of the band is off, there is only so much a drummer can do to save it.

In my early 20's, I was playing 3 nights a week with this blues/cover band. The bass player was also the band leader. He kept a flask in his pocket. So the night would start out ok, but by the last set, he was plastered and his time was all over the place. But of course, he blamed me for not following his drunken all-over-the-place time.

The big thing I notice with a bass player is whether s/he is playing with me or following me. For lack of a better way to articulate it, bass players (and probably all musicians) fall into one or the other category.

The bass player following me is waiting to hear what I play, using me as a road map to decide what to play on the bass, waiting for me to state the time. It feels like a burden to me. I'm not so much locking in with the bass, but telling the bass player where the time is. It's like a one-way conversation. I feel like I'm fighting to make sure everyone is feeling the time, the groove.

The bass player who plays with me is locked in with me. We're both listening to each other. That's when it feels like magic. I sub in a local band and I have a particularly good musical rapport with the bass player. We complement each other. When we're locked in, I feel like the drums are almost playing themselves. It would be hard not to be in the pocket. I'm relaxed, everyone else is relaxed, and we're thinking about the music, not worrying about holding things together.

I obviously much prefer the second scenario.

8Mile said:

The big thing I notice with a bass player is whether s/he is playing with me or following me. For lack of a better way to articulate it, bass players (and probably all musicians) fall into one or the other category.

The bass player following me is waiting to hear what I play, using me as a road map to decide what to play on the bass, waiting for me to state the time. It feels like a burden to me. I'm not so much locking in with the bass, but telling the bass player where the time is. It's like a one-way conversation. I feel like I'm fighting to make sure everyone is feeling the time, the groove.

The bass player who plays with me is locked in with me. We're both listening to each other. That's when it feels like magic. I sub in a local band and I have a particularly good musical rapport with the bass player. We complement each other. When we're locked in, I feel like the drums are almost playing themselves. It would be hard not to be in the pocket. I'm relaxed, everyone else is relaxed, and we're thinking about the music, not worrying about holding things together.

I obviously much prefer the second scenario.

Click to expand...

THIS ^^^^^^ all day long. I'll be playing this weekend with the second type, locked in, nice old school dude and good player. It will be a blast!
But next weekend our current rhythm guitar player will be on bass, he is the first type but struggles with his time. Not looking forward to that night but I'm commited to it.

I used to play with this bass player at jams who would play almost a full quarter note ahead. He was a rusher. It's really hard to settle in when you feel like you're walking 10 big dogs all connected to one leash. I mentioned it to him. I asked him, don't you feel how far ahead you are? He did address the issue eventually, but he needed to be told.

I am a bassist and a drummer and whilst I want to play drums in church my band leader always puts me on bass.

Why? Because he trusts me and I either help the green drummers or lock-in and groove with the pros.

Davo

If you want a better bass player get them to play some Funk. Funk is all about the bass and drums, the rest of the instruments, and indeed vocals, are just an add on. Nothing gets a rhythm section up to speed better than playing Funk.

Remember, you are not a drummer and a bassist, you are a rhythm section, a unit, you work as one.