Are your bandmates interested in your drums

Larry

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
Meaning do they tell you their preferences for sounds, tuning, cymbals, even your playing?

An easier way to put it would be to say, do they get involved with/take interest in/try to direct the drum part or no?

Generally, I've had free reign, but there's always been here and there exceptions.
 
Nobody has ever cared about what drum equipment I'm using. The closest that gets is when I get a new kit or thing they might note that it sounds "better" in a general way but they aren't usually paying attention.

As for parts, that depends heavily on the band or person writing the music. Some guys write things with drum parts already in their head and if you don't come up with something close, they'll guide your playing into an approximation or maybe "sing" a beat for you to sort of copy. I've been in that situation, and I also currently have a situation where the band leader is really open minded and likes my choices so he almost never has any comments unless we're working something out together like a transition part or dynamic I somehow didn't pick up on.

In general, I don't like to let things like that go too far. If I'm being paid for my time then of course, go ahead and write out every note you want me to play if it makes you happy. If this is the type of project where we're all just working out new songs to play as a band and we're all not really getting paid in a significant way then I like to have more control over how and what I play.
 
Sometimes there is interest in the drum part. Never the actual gear. I'd have to show up with a set of pots and pans before they'd notice my actual equipment.
 
Regarding parts, sometimes yes, but mostly no. If someone hears a part or fill in their head and wants to convey that to me, there's nothing wrong with that. I have likewise made occasional suggestions when I think a certain guitar or keyboard part might fit well.

For gear, one artist wants a particular snare for everything I do with him. Granted, it's a nice snare. :)

Bermuda
 
No, they don't care at all. As long as I don't overpower them or "get in the way" musically speaking, they don't care. I like it that way.
 
bermuda said:
Regarding parts, sometimes yes, but mostly no. If someone hears a part or fill in their head and wants to convey that to me, there's nothing wrong with that. I have likewise made occasional suggestions when I think a certain guitar or keyboard part might fit well.

For gear, one artist wants a particular snare for everything I do with him. Granted, it's a nice snare. :)

Bermuda
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You just made me become a little more aware that I myself also like to suggest musical things for the melodic players to do when I hear them in my head. Perhaps I should think about those situations more depending on what the deal is... It's really no different from when they suggest I play something a certain way.

Got to mull that one a bit!
 
Rarely a band member asks me to play a style with a little more Latin feel but that's about all the input that I get.
 
I like it when the others are interested in my part. I also like to have free reign too. It's a balance.

In my world, the great majority are not interested enough in the drum part to comment.
 
My bandmates have never expressed any preference or interest in my equipment. I choose to take it as a compliment that the gear I choose sounds good and is appropriate for the situation. I do spend a lot of time making sure my equipment is well-maintained and tuned and sounding as good as possible. My technical ability is enough of an obstacle, I don't need gear causing me problems too ;)

The leader of one of my bands sometimes gives me very specific instructions, like "ride on the floor tom instead of the cymbal", and I do my best to comply. I don't always agree with his choices, but he's paying me, so I try to do what he wants and sometimes I modify it so that I'm still happy with how it sounds. Last time he told me to use the floor tom instead of the ride, I thought it muddied up the mix so I just played on my leg instead and I don't think he noticed. What bothers me is that sometimes he'll shake his head at me in the middle of a song and instruct me on the fly. That just looks unprofessional, and it makes it look to the audience like I'm the one that screwed up. I do this for fun, not for a living, so there's only so much of this sort of nonsense that I'm willing to put up with. But I try to be humble.
 
Just recently, my bandmates (brutal metal band) told me they absolutely love my new Meinl Classics Custom Dark cymbals. They said it makes a huge difference I guess because of a darker trashier tone and faster decay. I used to have all K's before.
 
larryace said:
I like it when the others are interested in my part.

Gosh, who doesnt, just doesnt get much better. A nice clean, well groomed part should be enough to entice any bands member, regardless of whether its the drummers, bassist, or even keyboardist.
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larryace said:
Are your bandmates interested in your drums
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For the most part, playing drums is like preparing payroll. The only time you get any feedback is when something's wrong.

Sometimes the person who wrote a song has some ideas, and they're usually better than mine.

The exception would be when someone asks for a drum part that I know they can't follow. That's an awkward conversation and I still haven't found a more polite way to say "If you can't play it with a metronome, you won't be able to play it with me."
 
JosephDAqui said:
Just recently, my bandmates (brutal metal band) told me they absolutely love my new Meinl Classics Custom Dark cymbals. They said it makes a huge difference I guess because of a darker trashier tone and faster decay. I used to have all K's before.
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Everyone loves mine, too. Mostly because they look cool I think. Maybe I'll show up with some ZBT's and see if they notice the difference!
 
In both bands I'm currently in, most of my bandmates are multi-instrumentalists and gear nerds, so we do a little 'show and tell' when we get together for rehearsals or gigs. I check out their pedalboards and they check out my latest snare or cymbal. But beyond that, we trust each other to show up with gear that sounds good for the songs we play.

As far as drum parts, one of my bands is a classic rock cover band and I just try to play close to the original part. The other band is an originals band backing the songwriter/bandleader. He gives me a lot of latitude to play the older material in my own way, and I helped to write most of the newer material including the drum parts. Very rarely did he ask for anything to change - at one point he said, "use the ride bell on this chorus" - but he's been happy with everything else.
 
I've had them say that the toms sounded out of tune on a recording we made. But those weren't my drums, they were the bassist's, so I just agreed with them. When I bought a new cymbal they told me it sounded good. Also they want me to get a custom bass drum head, which I would do if we had a cool logo, but we don't really have one yet.

Both the singer and the bassist will either sing parts they want me to play or they'll pull up a recording and have me listen and try to copy it. This happens maybe 10% of the time; the rest of the time I just play whatever I want and they're ok with it. Also if we're playing a cover and the drums don't sound close enough to them they'll point it out and ask me to try harder on a certain fill or whatever.

So yeah I'll say that my bandmates probably give me more direction and feedback than the average drummer. I think a big part of it is that when I started playing with them, they were all experienced and I had only been playing for like a year and didn't know what I was doing. So they kind of got used to helping me with stuff.
 
EricT43 said:
My bandmates have never expressed any preference or interest in my equipment. I choose to take it as a compliment that the gear I choose sounds good and is appropriate for the situation. I do spend a lot of time making sure my equipment is well-maintained and tuned and sounding as good as possible. My technical ability is enough of an obstacle, I don't need gear causing me problems too ;)

The leader of one of my bands sometimes gives me very specific instructions, like "ride on the floor tom instead of the cymbal", and I do my best to comply. I don't always agree with his choices, but he's paying me, so I try to do what he wants and sometimes I modify it so that I'm still happy with how it sounds. Last time he told me to use the floor tom instead of the ride, I thought it muddied up the mix so I just played on my leg instead and I don't think he noticed. What bothers me is that sometimes he'll shake his head at me in the middle of a song and instruct me on the fly. That just looks unprofessional, and it makes it look to the audience like I'm the one that screwed up. I do this for fun, not for a living, so there's only so much of this sort of nonsense that I'm willing to put up with. But I try to be humble.
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I quit playing with a certain bandleader because he would always bark orders at me onstage, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. It seems like people like to tell drummers how to do every little thing, but if a drummer flipped the script & told THEM what to do, they'd be so offended! I wouldn't start yelling out chords to the guitar player (unless maybe it were a jam session) or telling the singer to go up an octave, so why should they be yelling at me to "play this" or "play that"? Now, if you have a *suggestion* for a drum part, let me know and I'll gladly try it; I've actually gotten some really cool ideas from non-drummers!

As far as bandmates being interested in drums...
The singer from one of my bands has a drum set in his basement to use for practice, and over the past few months he's been upgrading his equipment; he got a 1972 Ludwig Acrolite snare drum and an old (mid-90's) K Zildjian 16" crash. He's learned a lot about drum tuning & maintenance, and was even able to install new heads and snare wires on the Acrolite by himself!
 
Armor of Light said:
Everyone loves mine, too. Mostly because they look cool I think. Maybe I'll show up with some ZBT's and see if they notice the difference!
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Nice! That I would really like to hear about! haha

Yeah my bandmates like the look, plus they match my mapex V black maple burl kit.

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The only interest seems to be in the loudness ! Can you leave at home the loudest snare ? Can you strike less the loud China cymbal ? Have you put a pillow in the bass drum ? Is there a way to have less volume on the snare drum ???
And so forth.
 
Not at all. They notice that my two kits look different, and one of the guitarists noticed the changed look when I went from clear to coated heads, but no difference in the sound, not even when I swap between my one-small-step-above-dreadful beater cymbals and my aural chocolate and honey good cymbals.

Then again, how many of us notice when a guitarist changes amplifier or pedal selection?
 
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