Any band leaders here?

Telling people to shut up and listen. Oh and counting in at the beginning of the songs.
 
It's really no harder being the drummer/ bandleader than any other instrument, keeping people motivated isn't easy because you need to get stuff done without pushing too hard. Mostly the job is just setting up practices and gigs. And if they are ever not paying attention hit the drums really hard and laugh as they jump through their skins and then complain about being deaf (its all the guitars fault anyways). Though all my bands have at least one guy who is late. Dealing with a group of musicians is like herding cats.
 
i think it would be getting the bands attention as my kit is still (for some reason) always behind everyone else, so to understand what we're doing or doing next everyone has to turn round.

i used to play with a drummer / leader who would stop playing and bang on his drum to halt the proceedings.

bap ! bap ! bap ! bap ! bap ! bap !
 
Hello fellow drummers/bandleaders,

Let's face it, it's a tough gig being a band leader. I guess the thing I find most challenging is finding a reliable bass player that can just do the job like a pro, get paid and save the drama for somebody else.

I've had my current group for almost ten years and bass players are the biggest problem for me. Unreliable, late, try and run the show, want more money, talk behind my and the other band members backs. I could go on & on.

But then there is just running a smal business, that part I don't mind it's part of life.
 
Where to start? Scheduling rehearsals, chasing the players around, hoping they work on the music at home, dealing with it if they don't, one of the players complaining about the charts instead of just reading the damn thing as it's written, players griping about a gig because that's the night they're supposed to stay home with the kids, the piano player insisting that the solo changes aren't right (and you're the one who wrote the song!)...

But there's also a downside to being a bandleader.
 
its not really a challenge i face.. per say .. its more of an incredible fu*king annoyance im sure everyone of us deal with.. some worse than others..

while trying to talk / explain something - one of my guitarists always find it necessary to obnoxiously figure out a riff idea or just lay on the tubes.. mid-conversation. drives me bat shit. lol

other than that.. the biggest thing is - if i didnt keel my hands on the wheel at practice.. we would never get anything done cuz my guys are easily distracted. throw in a few beers and a bowl hit or two.. and now we have all the ingedients for a potentially useless practice. i dont like being the "hey, stay focused" asshole of the group.. but it is my project.. and somebodys gotta do it. ;)
 
What type of band are you talking about? I don't think it's that different than it is with any other musician though the drummer is the one guy who doesn't converse in the language of "notes."

As a wedding band leader it was very tough for me, because I was stuck in one spot and couldn't just walk up to people , or in front of them to get their attention. So before every gig, I gave a heads up to watch me because I'll be giving directions. I also tried to set up as far downstage as possible.

For people who noodle while you're talking, there's a name for those guys. FIRED. Pros don't do that. That crap stops after high school and anyone who doesn't know it doesn't deserve to be in a band -- not one that I want to be in anyway.
 
If I had my way....

I would pay the guys fairly for rehearsal. But, I would be running a tight ship too. All business, no screwing around. I pick the songs, and dictate the flow of the show. They come fully prepared or lose their spot. Singers included. After all, they are getting paid. Oh, and a booking agent gets the gigs. I hate that part of the business.

I'm not a bandleader. Yet. Maybe someday.
 
I'm with you Gruv,

It is a huge annoyance, but we love what we do. I'm a bandleader of a jazz quartet, you want to talk about some sensitive 🐱 (pussy's) oh my god! I just had a bass player trying to tell me he new everything there was to know about jazz and his instrument.

That is when I decided its time for you to go. And Larryace, I can't stand working with female vocalist. The all have (LSD) lead singer disease!

Drummers make the best band leaders because we are so organized.
 
What type of band are you talking about? I don't think it's that different than it is with any other musician though the drummer is the one guy who doesn't converse in the language of "notes."

But of course drummers converse in the "language of notes," some of them anyway, drummers who have studied theory and can read charts. In my band I had to be conversant in that language or there's no way I could have led that band. I wrote the songs, I made the charts. If the tenor player asked me if the Bb in measure 13 was correct, I'd just turn to my copy of his chart to check it. If it was correct I'd tell him, if it was wrong I'd fix it. That's how it goes. I knew the voicings of all the chords, I could tell when the bass player played a wrong note.

Please don't make generalizations like that. Well-rounded professional drummers are just as knowledgable as any other musician.
 
For people who noodle while you're talking, there's a name for those guys. FIRED. Pros don't do that. That crap stops after high school and anyone who doesn't know it doesn't deserve to be in a band


all truth right here
 
Please don't make generalizations like that. Well-rounded professional drummers are just as knowledgable as any other musician.

i agree entirely.. but i think you took his comment out of context though bud. yes, knowledgeable drummers worth their weight in sticks can read sheet.. however -i think he was referring to the exchange between guitarists in that they rehearse based on eachothers notes/pickin styles etc. where as the drummer.. (unless ur playing covers and have the sheet music next to you) only has himself to worry about sitting comfortably in the back.. thinking up pattern concepts .. if drummers had to deal with another drummer the way guitarists hafta deal with another.. i woulda been locked up for 1st degree nurder long, long ago ;)
 
But of course drummers converse in the "language of notes," some of them anyway, drummers who have studied theory and can read charts. In my band I had to be conversant in that language or there's no way I could have led that band. I wrote the songs, I made the charts. If the tenor player asked me if the Bb in measure 13 was correct, I'd just turn to my copy of his chart to check it. If it was correct I'd tell him, if it was wrong I'd fix it. That's how it goes. I knew the voicings of all the chords, I could tell when the bass player played a wrong note.

Please don't make generalizations like that. Well-rounded professional drummers are just as knowledgable as any other musician.
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Never said they weren't. But you can be a great drummer and still not be involved with chord changes just as you can be a great singer and not be involved with chord changes. I think Buddy had a very limited knowledge of harmonization but he was a great band leader.
 
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