If you have never had problem playing difficult fills with a click, why do you need one?
I'm not saying i;ve never sped up or down and I don't have perfect time. I don't think anyone does. What i was stressing is that we practice with a click so that we can perform passages that are hard in time. If it is not in time then we aren't doing our job right. IF a fill is dragged, rushed or stutters then the band notices and the feel goes. Irregardless of a click being there or not if you can't play it without stumbling through it and messing up the time then you need to work on it more. I practice with a click in everything i practice to help me play better time when I play without one. It also prepares me for the studio work i do and anything else where a click is required.
And that relates to anything or anyone here because ? It always cracks me up when people refer to Vinnie, like you are his buddy. I don't know who he is but I assume he is a WAY above average pro drummer. (hmmmmm,,,,new thread idea. Look for it
I am not his buddy however he is referred to by his first name in the same way Tony and Buddy are...what's wrong with that? Everyone know;s who I am talking about. He may be way above the average pro drummer but he also plays ideas and concepts far and above what most drummer can play and he does it in time.
Just because we aren't as good as Vinnie or Weckl or Jojo Mayer is no excuse not to play in time and to excuse messing up a complex fill or passage.
False. VOLUMES of excellent music is played every day without perfect tempo. Not even a trained ear will pick up slight BPM changes. An average listener can't even pick up a 10 BPM variation throughout a song.