band member 'awareness'

I've been in several different bands now. Very seldom do the members notice changes to my kit at practice - lets say new or different hats, ride, crashes, snare depth/kind, heads, smaller kick drum, or ported kick drum...

I've been playing the same set with the same cymbals for the last 23 years, hardly nothing to notice from a gear point of view, I only bought a bass drum pedal 9 months ago, it's not something very noticable, lol.

What my band mates are playing or telling about my playing is the only real thing that's noticable for me as far as "awareness" is concerned.

Noticing someone's got a new piece of gear is an irrelevance, but, in a band environment, noticing a change in sound, shows an intimate knowledge of the fabric of your collective sound. Can we separate gear nerding from musical listening skills/awareness please, as they have little connection to each other.

Totally agree with you Andy, gear is gear and music is music, you need one to do the other, that's were the connection stops.

Furthermore, I always found that when a band mate has got something new, whatever it is, he or she will talk about it anyway, before, during of after the session.

Every inch counts Pol. :)

:)

Who do you want in the band? Steve Gadd on a beaten up old rehearsal studio set or me playing the best gear ever made? No contest.

I agree...

... err, who's Steve Gadd?
 
sounds like yr playing with the wrong cats

Maybe the wrong cats as far as musicianship goes. But the right cats as far as getting paid goes. Sad, but true. Don't get me wrong, they're not a bunch of show offs or shredders. They just show up, do their job, and leave. Whereas I do notice things like new strings, or mic stands, or whatever. I play in an 80s cover band, and I went from playing with 10", 12", and 14" toms, to playing 12, 14, and 16" rototoms. After the novelty wore off, I switched back to my regular toms. Five or six shows later, my guitarist says "hey, what happened to the rototoms?". Quite a perceptive bunch they are.
 
Anyone who thinks that I, with my Rhythm Traveler kit, would have the nerve to call other players in my band out on their sound needs their head read.

Just get the damn guitar tuned up, preferably before I die of old age ... the B sounds sharp ... the bass sounds a bit muddy over here ... too much low end on the vocs ...

That's about as far as I go. The rest for me is just trust that experienced players will sort their own stuff out.
 
I've been in several different bands now. Very seldom do the members notice changes to my kit at practice - lets say new or different hats, ride, crashes, snare depth/kind, heads, smaller kick drum, or ported kick drum...etc . I end up having to tell them afterward that changes were made. But I notice their changes in gear instantly.
Maybe I'm invisible, or maybe drummers are just more aware?
I'd like to think many musicians in bands have pretty good ears for details.

In my experience, band members notice such things, but don't often say anything about it.
 
I will usually notice if one of my band members gets a new amp guitar or pedal.

On the other hand I played in a band where the leader was such an attention whore that when we tried out a new bass player that complimented the way my drums sounded the guitarist told me I needed to get pinstripes or hydraulics for my kit.

I told him fine if he wanted to pay for them.Sheesh.

I have been in bands where I could have been shot or chopped in half and as long as I kept the backbeat on the snare they never know.

I have had some of the people I play with complement the sound of my drums,or have noticed how well they went to tape.

Some people I have played with don't even consider the drums a real musical instrument.

I even had bandmembers helping with my drums that dragged them out of the club and put them next to my car or in the parking lot in the rain.
 
On the other hand I played in a band where the leader was such an attention whore that when we tried out a new bass player that complimented the way my drums sounded the guitarist told me I needed to get pinstripes or hydraulics for my kit.

When I started reading that I thought you were going to say he didn't notice the new bassist.

That'd make a good story :)
 
When I started reading that I thought you were going to say he didn't notice the new bassist.

That'd make a good story :)

Hahahahahaha! That would have been too damn good!

Yeah my band help me carry my gear and try to help set-up but I prefer to do it myself.
 
Yeah my band help me carry my gear and try to help set-up but I prefer to do it myself.

I find "help" setting up is a hindrance. After I got a bit snappy with our singer when he almost lost a wing nut a couple of years ago no one has dared help me set up :)

However, all help lugging is more than gratefully accepted. I usually help our keys player lug too because he's the other poor sucker dragging around a lot of stuff. Have to say the boys in my band are sensational with helping me lug out. Great guys.
 
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