What qualities do you want in a drummer?

JohnnyGtar

JohnnyGtar

Well-known member
I'm told I have a good feel and a solid pocket. I hit HARD. I LIKE, no, I LOVE playing loud. I don't WANT to play quiet, so sue me. LOL When I was still playing with bands, I'd tell them that before I'd audition. "Cool, that's what we want". Half the time we'd play and they'd go "great!". The other half would say "that's too loud, dude"...that's when I'd stand up, say "I told you I was loud." and start tearing my kit down. @VonBonfire click on the gif below this text. LOL

“I never had many drum lessons. I just played the way I wanted and got blacklisted in Birmingham. ’You’re too loud!’ they used to say. ’There’s no future in it.’ But nowadays you can’t play loud enough.” - John Henry Bonham, a guy who ended up with a nice gig in a good band.
 

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If you dont listen to your bandmates concerns I'd fire you on the spot. Being in a band means doing what's best for the band. You want to play as loud as possible have fun in your basement by yourself.
 
Kelly said:
If you dont listen to your bandmates concerns I'd fire you on the spot. Being in a band means doing what's best for the band. You want to play as loud as possible have fun in your basement by yourself.
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Yeah if you play quietly on drums, you can't play hard rock, punk, or heavy metal.

So if you want to play those types of music, it will be you who are playing by yourself in your basement.

There's no way to do consistent snare rimshots (which are required for that type of music) quietly, and anyone who thinks that's possible is a complete and utter moron.

If you're playing in a boomer cover band playing "la grange" and "mustang sally", yeah, you can do the equivalent of bitchpicking on the drums if you want.
 
BlueParfait said:
I've had such bad experience with drummers that "be on time" is simple and versatile enough as a request.
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The best drummers are always late for everything non-drum related.

Kelly said:
Being in a band means doing what's best for the band. You want to play as loud as possible have fun in your basement by yourself.
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The guy who shows up to a try out/rehearsal with a good attitude, good meter, halfway decent kit, and a painfully loud rimshot will be the guy I hire first, no question about that. There aren't too many things that make a long night like a drummer that can't hit the rimshot with authority. If you have no audible backbeat the band meter will suffer because the snare is the center of everything happening rhythmically. It's supposed to be loud. A powerhouse drummer is the core of a powerhouse band. You can't have a rocking band with a limp wrist on the drums.

IME if you have a drummer that doesn't hit hard naturally you will not, regardless of what you do, be able to get him or her to play loudly. A good drummer is naturally loud but has dynamic control when needed. A good loud drummer can play soft but a good soft drummer will never play loud!!!
 
I played in Rock and PunkRock bands only. So loud (or energetic) drumming was accepted if not required for that kind of music.

Qualities I want in a drummer is understanding music, not only your instrument.

Another important thing is, keeping the tempo and don`t let it influence by your "mood".
I played with a drummer that refused to play with a klick. When he was tired, he played everything slower. On a gig, he was excited and upped the tempo by a fair bit. When everybody was telling him, he is to fast, he could not understand it. In his world, nothing in his playing has changed. That really pissed me of
 
I have a short list of simple requirements for a drummer; or any band member for that matter. For some reason most people have a hard time meeting even one of them. Pretty much why I just occasionally jam with long time friends and don't play with people/bands much anymore. I got tired of dealing with the stupid shit.
  • Keep a relatively steady beat (Play in tune for the rest of the band)
  • Do your homework and show up ready for practice (at minimum show up for practice)
  • Get drunk/high on your own time, not the band's time
  • Keep your personal drama to yourself
The only extra thing that is a strong preference is that you hit hard enough. I play mostly metal and like to play loud. A drummer that plays like they're using wet spaghetti noodles for sticks usually isn't going to cut it.
 
VonBonfire said:
A good drummer can play soft but a good drummer will play loud!!!
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Fixed it

Any drummer who is worth a shit will be hitting rimshots on the backbeat - then they will play with dynamics when it's actually needed.

People who complain about drummers being loud either only play jazz and pop, or have literally never played with a good drummer before lol

The reason for this is that it's impossible to play the drums consistently/with good technique if you're playing quietly
 
Swing

A lot of drummers can play march type rhythms. But I look for a individual with swing.

As for dynamics it's about feel. If you want to develop it I recommend playing on a electronic kit occasionally. The change will make you more aware of your dynamics.

I was playing xylophone and timpani in band. So dynamics was part of it.

The drummer works with the bass player. The other people's opinions in the band are not very important.
 
DanTravis62 said:
People who complain about drummers being loud either only play jazz and pop, or have literally never played with a good drummer before lol
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You go back to the big band era, that trumpet section has more cut than just about anything and the punch of the 'bones to go with tit. Those drummers were laying into those kits on those loud numbers. Real jazz and blues has impact and loud/soft dynamics that has been totally lost over the last 20 years. I have witnessed a lot of that firsthand.

Part of it IS noise ordinance driven along with amateur hour club owners that don't realize how loud drums actually are. Also, since kits are much more affordable today, there is a glut of "drummers" and many of them either only practice quietly due to whatever noise restriction their housing has, or are told it's "tasty" to play quiet by their retarded instructors. Ingrained stupidity. So, when hiring subs and such I usually look for drummers with a rock or punk background because most of the "blues" guys are notorious lightweights on the kit.

That's why I was squawking about that Tommy Aldridge video the other day. Here you have a dude who is about to be 74 or something who is cut, lean and mean on the kit. And you have kids in the prime of life out there who play like they are almost dead. I had a few guys who seemed miffed I never called them back cause they hit like bitches but I know at least one young gun must've got his ass scolded by a musician they actually respected because they came and told me one day "you were the guy who told me I needed to hit the backbeat". Least he was man enough to admit it. I have jammed with chicks with more aggression than some of the dudes I dealt with......
 
Kelly said:
If you dont listen to your bandmates concerns I'd fire you on the spot. Being in a band means doing what's best for the band. You want to play as loud as possible have fun in your basement by yourself.
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Who said I didn't listen to bandmates concerns? I said loud, not loud as possible. Zeppelin's "The Song Remains The Same" live album at Madison Square Garden is a good example of how I like to play. Bonzo laid into his kit, and sure, he had great dynamics and finesse, but hitting hard was home base for him. Page was gonna try using a bunch of Vox AC30's once but said it wouldn't work because "Bonzo's kit is so bloody loud." LOL Drums sound different when you lay into them. I've played in loud bands before with no problems. I've played in country bands, blues bands and rock bands and my dynamics are fine but hard hitting rock and roll is home base for me. I would tell people I'm loud before showing up at an audition. If they don't want a hard hitter, they should say so and talk with other drummers instead of wasting my time and theirs. Name drop: By the way, John Lee Hooker told me "Man, you got the boogie! I like the way you play!". I was in a blues band with his nephew. Peace.
 
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JohnnyGtar said:
Wrong. I've played in loud bands before with no problems.
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Loud is the defaut setting of my current group but for some specialty gigs that pay we have played in a bedroom sized portion of a venue. I made it work with a 100 watt Twin even. Sounded pretty good and nobody got their head removed during the show either, lol.
 
What I look for in a drummer.... pocket. Knowing where to sit on the beat.

If you tell me Niel Pert is your favorite drummer, I automatically know that you can't find the one on the way out of a fill. lol! If you tell me you're a Bonham guy... I know we're gonna have a good jam.
 
Typically I like drummers who play loud, if they know how & when to back off dynamically that's even better....

That might be a result of too many years playing on the dive bar & metal venue circuits, where you're usually playing through a garbage sound system or hardly mic'd up at all. On occasion you get a venue with a nice PA, you can bet there's a fill-in sound guy who's been told not to touch anything except volume faders. I watched a ton of otherwise good bands, with no energy or groove because you couldn't hear the drummer. We don't have much of a music scene around here, so if you want to do anything that's not a snooze fest cover band, you learn to deal with shit like that. The bands with 'too loud' drummers often steal the show.

I pretty much require a solid sense of timing; someone who can play with or without a click & I hardly hear a difference. It's nice when a drummer knows how parts should flow & feel during the writing process, without me having to walk them through it. I like to give a vague idea of where I think the song should go, and let him do his thing.
 
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