DrummerCA35
Senior Member
I'm playing in a R&B/Disco/Funk/Pop/Rock cover band.
It seems to me there is frequently a push/pull on tempos. I prefer to play them in the pocket, grooving, and often closer to the original recorded tempos. Or, maybe sped up to a degree for the excitement and energy of live playing. In some cases, even the original band speeds up some songs for live performances.
I count off most songs, so if it starts too fast it's my responsibility. Sometimes, though, even when I count it off at one tempo (or play the intro beat), the keys player often speeds it up, or tries to, and it turns into a situation where I'm staying at the original tempo (and the bass player too) and the keys player is running away. This happens frequently on Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" that we play. I've mentioned it to him and it still seems to happen.
On some songs, the keys player originally starts the song (say on "Feeling Allright" by Joe Cocker). That's one, where if it's too fast it sounds and feels terrible. So...I asked if I could just start the tune by playing a beat. (I play a beat instead of trying to simulate congas.) This worked really well.
On some songs, the guitar player starts the tune. Say "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World. That's a fast song to begin with, and he starts it even faster (despite talking to him about it) and I've often said "f-ck it" and just gone with it, but it sounds like crap to me, played too fast.
On a few other tunes, the singer can't sing in the original key, he takes it down a few steps. They asked me to count off a few songs faster to "compensate for the lower key." One example is Bruno Mars' "Locked out of Heaven." We were doing it hella fast (by the request of the singer) but I started doing it slower, to where it is faster than the recording, but not runaway fast.
On the whole, the set list is really grooving, we played our first gig last weekend and it went great. There are, however, some songs that I think are too fast, but if the rest of the band wants it that way (and these are in the minority) I've tried to compromise. But when some songs are too fast it feels bad to play. As far as the singer is concerned, he'd probably be happy if everything were faster.
Have you guys run into this? How have you dealt with it? Do you guys ever agree on the BPM and use some kind of BPM machine as a guide to kick off the tune?
Thanks for any input.
It seems to me there is frequently a push/pull on tempos. I prefer to play them in the pocket, grooving, and often closer to the original recorded tempos. Or, maybe sped up to a degree for the excitement and energy of live playing. In some cases, even the original band speeds up some songs for live performances.
I count off most songs, so if it starts too fast it's my responsibility. Sometimes, though, even when I count it off at one tempo (or play the intro beat), the keys player often speeds it up, or tries to, and it turns into a situation where I'm staying at the original tempo (and the bass player too) and the keys player is running away. This happens frequently on Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" that we play. I've mentioned it to him and it still seems to happen.
On some songs, the keys player originally starts the song (say on "Feeling Allright" by Joe Cocker). That's one, where if it's too fast it sounds and feels terrible. So...I asked if I could just start the tune by playing a beat. (I play a beat instead of trying to simulate congas.) This worked really well.
On some songs, the guitar player starts the tune. Say "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World. That's a fast song to begin with, and he starts it even faster (despite talking to him about it) and I've often said "f-ck it" and just gone with it, but it sounds like crap to me, played too fast.
On a few other tunes, the singer can't sing in the original key, he takes it down a few steps. They asked me to count off a few songs faster to "compensate for the lower key." One example is Bruno Mars' "Locked out of Heaven." We were doing it hella fast (by the request of the singer) but I started doing it slower, to where it is faster than the recording, but not runaway fast.
On the whole, the set list is really grooving, we played our first gig last weekend and it went great. There are, however, some songs that I think are too fast, but if the rest of the band wants it that way (and these are in the minority) I've tried to compromise. But when some songs are too fast it feels bad to play. As far as the singer is concerned, he'd probably be happy if everything were faster.
Have you guys run into this? How have you dealt with it? Do you guys ever agree on the BPM and use some kind of BPM machine as a guide to kick off the tune?
Thanks for any input.