Do you think drummers compete with each other least in the inner city?

Shild

Member
I've been searching this question on many forums "Who's the toughest to find, drummers, bassist, guitarist or singers?"....

Almost everyone agree's guitarist are a dime a dozen but you get a lot of people posting things like "In my area,bassist are hardest to find, I know 5 different drummers" or "I know 7 different bass players, it's the drummer we are having trouble finding".

This makes me wonder what the area's are like that they are talking about. I'm guessing maybe the guy who can find plenty of drummers but no bassist lives in the country where drummers may be more plentiful because of less noise complaints and the guy who finds plenty of bassist but no drummer is in the inner city where you get more noise complaints?

I'm starting to think I'm better off putting my "Drummer available" ad in the inner city will get me better results. What do you guys think?

I also think I may get better results putting my ad in a more ghetto area where people would have a harder time affording drums. What do you think of this theory?
 
Toughest musicians to find where I am (northern UK) are keyboard players.

They're as rare as rocking horse shit up here...
 
Guitar player's are a dime a dozen. Good guitar players however.........................

Both bassists and drummers are hard to find here. The few that are around got the work because there was noone else. That type of experience ends up making them pretty good over time, though.

It's still hard to change, because those who hire them tend to stick with what they know and might resist any kind of change quite a bit.
 
I also think I may get better results putting my ad in a more ghetto area where people would have a harder time affording drums. What do you think of this theory?

wow really? If you really mean that I hope you never get a job drumming. That attitude suck.
 
In my area it's (competent) keyboard players that are a rare commodity. Unfortunately, you can break that into subcatagories as well - you have the people that excel with Hammond B3 style playing and also others that are great with synths and other mainstream keyboards (piano, etc.). There are plenty of drummers to go around and the same applies for guitarists.
 
In my area it's (competent) keyboard players that are a rare commodity. Unfortunately, you can break that into subcatagories as well - you have the people that excel with Hammond B3 style playing and also others that are great with synths and other mainstream keyboards (piano, etc.). There are plenty of drummers to go around and the same applies for guitarists.

Where is your area? Out in the country?
 
Guitar player's are a dime a dozen. Good guitar players however.........................

Both bassists and drummers are hard to find here. The few that are around got the work because there was noone else. That type of experience ends up making them pretty good over time, though.

It's still hard to change, because those who hire them tend to stick with what they know and might resist any kind of change quite a bit.

Yeah, where you're from it looks like it would be a very long drive if you wanted to be selective about just about anything! I guess this is the way it is for all those Norwegian black metal bands?
 
I live in Portland, so our area overflows with musicians of all types. GOOD musicians, on the other hand, are trickier to find. Plus, with so many different music scenes, you might not want that stellar guitar player who specializes in Celtic jazz for your Balkan marching band...good player, but not a good fit. I get most of my work from classical percussion gigs: not too many people in town play mallet percussion or timpani, and it's booming in my area. I get a lot of calls just because I play unique instruments.

Advertise everywhere. Why not?

Oh, and as for the original question...yes, as long as there are more drummers/bands than there are bands/gigs, there will always be competition. Networking, often times, is the edge you need to get the gigs. A positive reputation and lots of people who know you or know of you are the main determining factors of if you get the call, or more importantly, if you get the call FIRST...
 
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I live in Portland, so our area overflows with musicians of all types. GOOD musicians, on the other hand, are trickier to find. Plus, with so many different music scenes, you might not want that stellar guitar player who specializes in Celtic jazz for your Balkan marching band...good player, but not a good fit. I get most of my work from classical percussion gigs: not too many people in town play mallet percussion or timpani, and it's booming in my area. I get a lot of calls just because I play unique instruments.

Advertise everywhere. Why not?

Oh, and as for the original question...yes, as long as there are more drummers/bands than there are bands/gigs, there will always be competition. Networking, often times, is the edge you need to get the gigs. A positive reputation and lots of people who know you or know of you are the main determining factors of if you get the call, or more importantly, if you get the call FIRST...
Interesting! So at least in your area the demand for Timpani is much higher than regular drums?
 
Yeah, where you're from it looks like it would be a very long drive if you wanted to be selective about just about anything! I guess this is the way it is for all those Norwegian black metal bands?

Yeah, just too few people all around. That goes for making dinner as well. lol

Those black metal bands are generally doing pretty well which means they don't have to do anything else to pay the bills and hence can live where ever they want. To bad I hate that type of music.

Unless uou cater to a certain market, more or less everyone who wants to make it has to move to a city, mainly Oslo. The rent there doesn't really match a regular musician's paycheck, though.
 
Interesting! So at least in your area the demand for Timpani is much higher than regular drums?

Yeah, in the sense of supply and demand. The ratio of people seeking drums to drummers is higher than the ratio of people seeking timpani/xylophone/vibraphone/etc. to percussionists. There are merely a handful of classical percussionists in town, and a handful of gigs for us, but somehow there seems to be enough for everyone. Much better off than drum set players, who always seem to be floundering for gigs...
 
Yeah, in the sense of supply and demand. The ratio of people seeking drums to drummers is higher than the ratio of people seeking timpani/xylophone/vibraphone/etc. to percussionists. There are merely a handful of classical percussionists in town, and a handful of gigs for us, but somehow there seems to be enough for everyone. Much better off than drum set players, who always seem to be floundering for gigs...
Nice! So what other instruments are in high demand like that in classical? And what is there too much of?
 
Nice! So what other instruments are in high demand like that in classical? And what is there too much of?

Well, if you really want to get into it: oboe, french horn, viola and tuba are in demand. Seems like EVERYONE plays clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, cello, and contrabass...oh, and drum set. Lots of drummers can hit a timpani or learn some medium-speed mallet licks, but it's comparable to 99% of people who have picked up a pair of drumsticks being able to play Back In Black. The technical ability is there, but is the finesse?
 
Well, if you really want to get into it: oboe, french horn, viola and tuba are in demand. Seems like EVERYONE plays clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, cello, and contrabass...oh, and drum set. Lots of drummers can hit a timpani or learn some medium-speed mallet licks, but it's comparable to 99% of people who have picked up a pair of drumsticks being able to play Back In Black. The technical ability is there, but is the finesse?

Caddy,
Is it an actual shortage of players or is it a shortage of professional level players? You being one of the pros get the work. The handful of "extra" percussion work that is available in the area I live in is taken by only a couple of players. two with degrees from Eastman and one with a degree from Ithaca. All are full time teachers with one being the local professor of percussion. Very intersting post.
Bigd
 
Caddy,
Is it an actual shortage of players or is it a shortage of professional level players?

Let's just say "shortage of players who are known". You could be the world's best player, but if nobody knows you play, you don't gig at all. Also, people who are sub-standard players might land a gig or two, but their name won't get passed on when the person who hired them gets asked for referrals, or worse yet, their name might be mentioned as somebody NOT to hire. I've seen it happen.

Also, since there are plenty of gigs to go around, it seems, all of the percussionists in town know who they can get for subs if they can't do a gig. Personally, I have a list of about 20 (I think) percussionist and percussionist/drum set players who I know I can pass gigs along to, should I be busy. Also, I often rent out or lend instruments to other players as well, which makes a nice little side business. :)
 
Let's just say "shortage of players who are known". You could be the world's best player, but if nobody knows you play, you don't gig at all. Also, people who are sub-standard players might land a gig or two, but their name won't get passed on when the person who hired them gets asked for referrals, or worse yet, their name might be mentioned as somebody NOT to hire. I've seen it happen.

Also, since there are plenty of gigs to go around, it seems, all of the percussionists in town know who they can get for subs if they can't do a gig. Personally, I have a list of about 20 (I think) percussionist and percussionist/drum set players who I know I can pass gigs along to, should I be busy. Also, I often rent out or lend instruments to other players as well, which makes a nice little side business. :)

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that Portland had such a scene. Very interesting.
 
Shild, I live in Rhode Island and good experienced keyboardists are few. I can happily report that we have a great keyboard player in my band - decades of experience and absolutely a stand up guy!
 
Find good musicians...sort out who plays what later.
 
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