Inappropriate drumming

You know Ian, I thought about it, but I didn't know him at all and I thought that it would be rude of me. I'm sure there are people there who thought he was fine, and yes I have my opinions, but who am I to tell him what he should or shouldn't do? It's his gig and he can play it how he see's fit. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway, the rest of the band was twice as loud as they needed to be as well.

At least you had the intention or thought to do it, that's good!
 
Sorry but my ears take precedence. I had to stay, it was my GF's birthday. It's not like I was making a big thing out of it, I was just sitting at a table about 20' from the stage. I don't usually go and see bar bands, next time I'll take ear plugs.
If you want to critique my playing, no video but there's some songs in this thread:
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47924

Very well. I misread it as you making a big deal out of it. Maybe you were misinterpreting his playing like I misinterpreted your thread. Kidding of course, and no, I won't critique your playing. Who am I to judge anyone's playing? There is thankfully nothing of mine out there.
 
a few weeks ago we played a gig at a bar. right in the middle of it some guy comes up to the stage and loudly proclaims that we need to "turn the drummer down", as if i had a volume knob or something. our lead guitarist goes "yeah sure", but then suddenly our guest singer christina says "if you think the drums are too loud then get the f--- out because dave o (that's me) rocks". that was followed by a chorus of screams from our fans, mostly yelling "dave o rocks" and "i love dave o", etc. finally the guy goes "all right, you people enjoy your music" and left. but the thing that puzzles me is, on the song before he came up i was really holding back and not playing loud at all. i don't get it. i have an audio recording of the show and the drums sound fine throughout the whole thing. that's my opinion though, but who knows?
 
Telling musicians that they could do much better/turn down/play less is a lose/lose. I guess if you're the bar owner, you can get away with it.
There's a larger issue though, and seriously I believe that this band was loud enough to cause some hearing damage. I know I wouldn't want to be the cause of any hearing loss in the people who are nice enough to come out and listen. Sure there is a time when it is appropriate to play loud...the room would dictate that. In this room they could have turned down by 1/2 and still have been really effective as a rock band. When you have to scream directly into the ear of the person next to you to communicate, especially when you're 20 feet from the stage, there's room to turn down. Their volume would have been appropriate in an outdoor setting. Musicians really have to adjust for the room, it's part of being seasoned. The soundman could have taken a little more control, but if he thought everything is fine, then he wasn't doing his job as good as he should of, in my opinion
 
I think Keith Moon was a lucky dude, (who was not surrounded by any Drum Critics at that time), so that , he kept on playing what he liked and there are still a great following of his.

Zeppelin's Ramble on, 1.5 times the speed, sounds different, may sound much better for some.
It is always great to explore and experiment than playing like the original version.
 
Zeppelin's Ramble on, 1.5 times the speed, sounds different, may sound much better for some.
It is always great to explore and experiment than playing like the original version.

To me it lost the feel of the song. They really were trying to duplicate it faithfully but it was like it was a race to see who could get to the end first.

The wrong tempo can just kill a song, for me. Unless they are changing the style completely. Then it's a different intrepetation, which this was not. It was mechanical with no grace.
 
I dont buy the theory that its just the drummers.. Singers that go off key, Guitar players who play bum notes, bass players that are out of sync are equally hard to take.

The drums to some extent are the glue that binds it all together so yes it might be a tad more noticeable, but all the other cast of characters can ruin it equally for me.

Heh. It always used to annoy me in my "serious" days that bassists could blunder markedly and no one would notice, but let the drummer make one teensy mistake and it sticks out like dogs' unmentionables!

I agree with you, Larryace, it's frustrating when a band shows potential but is let down by a dodgy member. Still, sometimes it's not easy to find musos who are the right "fit".

I played keyboards with a band last year and we were auditioning drummers. There were some decent players but all of them was too loud for the room and dominated the band sound. Our subtle hints, such as "could you try not playing a bit quieter?", fell on deaf ears (hearing damage?). In the end we gave up, I went back to drums, and we picked up a keyboardist.

It's not rocket science. The band plays at a certain volume so the drummer works with that. Still, if the band and the audiences are happy with the drummer dominating the mix then I guess that's their style. Just that some of us might prefer not to see them.
 
a few weeks ago we played a gig at a bar. right in the middle of it some guy comes up to the stage and loudly proclaims that we need to "turn the drummer down", as if i had a volume knob or something. our lead guitarist goes "yeah sure", but then suddenly our guest singer christina says "if you think the drums are too loud then get the f--- out because dave o (that's me) rocks". that was followed by a chorus of screams from our fans, mostly yelling "dave o rocks" and "i love dave o", etc. finally the guy goes "all right, you people enjoy your music" and left. but the thing that puzzles me is, on the song before he came up i was really holding back and not playing loud at all. i don't get it. i have an audio recording of the show and the drums sound fine throughout the whole thing. that's my opinion though, but who knows?

He was probably a jealous bad drummer!
 
Recording yourself is really the best way. If someone came up to you and said "Hey you're overplaying!", you might not believe them. When you actually hear yourself doing it, well... I record myself somewhat regularly and it's always interesting to listen to a song that I think the drum part is overly simple, and on hearing it back, it sounds more full than it did while I was playing it.


The solution for overplaying is recording the song and drumming to it yourself. Then you can let yourself go without bothering anyone. After you've played the song a dozen times, you start listening more and simplify things. That's when I start playing musically.
 
Sometimes I tend to overcome the drums, instead of playing them. I stopped and asked to myself, what am I doing? Now, I play and feel them, so much the better.
 
It all comes down to rising above the confines of our egos and surrendering our conscious mind in favor of a higher plane of awareness. In other words don't think of what to play, rather, allow the rhythm to pass through you uncolored. We are our own biggest roadblock, and we must step out of our own way in order to get anywhere.
 
So this band sounded the way "today's cd's" sound.. All volume.. no breathing room. I know some people who know nothing about playing an instrument that think this type of playing is cool. WOW!! that guy is loud!! How cool! Anyone can be loud but not everyone can play. That seems to be an issue these days with a lot of bar bands.


Couldn't agree with you more about CD's, I love my vinyl. One of the idea's behind CD is the increase in the dynamic range which is the difference between the softest note and the loudest note. Vinyl is limited to 60 db of range and CD's have 110 db, vinyl has wow and flutter, CD has unmeasurable specs and 20 to 20 frequency range; should be the cat's meow but it seems much of the sound of modern music now is just one big blast of boom and bang and a wall of brittle and synthetic numbers, in short vinyl has more warmth and character Don't get me wrong I am not an old fogy and enjoy much of today's music but how I wish that either things would change in the studio or they made some of it available on vinyl like the Brits have been doing. If I sound elitist I do not mean to as I know that this is a long standing disagreement between the analog and digital camps and that those who have quality tables will always feel this way I own CD's as well and do listen to them. I guess as far as that band is concerned, they are just playing back what they think they are hearing. I would be interested in their interpretation of the music if they had to rely on records to learn the material.
 
It all comes down to rising above the confines of our egos and surrendering our conscious mind in favor of a higher plane of awareness. In other words don't think of what to play, rather, allow the rhythm to pass through you uncolored. We are our own biggest roadblock, and we must step out of our own way in order to get anywhere.

I suspect if you sat in on one of this band's practice sessions you'd see some competition and unrestrained egos. The interpersonal dynamics of a band will always show up in the music. Not to psychoanalyze it too much, but you are also listening the relationships between people when you listen to music, especically live music.
 
. Not to psychoanalyze it too much, but you are also listening the relationships between people when you listen to music, especically live music.

How true. A live performance is kind of like a looking glass into the seperate personalities of each musician, and how that particular group of people interact as a unit...or not...
This is where being a team player can really be an asset.

The thing is, these guys were in their mid thirties, and in my opinion, should know better. If they were all 14 year old I wouldn't have started this thread. No disrespect to any teenagers, that's just the way it is. Dynamics and restraint aren't a common hallmark of most younger players these days, that usually takes some years to "get".
 
How true. A live performance is kind of like a looking glass into the seperate personalities of each musician, and how that particular group of people interact as a unit...or not...
This is where being a team player can really be an asset.

The thing is, these guys were in their mid thirties, and in my opinion, should know better. If they were all 14 year old I wouldn't have started this thread. No disrespect to any teenagers, that's just the way it is. Dynamics and restraint aren't a common hallmark of most younger players these days, that usually takes some years to "get".

That's true, you'd think grown adults would have the maturity to deal with the group dynamics of a band. This probably says something about how they treat people in thier job, family, friends, etc.
 
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