Our Originals Band: The drummer is quitting!

[New Trail]

The originals band didn't start out to be all originals, that's just the way it turned out.  The other guitarist and I fully intended it to be a working cover band, but fate intervened.  Anyway, we have never played a bar gig, just (free) private parties and such, and our drummer (great drummer....love him to death) can't do anything really BUT play (and mow yards).  I don't know how he makes it financially.  So anyway he got the opportunity to "go on the road" with a supposedly up and coming singer, and he's going for it, and (like I told him) I don't blame him.  Go out and give it a shot one more time before he's too old (we're all old, he's just not AS old).

 

So now what do we do?  It's doubtful that any really good drummer who wants to play out is going to be willing to work on originals one night a week with no aspiriation, nor little opportunity, to get gigs.  Do we just break up, or do we take a hiatus and see if this gig doesn't pan out for him?  Do we learn some covers so we can gig and get a good drummer?

[toober]

Rework the songs without a drummer until you find somebody that fits.

[Lee Knight]

Do you have a recording of all the tunes? In their full arrangements. If so... you can go searching original showcase clubs for a drummer, play him the recording and tell him all that's required is to learn the songs on his own time and rehearse once before each gig.

 

Lots of players just want to play cool tunes in a cool band. If they're a good enough player, the time overhead is nil. Just meet up once before each gig. Everyone should have the set down cold. Run though the set for 4 hours in practice and you're good to go.

 

Sounds fun. No need to disband, you just need to lower the time commitment level.

[TIMKEYS]

in the mean time ,, get an good drum maching to use to keep things running while you find a new drummer. I know it sounds horid. But you will end up tighter because drum tracks cut you no slack on tempo

[Yer Blues]

I don't see why you can't keep going.  After playing in cover bands for around 15 years I decided to play in my first "original" band about six months ago.  The band leader made it clear that he didn't want to play bars, covers, make it big, etc.  Your sitaution may be different, but what I am seeing is that the entire thing is a lot SLOWER moving than the cover bands I played with. 

With the cover bands if it was a band already established and needing a guitar player we would practice/rehearse at most 3 times and then gig.  Actually, most of the start up bands only practiced 3-4 times and then gig.  I'm talking typcial classic rock, blues type of music.  The gigs drove everything and were what got people motivated whether they were a charity event, private party, nice club, or dive bar.  The gigs were like the carrot stick in front of the donkey.

With the original band and no gigs it has started to feel like we are going nowhere.  We can play a 45-60 minute set of music easy, but the band leader doesn't want to play those types of venues.  Right now, I'm starting to get bored playing at his house and continuing to record and record. 

Anyways, if you two guys are into the original stuff then I think you should just move forward and look for the right drummer.  You probably just have to accept the fact the process is a lot slower unless you're a group of young guys looking to tour in a van.  You just have to find someone else who is looking for the same thing.

[happwith12strin]

   Find someone with an electronic drum kit and ask your drummer to play all the songs with

the electronic drum kit recording his performance with midi. Then you can use the midi sequences to play

the drum tracks for the original songs.

 

    When you find a new drummer or prospective drummer you can email him the sequences.

   If you have Cakewalk Sonar Home studio 4 or better, the sequence can be played back with

a visualization of the drums being played. It will even show which drums the sticks are hitting in real time.

 

Might make it easier for the new drummer to learn the songs. Leaving drummer could email the sequences from the road.

 

     It also can print sheet music for drums from a midi file.

  I am not sure if cubase does a realtime drum playing visualization.

      You can also record bass tracks with midi, as well as keyboard parts. Midi does not do guitar very well .

But you could also record the guitar as midi as well as a vocal melody with keys.

[happwith12strin]

 So how would you use the midi files to continue playing?

   Well  i suggest gettting an Alesis QS 6 keyboard. Use a USB to midi adapter (maudio midisport uno)

and use a compter to playback the drum sequence into the Alesis QS. Select the drumkit inside of the Alesis

that has the flavor of drums you want and output to the PA or keyboard amp.

   Any keyboard will do, maybe a Roland XP-30. I would stay away from cheap consumer keyboards, like casio ect..

   The Alesis has lots of what is called Bread and Butter sounds (Music oriented sounds rather than filmscore sounds).  QS6 is about $200 used, same with XP30.

 

   Not as good as a real musician, but a million times better than nothing !!!

 

       Can aslo add key parts to your songs! Get the instrument definition files from cakewalk for your specific keyboard. You will also need a book or two on midi.

[wesg]

The keyboard here is completely superflous. You should be able to play back a MIDI drum track with nothing more than a computer.

 

Actually, a computer with the right software should be able to turn a MIDI drum track into an MP3 you can load in your iPod.

 

Alternatively, if the drummer has a full kit mic set, just play the tunes and record his audio with something cheap. Any drummer worth their salt can learn parts by listening to them. To do a really decent recording job with easy-to-find gear, hook the drum mic mixer up to something and dump kick on one side and everything else on the other. Then when it's time to play back you can remix the kick at whatever volume you want and/or the PA can handle.

 

You can record audio with a laptop, an iPod, a Zoom, cassette tapes, VCR, all kinds of stuff. No need to buy a full-on DAW for this.

 

Wes

[TIMKEYS]

 

---

happwith12strin wrote:

 

 

 So how would you use the midi files to continue playing?

 

   Well  i suggest gettting an Alesis QS 6 keyboard. Use a USB to midi adapter (maudio midisport uno)

 

and use a compter to playback the drum sequence into the Alesis QS. Select the drumkit inside of the Alesis

 

that has the flavor of drums you want and output to the PA or keyboard amp.

 

   Any keyboard will do, maybe a Roland XP-30. I would stay away from cheap consumer keyboards, like casio ect..

 

   The Alesis has lots of what is called Bread and Butter sounds (Music oriented sounds rather than filmscore sounds).  QS6 is about $200 used, same with XP30.

 

 

 

  

Not as good as a real musician, but a million times better than nothing !!!

 

 

       Can aslo add key parts to your songs! Get the instrument definition files from cakewalk for your specific keyboard. You will also need a book or two on midi.

---

 

 

Drummers can make you or break you.   A drummer who had issues with speeding up ,, slowing down , jumpin beat and doing shoes in the dryer fills , or drinks too much.   I will pass ,, give me a well programed drum track any day of the week.  

[TIMKEYS]

 

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Yer Blues wrote:

 

 

I don't see why you can't keep going.  After playing in cover bands for around 15 years I decided to play in my first "original" band about six months ago.  The band leader made it clear that he didn't want to play bars, covers, make it big, etc.  Your sitaution may be different, but what I am seeing is that the entire thing is a lot SLOWER moving than the cover bands I played with. 

 

With the cover bands if it was a band already established and needing a guitar player we would practice/rehearse at most 3 times and then gig.  Actually, most of the start up bands only practiced 3-4 times and then gig.  I'm talking typcial classic rock, blues type of music.  The gigs drove everything and were what got people motivated whether they were a charity event, private party, nice club, or dive bar.  The gigs were like the carrot stick in front of the donkey.

 

With the original band and no gigs it has started to feel like we are going nowhere.  We can play a 45-60 minute set of music easy, but the band leader doesn't want to play those types of venues.  Right now, I'm starting to get bored playing at his house and continuing to record and record. 

 

Anyways, if you two guys are into the original stuff then I think you should just move forward and look for the right drummer.  You probably just have to accept the fact the process is a lot slower unless you're a group of young guys looking to tour in a van.  You just have to find someone else who is looking for the same thing.

---

 

I think whats typically at the crux of original music driven bands is always, just how good are the original songs and the band playing them.    I would never play with a band that didnt do covers along with the original stuff while starting out.   Why should you end up hunkered down in the basment when you could be playing in front of people and sliding your original stuff into the set lists.   No one is going to hear that orignals stuff if you dont get it out in the public.