Band politics

We just tried out a new drummer for our band yesterday! He's a really sweet guy and it looks like we're going to go with him as he's really enthusiastic. For someone only playing 18 months, he really suprised me!

Anyway, there are some things which I'm wondering!

He's doing 90% of the stuff really well and really adding to the music. He did do a coupla things however that I wasn't too keen on, such as tom rolls in the not-so-right place and things.

Should I say this? Or should I letit work out?

Jon

Say it dude !

Seriously, if you say it the right way it should go ok. I would be pleased if someone in the band gave me tips on where the fills should be, I would rather that than keep doing the wrong thing that nobody likes.

If anything its gonna help both your drummer and your band to be up front and honest wherever you can, just try and be tactful and it should work out.

Good luck !

Good thread. You gotta open up the lines of communication as soon as you possibly can. In other words, you gotta let this guy know exactly how you feel about his playing from the first practice. That way he knows what you're expecting from him. At that point it's up to him to decide whether he wants to continue to jam with you. If he does, then you've got yourself a new drummer. If not, he'll move on and you'll be able to keep searching for a drummer that better suits your needs.

You've got two choices in these matters:

1.) say something about it. If the guy is cool, he'll listen and make the proper adjustments. If not, that's a pretty good indicator that there may be trouble ahead and you can start figuring out what to do now. At the very least, if the guy doesn't listen, you can repeat your requests later...at least you'll be on record with what your expectations are.

OR

2.) keep quiet and hope for the best. The major benefit here is that you get to avoid any kind of confrontation. This policy has worked very well in the past...the Catholic Church's problems with pedophile priests, closeted gay people who are all twisted up psychologically because they can't face the truth, people stuck in abusive relationships....there's a real track record of success for the "denial" plan! Anyway, in this case, the guy might very well figure things out on his own...eventually. Or he might not. In which case, you'll be further down the road and the problem will still be unaddressed, but now you'll have the ADDED benefit of being even more annoyed with the situation. Then you can decide which of these two options to move forward with. If you choose #2 again, he may FINALLY figure it out (hey, maybe this time, the Easter Bunny will show up at rehearsal too, and bring candy! ) Or he may not. In which case, you'll be even further down the road and the problem will still be unaddressed. Your annoyance will grow larger. Then it's back up to the choice again...hmmm....#1 or #2????..etc, etc, etc.

BTW, as you keep cycling through #2, you also get the benefit of ingraining a bad habit as "the way it's supposed to be done". The cool thing about that is not only will it be harder to break the bad habit at that point, but you'll have to fight the argument of "this is the way we've always been doing it and people like it this way."

Your choice.

if it was the first time you guys played with him im sure he was just jamming out or whatever

but when he will probably try to make something better once it gets going

Yeh, he could have just been trying a little too hard to impress you since it was the first time to sit in with you, but there is no time like the present to find out if he can handle a little constructive criticism.

I agree. Keeping lines of communication open is really important and would not suggest option #2, especilly since he is the new guy. Again, how you say it is everything. Repeat, how you say it is everything. He might be able to figure it out for himself if you leave it alone, but, is that communication?

You decide, but this is my experience and feel very strongly about it.

hope this helps

I dont think you should say anything right now. I mean this was your first time play with this guy.. If these are orig tunes then its the first time this guy was playing the songs.

Maybe he was expecting the song to go places it didnt and was trying out fills. Or maybe he was just trying to get the feel of the songs and experimenting.

I say give it some time for you guys to feel each other out and get used to each others playing styles before nitpicking over 10% of this guys performance.