The psycology of the freelance drummer

It's wise of you to teach as an easy way to supplement your income for a good musician. Plus, you realize the value of being patient with your students. That makes them stick with you, since they know you're being supportive even when they have trouble or get a bit lazy or busy with other things.

Keep practicing, it's fun after all. There's nothing like getting a new thing down to the point you no longer think about it when you do it. The more patterns you master, the more you'll have to say on the gig.

You might consider trying to find some other ways to make money, just like Peter and Randy have done to fill in leaner times and take your mind off why the phone hasn't rung. I teach and write for some music magazines (I owned a studio for awhile too). Performing a variety of work can be more interesting than just doing one thing and totally relying on it. Good luck,

Brad

Matricks, cheers mate. I appreciate your comment. Maybe I could have been a bit more candid?!

EDIT: cheers Brad [img]wink.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 10, 2005 08:44 PM: Message edited by: Dazzler ]</font>

[img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img]

Haha, looks like my post kind of went to waste or else it was taken as an insult. [img]confused.gif[/img]

Quote:

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Originally posted by Rudy_Ment:
Haha, looks like my post kind of went to waste or else it was taken as an insult. [img]confused.gif[/img]

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not at all Rudy - sometimes it takes TIME to reply to a post. Be patient! [img]wink.gif[/img]

You did, however make some good points and I agree with you. My playing won't be everyones cup of tea, clearly and I know that. I also know that there are simply better players out there than me. I also know that band leaders, producers and other musicians alike have all the freedom in the world to choose who they play and work with and it ain't always going to be me! (I'm not naive or arrogant enough to expect that too!)

It's as I said, a very personal thing we do and sometimes it's hard not to run yourself through the mill with regards to getting gigs and progressing your career. Along with the sheer joy of playing comes the down times when we are not. Unfortunately it's a double edged sword.

I don't think it was taken as an insult... i think it fit in just right, therefore no one had anything good or bad to say cause it fit [img]wink.gif[/img]

Rudy, what you mentioned reminds me of an interview...

I remember Paul Leim talking about having his feelings hurt when Steven Curtis Chapman used a different studio guy on his next album, instead of Paul (J.R. Robinson was used instead... he didn't SAY that, but he was the one who Steven used on the next album).

Paul has been on 250+ albums and he STILL talked about getting his feelings hurt when he didn't get the call back from someone whom he thought really enjoyed his playing.

Just goes to show that people are always going to want to try different flavors, just to see if maybe, just MAYBE, there is a better one out there. Another thing it shows is that the sting never really goes away, no matter how successful you are, when you are the one who gets passed over for someone else. Even though his (Paul's) phone always rings, he still shows that he notices when certain people decide to ring someone else's. With players who aren't doing sessions everyday (let alone maybe two or three a day), those times when we get passed over for a gig... those times will be bigger drops in a relatively smaller bucket. But even those with very big buckets still feel it, it still creates ripples. It is hard when work isn't there, but that sting is even worse when someone is playing 'your gig' while you are sitting on the sidelines.

No matter how you cut it, it still sucks [img]frown.gif[/img]

Alright then dazzler well I was only trying to help. You seemed to answer the other people very quickly but actually looked like you didn't want to answer mine because you didnt think it was of any benefit or, perhaps you don't respect much that I have to say. I thought you were sort of asking for real solutions because you said 'my question is this..' and you said 'but I am finding it hard not to analyse why I'm no longer playing with people I used to'. Then you say you know all these things. So why are you analysing what you already know? I'm confused. I was merely pointing out things that you may not have thought about but I get the impression you took it as an insult instead of a real world way of looking at the actual possible reasons. Now I'm not sure if you were asking a question or philosophising. I'll just keep me gob shut in future, hehe [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[img]tongue.gif[/img] <----- Leavin' that there for the inside joke! [img]wink.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 10, 2005 10:35 PM: Message edited by: matricks ]</font>

When I was in High School, the drumline went to a perc. camp at West Virginia Univ., which at the time had a stellar perc. department.

One of the graduating drummers was a laid back guy as well as a fantastic drummer. His advice to us was to not choose music as a major. I was definitely leaning that way and with my grades, I might as well have done it. I was doing more playing than studying in college among other things. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Now that I am nearing 40, I can see the wisdom in his words. I didn't at the time, but he did not strike me as a totally cynical person, just a realist in the realm of getting paid dollars for a service.

But if someone would have told Steve Smith that, he'd never be where he is today. But if he had a freak accident and lost the use of a hand before he got into Ponty or Montrose, he wouldn't be either.

Best of luck Dazz wherever your introspection takes you. Time can't be reasoned with.

It's a possibility henry but I somehow doubt that's the case. Bandleaders want people they can trust and do a good job and if they know dazzler has done exactly that then why would they not book him continuously? They don't swap vinnie for some college kid because they can save a bit of money because they know who will do the best job.

Let's look at this in a no holes barred and brutally honest way, being as that's what we do at HoD, give honest criticism, or in this case, merely thoughts.

As drummers we ALL know there's other drummers that are better than us and worse than us and the same as us. Dazzler, since you can't ring up bandleaders to ask them why you're not being booked, the stuff I'm saying below is just the questions I would ask myself and try and answer absolutely honestly to myself if I was trying to find out all the possibilities. I'm sure they don't apply to you at all and I'm very confident it's nothing more than a lean spell and that those guys are very happy with you. Nevertheless, these questions might be worth thinking about. And I hope you don't think I'm outta line for suggesting these, since it's just my over analytical and sometimes paranoid mind that comes up with this stuff.

What if bandleaders were booking other drummers that are simply better or, more suitable than the one they've been using but without that meaning that the first drummer wasn't doing a good job anyway? eg, if ricky lawson gets booked over john robinson, we know that doesn't make JR a bad drummer. It doesn't reflect on him, but it means ricky was more suitable for that job at that particular time.

What if those drummers are clocking the dots and nailing the grooves and making no mistakes on gigs, or laying down tracks perfectly in the studio in the absolute shortest time possible? I'm not saying you're not doing these things perfectly dazzler, I'm sure you are. But I don't know what really goes on when you're in the studio or on a gig. You did however once say that you were doing a pop gig and the bandleader gave you a funny look when the time went a bit wobbly. Well, I don't personally think something like that would be a huge problem. Then again, it all depends on the level of the gig. Maybe they're used to absolute perfection? Again, just food for thought.

What if those bandleaders know one drummer is simply better for groove stuff and the other is simply better for swing?


What if a bandleader loves the drumming but doesn't really click with the drummer on a social level?

What if they just prefer the aftershave of one drummer over the other? [img]tongue.gif[/img]