Tempo fluctuations

[Lee Collins]

I was listening to a recording I did at a gig recently, and wasn't happy with my time on one song. To me, it didn't really sit properly in some parts.

Checking it against the metronome just now, the overall tempo was 108 bpm, and for the most part it stayed at that. By the end it was 107bpm, but during the course of the song, I noticed it fluctuated up and down. Like going to the chorus, I noticed it went down by about 3bpm for a couple of bars, and just one fill I did went up to 110/111.( [img]eek.gif[/img] )

How much in bpm do you think is acceptable to fluctuate by? When playing, it's sometimes hard to gauge how much the time moves by. Personally, I don't think it's acceptable at all and it pisses me off everytime I listen to it. ( * gets metronome out and sheds some more *)

I wouldn't normally brave it and talk about my weak points ike this, but I figured, what the heck, it's a drum forum where everyone is cool, so I don't mind. I'm always one to criticise my playing before anyone else does, so what better place to get advice than here for self improvement. [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 08, 2004 09:15 AM: Message edited by: Rudy_Ment ]</font>

[blake1]

Go to my post on time keeping.
This is a great topic!
Time Keeping

Hope that helps...

[Lee Collins]

Thanks very much blake. I just got home, so I'll read that thread now. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

While I'm reading it, it's great to see this has been discussed and I'm not alone here. Phew!

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 08, 2004 06:24 PM: Message edited by: Rudy_Ment ]</font>

[FuseU1]

...ALWAYS practice with a drum machine, Beat Bug, or metronome [img]wink.gif[/img] ...that's the cold, hard facts of reality that I had to learn m'self....

[Lee Collins]

Yeah fuse, I know you're right. As much as I've done stuff with click, I've never really shedded for hours on a regular basis purely with a metronome for timekeeping, and this is what I must do. In my band, a lot of stuff we play requires 4 to the floor, and I'm fine with that, it anchors me. I think when there's other bass drum patterns, I tend to fluctuate due to there being more space left between strokes. To be fair to myself, I remember feeling uncomfortable when I actually played the song in question and kind of felt I wasn't nailing it as well as the others, and felt very comfortable on everything else. Though unfortunately, I didn't record the other songs to be able to really know how they sounded.

[Drowning Jonah]

It sounds like you don't play Jazz, so I would seriously consider buying some In Ear monitors, not the whole package, just the earphones and hooking them into a metronome and playing to a click. That's what I do, and people always come up and say, man you guys are TIGHT. Especially if you do four on the floor. But I'm not sure what kind of music you play and I know some people think it's a crutch but hey, my time is perfect every show. My bands play acoustic rock.

[Lee Collins]

Yeah, I used my rhythm watch with earplugs on one gig, but the thing is, we play segue for a whole set at a time, plus, we don't always stick to exactly the same order of songs, so it didn't really work out.

By the way, I just listened to gadd playing a live version of '50 ways'. He does his paradiddle fill and slightly races on it, plus comes back on the next backbeat a little late. Kind of what I did. Lol, I feel better now [img]tongue.gif[/img]
here it is:
http://www.intrepidsoftware.com/sgad...gadd50live.mp3

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 08, 2004 10:01 PM: Message edited by: Rudy_Ment ]</font>

[Lee Collins]

To give you an idea, here's 2 sections of another song I played, where there's also varispeed. Tell me what you think, good and bad.

http://freespace.virgin.net/roman.five/little.mp3

http://freespace.virgin.net/roman.five/little3.mp3

[Dazzler]

By the way, I just listened to gadd playing a live version of '50 ways'. He does his paradiddle fill and slightly races on it, plus comes back on the next backbeat a little late. Kind of what I did. Lol, I feel better now
here it is:

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Classic Gadd, from the Live In Central Park concert in 1981. I first heard that about about 15 years ago and was weened on Gadds playing from that album when I was a young pup! I LOVE it!
The main thing with all this is does it FEEL good? Obviously if things speed up like f*ck or REALLY drag, that's no good, but as I said in my post last time, listen to Cameleon! That is a classic track and yet it speeds up like crazy. The point is it feels good.
As for that Gadd lick, the fact that he hasn't got absolute metronomic time does matter - NO DRUMMER has, FACT!! Why? Because we're human beings and by our very nature, we don't have the perfection of a drum machine or metronome. As long as something is grooving and feeling good then we've done our job. If we DO want metronomic time then we play to a click.

[Lee Collins]

Hi dazzler,
Nice comments, to your usual standard from what I've enjoyed reading of your posts [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

Yeah, chameleon is a classic harvey track. I couldn't believe it when I first heard how much he sped up. I know that herbie hancock was happy with it's feel and didn't wanna rerecord it.

So, listening to the mp3's of me, what is your verdict about the timing? As far as tightness of my playing in those, I know it wasn't my best,I can do better, but as far as the time movement, I'm wondering what you thought? [img]confused.gif[/img]