Is Time 100% the Drummer's Responsibility?

Time is relative.

I was recently playing with a really great bass player. We were tightly grooving together, and everything felt natural and musical. We were playing to a click, but there were certain spots in songs where I felt the groove naturally wanting to push or lay back. I was able to ride just ahead then just behind the click, and he was right with me the whole way. On top of the tightly knit drums-and-bass relationship, the other musicians were super locked in as well. Whether we as a band were leaning forward on the beat - or behind - everything was solid, and everything felt natural. This was all made possible by the fact that EVERYONE was listening and EVERYONE was completely aware of the time feel. This circles us back around to that opening phrase there… Time is relative.

If a band is playing super tight, but their tempo is swaying slightly, the listener won’t notice. If a band is playing to a click, but everyone isn’t playing tightly with one another, things WILL sound sloppy and sporadic. Time is relative. Here’s what this all means to us musicians...

The responsibility of time cannot be only on the drummer’s shoulders.

If the drummer is the only band member paying attention to the tempo and the feel, the band can’t possibly sound the best they could. You as the drummer could be completely locked into a click that you’re hearing through your ears, but if the bass player and guitar players are occasionally rushing, dragging, or just not paying attention to time…the overall feel of the band will suffer.

I hear stories all the time (and I’ve experienced this myself a few times) where the vocalist or the guitar player helplessly looks back at the drummer in hopes of some hihat 8th notes to rescue them from their tempo insecurity. They may be constantly asking the drummer for some sort of “time” on the ride or hats to keep them on track. This is fine, and we as drummers have to be accommodating and ready to help band members at all times, but this leads to a non-trusting, non-gelling, non-tight-and-musical band. These situations lead to the other band members using the drummer as their crutch to compensate for their lack of an internal clock. Generally in these scenarios, no matter how good the drummer is, the band won’t sound extraordinary because of the lack of internal timing skills in each player.

Clearly, time is not 100% the drummer’s responsibility only. What I mean by that… Yes, time is most certainly the responsibility of the drummer. But the burden of time should not be carried by the drummer alone. This is a group effort, and every musician on stage is in this together.

So if you’re in the scenario where you feel like your time is solid, but the other band members are all over the place… What should you do? I’ve played a lot with fantastic players way better than myself, and I’ve also played with musicians younger than myself who are very new to their craft. Here are a few things I’ve learned:

1. In a non-arrogant, non-egotistical way, explain to everyone that they should be listening to you at all times (rather than only listening to the click).
2. Help everyone to understand that “we’re all part of creating the groove.” We as a band need to sound and feel great. We can only do this by listening to each other and playing tightly.
3. Encourage everyone to practice timing on their own. We drummers are pretty good about this, but every musician needs to be logging time with their metronome.
4. As a band, discuss the most important, key parts everyone should be listening to while playing. Whether it’s the vocal, a lead line, the part the horns are playing, or a cool bass riff, make sure everyone’s on the same page.
   1. As soon as everyone understands what to listen to here, you can also talk about dynamics! Adjust your dynamic so that you can always hear these parts.
   2. Everyone must adjust their playing so as to support, reinforce, or emphasize whatever the key part is going on in the moment. Thinking like this takes an average band to the next level.

As soon as a band starts really listening to each other (whether or not you’re playing to a click), extraordinary musical things happen. You start playing dynamically. Your songs get more interesting. The listener hears specific parts rather than noise. You could record the rehearsal with an iPhone and everything would sound pretty well-balanced and musical.

As I always like to mention, go listen to some bands from back in the day to hear exactly what I’m talking about. My go-to examples are usually bands like “The Beatles,” “Led Zeppelin,” “Journey,” “Boston,” “U2”….the list goes on and on. As far as I know, every one of these bands’ records from the 80s and earlier was not recorded to a click. But everyone listened to each other, played together tightly, and they knew exactly what parts to play at what times. Let recordings like these be your inspiration points, and strive to be as musical as these guys were (and are!).

I hope you enjoyed this discussion! This topic has been on my mind lately, and I’ve received numerous emails from you guys asking questions along these lines. Many of you are getting out and playing with your band, or you’re getting involved with the worship team at your church. Do your best to help your group to sound their very best, but strive to also be humble and respectful. A drummer who has the band’s interests in mind (rather than their own) will often find their suggestions and input very well-received.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless,

Stephen