Drummers...

[Eight]

Unfortunately it didn't happen. Nothing to do with me (didn't even meet them in the end), but I'm very glad I started the thread as there's been a lot of informative posts and I'll be needing this info sooner or later (hopefully sooner).

[trent900]

Bummer. Sorry to hear that - there'll be infinite chances for drummer-based fun later, I'm sure.

Anyway, my 2p would be:

Lock in with what's giving the rhythm - for rock it's normally the kick drum, for jazz it's normally the snare drum 'comp' pattern, sometimes it can be hi-hat. For fusion and things like that there is no rhythm so do whatever the hell you want except watch for the drummer's mouth to open because this means he is either about to give you a big off-beat crash or just totally wig out.

If there is nothing to lock in with ie. the drummer is changing everything every other bar then it's going to be really hard, you may want to look elsewhere unless that freedom really works for you.

You don't technically need very many notes for most things. Standard advice for beginning is to play root with kick and 5th with snare...it's incredibly cliched and crude but with a bit of finessing it's amazing how well it can work!

Intonation is key. If you're in a funk groove, don't let many notes ring. If you're in a ballad, don't damp notes.

My personal style is that any fret above fret 7 is 'specialist use only'...but that's only because I'm a bit of a tard up there and can't remember what note's what.

Other than that +1 to getting to know the drummer. And groove! Body language is really important. You can play the exact same line but it will apparently sound much better if you're movin' to the groovin' and smiling along rather than concentrating on the kick drum skin like you're trying to play it via telekinesis.

Last thing all the above is but generalisation and probably pish but it works for me.

Cheers!

Jon