As a drummer the most important thing to keep in mind is time.
Time, time, time, time, time!!
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Without time very little else matters so you should play with a metronome as often as possible. The benefits are just too numerous to pass up. The best is to just play beats to a click over and over to develop that internal clock and pulse. Also it will help in the studio or playing to live click tracks which is becoming more and more common. We need to be prepared for a lot of things in the studio environment . I’ll assume you already know the songs in and out but now you get to play with headphones and your new best friend, the click track.
Most recording work is done with ProTools these days and it’s critically important that everything lines up. This why you play with a click: so your tracks are in sync as much as they can be and other instruments can be laid over the top of it. Your groove and tendencies will still be heard but it’s important to be as close to that click as possible.
Some of you may say that timing is not that as important because the engineer will time correct your tracks. This is true, but that is already a fairly tedious process that is much easier if you’re already as precise as you can be. Also the more slop that is on your tracks, the more time it takes for the engineer to correct which costs more money. Furthermore, that skill should be developed for playing in live click situations which are becoming more and more frequent.
Live click tracks are tough to negotiate until you’re used to them. They reign you in. The adrenaline of a show typically causes bands to play their songs faster than they rehearsed which can lead to unfortunate errors live. The live click is also less forgiving because you’ll be playing along with a backing track run over the PA and if the drummer isn’t in sync with that track, the whole house of cards falls apart.
The click is not the enemy, it is your friend. Find your groove and lay it down in the correct time. When you see the audience moving in time with your beat, then you have connected with the room.
