Update: My drummer speeds up during every song. Found an App!

Roland

We had a problem with a previous drummer slowing down. Amongst our stage lights we have two which illuminate his kit at a gig. I set them to pulse or flash at whatever bpm I tapped in for the song. Nowadays the lighting controller takes a pulse from the keyboard player.

stratman3142

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Everyone in the band should be following the drummer. The drummer should be the master clock. IMHO.

Yes, I'll go with that and go with the tempo set by the drummer.

I think I've been lucky to mostly work with drummers with good time. One drummer friend, who has great time, used to make a sign of revving a motorbike if he thought I was pushing the beat forwards. At least I was out of reach because the bass player got poked with his drumstick
 

fretmeister

Creed_Clicks

Timing is one of the most important things I think. I am not sure if there is any cure for speeding up or slowing down.

octatonic

Creed_Clicks said:

Timing is one of the most important things I think. I am not sure if there is any cure for speeding up or slowing down.

Yes there is.

It just comes down to experience and intention.

Some people naturally speed up or slow down when playing.
The way you get around it is by practicing with a metronome.

The way to fix any problem with musical practice is 

a) identify the problem
b) accept that it needs to be fixed
c) do the work necessary to fix it

That is it.
The problem is a lot of musicians either think that a) isn't happening or b) it is just part of 'their style'.
If you are dealing with either of those two situations then there isn't much you can do.
Then the issue with c) is some people are just lazy and don't want to do the work, or want it to magically go away.
Doesn't work like that.

Some people have natural tendencies- I seem to swing everything, just a bit.
I play in a functions band where that isn't always appropriate so I had to do the work to play straight.
I did the work, it isn't a problem now.

Hootsmon

I used to play with a "drummer" who would agitate the shit outta me

Every guitar solo would end up in double time and he would speed up EVERYTHING

At weddings and Wonderful Tonight he would start with racing 16ths on the hi hat and then speed up...he did my nerves in

He thought it his sworn duty to blow everyone off the stage with power and speed

He could go round the drums ala Billy Cobham speed but could not hold a basic groove together if his life depended on it

AB you were a fuckin' nightmare son and i am glad to get this off my chest....you really messed me up and i don't know why I stuck it so long....oh,yes I do...it was the money

Ah, that's better

Stratavarious

Joinmyband.com or bandmix?

A drummer that can keep time is the best asset,

TeleMaster

Even the best drummers in the world speed up and slow down. There’s a YouTube video showing Charlie Watts speeding up during choruses and slowing down. As long as it’s not drastic and super obvious it really is quite normal and actually adds excitement to a song in relevant places. 

But if it’s like this drummer we auditioned who would speed every song up by 20bpm and then another 20 in the chorus, well we thought we were on X2 speed for everything and that was a no go. 

DrumBob

It's very simple. Insist he start practicing timekeeping with a click track or metronomic device of some kind. I did this for an extended period of time and it worked. Once I started locking in with the click, it became easy to keep tempos solid. Now, they hardly ever wander, unless I'm overly tired. 

There are apps for timekeeping. I bought a Roland TR-505 drum machine and learned to program it. I put in a click consisting of a cowbell and bass drum and played it through my stereo system. Practicing with it cured whatever time issues I had. I also stopped smoking weed on gigs. That helped too. 

My time improved so much that a recording engineer once used a drum track of mine as a click for another drummer in his studio. 

robinbowes

DrumBob said:

I also stopped smoking weed on gigs. That helped too.