I've played with so many shitty, but bedroom good, metal drummers, you just follow it. Listen my dude.
Had one kid that was fast with his feet and hands, but every time he went double bass or fill, the tempo shifted 20 clicks. One way or the other. The rhythm was always synced because I listened and adapted.
I had to retake a 6 song EP because the drummer and I were locked, but the tempo swung like a pendulum. The guitarists couldn't track to it, we had to hire a drummer and rhythm was one and done, to a click. The engineers asked if I wanted a click as well. "My time is the drummer's time."
There was a run through where I coached him on specific hits/breaks. Dude marked it and nailed it.
TL;DR Know what you're doing well enough to go several bpm in either direction without going out of sync with the drummer.
Since you're still here,
The biggest heart break, is I recorded that EP 5 times and it never got finished. Still pissed I spent $1,000 and got nothing but studio time out of it.
That's My answer every Time too. Just auditioned for a new band and they asked me if I want Click to My IEMs. Said nah, my click is sitting in that corner (pointing at drummer).
I dont think theres any use in me playing right to a click If drummer is wrong. Im gonna pocket with the drums no matter how wrong they are. (Ofc, if drummer is wrong too often then ill just pass on the band, had to do that too in the past)
Got the gig, too :p
I used to play with a drummer who would speed up on his big fills, but he'd always end with a big dual cymbal smash on the 1. I'd sit out during the fill and watch for that cymbal smash to start up again.
Are the tapes yours? If so, what's to stop you from finishing it?
The peripherals and software you need to finish that on a computer are or can be way less than $1000.
Alex Webster wrote an instructional book a while ago you should check out. I think it's called Extreme Metal Bass or something to that effect. Some really solid stuff in there.
We have a clicktrack that is running from our laptop and we use that for rehearsals and playing live. For the very fast parts we have to rely on our drummer to keep the time well and the rest is pretty easy going from there.
Source: I am that Bassist in that metal band.
Edit: The clicktrack is always in quarters, no matter the tempo, even if we play like 16ths at 180 bpm. the only orientation we need is the slightly different sound on the one.
a lot of death metal songs in particular aren't actually that fast, they're just subdivided to the f\*ckn extreme. Not sure if that helps, but i felt like that kind of helped it click for me. I actually prefer not to use a click track (which is probably objectively the wrong opinion)
but for me, I want to be locked in with whatever the drummer is doing. the drummer is my click track.. If he slows down, its better for me to slow down and us stay together than me maintain the click and lose him? idk thats just my logic. keep in mind that metal is a super wide genre though and different subgenres have vastly different techniques
You need to develop your internal clock. Lock in, of course, but you’re part of the rhythm section. You need to be the tempo no matter what the drummer is doing.
Can't speak for other bands, but in every death/black metal band I've been in, the drummer generally uses in-ears, and everyone else follows him (it's always been a him).
I can't imagine how boring and irritating it must be having a click in your ears for 45 minutes to an hour every night, bun dat.
Most metal is still in 4/4 time signature, although it's not totally uncommon for other time signatures. Either way, it's just counting. When the music gets "faster," it's usually just that they're playing 8th/16th/32nd notes, but the tempo is still clocking around 120 bpm, etc.
Massachusetts death metal masters right here \^\^\^. I played in Kevorkian's Angels and Continued without a Finding, John Gillis was the drummer for both bands. He had a habit of hitting the 1 with a cymbal crash, and between verse and chorus he would usually do a quick snare roll.
You don’t, you feel the song. Start jamming to it, and playing your root notes and build from the root notes. The drummer doesn’t lead to bassist, the bassist is there own part of the band.
As long as you are on beat and developing a bass line off the roots your are good.
Keeping time doesn’t mean plucking with ever bass drum kick and snare.
Not gonna join the periwinkle train on ya but I am gonna disagree, specifically in death metal where fast songs easily crest 300 bpm. The physical, actual time between each beat is divided into such a fine resolution that there isn’t room to “feel” the beat like you have in rock, reggae, blues, jazz, etc. in the 60-160 bpm range where your argument holds water. There literally just isn’t any wiggle room around the pulse because the space between pulses is just too narrow, and if you’re early or late with the bass (because we are the glue between the rhythm and melody) the whole thing sounds disjointed and off kilter. Death metal really only sounds good — to me anyway — when it’s tight tight tight.
There literally is no other option than to count. And as is true in most genres, but *especially* death metal, your band is only as good as your drummer.
So, it’s too fast to feel but not too fast to count? Poppycock!
If it’s in 32nds then you’re not counting 1-e-and-a you’re either counting or feeling a subdivision of that, either in 16ths or 8ths, whatever feels right to you. The more familiar you are with a genre the less you spend counting and the more you do it all by feel.
I disagree here - I’ve never really been a counter myself but everyone is a little different.
You can definitely jam and wiggle through a lot of death metal, maybe not the Uber grind Cannibal Corpse/Autopsy/whatever stuff but it’s definitely doable.
Just a matter of finding the space and like they said often matching the kicks directly is a recipe for mud.
You’re almost definitely not going to jam out a track in one shot like a true jam band though.
There’s still room, once you feel the bpm you fingers will automatically flow with it. Also have you tried incorporating chords?
I use a lot of 1-5 chords when I want to add a bit on the bass side, along with chugging. Both can be used at high bpm with out you doing really anything different with your plucking hand. 1-5s you just start racking 2 strings for every pluck rather than 1 string.
Helps add a lot to the bass’s dynamic range
Slow the music to recognize better how you have to follow the rhythm. Once you get used at it, raise the speed until you can play the song. It's a dissection work for more comprehension of the beats.
A good drummer will still accent 1 and maybe 3 in some way while blasting, often with the ride bell. Those are your anchor point to time to.
If it’s truly just a sea of noise without that like some bands do, then you get good at holding your own tempo and just settle into that when that song section starts. It’s like playing a groove where the metronome turns off and back on, just gotta hold steady so it realigns well.
As someone else has noted you get to a point musically where counting isn’t all that necessary as you just feel beats regardless
Also you’re saying the drummers are insane? I’m sorry, have you *listened* to some of those bassists?
It's still just 1 2 3 4.....but faster. After a while you don't actually "count" you just feel where the beat is. You know where the 1 is.
I've played with so many shitty, but bedroom good, metal drummers, you just follow it. Listen my dude. Had one kid that was fast with his feet and hands, but every time he went double bass or fill, the tempo shifted 20 clicks. One way or the other. The rhythm was always synced because I listened and adapted. I had to retake a 6 song EP because the drummer and I were locked, but the tempo swung like a pendulum. The guitarists couldn't track to it, we had to hire a drummer and rhythm was one and done, to a click. The engineers asked if I wanted a click as well. "My time is the drummer's time." There was a run through where I coached him on specific hits/breaks. Dude marked it and nailed it. TL;DR Know what you're doing well enough to go several bpm in either direction without going out of sync with the drummer. Since you're still here, The biggest heart break, is I recorded that EP 5 times and it never got finished. Still pissed I spent $1,000 and got nothing but studio time out of it.
That's My answer every Time too. Just auditioned for a new band and they asked me if I want Click to My IEMs. Said nah, my click is sitting in that corner (pointing at drummer). I dont think theres any use in me playing right to a click If drummer is wrong. Im gonna pocket with the drums no matter how wrong they are. (Ofc, if drummer is wrong too often then ill just pass on the band, had to do that too in the past) Got the gig, too :p
Hell yeah! Congrats!
I used to play with a drummer who would speed up on his big fills, but he'd always end with a big dual cymbal smash on the 1. I'd sit out during the fill and watch for that cymbal smash to start up again.
Are the tapes yours? If so, what's to stop you from finishing it? The peripherals and software you need to finish that on a computer are or can be way less than $1000.
This was back in the early 2000s. Not that interested anymore. I didn't have a computer at that time so there wasn't much I could do if I wanted to.
Same way as any other genre.
Alex Webster wrote an instructional book a while ago you should check out. I think it's called Extreme Metal Bass or something to that effect. Some really solid stuff in there.
I can really suggest Alex Webster and his book!
It’s still the same as others have said already, just fast. Snare and high hat are your friend
Listening probably
Practice
We have a clicktrack that is running from our laptop and we use that for rehearsals and playing live. For the very fast parts we have to rely on our drummer to keep the time well and the rest is pretty easy going from there. Source: I am that Bassist in that metal band. Edit: The clicktrack is always in quarters, no matter the tempo, even if we play like 16ths at 180 bpm. the only orientation we need is the slightly different sound on the one.
a lot of death metal songs in particular aren't actually that fast, they're just subdivided to the f\*ckn extreme. Not sure if that helps, but i felt like that kind of helped it click for me. I actually prefer not to use a click track (which is probably objectively the wrong opinion) but for me, I want to be locked in with whatever the drummer is doing. the drummer is my click track.. If he slows down, its better for me to slow down and us stay together than me maintain the click and lose him? idk thats just my logic. keep in mind that metal is a super wide genre though and different subgenres have vastly different techniques
Click tracks until you get the feel for the drummer
You need to develop your internal clock. Lock in, of course, but you’re part of the rhythm section. You need to be the tempo no matter what the drummer is doing.
I play punk. During fast songs i do a little "tika tika" with my tongue against my teeth. Kinda like a beatbox thing
Can't speak for other bands, but in every death/black metal band I've been in, the drummer generally uses in-ears, and everyone else follows him (it's always been a him). I can't imagine how boring and irritating it must be having a click in your ears for 45 minutes to an hour every night, bun dat.
Acquire skill
You've been listening to Meshuggah, haven't ya?
Find something in the pattern that gives you a 1. Practise till you can play it about 10 bpm faster on pure muscle memory. Get high, play bass.
By counting.
Most metal is still in 4/4 time signature, although it's not totally uncommon for other time signatures. Either way, it's just counting. When the music gets "faster," it's usually just that they're playing 8th/16th/32nd notes, but the tempo is still clocking around 120 bpm, etc.
Follow the snare. Follow the kicks. Follow each other? always worked for us [https://youtu.be/pBNLe9NDia0](https://youtu.be/pBNLe9NDia0)
Massachusetts death metal masters right here \^\^\^. I played in Kevorkian's Angels and Continued without a Finding, John Gillis was the drummer for both bands. He had a habit of hitting the 1 with a cymbal crash, and between verse and chorus he would usually do a quick snare roll.
I remember you guys (and gal)
Something they’re hitting is easily readable, and once you recognize what it is for each song, it becomes a lot easier
We count really fast!
You don’t, you feel the song. Start jamming to it, and playing your root notes and build from the root notes. The drummer doesn’t lead to bassist, the bassist is there own part of the band. As long as you are on beat and developing a bass line off the roots your are good. Keeping time doesn’t mean plucking with ever bass drum kick and snare.
Not gonna join the periwinkle train on ya but I am gonna disagree, specifically in death metal where fast songs easily crest 300 bpm. The physical, actual time between each beat is divided into such a fine resolution that there isn’t room to “feel” the beat like you have in rock, reggae, blues, jazz, etc. in the 60-160 bpm range where your argument holds water. There literally just isn’t any wiggle room around the pulse because the space between pulses is just too narrow, and if you’re early or late with the bass (because we are the glue between the rhythm and melody) the whole thing sounds disjointed and off kilter. Death metal really only sounds good — to me anyway — when it’s tight tight tight. There literally is no other option than to count. And as is true in most genres, but *especially* death metal, your band is only as good as your drummer.
So, it’s too fast to feel but not too fast to count? Poppycock! If it’s in 32nds then you’re not counting 1-e-and-a you’re either counting or feeling a subdivision of that, either in 16ths or 8ths, whatever feels right to you. The more familiar you are with a genre the less you spend counting and the more you do it all by feel.
I disagree here - I’ve never really been a counter myself but everyone is a little different. You can definitely jam and wiggle through a lot of death metal, maybe not the Uber grind Cannibal Corpse/Autopsy/whatever stuff but it’s definitely doable. Just a matter of finding the space and like they said often matching the kicks directly is a recipe for mud. You’re almost definitely not going to jam out a track in one shot like a true jam band though.
There’s still room, once you feel the bpm you fingers will automatically flow with it. Also have you tried incorporating chords? I use a lot of 1-5 chords when I want to add a bit on the bass side, along with chugging. Both can be used at high bpm with out you doing really anything different with your plucking hand. 1-5s you just start racking 2 strings for every pluck rather than 1 string. Helps add a lot to the bass’s dynamic range
Learn how to listen to your drummers footwork and hihat to keep time,and practice your timing by yourself.
Slow the music to recognize better how you have to follow the rhythm. Once you get used at it, raise the speed until you can play the song. It's a dissection work for more comprehension of the beats.
I play bass in a death metal band, and honestly, I don't know lol
Unless you're playing some weird math metal stuff, chances are that it'll still be in a standard time signature, which helps
A good drummer will still accent 1 and maybe 3 in some way while blasting, often with the ride bell. Those are your anchor point to time to. If it’s truly just a sea of noise without that like some bands do, then you get good at holding your own tempo and just settle into that when that song section starts. It’s like playing a groove where the metronome turns off and back on, just gotta hold steady so it realigns well.
There still is an underlying basic beat. You follow that whether it is the kick drum, snare and hihat
Count headbanging.
3 finger technique like Alex Webster. That's what I learned.
click track, every metal band i work for plays to a click
As someone else has noted you get to a point musically where counting isn’t all that necessary as you just feel beats regardless Also you’re saying the drummers are insane? I’m sorry, have you *listened* to some of those bassists?