Is it me or my drummer? Our weak attempt at Atomic Punk

[overthemountain]

Guitar playing was great! Drummer definitely does drift with the meter... slows down and speeds up several times, seems like he's primarily slowing down but then at the end of your solo was way ahead. Overall sounds good though.

 

[LanierP]

Guitar playing was great! Drummer definitely does drift with the meter... slows down and speeds up several times, seems like he's primarily slowing down but then at the end of your solo was way ahead. Overall sounds good though.

Thanks man. Much appreciate the kind words. Yeah, I'm trying to get him to read these responses to get him to understand and improve. He's got a level head now about this and I'm hopeful the band can work together to fix this little issue.
Len

 

[Rick Lee]

Guitar playing was great! Drummer definitely does drift with the meter... slows down and speeds up several times, seems like he's primarily slowing down but then at the end of your solo was way ahead. Overall sounds good though.

Thanks man. Much appreciate the kind words. Yeah, I'm trying to get him to read these responses to get him to understand and improve. He's got a level head now about this and I'm hopeful the band can work together to fix this little issue.
Len

I can't stress this enough - when playing VH, a drummer who does it right makes life for the guitar player 1000x easier. Any other band and I'd say you can live with a drummer who cuts corners, yes, even with Rush (I'm in Rush tribute too).

My VH tribute went through three drummers before we landed the right one and he was a sub!. The first three were all top notch, local hot shots in great bands and who play complicated stuff very well. Playing with them made the guitar work feel impossible. I started playing VH over 30 yrs. ago and live for it, but playing in this band made me feel like I just could not handle the guitar workload. Then we got the right drummer, who's not even a huge VH fan, but is just a maniac for detail, nuance and getting the right groove. Holy schit did he make all the difference in the world. I feel like a new guitar player with 30 more years experience under my belt. It is such a joy to play with him, to not even have to look at him and know he's going to play every single little accent, flam, double stroke, etc. exactly as it is on the album. Just like AVH, this drummer always has his hi-hat going when playing other drums or cymbals. So many of the classic VH tunes I've been playing along with the album for decades and thinking I was on top it. Then I got into this band and felt like a total novice. No more. A good drummer is worth his weight in gold. Old VH has a swing and groove to it that cannot be written or taught. It can only learned. You either get it or you never will. There's no in between.

 

[JP Overdrive]

The amps are the same, eq, pre, power section, tranf. etc, the 2 version, via the foot switch, gives you a extra boost, on ch one. I have both versions, i'm sticking with the 1 version for all my classic rock stuff, i stay on the 2 ch when i need the distortion ( Van Halen, Whitesnake, etc. ) because ch 2 reacts like it's supposed to, full dist. with guitar wide open, cleaning up when you back of the volume, ch 1 it's either for real clean, or mid clean with a pedal engaged.
The 2 version is as good for all the same as above, and the extra boost is a plus, but not a must have, in my opinion.