Cradle Of Filth’s bassist Dan loves the drums

As a bassist, more than any other bandmember, your province lies in locking in with the drummer. Together you provide the backbone of a song, so you need to know the style of the drummers you play with. I’ve played with a fair few over the years, and each has had idiosyncrasies that have affected the way I play with them.

There are a lot of factors that contribute to a drummer’s style. They can be metronomic, but still wild, with crazy fills and unusual accents. They might be quite loose, incorporating a natural ebb and flow, which ideally adds excitement to the song while retaining the groove. Whatever the case, it’s good for you to be able to anticipate what’s coming next, which is something that will come from playing together regularly and building up a musical rapport. When rehearsing, listen closely to their playing and consider how you can complement their beats and fills with what you’re doing. Discuss this with them too; if you hear something that works well, or which you feel you can build upon, let them know. On the other hand, if you have a great rhythm in mind but feel that the drums are diverging too much from it, you should (diplomatically) say so.

Personally, I’ve always felt that keeping the rhythm of the kick drum in the forefront of my mind gives great results. This might not be the case all the time, for example when the snare is on the beat, but it’s a good rule of thumb. In a live setting, when I’m tweaking my monitor mix, I always try to have plenty of kick to work with so I can really anchor to the drummer. In fact, if I had to choose only one thing to have in my monitor, it would be the kick. That includes my own instrument!