Who is the most important member of the band?

#61
I concur... the drummer (vocalist being a close second) can make or break a band. Unfortunately for me, our drummer is easily the weakest member of our band. Great personality, connections for gigs, ho-hum 4/4 drummer. Now I'm getting depressed...
 
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#65
From the listeners perspective I've always said the singer is the most important. For the record I can't sing. I've heard sub par to terrible bands with an excellent singer that made it tolerable. A good voice goes a long way.
Flip the script and you can have a great band with a terrible singer which makes it unbearable to listen to. For example, when David Lee Roth toured a few years ago with Van Halen I was beyond excited. I'm a huge DLR - VH fan. They band sounded great and then Dave started signing. He was so bad I wanted to leave. Considering the price of the tickets I stuck it out but couldn't get past his singing. The band rocked but it was a horrible experience for me. Just my two cents.
 
#67
tb-player said:
Recently, a sax player I was jamming with asked me to join up with him for an R&B thing he’s putting together. My first question was, “Who’s on drums?” He told me it was the drummer who had just been a part of our jam. I replied, “Good! I only like playing with drummers I can trust.”

Turns out, the drummer was standing around the corner and heard the whole exchange. He walked toward us and said, “Man! I’ll take that as a compliment!” And he should, because he’s a solid, skilled drummer with good time, a tasteful approach and a locked in foot.

I only want to be a part of a project with good musicians who I can trust to have the right chops, be prepared, and not waste time. And for me, as a bassist, the drummer is the most important ingredient in that formula.

Besides the bass (obviously!), who’s the most important member of the band for you?
Click to expand...

The short answer is the one with the melody. Everybody else is subservient. That said, I’ll agree meter is incredibly important with today’s commercial music, but at the gig most folks are there for the melody, and very few are there just to hear what individual musicians bring to the table.

I’ll also agree that having a solid drummer makes everybody’s job that’s in support of the melody, and including the one (s) with the melody’s, job a whole lot easier.
 
#69
I play bass, drums, and rhythm guitar. I'm a strong drummer, but my true joy is the bass. I am presently playing bass in two bands, and we share the same drummer. Two bands with a common rhythm section, in other words.

The lead guitarist in Band A has an atrocious pocket; he rushes ahead so badly, I wonder sometimes if we're all playing the same song (admittedly, we're gigging, so it must not seem as awful to the audience). This drummer is not a forceful musical personality, and is often carried along on the runaway train. Bass is largely powerless to reverse this tendency; it is not the nature of the instrument.

When that same drummer and I play in Band B, we work with a guitarist whose time is impeccable, and the drummer rises to the occasion. Band B has a great pocket.

Last week, I did a gig with Band A on rhythm guitar (different bassist), and - when tempo started going to hell - I was able to right it with forceful and aggressive guitar playing. Band A's pocket was better.

A drummer should lock with the bassist, but when he doesn't, there's not a lot the bassist can do. Drums and rhythm guitar are crisp and busy, and if they're not solid and conscientious, the groove can be lost before a bassist can save it.
 
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#72
Honestly, I think that it's the lead singer(s). When you have someone good (great voice and presence, prepared (not on their I-pads for lyrics or treating the band like live karaoke), able to perform (not drunk or stoned), good at interacting with the crowd, etc.), the audience reaction is always positive. When you have someone who is bad, everything will be bad. They're kind of like the pitcher in baseball or the goalie in hockey - when they have an off-night, you are going to lose.
 
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#74
Yah, in pro bands, realistically it's the singer. In my high school / college bands, the kiddies just wanted to dance, so they tolerated some mediocre singers as long as the drums and bass were tight.
 
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#75
IMO: the drummer + the bass player.

If you can get you bass player and drummer in sync with each other so that they operate as a single entity, you've got 80% of the successful band formula solved. What remains to be done after that is simple by comparison.
 
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